A rack in the middle of the track has to cross a running rail to switch. There is no single answer: here are six.
Ordinary points work because a wheel flange can cross a rail through a small gap at the frog. A rack railway has a second problem: the rack runs down the middle of the track, often standing above the rails, and where two roads part each rack must cross a rail of the other road. Throw the lever, then watch the train wait at the signal until the points are set and locked.
The first rack railways had no points at all. The Rigi passed its trains on transfer tables, and Riggenbach's first true rack switch came only in 1875, at Rorschach–Heiden. Monte Generoso, the first line built on Abt's system, opened in 1890 with Abt points in place of tables. The Wengernalpbahn of 1893 tried the opposite idea: no moving rack at all, just gaps, and two pinions on every vehicle.
Pilatus could never use points, because no rail can cross a rack with teeth on both sides. It kept its transfer tables, added Von Roll's turning Gleiswender at the summit in the early 1960s, and in 2021–22 put in five new ones: three at Alpnachstad, in place of tables, and two at the summit. The passing loop at Ämsigen still works on tables. On the Rigi, the bending switch of 1999 did away with blades and frogs altogether.
A rack switch must lie in one plane from its start to its last sleeper; the track may only twist again beyond it.
Rack points carry more than their share of rules. Moving rack parts must be locked and joined firmly, or the rack pitch opens at the joints. A switch has to be flat, so on a curved and climbing line the twist has to stop before it and start again after it. And if a train ever runs through a rack switch the wrong way, the Swiss rules say: stop at once, secure it, and let the engineers decide.
| Line | Radius | Crossing | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wengernalp, Schynige Platte (1893) | 60 m | – | 30 switches, 900 mm rack gaps, track centres 3.0 m |
| Vesuvius (1903) | 60 m | 1 in 7 | "half rack" points |
| Brunnen–Morschach (1905) | 80 m | – | Strub rack, rack pieces 3.5 m |
| Montreux–Glion (1912) | – | – | trailable, throw at least 110 mm |
| Gornergrat, Zermatt (1963) | – | 1 in 6, 1 in 7 | 13 switches, 5 kVA heating each |
| Dolderbahn (1973) | 100 m | 1 in 8 | spring blades |
| Rigi-Staffel (1990/91) | 120 m | 1 in 8, 1 in 10 | heated, electric drive |
| Rigi bending switch (1999) | – | 1 in 8, 1 in 10 | 10 s throw, works from −20 to +60 °C |
No free source gives a fully dimensioned rack turnout. The Abt points kits in our Rack Railways models were worked out from the 1896 Snowdon drawings and a 2025 study of the new Tanvald turnouts.
Sources: E. Strub, SBZ (1893); SBZ (1903, 1905, 1909, 1912, 1963, 1973); SIA (1991); Rigi Bahnen, VTW 2000 report (2001); P. Berger, Ferrum 86 (2014); ASME landmark brochure, Pilatusbahn (2001); H. Wismann, "Eduard Locher" (2005); Swiss Federal Office of Transport, operating rules annex 7.