The main line, or mainline in American English, of a railway is a track that is used for through trains or is the principal artery of the system from which branch lines, yards, sidings and spurs are connected. It generally refers to a route between towns, as opposed to a route providing suburban or metro services. For capacity reasons, main lines in many countries have at least a double track and often contain multiple parallel tracks. Main line tracks are typically operated at higher speeds than branch lines and are generally built and maintained to a higher standard than yards and branch lines. Main lines may also be operated under shared access by a number of railway companies, with sidings and branches operated by private companies or single railway companies.

Railway points (UK) or switches (US) are usually set in the direction of the main line by default. Failure to do so has been a factor in several fatal railway accidents, for example the Buttevant Rail Disaster in Ireland, and the Graniteville train disaster in the US.

The Main Line is a railway line in South East Queensland. It was opened in a series of sections between 1865 and 1867. It commences at Roma St Station in Brisbane and extends west 161 km to Toowoomba. It is the first narrow gauge main line constructed in the world. The section of the line from the end of Murphys Creek railway station to the Ruthven Street overbridge, Harlaxton is listed on the Queensland Heritage Register. The Murphys Creek Railway Complex, the Lockyer Creek Railway Bridge (Lockyer), the Lockyer Creek Railway Bridge (Murphys Creek) and Swansons Rail Bridge are also heritage listed.

History

The 31 km section from Ipswich (a city about 38 km from Brisbane) to Grandchester (originally Bigge’s Camp) was the first section of railway line opened in Queensland, on 31 July 1865.

Queensland Railways (QR) was the first operator in the world to adopt narrow gauge (in this case 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)) for a main line, and this remains the system wide gauge within Queensland today.

Mainline, Main line, or Main Line may refer to:

Transportation

Railway

The Main line (from the German Mainlinie, or line on the Main River) refers to the historical and political boundary between North and South Germany. The line delimitates the spheres of influence of Austria and Prussia within the German Confederation during the 19th century. The seat of the German Confederation, Frankfurt am Main, sat upon this line.

Geography

Eventually the Main line became the southern boundary of the North German Confederation. As such, the Main line did not follow the Main river exactly; rather, the line went east to west: first, along the northern border of the Kingdom of Bavaria; then, along the river Main to Mainz; and finally, along the Western border of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and the Bavarian Palatinate towards the French border. The line split Hesse at Frankfurt am Main; however, the entirety of Frankfurt am Main belonged to the North German Confederation. Today, Main line is viewed as the boundary between North and South Germany. Both regions have distinct linguistic and cultural differences.

The Columbus to Indianapolis via Bradford Main Line was a rail line owned and operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad in the U.S. state of Ohio.

The line ran from Bradford on the Columbus to Chicago Main Line southwest to New Paris on the Pittsburgh to St. Louis Main Line, forming part of a route between Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. It is now completely abandoned.

History

The line was built by the Richmond and Covington Railroad and opened in 1863. It was eventually leased by the Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway on February 1, 1869, placing it under Pennsylvania Railroad control. The PC&StL and its successors, the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway and Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, operated the line until January 1, 1921, when the PRR began operating it under lease. The line passed to Penn Central Transportation in 1968 and Conrail in 1976.

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