Proposal:Railway:switch:lock

railway:switch:lock
Proposal status:	Inactive (inactive)
Proposed by:	Natfoot footnat
Tagging:	railway:switch:lock=*
Applies to:	node
Definition:	This is a switch lock. In North America most switches have switch locks. In some situations the dispatcher has control of the switch lock even though the switch is thrown manually.
Statistics:
Rendered as:	hidden under switch render
Draft started:	2023-05-11

Proposal

This proposal proposes the following tags:

• railway:switch:lock
• railway:derail:lock
• *=yes
• *=no
• *=dispatcher
• *=electric
• *=time
• *=pin

These will be in addition to a railway:switch or railway:derail tag to designate if a lock is present or if a dispatcher needs to unlock.

Rationale

The Main reason why this proposal was started is that I have started to use this and had another editor make the same request in conversation. We both have railroad knowledge and experience and know the differences this provides. currently there is no way to map lock features in OSM.

Tagging

To map a switch lock place a node you would be adding railway=switch: and then adding railway:switch:lock=* to an existing switch. or adding railway:derail:lock=* to an existing derail.

With the creation of locked=* at about the time this proposal was being made, some of this tag is redundant to that tag while other parts still remain.

The following tags can use the locked=yes and locked=no.

• railway:switch:lock=yes: There is a switch lock present
• railway:switch:lock=no: There is not a switch lock present

• railway:derail:lock=yes: There is a derail lock present
• railway:derail:lock=no: There is not a derail lock present

Switch and Derail

While railway:switch:lock=yes and railway:switch:lock=no: are exceptable the primary use of this tag is to designate how the switch is locked and there for.

• • =dispatcher
• *=electric
• *=time
• *=pin

Examples

In the table below, some examples are illustrated In the table below, some examples are illustrated.

Tagging	Image	Description
railway=switch railway:switch:lock=dispatcher railway:local_operated=yes railway:switch:electric=no		the dispatcher switch lock is next to the switch stand. If the dispatcher stand was not here you could also list this as railway:switch:lock=yes as the switch lock is also visible. May also be decided that this is locked=yes
railway=switch railway:switch:lock=pin railway:local_operated=yes railway:switch:electric=no locked=no		no switch lock is present. There is a pin that keeps the switch from throwing but there is an additional hole for a lock.

Features/Pages affected

The following pages are affected by this proposal:

• railway=switch
• railway=*
• Open Railway Map wiki page
• North American railway tagging wiki page

Potentially, more pages need to be edited to include references to this new tag.

Possible tagging mistakes

railway:switch:locked=*

More details at taginfo

• railway:switch:locked=*🔎

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

External discussions

March 2020 Slack USA https://osmus.slack.com/archives/C6MBWSE14/p1585004277003900

April 2022 Slack USA https://osmus.slack.com/archives/C6MBWSE14/p1650685190803679

Comments

Please comment on the discussion page.