Rail transport is the means of conveyance of passengers Crew members , as well as the driver or pilot of the vehicle, are usually not considered to be passengers. For example, a flight attendant on an airline would not be considered a "passenger" while on duty, but an employee riding in a company car being driven by another person would be considered a passenger, even if the car was being and goods Cargo is goods or produce transported, generally for commercial gain, by ship, aircraft, train, van or truck. In modern times, containers are used in most intermodal long-haul cargo transport by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks Rail tracks (more commonly: railway tracks , railroad tracks or train tracks (US)) are the surface structures that support and guide trains or other rail-guided transportation vehicles. In contrast to road transport Road transport or road transportation (American English) is transport on roads of passengers or goods, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on. Track usually consists of steel Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten. Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing rails installed on sleepers/ties A railroad tie is a rectangular object used as a base for railroad tracks. Ties are members generally laid transverse to the rails, on which the rails are supported and fixed, to transfer the loads from rails to the ballast and subgrade, and to hold the rails to the correct gauge and ballast Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railway sleepers or railroad ties (US) are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track structure. This also serves to hold the track, on which the rolling stock Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons. Rolling stock is considered to be a liquid asset, or close to it, since the value of the vehicle can be readily estimated and then shipped to the buyer without much, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. However, other variations are also possible, such as slab track where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface.

Rolling stock in railway transportation systems generally has lower frictional resistance when compared with highway vehicles, and the carriages and wagons A railroad car or railway carriage is a vehicle on a rail transport system that is used for the carrying of cargo or passengers. Cars can be coupled together into a train and hauled by one or more locomotives. Passenger cars can be self propelled in which case they can be single or multiple units can be coupled into longer trains A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport freight or passengers from one place to another. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway. The operation A railway can be broken down into two major components. Basically these are the items which "move", the rolling stock, that is the locomotives, passenger carrying vehicles , freight carrying vehicles (goods wagons/freight cars) and those which are "fixed", usually referred to as its infrastructure. This category includes the is carried out by a Railway company A railway company or railroad company is an entity that operates a railroad track and/or trains. Such a company can either be private or public. Some railway companies operate both the trains and the track, while particularly in Europe ownership of track and train operation is separated in different companies, providing transport between train stations A train station (commonly station,[note 1] railway station (mainly British Commonwealth) or railroad station) is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight (goods). It generally consists of a platform next to the tracks and a building (depot) providing related services such as ticket sales and waiting or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th century to distinguish which either draw electrical power Electric power is defined as the rate at which electrical energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt from a railway electrification system A railway electrification system supplies electrical energy to railway locomotives and multiple units so that they can operate without having an on-board prime mover. There are several different electrification systems in use throughout the world. Railway electrification has many advantages but requires heavy capital expenditure for installation or produce their own power, usually by diesel engines A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber during the final stage of compression. This is in contrast to spark ignition engines such as a petrol engine (known as a gasoline engine in North America) or gas engine (using a. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system. Railways are a safe land transportation systems when compared to other forms of transportation.^[1] Railway transportation is capable of high levels of passenger and cargo utilization and energy efficiency, but is often less flexible and more capital In economics, capital, capital goods, or real capital are factors of production used to create goods or services that are not themselves significantly consumed in the production process. Capital goods may be acquired with money or financial capital-intensive than highway A highway is a public road, especially a major road connecting two or more destinations. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a "highway transportation system". Each country has its own national highway system. Major highways are often named and transportation is, when lower traffic levels are considered.

