page_title: Railroad switch
section_title: Roller coaster switches
hierarchical_section_title: Railroad switch / Operation / Roller coaster switches
caption_attribution_description: English: Switching Section on the Chester Zoo Zoofari Monorail ride.
context_page_description: A railroad switch, turnout, or [set of] points is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off.
  The switch consists of the pair of linked tapering rails, known as points, lying between the diverging outer rails. These points can be moved laterally into one of two positions to direct a train coming from the point blades toward the straight path or the diverging path. A train moving from the narrow end toward the point blades is said to be executing a facing-point movement.
  Unless the switch is locked, a train coming from either of the converging directs will pass through the points onto the narrow end, regardless of the position of the points, as the vehicle's wheels will force the points to move. Passage through a switch in this direction is known as a trailing-point movement.
  A switch generally has a straight "through" track and a diverging route. The handedness of the installation is described by the side that the diverging track leaves.
context_section_description: Many roller coasters have switches for the siding, or even for a double station system, for example in Disneyland Paris' Space Mountain and Galactica at Alton Towers.
  Regular rail can cross its own track because the gaps in the rails for wheel flanges are narrow, permitting the bladed design. Round pipe roller coaster rails and box beam monorail rails usually have wheels riding at angles other than on top. These additional other angle wheels are a larger loading gauge, requiring big gaps in the rail (structure gauge) where rails cross or meet.
  There are three basic switch designs for roller coasters.  Flexing, substituting and table rotating rails have all been used. Flexing the entire rail truss, fixed at one end, to point towards an alternate destination requires manipulating a long segment of rail.  Substituting a segment requires placing two or more segments of rail on flat plate that is moved in its entirety to provide straight or curved track. 
  Alternatively these substitution track segments can be wrapped around a rotating cylinder, creating a triangular truss or a two sided plate. Rotating a table with a curved track segment in a Y junction is the less used third option. If the curved track turns the cars 60 degrees, and three rail lines meet as three equally spaced spokes, 120 degrees apart, then the curved track sitting on a turn table can be rotated to connect any two of the three rail lines at this junction, creating a triangle junction.
caption: Substitution track switch for rail at Chester Zoo
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