What is the steepest hill a train can climb?

Saluda Grade is the steepest standard-gauge mainline railway grade in the United States. Owned by the Norfolk Southern Railway as part of its W Line, Saluda Grade in Polk County, North Carolina, gains 606 feet (185 m) in elevation in less than three miles between Melros and Saluda. It's maximum grade is 4.9%.



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Since 1889 from Alpnach and up the Pilatus Commissioned in 1889, a gradient of up to 48 percent, about 30 minutes travel time: that is the steepest cogwheel railway in the world in figures.

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The Lickey Incline, south of Birmingham, is the steepest sustained main-line railway incline in Great Britain. The climb is a gradient of 1 in 37.7 (2.65% or 26.5‰ or 1.52°) for a continuous distance of two miles (3.2 km).

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What is the steepest incline a train can go up? 10% grade is the maximum for a normal friction-based railroad. But there are rack railways that negotiate steep grades with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with this rack rail.

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In normal slope of track (say 1:3), the train driver use brakes and control the down hill fast travel. If the slope is abnormal, the track will have additional rack type rail. The train will have a pinion wheel and it will be moving on the rack, the wheel will be controlled by breaking system.

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Around 11-20% is considered moderate and gradients above 20% are considered ?steep?.

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Hardknott Pass is a hill pass between Eskdale and the Duddon Valley in the Lake District National Park, Cumbria, England. The tarmac-surfaced road, which is the most direct route from the central Lake District to West Cumbria, shares the title of steepest road in England with Rosedale Chimney Bank in North Yorkshire.

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According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Baldwin Street is officially the steepest residential street in the world! Make your mark and conquer Baldwin Street today! Check out baldwinstreet.co.nz for more information about this amazing world icon.

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