The oldest, man-hauled railways date to the 6th century B.C. With the English development of the steam engine, it was possible to construct mainline railways, that were a key component of the industrial revolution The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, and transport had a profound effect on the socioeconomic and cultural conditions starting in the United Kingdom, then subsequently spreading throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. The onset of the. Also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods. The change from canals to railways allowed for "national markets" in which prices varied very little from city to city. Studies have shown that the development of the railway was one of the most important technological inventions of the late 19th century in the United States, without which, GDP would have been lower by 7.0% in 1890. In the 1880s, electrified Electricity is a general term that encompasses a variety of phenomena resulting from the presence and flow of electric charge. These include many easily recognizable phenomena, such as lightning and static electricity, but in addition, less familiar concepts, such as the electromagnetic field and electromagnetic induction trains were introduced, and also the first tramways and rapid transit systems came into being. During the 1940s and 1950s, the non-electrified railways in most countries had their steam locomotives A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th century to distinguish replaced by diesel Diesel fuel in general is any liquid fuel used in diesel engines. The most common is a specific fractional distillate of petroleum fuel oil, but alternatives that are not derived from petroleum, such as biodiesel, biomass to liquid (BTL) or gas to liquid (GTL) diesel, are increasingly being developed and adopted. To distinguish these types,-electric locomotives. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions include 245 km/h (152 mph) for upgraded track and 295 km/h (183 mph) or faster for new track by the European Union. In Japan Shinkansen lines run at speeds in excess of 260 km/h (160 mph) and are were introduced in Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is and a few other countries. Other forms of guided ground transportation outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Pre-steam 1.2 Age of steam 1.3 Electrification and dieselisation 2 Trains 2.1 Haulage 2.2 Motive power 2.3 Passenger trains 2.4 Freight train 3 Infrastructure 3.1 Right of way 3.2 Trackage 3.3 Signalling 3.4 Electrification 3.5 Stations 4 Operations 4.1 Ownership 4.2 Financing 4.3 Safety 5 Impact 5.1 Energy 5.2 Usage 6 See also 7 References

History

Main article: History of rail transport The history of rail transport dates back nearly 500 years and includes systems with man or horse power and rails of wood or stone. Modern rail transport systems first appeared in England in the 1820s. These systems, which made use of the steam locomotive, were the first practical forms of mechanized land transport, and they remained the primary Horsecar in Brno Brno (Czech pronunciation: [ˈbr̩no] ; German: Brünn) is the second largest city in the Czech Republic, located in the southeast of the country. It was founded in 1243, although the area had been settled since the 5th century. As of December 2009 the population is 405,337. Brno is the capital of the South Moravian Region as well as the seat of, Czech Republic

Pre-steam

The earliest evidence of a railway was a 6-kilometre (3.7 mi) Diolkos The Diolkos was a paved trackway near Corinth in Ancient Greece which enabled boats to be moved overland across the Isthmus of Corinth. The short cut allowed ancient vessels to avoid the dangerous circumnavigation of the Peloponnese peninsula. The line "as fast as one from Corinth", penned by the popular comic playwright Aristophanes, wagonway Wagonways consisted of the horses, equipment and tracks used for hauling wagons, which preceded steam powered railways. The terms "plateway", "tramway" and in someplaces, "dramway" are also found, which transported boats across the Corinth Corinth, or Korinth (Greek Κόρινθος, Kórinthos ( [ˈkorinθos] ) is a city in Greece. In antiquity it was a city-state, on the Isthmus of Corinth, the narrow stretch of land that joins the Peloponnesus to the mainland of Greece. To the west of the isthmus lies the Gulf of Corinth, to the east lies the Saronic Gulf. Corinth is about 78 isthmus in Greece during the 9th century BC. Trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element. The Diolkos ran for over 1300 years.^[2]

Railways began reappearing in Europe after the Dark Ages The Dark Ages is a term referring to the perceived period of cultural and economic decline and disruption that took place in Western Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire. The word is derived from Latin saeculum obscurum , a phrase first recorded in 1602. The label employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the ". The earliest known record of a railway in Europe from this period is a stained-glass window in the Minster of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany, dating from around 1350.^[3] In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug The Reisszug is a private funicular railway providing goods access to the Hohensalzburg Castle at Salzburg in Austria. It is notable for its extreme age, as it is believed to date back to either 1495 or 1504, a funicular railway A funicular, also known as a funicular railway, incline, inclined railway, inclined plane, or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other at the Hohensalzburg Castle in Austria Austria /ˈɒstriə/ or /ˈɔːstriə/ (German: Österreich (help·info)), officially the Republic of Austria (German: Republik Österreich), is a landlocked country of roughly 8.3 million people in Central Europe. It borders Germany and the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp Hemp is the name of the soft, durable fibre that is cultivated from plants of the Cannabis genus, cultivated for commercial use haulage rope, and was operated by human or animal power. The line still exists, albeit in updated form, and is probably the oldest railway still to operate.^[4][5]

