A pre-assembled switch seen at the
<a href="http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/christoph.schmitz2/strecke/strecke.html">upgraded
line Cologne-D&uuml;ren</a> east of Buir on 17 February 2007. It will be
installed here for the relocation of the junction where the S-Bahn (suburban
railway) line becomes double tracked, currently this junction is about
1.5&nbsp;km further west. The switch is about 90&nbsp;m long, it seems to be of
the standard type with 2500&nbsp;m turnout radius, which can be passed with up
to 140&nbsp;km/h in the diverging branch. This view from west shows the frog in
the foreground, due to the small frog angle it is a moving frog which leaves no
gap in the rail. To allow the movement of the frog, one of the rails next to it
is fitted with an expansion joint. Note that the straight track (the left one)
is not straight at all, as the switch is not properly aligned here.
<p>
Digital photo by
<a href="http://www-users.rwth-aachen.de/christoph.schmitz2/index.html">Christoph
Schmitz</a>
(<a href="mailto:christoph.schmitz2@post.rwth-aachen.de">christoph.schmitz2@post.rwth-aachen.de</a>)