0_Wizard
Have you ever heard of rail transport? It is also known as train transport.
It is also commonly referred to as train transport.
chosen_Rail_transport_0
Rail transport
chosen_topic_0_Rail_transport
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of transferring of passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, also known as tracks. It is also commonly referred to as train transport. In contrast to road transport, where 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 ties (sleepers) and ballast, on which the rolling stock, usually fitted with metal wheels, moves. Other variations are also possible, such as slab track, where the rails are fastened to a concrete foundation resting on a prepared subsurface.
Transport in the Soviet Union
Transport in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was an important part of the nation's economy. The economic centralisation of the late 1920s and 1930s led to the development of infrastructure at a massive scale and rapid pace. Before the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, there were a wide variety of modes of transport by land, water and air. However, because of government policies before, during and after the Era of Stagnation, investments in transport were low. By the late 1970s and early 1980s Soviet economists were calling for the construction of more roads to alleviate some of the strain from the railways and to improve the state budget.
Rail transport in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union was heavily dependent on rail transport, not least during the Russian Civil War and World War II, but also for industrialization according to the five-year plans. During the Soviet era, freight rail traffic increased 55 times (over that of the Russian empire just before World War I), passenger traffic increased almost 10 times, and the length of the rail network almost doubled. The Soviet Union had a railway network of (excluding industrial railways), of which were electrified. After the foundation of the Soviet Union the People's Commissariat of Railways (NKPS) (after 1946 renamed the Ministry of Railways (МПС)), the railway network expanded to a total length of 106,100 km by 1940 (vs. 81,000 km in 1917 which was exceeded in length only by the United States).
Rail transport in Ethiopia
Rail transport in Ethiopia is done within the National Railway Network of Ethiopia, which is mostly in planning and construction stage and currently consists of four electrified standard gauge railway lines: the Addis Ababa Light Rail, the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, the Awash–Hara Gebeya Railway and the Hara Gebeya–Mek'ele Railway. All railways in Ethiopia are owned and operated by an Ethiopian state-owned enterprise, the Ethiopian Railways Corporation (ERC). A planned legislation opens rail transport to the private sector, from the construction of rail infrastructure to the operation of the same infrastructure and on to the operation of privately owned trains.
Alstom
Alstom is a French multinational company operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, and Pendolino high-speed trains, in addition to suburban, regional and metro trains, and Citadis trams. Alstom (originally as Alsthom) was formed from a merger between Compagnie Française Thomson Houston and the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques in 1928; significant acquisitions included the Constructions Electriques de France (1932), shipbuilder Chantiers de l'Atlantique (1976), and parts of ACEC SA (Belgium, late 1980s).
History of rail transport
The history of rail transport began in 6th century BC in Ancient Greece. It can be divided up into several discrete periods defined by the principal means of track material and motive power used. Evidence indicates that there was 6 to 8.5 km long "Diolkos" paved trackway, which transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. Wheeled vehicles pulled by men and animals ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element, preventing the wagons from leaving the intended route. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. The paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt.
Rail transport in Vietnam
The railway system in Vietnam is owned and operated by the state-owned Vietnam Railways (). The principal route, the single track North-South Railway running between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, accounts for of the network's total length of . The national railway network uses mainly metre gauge, although there are several standard gauge and mixed gauge lines in the North of the country. The first railways in Vietnam were established in the 1880s, with construction beginning in 1888; these included a tram running between the ports of Saigon and Cholon, and a regional rail line connecting Saigon with Mỹ Tho.
1_Apprentice
I have! We recently got a new rail service in my town. It's really fascinating. I'll bet there's a lot of history behind rail transport.