By 1550, narrow gauge railways A narrow gauge railway is a railway that has a track gauge narrower than the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) of standard gauge railways. Most existing narrow gauge railways have gauges of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) or less with wooden rails were common in mines in Europe.^[6] By the 17th century, wooden wagonways were common in the United Kingdom for transporting coal from mines to canal wharfs for transshipment Transshipment or Transhipment is the shipment of goods or container to an intermediate destination, and then from there to yet another destination to boats. The world's oldest continually working railway, built in 1758, is the Middleton Railway The Middleton Steam Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd. since 1960 in Leeds Coordinates: 53°47′59″N 1°32′57″W / 53.79972°N 1.54917°W Leeds (pronounced /ˈliːdz/ ) is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city had a population of 770,800 (2008 est.). Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial. In 1764, the first gravity railroad in the United States was built in Lewiston, New York Lewiston is a village in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 2,781 at the 2000 census. The village is named after Morgan Lewis, a governor of New York. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area.^[7] The first permanent was the 1810 Leiper Railroad The Leiper Railroad was a horse drawn railroad that operated between 1810 and 1828 in what is now Nether Providence Township, Pennsylvania -- it was replaced by a canal, remnants of which are still visible. It was the first documented rail road in America.^[8]

The first iron plate rail way made with cast iron Cast iron usually refers to grey iron, but also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys, which solidify with a eutectic. The colour of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due to its carbide impurities which allow cracks to pass straight through. Grey cast iron is plats on top of wooden rails, was taken into use in 1768. This allowed a variation of gauge Rail gauge is the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two parallel rails that make up a single railway line. Sixty percent of the world's railways use a standard gauge of 1,435 mm . Wider gauges are called broad gauge; smaller gauges, narrow gauge. Break-of-gauge refers to the meeting of different gauges. Some stretches of track to be used. At first only balloon loops A Balloon loop allows a train to reverse direction without having to shunt or even to stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains, and unit freight trains, such as coal trains could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use, that allowed for switching.^[9] From the 1790s, iron edge rails began to appear in the United Kingdom.^[10] In 1803, William Jessop William Jessop was a noted English civil engineer, particularly famed for his work on canals, harbours and early railways in the late 18th and early 19th centuries opened the Surrey Iron Railway The Surrey Iron Railway was a 4 ft 2 in (1.3 m) narrow gauge railway that linked the Surrey towns of Wandsworth and Croydon via Mitcham (all now in South London). It was constructed in the early years of the 19th century, opening on 26 July 1803 in south London London is a leading global city being the world's largest financial centre alongside New York City, and has the largest city GDP in Europe. Central London is home to the headquarters of most of the UK's top 100 listed companies and more than 100 of Europe's 500 largest. London's influence in politics, finance, education, entertainment, media,, arguably the world's first horse-drawn public railway.^[11] Hot rolling Rolling is a fabricating process in which the metal, plastic, paper, glass, etc. is passed through a pair of rolls. There are two types of rolling process, flat and profile rolling. In flat rolling the final shape of the product is either classed as sheet (typically thickness less than 3 mm, also called "strip") or plate (typically iron allowed the brittle, and often uneven, cast iron rails to be replaced by wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content, in comparison to steel, and has fibrous inclusions, known as slag. This is what gives it a "grain" resembling wood, which is visible when it is etched or bent to the point of failure. Wrought iron is tough, malleable, ductile and easily welded. Historically, it was known as & in 1805.^{[citation needed]} These were succeeded by steel Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten. Carbon and other elements act as a hardening agent, preventing in 1857.^[10]

