I have read https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenRailwayMap/Tagging but I'm a bit confused about how to know if a track can be used in both directions. For a given way, should I rely on the value of the key oneway and on the value of the key railway:bidirectional ? And I'm confused about the description of the value "possible" for the key railway:bidirectional. Does it mean a way with that value may be bidirectional or not ?

Hi, Am 20/04/2020 um 16.26 schrieb hanhmissi.tran(a)everysens.com: > I have read https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/OpenRailwayMap/Tagging but I'm a bit confused about how to know if a track can be used in both directions. > For a given way, should I rely on the value of the key oneway and on the value of the key railway:bidirectional ? > And I'm confused about the description of the value "possible" for the key railway:bidirectional. Does it mean a way with that value may be bidirectional or not ? TL;DR If you need the direction of a track for routing purposes, use railway:preferred_direction=*, and oneway=* as fallback. There are a couple of tags regarding the preferred or usual direction of traffic on a track. oneway=* is odd in railway context and I would not use it at all because in almost any case a track can be used in both directions— often with limited safety (see below). Most usage of oneway=* on railway track is wrong. railway:preferred_direction=forward/backward/both indicates whether the primary direction of traffic the track is intended for is forward, backward or in both directions. This tag is used outside a station on double-tracked railway lines (both is common in stations and on sigle-track lines). That's what I would use for routing. This tag is used a lot in France (at least the eastern half) and a bit in Germany and elsewhere. Check its presence in our test cases before you try it out. ;-) railway:bidirectional=* indicates the safety level of trains running against the usual direction on double-track lines (the tag is intended for the usage outside a station). railway:bidirectional=regular means that the same safety level w.r.t. interlocking is available, i.e. the interlocking in the signal box ensures that no other train is on the segment ahead. railway:bidirectional=signals means that there are signals for trains using the track against the regular direction but there a limited or no mechanisms in the interlocking to ensure that the track ahead is free. railway:bidirectional=possible means that there are no signals and no or nearly no safety mechanisms in the interlocking for trains running against the regular direction. These trains usually need some kind of manual command by the dispatcher (written sheet of paper, a phone call or similar depending on the rules of operation). There are no or nearly no mechanisms ensuring that the track ahead is free, all safety relies on the staff at the signal box. Best regards Michael _______________________________________________ Openrailwaymap mailing list -- openrailwaymap(a)openrailwaymap.org To unsubscribe send an email to openrailwaymap-leave(a)openrailwaymap.org %(web_page_url)slistinfo%(cgiext)s/%(_internal_name)s