Headway is defined as what?

Headway is defined as what?

• A. The time separation between two trains traveling in the same direction.
• B. The number of trains per hour
• C. The distance between two trains across a station
• D. The speed difference between two trains

Answer: (A)

Headway is the time gap between two trains traveling in the same direction as they pass a fixed point (such as a signal, sensor, or station). This time interval governs how often trains can operate at a given place—shorter headways mean more frequent service and higher capacity, while longer headways ease operations but reduce capacity. In practice, headway is related to trains per hour: a higher frequency implies a smaller headway (for example, 30 trains per hour roughly equals a 2-minute headway). The other options describe different ideas—distance between trains at a moment, which is spatial rather than temporal, and speed difference, which isn’t about scheduling gaps.

Headway is the time gap between two trains traveling in the same direction as they pass a fixed point (such as a signal, sensor, or station). This time interval governs how often trains can operate at a given place—shorter headways mean more frequent service and higher capacity, while longer headways ease operations but reduce capacity. In practice, headway is related to trains per hour: a higher frequency implies a smaller headway (for example, 30 trains per hour roughly equals a 2-minute headway). The other options describe different ideas—distance between trains at a moment, which is spatial rather than temporal, and speed difference, which isn’t about scheduling gaps.