Tram line with third rail

[Master of noneParticipant @masterofnone]

The picture below shows a view of the track of the Pöstlingbergbahn, a 4 km tram service up the hill outside Linz in Austria.  The railway is one of the steepest friction railways in Europe, with a gradient of 11.6 %.

Does anyone know the purpose of the third rail?

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Wikipedia says that the tramway uses “magnetic track brakes”. At a guess that’s the track on which the magnetic emergency brake acts, given that it’s just before what looks like a vehicle crossing where emergency braking might be needed.

[Master of noneParticipant @masterofnone]

That would help to explain why the third rail is not polished as, hopefully, not too many emergencies.

[John HaineParticipant @johnhaine32865]

[Peter Cook 6Participant @petercook6]

Could be the view is downhill, i.e. the braking track is only on the uphill side of the crossing.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

It might be that the tram system uses the Fell system (As used in some places in N Z) where additional traction or braking is provided by wheels gripping the sides of the third rail.

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