Railroad directions are used to describe train directions on railroad systems. The terms used may be derived from such sources as compass directions, altitude directions, or other directions. However, the railroad directions frequently vary from the actual directions, so that, for example, a "northbound" train may really be headed west, or a train going "down" may actually be increasing its elevation. Directions are often specific to system, country, or region.
France
In France, railway directions are usually described as
Impair and
Pair, meaning
Odd and
Even and corresponding
Down and
Up in British system.
Impair means leave from Paris and
Pair means towards Paris. This convention extends to not only the trains and the tracks, but also to lineside equipments.
Pair is also homophonic with
Paris, so direction P is equivalent either with direction Pair or with direction Paris.
China
In China, railway directions are described as "up" (上行) and "down" (下行), with up towards
Beijing; trains leaving Beijing are "down", while those going toward Beijing are "up". For railways not connected with Beijing, north and west are used as "up" and east and south as "down". Odd numbered train codes are used for "down" trains, while even numbers are used for "up"; for example, train T27 from
Beijing west to
Lhasa is "down" (going away from Beijing) since 27 is odd.
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