What are the Applications of radius of curvature in railways? - Answers

The radius of curvature in railways quantifies how fast the track is changing direction. It is the radius of a circle that matches the particular section of track involved. This information is important for many reasons. It is used to calculate the maximum speed that a train can have when entering the curve. Part of this is knowing how rapidly the radius changes - usually a curved section of track is gradually tightened up so that the left-right acceleration of the train does not change suddenly. It is used to calculate the maximum deviation from centerline that a train will have going through the curve, due to the fact that each car has a set distance between wheels and the car will be a chord on the circle of track. That has application in positioning platforms in relation to tracks, and in positioning curved tracks that are adjacent to other curved tracks.