Turnouts
UndergraduateTAS-JEE1562025
Course information for 2025 intake View information for 2024 course intake
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Enrol by
- 13 July 2025
- Entry requirements
- Part of a degree
- Duration
- 14 weeks
- Price from
- $3,239
- Upfront cost
- $0
- Loan available
- HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Turnouts
About this subject
Upon successful completion of this subject, the students should be able to:
- Identify the types of turnouts, and their main components, which are commonly used in a suburban network so that the infrastructure engineer can install and maintain turnouts appropriately.
- List the applications, advantages and disadvantages of those types of turnouts to help ensure informed choice of turnout for a particular application.
- Diagnose defects in those commonly used turnouts using applicable rail standards to assist with determining appropriate rectification of those defects.
- Explain the appropriate selection of turnout properties.
- Describe turnout operation, performance and technology in different operating conditions.
- Introduction and History
- Tangential Turnouts
- Turnout Fundamentals
- Crossovers and Slips
- Catch Points and Guard Rails
- Clearance Points and Other
- Turnout and Crossing Manufacture
- Preconstruction
- Managing Turnout Condition
- Modes of Operation
- Heavy Haul Turnouts
- High Speed Turnouts
- Performance Measurement of Turnouts
Railway traffic does not simply travel from one place to another along the same single piece of track. In an urban network of rail lines, trains travel in all sorts of directions depending upon customer demand and availability of rollingstock. As a result, rail tracks are required to cross some tracks, and to merge with or diverge from others. This is particularly true where lines converge in population centres, city centres and marshalling yards. There are many types and forms of track crossings, a vast array of methods for merging or diverging trains, and a bewildering range of different types of terminology used to describe these track structures. In this subject those structures are known as turnouts and crossings, and you will be provided with foundational information about their design, defects, operation, maintenance, and terms used; the subject will expose you to some of their specialised applications. The subject is located early in your course and does not require detailed track knowledge, though a familiarity with the components comprising railway track would be an advantage in your study.
- Test or Quiz - Nomenclature and operation of turnouts (30%)
- Short Essay Questions (30%)
- Short Essay Questions - Installation and operation of turnouts (40%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Part of a degree
To enrol in this subject you must be accepted into one of the following degrees:
Core
- TAS-ENR-DIP-2025 - Diploma of Engineering Infrastructure (Rail Specialisation)
Additional requirements
- Other requirements - Teaching Arrangement: During the semester there are four 1-hour web conferences.
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
Related degrees
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
Diploma of Engineering Infrastructure (Rail Specialisation)
UndergraduateTAS-ENR-DIP