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The Berne Gauge or Berne Convention Gauge is an informal but widely used term for the railway
Technical specification for interoperability relating to the rolling stock subsystem of the trans-European high-speed rail system
Rail loading gauge
loading gauge
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
considered the standard gauge in most of Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
. The term arises from the international railway conference held and consequent convention signed in Bern
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
, Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
in 1912. The official name of this gauge is the ' (, literally "pass-everywhere international gauge"), and it came into force in 1914.
The European (Berne) loading gauge is usually wide by rising to in the centre. This is a clearance envelope (see loading gauge
A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...
) on a curve of radius.
Previously, international through traffic, particularly freight, had been effectively constrained to vehicles and loads consistent with the standard French loading gauge, the narrowest and lowest in Mainland Europe. As a result of accepting the convention, the French embarked on a period of progressive upgrade to make their network compliant.
Comparison
Even after adopting the convention, significant parts of the European network, such as Belgium and most Germanic countries, as well as Scandinavia, operated to larger gauges, thus restricting the interchange of traffic from those areas. Although the name "PPI" includes the characterisation as "international" it is actually the minimum standard just in Western Europe. The contiguous rail network in North America has a minimum width of 3,250 mm (10 ft 8 in) and a minimum height of . The standard gauge rail network in Eastern Asia is built to a minimum width of , and the ChineseCRH2
The CRH2 Hexie (simplified Chinese: 和谐号; traditional Chinese: 和諧號; pinyin: Héxié Hào; literally: "Harmony") is one of the high-speed train models in China. The CRH2 is based on the E2-1000 Series Shinkansen design from Japan wit ...
as well as the Japanese 0 Series Shinkansen have a width of . Similarly the tracks in Sweden are built to 3,400 mm (clearance SE-A and SE-B) just as the broad-gauge network under Russian influence (on tracks with 1,520 mm). As such the Russian Velaro Sapsan and the Chinese Velaro CRH3 have widths of while the German variant Velaro ICE 3 is built to to fit in the PPI outline. Parts of the German network are built to accommodate wider trains from neighbouring countries. In a research project for ICE 4 a width of was tested but not pushed into production.
European freight network
The success of the intermodalshipping container
A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...
s led to some adaptations to allow ISO containers
ISO 668 - Series 1 freight containers — Classification, dimensions and ratings is an ISO international standard which classifies intermodal freight shipping containers ''nominally'', and standardizes their sizes, measurements and weight spec ...
with a height of or Hi-Cube containers with a height of to be carried by rail in Western Europe. In general the deck height of flatcar
A flatcar (US) (also flat car, or flatbed) is a piece of rolling stock that consists of an open, flat deck mounted on a pair of trucks (US) or bogies (UK), one at each end containing four or six wheels. Occasionally, flat cars designed to carry ...
s was reduced to 940 mm to allow for shipping containers to fit in the "GB" clearance in France. It was further modified so that for the minimum height of the exterior walls (3,175 mm) and the minimum height at the center (4320 mm) a third height was added such that at a width of 2720 mm a minimum height of 4180 mm is ensured. This profile was dubbed "GB+" and has a roof that is almost flat. All modern freight tracks in Western Europe are built to this size, the modern replacement for the PPI minimum international loading gauge.
In comparison the central European "GC" loading gauge allows the use traditional flatcars with a deck height of 1,100 to 1,300 mm to carry intermodal shipping containers. Trains with Hi-Cube containers can not pass from Germany into France.
References
{{reflistExternal links
Technical specification for interoperability relating to the rolling stock subsystem of the trans-European high-speed rail system
Rail loading gauge