Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr Downtown
Systems like Toronto typically used slightly wider gauge in the 19th century to foreclose the possibility of street railway trackage being used by steam railroads for freight cars. That's no longer a threat, and there are real advantages to being able to order off-the-shelf rolling stock, switches, crossings, and special trackwork. Several miles of open rail, as seen on modern LRT networks, can be regauged in a weekend, but obviously it would be very expensive to regauge street rail set in asphalt or concrete. Changing rolling stock a couple of inches, to or from Pennsylvania, Toronto, or New Orleans gauge, is not especially difficult, and can be accomplished by local staff, but it's easier for a new system to be planned and built to standard gauge. A more substantial gauge change, such as redesigning high-speed equipment from standard to Iberian gauge, on the other hand, was not something Alsthom engineering thought it could do in less than two years when Spain's first AVE line was built.
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Note that systems like Toronto have curves too tight and grades too steep for heavy rail equipment. Also, you say changing gauge is not especially difficult, but what about changing the gauge of large, interconnected networks?
Toronto has two depots and apparently both depots serve most or all routes and dual gauge track between T.T.C and standard gauges is not even possible in most cases.
No comment on BART.