Encyclopedia
Rail transport is the
transport of passengers and goods along
railways or
railroads. A typical railway
track consists of two parallel
steel rails, generally anchored
perpendicular to beams of
timber,
concrete, or
steel to maintain a consistent distance apart, or gauge. The rails and perpendicular beams are usually then placed on a foundation made of concrete or compressed
earth and
gravel in a bed of ballast to prevent the track from
buckling as the ground settles over time beneath and under the weight of the vehicles passing above. The vehicles traveling on the rails are arranged in a
train; a series of individual powered or unpowered vehicles linked together, displaying markers. These vehicles move with much less friction than do vehicles riding on rubber tires on a paved road, and the
locomotive that pulls the train tends to use energy far more efficiently as a result.
General
Rail transport is an energy-efficient and capital-intensive means of mechanized land transport. Rails provide very smooth and hard surfaces on which the
wheels of the train may roll with a minimum of friction. As an example, a typical wagon can hold up to 125 tons of freight on two four-wheel
bogies . Fully loaded, the contact between each wheel and the rail is the area of about one U.S. ten-cent piece. This can save energy compared with other forms of transportation, such as road transport which depends on rubber tires on pavement. Trains also have a small frontal area in relation to the load they are carrying, which cuts down on
air resistance and thus energy usage. In all, under the right circumstances, a
train needs 50-70% less energy to transport a given tonnage of freight , than does
road transport. Furthermore, the rails and sleepers distribute the weight of the train evenly, allowing significantly greater loads per
axle / wheel than in
road transport, leading to less wear and tear on the permanent way.
Rail transport makes highly efficient use of space: a double-track rail line can carry more passengers or freight in a given amount of time than a four-lane road.
As a result, rail transport is a major form of
public transport in many countries. In
Asia, for example, many millions use trains as regular transport in
India,
South Korea,
Japan,
China. It is also widespread in
European countries.
Rail transport as a form of
public transit in the
United States is rare outside the
Northeast Corridor. Few major US cities other than
New York,
Chicago,
Boston,
Washington, DC, and
Philadelphia can lay claim to any significant use of local rail-based passenger transport;
Amtrak is the only nationwide passenger rail system in the country. In Canada, the government-owned
VIA Rail system provides a limited level of intercity service at prices that are usually higher than air travel or bus service, however
Toronto,
Montreal and
Vancouver operate
rapid transit and/or
light rail services that receive millions of riders a year.
Commercially, world rail transport has had a mixed record. Most rail systems, including urban
rapid transit systems, are highly subsidized and have never or rarely been profitable; however, their indirect benefits are often great. Passenger rail in nearly all countries is dependent on government subsidies. As a result levels of rail transport have in some times and places been reduced in order to save money.
Conversely, US freight railways have consolidated and become more efficient in their progress toward profitability. The four largest US railways all reported profits of over $1 billion in 2005 . Canada's major rail operators,
CN and
CP, have been extremely profitable since the 1960s, when they abandoned most lightly-used routes and concentrated solely on freight between major points. Investments in advanced switching technology helped lower cost of operations dramatically. In more recent years both railways have expanded, buying up a number of formerly US-based companies like the
Soo Line Railroad. The
East Japan Railway Company has taken an innovative and creative marketing stance and have achieved profitability as a result.
Like other forms of public transport, many railways are having to make considerable
capital investment in order to meet new requirements for
security in the face of recent
terrorism incidents, for instance the Madrid train bombings of 11 March 2004. Securing railways is often more difficult than for other modes of transport because stations are designed with easy access and high capacity rather than security as their primary goals; most trains make many stops, rendering any sort of passenger screening difficult; and securing the tracks as they run through cities and the countryside is impractical.
It is difficult to make a complete and accurate comparison of the economics of various modes of transport as all modes benefit from substantial government, as well as private, spending. For example, public highways, aircraft manufacturers, airports and sea ports all typically receive very large capital subsidies.
Operations
A railway can be broken down into two major components. Basically these are the items which "move", the locomotives, passenger carrying vehicles , freight carrying vehicles and those which are "fixed", usually referred to as its infrastructure. This category includes the permanent way and buildings .
The operation of the railway is through a system of control, originally by mechanical means, nowadays, in most places, electronic and computerised. The volume of traffic on the line dictates the number of tracks required for its operation. Lightly used lines may be a single track, to be used by trains in both directions with "passing loops" spaced at regular intervals, regularly, although not always, at passenger stations. These consist of short stretches of double track which allow trains to pass each another. Alternatively, and particularly on freight lines, there may be longer sections of the line that are double track. These sections must be able to accommodate the longest train which normally work on that line. Effective traffic control is carried out by a "token" system. where only one token is available for each single line section. Originally this token was physically exchanged between signalman and driver, later by mechanical means using a device on the locomotive cab side whilst nowadays this system has largely been replaced by an electronic system of CTC . The handing over of the "token" should ensure that only one train is in each single section at any one time and should prevent head - on accidents. At places where there is a limited width available for construction the double track is sometimes interlaced . Single-track lines are cheaper to build than double, but can handle only a limited amount of traffic, this being dependant on the distance between, and the length of "passing loops". They are used mainly on
branch lines, except in Canada, where the four transcontinental lines are still predominantly single-track.
