1. POINTS AND CROSSINGS are track components which facilitate diversion of railway vehicles from one line to another. On INDIAN RAILWAYS there are approx. 1, 10,000 points & crossings.
2. POINT is a pair of tongue rail and stock rail along with necessary fittings.
3. CROSSING is a device introduced in the track to permit movement of wheel flange at the intersection of two running lines. It has certain gaps over which the wheel treads jumps.
4. The arrangement of Points & Crossings for diversion of traffic from one route to another is called a TURNOUT. Turnouts are required to divert the railway vehicles from one track to another track with lead rails these tracks may be either parallel or diverging or converging. On Indian Railways more than 63400 route kilometer of track includes about 110000 points and crossings.
TURN-OUT LAYOUT
