Ticket To Ride

Traffic Lights of the Railway

Like traffic lights for automobiles, train signals were created to prevent accidents and inform the train engineer of when the track ahead is clear.

While railway lights are more complicated and vary in different parts of the world, colors are universally understood to mean the same thing: red for stop, yellow for caution and green for go.

Passengers riding on a passenger train, can also take comfort in knowing track circuits, designed by William Robinson in 1872, help keep trains from colliding. Each section of the track, called a “block,” is guarded by railroad signals, so the engineer knows when it is safe to proceed.

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