Paths - as used in railway discussions

[eMeS]

Is there an official definition of a "Path"?

I see the term used here, and elsewhere in the forum, but can't recall ever seeing it defined in this niche(?) usage. Just wondering if I may have misunderstood what is meant...

 

[causton]

The EU define it in Directive 2001/14/EC as:

'train path' means the infrastructure capacity needed to run a train between two places over a given time-period;"

There is a fairly short Wikipedia article about the term:

Train path - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[John Webb]

"The Oxford Companion to British Railway History" (Simmons and Biddle, OUP, 1997) defines 'Path' as:

The course laid down for each train in the working timetable, allotting to it a clear passage between those preceding and following it.