On busier lines, two or more main tracks are provided, for each direction of travel. On very busy lines as many as eight tracks are used to handle large amounts of traffic.
With the advent of
containerized freight in the
1960s, rail, road and sea transportation have become an integrated network moving bulk goods efficiently, and at relatively low cost. An example is that goods from East Asia that are bound for Europe will often be shipped across the
Pacific and transferred to trains to cross
North America and be transferred back to a ship for the
Atlantic crossing. These goods will be unloaded at the port of arrival for transfer to their eventual destination either directly by road or, by rail to a railhead for onward movement by road.
Level
Railways are always built to stand above surrounding terrain to prevent track flooding, erosion of the bed and decay of the sleepers . In hilly and mountainous terrain, to avoid large slopes, the railway is at some places elevated, on an embankment or
bridge/
viaduct, and at some places in a cutting or
tunnel. The same are also used for non-level crossings. In the case of many crossings, such as in a city, a longer stretch may be elevated or underground.
Safety and railway disasters
Trains can travel at very high speed, are heavy, are unable to deviate from the track and require a great distance to stop. Although rail transport is considered one of the safest forms of travel there are many possibilities for accidents to take place. These can vary from the minor derailment , a
head-on collision with another train coming the opposite way and collision with a car at a
level crossing ). Level crossing collisions are relatively common in the
United States where there are several thousand each year killing about 500 people - although the comparable figures in the
United Kingdom are 30 and 12 . For information regarding major accidents, see
List of rail accidents.
The most important safety measures are
railway signalling and gates at level crossings. Train whistles warn others of the presence of a train, while trackside signals maintain the distances between trains. In the United Kingdom,
vandalism is thought responsible for about half of rail accidents.
Railroad lines are zoned or divided into blocks guarded by combinations of block signals, operating rules, and automatic-control devices so that at most one train may be in a block at any time. Such traffic control is done in a similar way to air traffic control.
Compared to road travel, railways remain relatively safe. Annual death rates on roads are over 40,000 in the United States and about 3000 in the United Kingdom, compared with 1,000 rail-related fatalities in the United States and under 20 in the UK. . However, a true comparison needs to take account of the number of people using each mode.
History
See also Timeline of railway historyThe Diolkos was a 6-km long railway that transported boats across the
Corinth isthmus in
Greece in the 6th century BC. Trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in a limestone track. The Diolkos ran for over 1300 years, until 900 AD.
The first horse-drawn
wagonways appeared in
Greece,
Malta, and parts of the
Roman Empire at least 2000 years ago, using cut-stone track.
They began reappearing in
Europe from around 1550, usually operating with wooden track. The first railways in
Great Britain were built in the early
17th century, mainly for transporting
coal from the mine to the water side where it could be loaded on to a boat. Early examples of this can be found in
Broseley in Shropshire. These had wooden rails and flanged wheels, as on a modern railway. However, the rails were liable to wear out and have to be replaced. In 1768, the
Coalbrookdale Company laid
cast iron plates on such wooden rails to provide a more durable bearing surface.
In the late
18th century iron rails began to appear: British civil engineer William Jessop designed edge rails for use on a scheme from
Loughborough,
Leicestershire in 1789 and in 1790 was one of the partners who established an iron-works at Butterley,
Derbyshire to produce rails . In 1802, Jessop opened the
Surrey Iron Railway in south
London - arguably the world's first public railway, albeit horse-drawn.
The first
steam locomotive to operate on rails was built by
Richard Trevithick, and was tried out in 1804 at
Merthyr Tydfil in
Wales. This was not a success, partly because the engine was so heavy that the rails broke under it. In 1806 a horse-drawn railway was built between
Swansea and
Mumbles. In 1807 this railway started carrying fare-paying passengers - the first in the world to do so.
In 1811 John Blenkinsop designed the first successful and practical railway locomotive. He patented , a system of moving coals by a rack railway worked by a steam locomotive, and a line was built connecting the Middleton Colliery to Leeds. The locomotive was built by Matthew Murray of Fenton, Murray and Wood. The
Middleton Railway was the first railway to successfully use steam locomotives on a commercial basis. It was also the first railway in Great Britain to be built under the terms laid out in an Act of Parliament.
Blenkinsop's engine had double-acting cylinders and, unlike the Trevithick pattern, no flywheel. The cylinders drove a geared wheel which engaged under the engine with the rack. This design was quickly superseded following the discovery of railroad traction properties by
George Stephenson during construction of the
Stockton and Darlington Railway.
