Rail

Posted December 22nd, 2007 by Anonymous

Rail transport is the transport of passengers and goods by means of wheeled vehicles specially designed to run along railways or railroads . Rail transport is part of the logistics chain, which facilitates the international trading and economic growth in most countries.

Typical railway/railroad tracks consist of two parallel rails, normally made of steel, secured to cross-beams, termed sleepers (U.K.) or 'ties' (U.S.). The sleepers maintain a constant distance between the two rails; a measurement known as the 'gauge' of the track. To maintain the alignment of the track it is either laid on a bed of ballast or else secured to a solid concrete foundation. The whole is referred to as permanent way (UK usage) or right-of-way (North American usage).

Railway rolling stock, which is fitted with metal wheels, moves with low frictional resistance when compared to road vehicles. On the other hand, locomotives and powered cars normally rely on the point of contact of the wheel with the rail for traction and adhesion (the part of the transmitted axle load that makes the wheel "adhere" to the smooth rail). While this is usually sufficient under normal dry rail conditions, adhesion can be reduced or even lost through the presence of unwanted material on the rail surface, such as moisture, grease, ice or dead leaves.

General

Rail transport is an energy-efficient and capital-intensive means of mechanised land transport and is a component of logistics. Along with various engineered components, rails constitute a large part of the permanent way. They 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 125 tons of freight on two four-wheel bogies/trucks (100 tons in UK). The contact area between each wheel and the rail is tiny, a strip no more than a few millimetres wide, which minimizes friction. In addition, the track distributes 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. 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 also have a small frontal area in relation to the load they are carrying, which cuts down on forward air resistance and thus energy usage, although this does not necessarily reduce the effects of side winds.

Due to these various benefits, 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, China, South Korea and Japan. It is also widespread in European countries. By comparison, intercity rail transport in the United States is relatively scarce outside the Northeast Corridor, although a number of major U.S. cities have heavily-used, local rail-based passenger transport systems or light rail or commuter rail operations.

The vehicles travelling on the rails, collectively known as rolling stock , are arranged in a linked series of vehicles called a train, which can include a locomotive if the vehicles are not individually powered. A locomotive (or 'engine') is a powered vehicle used to haul a train of unpowered vehicles. In the U.S.A., individual unpowered vehicles are known generically as cars . These may be passenger carrying or used for freight purposes. For passenger-carrying vehicles, the term carriage or coach is used, while a freight-carrying vehicle is known as a freight car in the United States and a wagon or truck in Great Britain. An individually-powered passenger vehicle is known as a railcar or a power car ; when one or more as these are coupled to one or more unpowered trailer cars as an inseparable unit, this is called a railcar set or multiple unit .

History

The earliest evidence of a railway found thus far was the 6 kilometers (4 mi) Diolkos wagonway, which transported boats across the Corinth isthmus in Greece during the 6th century BC. Trucks pushed by slaves ran in grooves in limestone, which provided the track element, preventing the wagons from leaving the intended route. The Diolkos ran for over 1300 years, until 900 AD. The first horse-drawn wagonways also appeared in ancient Greece, with others to be found on Malta and various parts of the Roman Empire, using cut-stone tracks.

Railways began reappearing in Europe after a hiatus following the collapse of the Roman Empire from around 1550, usually operating with wooden tracks. The first railways in Great Britain (also known as wagonways) were constructed in the early 17th century, mainly for transporting coal from mines to canal wharfs where it could be transferred to a boat for onward shipment. The earliest recorded examples are the Wollaton Wagonway in Nottinghamshire and the Bourtreehill - Broomlands Wagonway in Irvine, Ayrshire. Other examples can be found in Broseley in Shropshire, where wooden rails and flanged wheels were utilised, as on a modern railway. However, the rails were prone to wear out under the pressure, and had to be replaced regularly.

In 1768, the Coalbrookdale Iron Works laid cast iron plates on top of the wooden rails, providing a more durable load-bearing surface. From the late 18th century, iron rails began to appear, with the British civil engineer William Jessop designing smooth iron edge rails, which were to be used in conjunction with flanged iron wheels. Jessop used this innovation on a route between Loughborough and Nanpantan, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1803, Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway in south London, arguably the world's first horse-drawn public railway.

The first locomotive to haul a train of wagons on rails was designed by Cornish engineer Richard Trevithick, and was demonstrated in 1804 on a plateway at Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. Although the locomotive successfully hauled the train, the rail design was not a success, partly because its weight broke a number of the brittle cast-iron plates. Despite this setback, another area of South Wales pioneered rail operations, when, in 1806, a horse-drawn railway was built between Swansea and Mumbles: the Swansea-Mumbles railway started carrying fare-paying passengers in 1807 – 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 (patent no. 3431), and a line was built connecting the Middleton Colliery to Leeds. The locomotive ( The Salamanca ) 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. Due to previous experience with broken rails, the locomotive was made very light and this brought concerns about insufficient adhesion, so instead of driving the wheels directly, the cylinders drove a cogwheel through spur gears, the cogwheel providing traction by engaging with a rack cast into the side of the rail.

In Scotland, the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was the first railway constructed, and was authorised by Act of Parliament in 1808. The civil engineer leading the project was William Jessop, and its 1811 construction meant that it was the first railway in Scotland to utilise a steam locomotive, while it was the only line in Scotland for 14 years. Its representation appeared in the Coat of Arms of the Burgh of Troon. The line was intended to carry coal for the Duke of Portland; and ran services between Kilmarnock and Troon Harbour. The line began life as a 9.5 mile (16 km), double track 4 ft 0 in (1,219 mm) gauge, horse-drawn waggonway.

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