Tehachapi Loop – California Rail Pass

Now the planet has a little less than 1.4 million kilometres of railways. But we will pay attention to only 1150 meters of them, located in the southern part of the US state of California. Here is the famous Tehachapi Loop - an original engineering solution and precise, thoughtful construction of the Tehachapi Pass. Since the beginning of the 19th century, railways have firmly entered our life. They began to be built all over the world. With the help of railway communication, the economy developed, freight and passenger traffic grew. Railways were laid in the most inaccessible places, and engineers always had to calculate routes and construction projects with pinpoint accuracy. So it happened with the railway line through the Tehachapi mountain pass.

Tehachapi loop

Tehachapi train loop

To facilitate the passage of the access, the Tehachapi Loop was built. The goal was to get a smooth drop in height with a controlled gradient. Then, to evenly distribute the decrease in height over a relatively small area of the earth's surface.

In the course of research and calculations, it was decided to loop the road. The result was the Tehachapi Loop. Its length is 1150 meters. The Tehachapi elevation in diameter of 370 meters. If the train is longer than 1200 meters, then passing the Loop, it will be able to go simultaneously under and over itself. Throughout the entire Loop, the builders managed to get an even slope of 2%. The difference in height at the entrance and exit from the Loop is 23 meters. The lower part of the Loop goes through a small tunnel # 9. The tehachapi train loop has only one path.

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Tehachapi railroad

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Tehachapi Pass

It began to be built in 1874. More than 3,000 Chinese immigrant workers worked for two years, paving a road through solid granite. At first, it was blown up with dynamite, and then the wreckage was cleared away with picks and shovels. They actively used horses harnessed to carts. Finally, in 1876, the road connected Bakersfield with the San Joaquin Valley in the Mojave and became the first rail link connecting San Francisco and Los Angeles. The Tehachapi loop has become such a successful project that it has been successfully used to this day for more than 140 years. It is one of the busiest single-track railways globally, with an average of about 36 trains per day.