You must have noticed gaps in between rails on the railway track. Do you know the importance of these gaps? Here is why they exist.
Railway tracks are not made of rails stretching across thousands of kilometres. Instead, they are smaller pieces strategically joined while leaving as small as a few millimeters gap in between them.
We all must have noticed these gaps.
Now come to the reason. We all know all metals expand when heated and contract while getting cooled. The rails of the railway tracks are made of steel. In summer season and due to the friction caused by trains, these metal bars get heated and the rails expand. And when they expand, the gaps get filled up. This extension is of so low that it is not visible to the naked eye.
If there are no gaps in between the rails, the rails won’t get space for expansion and get bent eventually leading to mishaps.
PNN/Agencies