Age of steam

A British steam locomotive-hauled train

The development of the steam engine spurred ideas for mobile steam locomotives that could haul trains on tracks. The first was patented by James Watt in 1794.^[12] In 1804, Richard Trevithick demonstrated the first locomotive-hauled train in Merthyr Tydfil, United Kingdom.^[13][14] Accompanied with Andrew Vivian, it ran with mixed success,^[15] breaking some of the brittle cast-iron plates.^[16] Two years later, the first passenger horse-drawn railway was opened nearby between Swansea and Mumbles.^[17] In 1811, John Blenkinsop designed the first successful and practical railway locomotive^[18]—a rack railway worked by a steam locomotive between Middleton Colliery and Leeds on the Middleton Railway. The locomotive, The Salamanca, was built the following year.^[19]:20 In 1825 George Stephenson built the Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway, north east England, which was the first public steam railway in the world. In 1829 he built The Rocket which was entered in and won the Rainhill Trials. This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives used on railways in the United Kingdom, the United States and much of Europe.^[19]:24–30 In 1830, the first intercity railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened. The gauge was that used for the early wagonways, and had been adopted for the Stockton and Darlington Railway.^[20] The 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in) width became known as the international standard gauge, used by about 60% of the world's railways. This spurred the spread of rail transport outside the UK. The Baltimore and Ohio that opened in 1830 was the first to evolve from a single line to a network in the United States.^[21] By 1831, a steam railway connected Albany and Schenectady, New York, a distance of 16 miles, which was covered in 40 minutes.^[22] In 1867, the first elevated railway was built in New York. The symbolically important first transcontinental railway was completed in 1869.^[23]

Elevated section of the Chicago L

Electrification and dieselisation

Experiments with electrical railways were started by Robert Davidson in 1838. He completed a battery-powered carriage capable of 6.4 km/h (4 mph). The Giant's Causeway Tramway was the first to use electricity fed to the trains en-route, using a third rail, when it opened in 1883. Overhead wires were taken into use in 1888. At first this was taken into use on tramways, that until then had been horse-hauled tramcars. The first conventional electrified railway was the Roslag Line in Sweden. During the 1890s, many large cities, such as London, Paris and New York used the new technology to build rapid transit for urban commuting. In smaller cities, tramways became common, and were often the only mode of public transport until the introduction of buses in the 1920s. In North America, interurbans became a common mode to reach suburban areas. At first all electric railways used direct current, but in 1904, the Spubeital Line in Austria opened with alternating current.^[24]

Steam locomotives require large pools of labour to clean, load, maintain and run. After World War II, dramatically increased labour costs in developed countries made steam an increasingly costly form of motive power. At the same time, the war had forced improvements in internal combustion engine technology that made diesel locomotives cheaper and more powerful. This caused many railway companies to initiate programs to convert all unelectrified sections from steam to diesel locomotion.

Luas in Dublin, Ireland

Following the large-scale construction of motorways after the war, rail transport became less popular for commuting, and air transport started taking large market shares from long-haul passenger trains. Most tramways were either replaced by rapid transits or buses, while high transshipment costs caused short-haul freight trains to become uncompetitive. The 1973 oil crisis led to a change of mind set, and most tram systems that had survived into the 1970s remain today. At the same time, containerization allowed freight trains to become more competitive and participate in intermodal freight transport. With the 1962 introduction of the Shinkansen high-speed rail in Japan, trains could again have a dominant position on intercity travel. During the 1970s, the introduction of automated rapid transit systems allowed cheaper operation. The 1990s saw an increased focus on accessibility and low-floor trains. Many tramways have been upgraded to light rail, and many cities that closed their old tramways have reopened new light railway systems.

Trains

Main article: Train

A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along the track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive, or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The railroad engineer or engine driver controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are driverless.

Russian 2TE10U diesel locomotive

Haulage

Main articles: Locomotive and Multiple unit

Traditionally, trains are pulled using a locomotive. This involved a single or multiple powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, and providing sufficient adhesion to haul the weight of the full train. This remains dominant for freight trains, and is often used for passenger trains. A push-pull train has the end passenger car equipped with a driver's cab so the engineer can remote-control the locomotive. This allows one of the locomotive hauled trains drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the end of the train each time the train changes direction. A railroad car is a vehicle used for the haulage of either passengers or freight.

A multiple unit has powered wheels throughout the whole train. This the used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar is a single, self-powered car. Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and engines small enough to build under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains.

Motive power

A RegioSwinger multiple unit of the Croatian Railways

Steam locomotives are locomotives with a steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal, petroleum, or wood is burned in a firebox. The heat warms up water in the fire-tube boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney. In the process it powers a piston, that transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to a crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons.

Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via overhead wire or a third rail. Some also or instead use a battery. A transformer in the locomotive converts the high voltage, low current power to low voltage, high current used in the electric motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives use three-phase AC induction motors. Electric locomotives are the most powerful traction. They are also the cheapest to run and provide less noise and no local air pollution. However, they require high capital investments both for the catenary and the supporting infrastructure. Accordingly, electric traction is used on urban systems, lines with high traffic and for high-speed rail.

Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine as the prime mover. The energy transmission may be either diesel-electric, diesel-mechanical or diesel-hydraulic, but diesel-electric is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel-electric on unelectrified sections, and as an electric locomotive on electrified sections.

Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation, horse-drawn, cable, gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine.

Passenger trains

Main article: Passenger train

A passenger train travels between stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is the duty of a conductor. Passenger trains are part of public transport, and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations.

Interior view of the top deck of a VR InterCity2 double-deck carriage

Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as a dining car. Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars. Some long-haul trains been given a specific name. Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service. Trains make more stops and have lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centres to airports.

Rapid transit is built in large cities and has the highest capacity of any passenger transport system. It is grade separated and commonly built underground or elevated. At street level, smaller trams can be used. Light rails are upgraded trams, that have step-free access, their own right-of-way and sometimes sections underground. Monorail systems operate as elevated, medium capacity systems. A people mover is a driverless, grade-separated train that serves only a few stations, of as a shuttle.

High-speed rail operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways, the limit being regarded at 200 to 320 km/h. High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service, and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. The speed record is 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), set by a modified French TGV.^[25][26] Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai airport train use under-riding magnets which attract themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway, and this line has achieved somewhat higher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than conventional high-speed railways, although only over short distances.

Freight train

Main article: Freight train Bulk cargo of minerals

A freight train hauls cargo using freight cars specialized for the type of goods. Freight trains can be very efficient, with economy of scale and high energy efficiency. However, their use is reduced by lack of flexibility, often by the need of transshipment at both ends of the trip due to lack of tracks to the points of pick-up and delivery. Authorities often encourage the use of cargo rail transport due to its environmental profile.

Container trains have become the dominant type in the US for non-bulk haulage. Containers can easily be transshipped to other modes, such as ships and trucks, using cranes. This has succeeded the boxcar (wagon-load), where the cargo had to be loaded and unloaded into the train manually. In Europe the sliding wall wagon has largely superseded the ordinary covered wagons. Other types of cars include refrigerator cars, stock cars for livestock and autoracks for road vehicles. When rail is combined with road transport, a roadrailer will allow semi-trailers to be driven onto the train, allowing for easy transition between road and rail.

Bulk handling represents a key advantage for rail transport. Low or even zero transshipment costs combined with energy efficiency and low inventory costs allow trains to handle bulk much cheaper than by road. Typical bulk cargo includes coal, ore, grains and liquids. Bulk is transported in open-topped cars and tank cars.

Infrastructure

Main article: Permanent way Left: Railway turnouts; Right: Chicago Transit Authority control tower 18 guides elevated Chicago 'L' north and southbound Purple and Brown lines intersecting with east and westbound Pink and Green lines and the looping Orange line above the Wells and Lake street intersection in the loop at an elevated right of way.

Right of way

Main article: Right-of-way

Railway tracks are laid upon land owned or leased by the railway company. Owing to the desirability of maintaining modest grades, rails will often be laid in circuitous routes in hilly or mountainous terrain. Route length and grade requirements can be reduced by the use of alternating cuttings, bridges and tunnels—all of which can greatly increase the capital expenditures required to develop a right of way, while significantly reducing operating costs and allowing higher speeds on longer radius curves. In densely urbanized areas, railways are sometimes laid in tunnels to minimize the effects on existing properties.

Trackage

Main article: Rail tracks Long freight train crossing the Stoney Creek viaduct on the Canadian Pacific Railway in southern British Columbia

Track consists of two parallel steel rails, anchored perpendicular to members called ties (sleepers) of timber, concrete, steel, or plastic to maintain a consistent distance apart, or gauge. The track guides the conical, flanged wheels, keeping the cars on the track without active steering and therefore allowing trains to be much longer than road vehicles. The rails and ties are usually placed on a foundation made of compressed earth on top of which is placed a bed of ballast to distribute the load from the ties and to prevent the track from buckling as the ground settles over time under the weight of the vehicles passing above. The ballast also serves as a means of drainage. Some more modern track in special areas is attached by direct fixation without ballast. Track may be prefabricated or assembled in place. By welding rails together to form lengths of continuous welded rail, additional wear and tear on rolling stock caused by the small surface gap at the joints between rails can be counteracted; this also makes for a quieter ride (passenger trains). On curves the outer rail may be at a higher level than the inner rail. This is called superelevation or cant. This reduces the forces tending to displace the track and makes for a more comfortable ride for standing livestock and standing or seated passengers. A given amount of superelevation will be the most effective over a limited range of speeds.

