![]() Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck, Cumbria, England, perhaps from the 1560s. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from the noise they made on the tracks. This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica. Wagonways (or tramways) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate the transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. The line still exists and is operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel. In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug, a funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. See also: Funicular, Wagonway, Tramway (industrial), and Plateway Wooden rails introduced 16th-century minecart, an early example of unpowered rail transport Guided ground transport outside the traditional railway definitions, such as monorail or maglev, have been tried but have seen limited use.įollowing a decline after World War II due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had a revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO 2 emissions in the context of concerns about global warming. Many countries are in the process of replacing diesel locomotives with electric locomotives, mainly due to environmental concerns, as in Switzerland, which has completely electrified its network. During the 1960s, electrified high-speed railway systems were introduced in Japan and later in some other countries. Starting during the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives, with steam becoming rare by the 2000s. In the 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. The world's first underground railway, the Metropolitan Railway (part of the London Underground), opened in 1863. The invention and development of the railway in the United Kingdom was one of the most important technological inventions of the 19th century. The use of railway timetables led to standard railway time replacing local mean time. The change from canals to railways allowed for "national markets" in which prices varied little from city to city. Shipping cost less, and fewer goods were lost, than in water transport. Steam engines brought mainline railways, a key component of the Industrial Revolution. 1 became the first steam locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, and the first public inter-city railway line, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830. Modern rail transport began with a British steam locomotive in 1802. Rail transport resumed in mid 16th century in Germany in the form of horse-powered funiculars and wagonways. The oldest known, man/animal-hauled railways date back to the 6th century BC in Corinth, Greece. Railway transport can carry heavy traffic of passengers and cargo at high energy efficiency, but often with less flexibility and more capital intensity than road transport, where traffic is lighter. Railways are a safe land transport system when compared to other forms of transport. Most tracks are accompanied by a signalling system. 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. The operation is carried out by a railway company, providing transport between train stations or freight customer facilities. Rolling stock in a rail transport system generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, so passenger and freight cars (carriages and wagons) can be coupled into longer trains.
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