Rail transport
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transferring passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are located on tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prepared flat surface, rail vehicles (rolling stock) are directionally guided by the tracks on which they run. Tracks usually consist of steel rails, installed on sleepers (ties) set in ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as "slab track", in which the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface.
Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tired road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Power is provided by locomotives which either draw electric power from a railway electrification system or produce their own power, usually by diesel engines or, historically, steam engines. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system. Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport.[Nb 1] Railway transport is capable of high levels of passenger and cargo utilisation and energy efficiency, but is often less flexible and more capital-intensive than road transport, when lower traffic levels are considered.
The oldest known, man/animal-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC in Corinth, Greece. Rail transport then commenced in mid 16th century in Germany in the form of horse-powered funiculars and wagonways. Modern rail transport commenced with the British development of the steam locomotive in Merthyr Tydfil when Richard Trevithick ran a steam locomotive and loaded wagons between Penydarren Ironworks and Abercynon in 1802. Thus the railway system in Great Britain is the oldest in the world. Built by George Stephenson and his son Robert's company Robert Stephenson and Company, the Locomotion No. 1 is the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825. George Stephenson also built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use only the steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. With steam engines, one could construct mainline railways, which were a key component of the Industrial Revolution. Also, railways reduced the costs of shipping, and allowed for fewer lost goods, compared with water transport, which faced occasional sinking of ships. The change from canals to railways allowed for "national markets" in which prices varied very little from city to city. The spread of the railway network and the use of railway timetables, led to the standardisation of time (railway time) in Britain based on Greenwich Mean Time. Prior to this, major towns and cities varied their local time relative to GMT. The invention and development of the railway in the United Kingdom was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway (part of the London Underground), opened in 1863.
16th-century minecart, an early example of unpowered rail transport
A DR2800 series passing Sijiaoting railway station in Ruifang District, New Taipei, Taiwan
The SL Hitoyoshi steam-hauled excursion train operating between Kumamoto and Hitoyoshi in Kyushu, Japan
Minecart shown in
De Re Metallica (1556). The guide pin fits in a groove between two wooden planks.
A replica of a "Little Eaton Tramway" wagon, the tracks are plateways
Cast iron fishbelly edge rail manufactured by Outram at the Butterley Company ironworks for the Cromford and High Peak Railway (1831). These are smooth edgerails for wheels with flanges.
Railroad at Central of Georgia roundhouse, circa 1875.
A replica of Trevithick's engine at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea
The
Locomotion at Darlington Railway Centre and Museum
Railway in the 1890s in Helsinki, Finland
Baltimore & Ohio electric engine
Passengers waiting to board a tube train on the London Underground in the early 1900s (sketch by unknown artist)
Maschinenfabrik Oerlikon's first commercially AC-driven locomotive, the tramway in Lugano, Switzerland, 1896
A prototype of a Ganz AC electric locomotive in Valtellina, Italy, 1901
Diagram of Priestman Oil Engine from
The Steam engine and gas and oil engines (1900) by John Perry
Swiss & German co-production: world's first functional diesel–electric railcar 1914
0-Series Shinkansen, introduced in 1964, triggered the intercity train travel boom.
Russian 2TE10U Diesel-electric locomotive
A RegioSwinger multiple unit of the Croatian Railways
Interior view of a high-speed bullet train, manufactured in China
The VR Class Sm3
Pendolino high-speed train at the Central Railway Station of Tampere, Finland
SEPTA Regional Railroad Train
Left: Railway turnouts; Right: Chicago Transit Authority control box 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.
Map of railways in Europe with main operational lines shown in black, heritage railway lines in green and former routes in light blue
Long freight train crossing the Stoney Creek viaduct on the Canadian Pacific Railway in southern British Columbia
Railroad in Macon, Georgia circa 1876
A Hot bearing detector with dragging equipment unit
Bardon Hill box in England (seen here in 2009) is a Midland Railway box dating from 1899, although the original mechanical lever frame has been replaced by electrical switches.
Goods station in Lucerne, Switzerland
In the United States, railroads such as the Union Pacific traditionally own and operate both their rolling stock and infrastructure, with the company itself typically being privately owned.
According to Eurostat and the European Railway Agency, the fatality risk for passengers and occupants on European railways is 28 times lower when compared with car usage (based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008–2010).
[66][67] BNSF Railway freight service in the United States
German Intercity Express (ICE)
Japanese E5 Series Shinkansen
German soldiers in a railway car on the way to the front in August 1914. The message on the car reads
Von München über Metz nach Paris. (From Munich via Metz to Paris).
European rail subsidies in euros per passenger-km for 2008
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