Refuge siding
A refuge siding is a single-ended, or dead-end, siding off a running line,[1] which may be used to temporarily accommodate a train so that another one can pass it.On the Japanese railway network, 8 refuge sidings (known locally as a form of switchback) remain in day-to-day use – Obasute Station, Hatsukari Station, Nihongi Station, Tsubojiri Station, Shingai Station, Kuwanaohara Signal Box [ja], Takiyama Signal Box [ja] and Nakazaike Signal Box [ja] – while 48 former refuge sidings, now converted into conventional passing loops or abandoned, are attested.Sometimes refuge sidings were needed where there were steep ramps on the line.For example, at Gresford railway station in New South Wales, the gradient was so steep that a refuge siding was required at the station in case some of the wagons or coaches of a train had to be left behind so that it could climb the hill.This rail-transport related article is a stub.