Turnouts, also known as points and switches, are the means of directing a train onto a diverging section of track. Laid similar to normal track, a point typically consists of a frog (common crossing), check rails and two switch rails. The switch rails may be moved left or right, under the control of the signalling system, to determine which path the train will follow.

Spikes in wooden ties can loosen over time, but split and rotten ties may be individually replaced with new wooden ties or concrete substitutes. Concrete ties can also develop cracks or splits, and can also be replaced individually. Should the rails settle due to soil subsidence, they can be lifted by specialized machinery and additional ballast tamped under the ties to level the rails. Periodically, ballast must be removed and replaced with clean ballast to ensure adequate drainage. Culverts and other passages for water must be kept clear lest water is impounded by the trackbed, causing landslips. Where trackbeds are placed along rivers, additional protection is usually placed to prevent streambank erosion during times of high water. Bridges require inspection and maintenance, since they are subject to large surges of stress in a short period of time when a heavy train crosses.

Great Western Railway semaphore-type signal

Signalling

Main article: Railway signalling

Railway signalling is a system used to control railway traffic safely to prevent trains from colliding. Being guided by fixed rails with low friction, trains are uniquely susceptible to collision since they frequently operate at speeds that do not enable them to stop quickly or within the driver's sighting distance. Most forms of train control involve movement authority being passed from those responsible for each section of a rail network to the train crew. Not all methods require the use of signals, and some systems are specific to single track railways. The signalling process is traditionally carried out in a signal box, a small building that houses the lever frame required for the signalman to operate switches and signal equipment. These are placed at various intervals along the route of a railway, controlling specified sections of track. More recent technological developments have made such operational doctrine superfluous, with the centralization of signalling operations to regional control rooms. This has been facilitated by the increased use of computers, allowing vast sections of track to be monitored from a single location. The common method of block signalling divides the track into zones guarded by combinations of block signals, operating rules, and automatic-control devices so that only one train may be in a block at any time.

Electrification

Main article: Railway electrification system

The electrification system provides electrical energy to the trains, so they can operate without a prime mover onboard. This allows lower operating costs, but requires large capital investments along the lines. Mainline and tram systems normally have overhead wires, which hang from poles along the line. Grade-separated rapid transit sometimes use a ground third rail. Power may be fed as direct or alternating current. The most common currencies are 600 and 750 V for tram and rapid transit systems, and 1,500 and 3,000 V for mainlines. The two dominant AC systems are 15 kV AC and 25 kV AC.

Stations

Main article: Train station Secunderabad Railway Station in Hyderabad, India

A railway station serves as an area where passengers can board and alight from trains. A goods station is a yard which is exclusively used for loading and unloading cargo. Large passenger stations have at least one building providing conveniences for passengers, such as purchasing tickets and food. Smaller stations typically only consist of a platform. Early stations were sometimes built with both passenger and goods facilities.^[27] Platforms are used to allow easy access to the trains, and are connected to each other via underpasses, footbridge and level crossings. Some large stations are built as cul-de-sac, with trains only operating out from one direction. Smaller stations normally serve local residential areas, and may have connection to feeder bus services. Large stations, in particular central stations, serve as the main public transport hub for the city, and have transfer available between rail services, and to rapid transit, tram or bus services.

Operations

Main article: Rail transport operations In the United States, railways, such as Union Pacific, are privately owned

Ownership

Main article: Railway company

Traditionally, the infrastructure and rolling stock are owned and operated by the same company. This has often been by a national railway, while other companies have had private railways. Since the 1980s, there has been an increasing tendency to split up railway companies, with separate companies owning the stock from those owning the infrastructure, particularly in Europe, where this is required by the European Union. This has allowed open access by any train operator to any portion of the European railway network.

Financing

The main source of income for railway companies is from ticket revenue (for passenger transport) and shipment fees for cargo. Discounts and monthly passes are sometimes available for frequent travellers. Freight revenue may be sold per container slot or for a whole train. Sometimes, the shipper owns the cars and only rents the haulage. For passenger transport, advertisement income can be significant.

