Why are these sleepers in Germany like this?

[Thebaz]

Mods please move to Infrastructure if more appropriate.

I was in the Schwarzwald last week staying at Titisee and noticed this unusual (to me at least!) arrangement of sleepers on one of the tracks through the station. Can anyone tell me why they would be like this?

 

[chrisjo]

Wikipedia: 'The Y-shaped tie, first developed in 1983. Compared to conventional ties, the volume of ballast required is reduced due to the load-spreading characteristics of the Y-tie. Noise levels are high but the resistance to track movement is very good. '

Google "Y-shaped steel sleepers"

e.g.:

https://www.reddit.com/r/trains/comments/1f9lnn9/why_do_the_the_sleepers_have_that_shape/

Y-shape steel sleeper - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0954409720972595?journalCode=pifa

 

[Thebaz]

That's very interesting - thanks for the reference!

 

[Gordon]

Yes I 've seen this type of sleeper used - AFAIR - in Switzerland

 

[Krokodil]

The Snowdon Mountain Railway has a section of these.

 

[zuriblue]

Yes I 've seen this type of sleeper used - AFAIR - in Switzerland

The freight line at the bottom of the hill from me (Baden, AG) has them.

 

[Gordon]

The freight line at the bottom of the hill from me (Baden, AG) has them.

I wasn't dreaming then! I must have seen them on one of my frequent visits to Baden ( I am a fan of the Ibis Baden Neuenhof)

 

[Barry169]

The Lokahl Bahn line north of Salzburg uses them.

 

[P156KWJ]

These feature on the Rybnik to Lipno line in the Czech Republic, down near the Austrian border.