Rail transport encompasses all areas of track as well as adjacent built-up, sealed or non-sealed surfaces. Track consists of the foundations required for the rails, consisting of embankments or cuttings as well as small slopes, culverts, small trenches for drainage, abutments, underpasses and overpasses as well as safety areas.
The following ATKIS categories of track were considered in the linear modelling of sections of track: railways, rail cargo, S-Bahn (rapid transit railways), U-Bahn (underground railways with some above-ground stretches), light rail systems, tramways, mountain railways, rack railways, funicular railway, museum/park railways. In all cases the track must be in use, i.e. neither decommissioned nor under construction, and must run over ground. The buffering of the linear track sections depends on the rail gauge, the category and number of tracks based on the following widths:
- standard gauge: w = 7.50 m (single track) or w = 10.50 m (dual track),
- tramways: w = 3.00 m (single track) or w = 6.00 m (dual track),
- museum/park railway: w = 2.00 m (single track) or w = 4.00 m (dual track).
All railway facilities (stations and stops) required for commuter and goods transportation are considered to belong to railway transport, insofar as these are modelled as spatially-extended objects.
[Source: AdV (2008): GeoInfoDok, ATKIS-Objektartenkatalog Basis-DLM, Version 6.0]