Government may choose to give subsidies to rail operation, since rail transport has fewer externalities than other dominant modes of transport. If the railway company is state-owned, the state may simply provide direct subsidies in exchange for an increased production. If operations have been privatized, several options are available. Some countries have a system where the infrastructure is owned by a government agency or company—with open access to the tracks for any company that meets safety requirements. In such cases, the state may choose to provide the tracks free of charge, or for a fee that does not cover all costs. This is seen as analogous to the government providing free access to roads. For passenger operations, a direct subsidy may be paid to a public-owned operator, or public service obligation tender may be helt, and a time-limited contract awarded to the lowest bidder.

Safety

Main article: list of rail accidents pre-1950; 1950–1999; 2000–present.

Train wreck at Montparnasse Station, Paris, France, in 1895.

Rail transport is one of the safest forms of land travel.^[28] Trains can travel at very high speed, but they are heavy, are unable to deviate from the track and require a great distance to stop. Possible accidents include derailment (jumping the track), a head-on collision with another train and collision with an automobile or other vehicle at a level crossings. The latter accounts for the majority of rail accidents and casualties. The most important safety measures are railway signalling and gates or grade separation at crossings. Train whistles warn of the presence of a train, while trackside signals maintain the distances between trains.

Impact

Energy

Rail transport is an energy-efficient ^[29] but capital-intensive means of mechanized land transport. The tracks provide smooth and hard surfaces on which the wheels of the train can roll with a minimum of friction. As an example, a typical modern wagon can hold up to 113 tonnes of freight on two four-wheel bogies. The contact area between each wheel and the rail is a strip no more than a few millimetres wide, which minimizes friction. The track distributes the weight of the train evenly, allowing significantly greater loads per axle and wheel than in road transport, leading to less wear and tear on the permanent way. This can save energy compared with other forms of transportation, such as road transport, which depends on the friction between rubber tires and the road. Trains have a small frontal area in relation to the load they are carrying, which reduces air resistance and thus energy usage, although this does not reduce the effects of side winds.

In addition, the presence of track guiding the wheels allows for very long trains to be pulled by one or a few engines, even around curves, which allows for economies of scale in energy use; by contrast, in road transport, more than two articulations causes fishtailing and makes the vehicle unsafe.

Railway tracks running through Stanhope, United Kingdom

Usage

Due to these benefits, rail transport is a major form of passenger and freight transport in many countries. In India, China, South Korea and Japan, many millions use trains as regular transport. It is widespread in European countries. Freight rail transport is widespread and heavily used in North America, but intercity passenger rail transport on that continent is relatively scarce outside the Northeast Corridor.^[30]

Africa and South America have some extensive networks such as in South Africa, Northern Africa and Argentina; but some railway on these continents are isolated lines connecting two places. Australia has a generally sparse network befitting its population density, but has some areas with significant networks, especially in the southeast. In addition to the previously existing east-west transcontinental line in Australia, a line from north to south has been constructed. The highest railway in the world is the line to Lhasa, in Tibet, partly running over permafrost territory. The western Europe region has the highest railway density in the world, and has many individual trains which operate through several countries despite technical and organizational differences in each national network.

Of 236 countries and dependencies globally, 143 have rail transport (including several with very little), of which about 90 have passenger services.^{[citation needed]}

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Railroad

Look up railway in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Trains portal

• List of rail transport topics
• Rail transport by country
• List of railway companies
• Passenger rail terminology
• International Union of Railways

