The Braided Junction is optimized for compactness.

Braided junction

Pros

• Very compact
• No deadlocks since tracks split before they merge.
• No loops.

Cons

• The slopes and sharp turns make trains go slower.
• Signal distance is 7 tiles on straight track over the bridge.

Variants

Adding signals north and south of the bridge instead of using path-based signaling will make the crossing get a 5 tile signal distance on the straight track. The crossing will be slightly less compact.

This is a compact variant for a sideline junction. Quite slow though:

Braided sideline junction

And here is a compact variant for a mainline junction. Also quite slow:

Braided mainline junction

This version is faster with straighter track. Better overall throughput with shorter tunnels and bridges:

Braided mainline junction