Berne gauge

The term arises from the international railway conference held and consequent convention signed in Bern, Switzerland in 1912.

As a result of accepting the convention, the French embarked on a period of progressive upgrade to make their network compliant.

Even after adopting the convention, significant parts of the European network, such as Belgium and most Germanic countries,[1] as well as Scandinavia,[1] operated to larger gauges, thus restricting the interchange of traffic from those areas.

Parts of the German network are built to accommodate wider trains from neighbouring countries.

In general the deck height of flatcars was reduced to 940 mm (37 in) to allow for shipping containers to fit in the "GB" clearance in France.