References

1. ^ According to this source, railways are safest on both a per-mile and per-hour basis, whereas airline transportation is safe only on a per-mile basis
2. ^ Lewis, M. J. T. "Railways in the Greek and Roman World" (pdf). http://www.sciencenews.gr/docs/diolkos.pdf. Retrieved 11 April 2009.
3. ^ Hylton, Stuart (2007). The Grand Experiment: The Birth of the Railway Age 1820-1845. Ian Allan Publishing.
4. ^ Kriechbaum, Reinhard (15 May 2004). "Die große Reise auf den Berg" (in German). der Tagespost. http://www.die-tagespost.de/Archiv/titel_anzeige.asp?ID=8916. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
5. ^ "Der Reiszug - Part 1 - Presentation". Funimag. http://www.funimag.com/funimag10/RESZUG01.HTM. Retrieved 22 April 2009.
6. ^ Georgius Agricola (1913). De re metallica.
7. ^ Porter, Peter (1914). Landmarks of the Niagara Frontier. The Author.
8. ^ Morlok, Edward K. (11 May 2005). "First permanent railroad in the U.S. and its connection to the University of Pennsylvania". http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~morlok/morlokpage/transp_data.html. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
9. ^ Vaughan, A. (1997). Railwaymen, Politics and Money. London: John Murray.
10. ^ ^{a b} Marshall, John (1979). The Guiness Book of Rail Facts & Feats. ISBN 0-900424-56-7.
11. ^ "Surrey Iron Railway 200th - 26th July 2003". Early Railways. Stephenson Locomotive Society. http://www.stephensonloco.fsbusiness.co.uk/surreyiron.htm. Retrieved 19 September.
12. ^ Gordon, W. J. (1910). Our Home Railways, Volume One. London: Frederick Warne and Co. pp. 7–9.
13. ^ http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/rhagor/article/trevithic_loco/
14. ^ "Steam train anniversary begins". BBC. 21 February 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3509961.stm. Retrieved 13 June 2009. "A south Wales town has begun months of celebrations to mark the 200th anniversary of the invention of the steam locomotive. Merthyr Tydfil was the location where, on 21 February 1804, Richard Trevithick took the world into the railway age when he set one of his high-pressure steam engines on a local iron master's tram rails"
15. ^ Payton, Philip (2004). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
16. ^ Chartres, J.. "Richard Trevithick". in Cannon, John. Oxford Companion to British History. p. 932.
17. ^ "Early Days of Mumbles Railway". BBC. 15 February 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/sites/swansea/pages/mumbles_trainanniv.shtml. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
18. ^ "John Blenkinsop". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9001800. Retrieved 10 September 2007.
19. ^ ^{a b} Ellis, Hamilton (1968). The Pictorial Encyclopedia of Railways. Hamlyn Publishing Group.
20. ^ "Liverpool and Manchester". http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RAliverpool.htm. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
21. ^ Dilts, James D. (1996). The Great Road: The Building of the Baltimore and Ohio, the Nation's First Railroad, 1828-1853. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0804726290. http://books.google.com/?id=JjrCWPwvHzIC&lpg=PR18&dq=dilts%20b%26o&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q=first.
22. ^ "The Journal of Ebenezer Mattoon Chamberlain 1832-5", Indiana Magazine of History, Vol. XV, September, 1919, No. 3, p.233ff.
23. ^ Ambrose, Stephen E. (2000). Nothing Like It In The World; The men who built the Transcontinental Railroad 1863-1869. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-84609-8. http://books.google.com/?id=TZp_GT7PscIC&lpg=PP1&dq=ambrose%20nothing%20like%20it&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=.
24. ^ Tokle, Bjørn (2003) (in Norwegian). Communication gjennom 100 år. Meldal: Chr. Salvesen & Chr. Thams's Communications Aktieselskab. p. 54.
25. ^ Associated Press (4 April 2007). "French train breaks speed record". CNN. http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/03/TGVspeedrecord.ap/index.html. Retrieved 3 April 2007.
26. ^ Fouquet, Helene and Viscousi, Gregory (3 April 2007). "French TGV Sets Record, Reaching 357 Miles an Hour (Update2)". Bloomberg. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601085&sid=aW23Aw20niIo&refer=europe. Retrieved 19 September 2007.
27. ^ "The Inception of the English Railway Station". Architectural History (SAHGB Publications Limited) 4: 63–76. 1961. doi:10.2307/1568245. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0066-622X(1961)4%3C63%3ATIOTER%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
28. ^ U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (2010) National Transportation Statistics. Table 2-1: Transportation Fatalities by Mode. (Report). Retrieved 2010-02-14.
29. ^ American Association of Railroads. "Railroad Fuel Efficiency Sets New Record". http://www.progressiverailroading.com/news/article.asp?id=16740. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
30. ^ "Public Transportation Ridership Statistics". American Public Transportation Association. 2007. http://www.apta.com/research/stats/ridership/. Retrieved 10 September 2007.

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