Names for link lines/tracks

[RailAdept]

Hello,


What’s the English name of the line marked in blue in the picture at:

The picutre and the Polish definition of the term can be found at:
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Łącznica_(kolej)

The direct translation of the Polish term into English could be ‘link’, ‘joining/connecting/linking part/section/line”. The Polish Wikipedia says it is a railway line which joins two railway lines together making it possible to avoid a junction station (Polish: stacja węzłowa).


I don’t know much about railway infrastructure and have been unable to find an English equivalent of the term in question (the tiltle term is a a poor attempt at giving some thread title). Does anyone know what the name of this line might be in English?


Looking forward to your input.

 

[Muzer]

Usually we'd call it a "curve" or a "chord", or possibly an "avoiding curve". There have been projects to reinstate or build new curves to allow direct services to run, notably the Ordsall Chord, Todmorden Curve, and Halton Curve. These, however, don't generally have the "avoid a junction station" aspect, hence my suggestion of "avoiding curve". There are of course many such examples across the network - Dr. Day's Curve to avoid Bristol, the Laverstock Curve to avoid Salisbury, and my mind's suddenly gone blank but there's plenty more!

 

[30907]

Typical UK use would be to use "curve" or "chord" or "spur" or "loop" with a geographical designation.
A train in SE London could theoretically successively use the Waterloo Curve, Courthill Loop and Crayford Spur (chords are less common?).
Loop can mean other things though, so I would go with curve or spur.

In the diagram you refer to I would go for Anytown East Curve/West Curve.
That doesn't give the generic function very well though - connecting spur sounds OK, for some reason avoiding line/curve doesn't ring true.