The
Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in northern
England in 1825 to be followed five years later by the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway, considered to be the world's first "Inter City" line, which proved the viability of rail transport, with
Stephenson's famous Rocket steam locomotive. Railways soon spread throughout the United Kingdom and through the world, and became the dominant means of land transport for nearly a century, until the invention of
aircraft and
automobiles, which prompted a gradual decline in railways.
The rail gauge used for the Stockton and Darlington railway became known as "standard gauge" and is used by about sixty per cent of the world's railways.
The first railroad in the
United States may have been a gravity railroad in
Lewiston, New York in 1764. The Leiper Railroad in
Pennsylvania was the first permanent railroad, opened in 1810, and the
Granite Railroad in 1826 may have been the first to evolve through continuous operations into a common carrier. The
Baltimore and Ohio, opened in 1830, was the first to evolve into a major system. In 1867 the first elevated railroad was built in New York. In 1869, the symbolically important
transcontinental railroad was completed in the United States with the driving of a golden spike at Promontory, Utah.
The use of
overhead wires conducting electricity, invented by Granville T. Woods in 1888, amongst several other improvements, led to the development of electrified railways, the first of which in the United States was operated at
Coney Island from 1892.
Richmond, VA had the first successful electrically-powered
trolley system in the United States. Designed by electric power pioneer
Frank J. Sprague, the trolley system opened its first line in January, 1888. Richmond's hills, long a transportation obstacle, were considered an ideal proving ground. The new technology soon replaced horse-powered
streetcars.
Diesel and electric trains and
locomotives replaced steam in many countries in the decades after
World War II.
In the
USSR the phenomenon of
children's railways was developed since the 1930s . Fully operated by children, they were extracurricular educational institutions, where teenagers learnt railway professions. A lot of them are functioning in post-Soviet states and Eastern European countries.
Many countries since the
1960s have adopted
high-speed railways.
On 24 August 2005 the
Qingzang railway became the highest railway line in the world, when track was laid through the
Tanggula Mountain Pass at 5072 meters above sea level.
Terminology
In the United Kingdom and most other
Commonwealth of Nations countries, the term
railway is used in preference to
railroad, while in the United States the reverse is true. In Canadian speech,
railway and
railroad are interchangeable, although in law
railway is the usual term.
Railroad was used in the United Kingdom concurrently with
railway until the 1850s when
railway became the established term. A number of American companies have
railway in their names instead of
railroad, the
BNSF Railway being the pre-eminent modern example.
In the United Kingdom, the term
railway often refers to the whole organisation of tracks,
trains,
stations,
signalling,
timetables and the operating companies that collectively make up a coordinated railway system, while
permanent way or
p/way refers to the tracks alone.
Subways, metros,
elevated lines,
trolley lines, and
undergrounds are all specialized railways.
Further reading
- John H. Armstrong. Railroad: What It Is, What It Does 4th Edition
- Rainer Fremdling, "Railways and German Economic Growth: A Leading Sector Analysis with a Comparison to the United States and Great Britain," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 37, No. 3. , pp. 583-604.
- Leland H. Jenks, "Railroads as an Economic Force in American Development," The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 4, No. 1 , 1-20.
- O . S. Nock, ed. Encyclopedia of Railways , worldwide coverage, heavily illustrated
- Patrick O’Brien. Railways and the Economic Development of Western Europe, 1830-1914
- Jack Simmons and Gordon Biddle, . The Oxford Companion to British Railway History: From 1603 to the 1990s
- John Stover, American Railroads
Rail transport by country
Of 236 countries and dependencies, 143 have rail transport , of which about 90 have passenger services.
See also
...
External links
- Index of all railway and model railway related websites in the UK and Ireland.
- annotated guide to historical sources on www
- - A one day conference and exhibition in the UK - 25th May 2006 at the Birmingham International Convention Centre
- - A huge resource for railways and railway information in Australia and New Zealand
- - detailed history and rolling stock of the Australia Commonwealth railways
-
- - directory of 10,000+ rail-related sites
- - Focus on North American railroads
- - Operations and Carriages Information/Enthusiast Website for V/Line, the InterUrban and InterCity passenger railway operator in the state of Victoria, Australia
- - published on Usenet stored with optional search function.
- - defending rail services and jobs in the north of England
- - maps of European railway networks
- https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2121.html - rail transport by country
- - travel planner of German Railways
- - National Railcard International Survey - survey of national rail discount cards in various European countries
- - This book is about the evolution of the railways and about the engineers and architects who made them possible
- - A resource for railways in Great Britain
- . It is currently Australia's biggest rail related site.
- Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.
- Railways: History, Signaling, Engineering
- Indian Railway Time Table
- Tracks industry trends from 1947 to present
- , major European rail-related site with extensive and
