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Not being an engineer, it's hard for me to say exactly what the ideal track width is for railroads, especially since the answer can be different for different lines.

Still, the majority of the world's railway network ended up with a gauge of only 4' 8.5" (~1435mm) - narrower than the wheel track of most automobiles. I can't help but wonder if rail travel would be a bit more comfortable, and even safer had the pioneers decided on a broader track gauge? Brunel's 7 foot gauge, for all its virtues, was obviously far too wide, but broad gauge ranging from between 5'3" and 5'6" would not have been all that much harder to build in most places. Of course, since the current system is well established, the issue of compatibaility and conversion costs quickly rendered the actual debate moot and there is no question this track is obviously quite capable of meeting our needs. However, the actual width for standard gauge track was itself an essentially arbitrary choice, being taken from the track used in a few English coal mines, so the standard could probably rather easily have been a bit wider as it was in Ireland, Spain and India (any wider than that would be really pushing it). While this might make railway building harder at first (it's hard enough to make tight turns in standard gauge), I think it might well have payed off in the end, at least for passenger trains.

Any thoughts on this subject?
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