A surgical table includes a mechanism for causing movement of a tabletop of the table relative to a column of the table in a selected longitudinal or transverse direction of the tabletop, the mechanism including first and second drive elements movably mounted on one of the column and the tabletop and a traverse device mounted on the other of the column and the tabletop, wherein the tabletop is movable relative to the column between a predetermined traverse position, at which both of the first and second drive elements are engaged with the traverse device, and a first traverse position, at which the first drive element is engaged with the traverse device and the second drive element is disengaged from the traverse device. Also described is a system for helping a user dispose a tabletop of a table a predetermined position relative to a column of the table.
