Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at 25 kilovolts (kV) are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail . It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60 Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The development of 25 kV AC electrification is closely connected with that of successfully using utility frequency.
101-640: The Fallowfield Loop railway line was a local railway route in south Manchester , England . Trains on the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) line (later, the Great Central Railway line) from Sheffield Victoria and Guide Bridge used the Loop to access Manchester Central . Some express trains, including the Harwich - Liverpool boat train, used the line. The line
202-531: A Docklands Light Railway train, DLR P86 number 11 which was on loan from GEC Transportation Projects Ltd , prior to its introduction onto the fledgling Docklands system in London; it was the first ever light rail vehicle seen in operation in Manchester. The event was staged jointly by GMPTE , British Rail , British Rail Engineering Limited , GEC, Balfour Beatty and Fairclough Civil Engineering Ltd ; it
303-408: A crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons, although many are preserved in working order by heritage railways . Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via an overhead wire or third rail . Some also or instead use a battery . In locomotives that are powered by high-voltage alternating current ,
404-586: A dining car . Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars . Some long-haul trains have been given a specific name . Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service, making more stops and having 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 . High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways,
505-731: A fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway , now part of the London Underground Northern line . This was the first major railway to use electric traction . The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London , under the River Thames , to Stockwell in south London. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown , then working for Oerlikon , Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC , between
606-542: A funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. Wagonways (or tramways ) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate
707-492: A hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km (170 mi). Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam–electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator , were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than
808-431: A steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal , petroleum , or wood is burned in a firebox , boiling water in the boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney or smoke stack. 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
909-469: A transformer in the locomotive converts the high-voltage low-current power to low-voltage high current used in the traction motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives may use three-phase AC induction motors or direct current motors. Under certain conditions, 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
1010-440: A variable voltage, variable frequency inverter using IGBTs with pulse-width modulation ) to run the motors. The system works in reverse for regenerative braking . The choice of 25 kV was related to the efficiency of power transmission as a function of voltage and cost, not based on a neat and tidy ratio of the supply voltage. For a given power level, a higher voltage allows for a lower current and usually better efficiency at
1111-834: A 20 kV 50 Hz AC system. This part of Germany was in the French zone of occupation after 1945. As a result of examining the German system in 1951 the SNCF electrified the line between Aix-les-Bains and La Roche-sur-Foron in southern France, initially at the same 20 kV but converted to 25 kV in 1953. The 25 kV system was then adopted as standard in France, but since substantial amounts of mileage south of Paris had already been electrified at 1.5 kV DC , SNCF also continued some major new DC electrification projects, until dual-voltage locomotives were developed in
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#17327724430571212-550: A diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through
1313-478: A double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London. William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan , Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge rails. Jessop became a partner in
1414-590: A housing estate was built on the site. The initial section of the Fallowfield Loop line was opened by the MS&;LR ( Cheshire Lines Committee ) between Chorlton-cum-Hardy and Fallowfield on 1 October 1891. The following year, the remaining section between Fallowfield and Fairfield opened on 2 May 1892. The line provided a new route for the MS&LR to run trains from Sheffield into Manchester; local stopping services ran from Fairfield and Gorton on
1515-437: A large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains. A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along
1616-498: A larger locomotive named Galvani , exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors , with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators . It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of one and a half miles (2.4 kilometres). It
1717-423: A locomotive. This involves one or more powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, providing sufficient tractive force to haul the weight of the full train. This arrangement 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 that the engine driver can remotely control the locomotive. This allows one of
1818-774: A new use was found for the line and the old trackbed was converted into a public rail trail path. Today, the Fallowfield Loop path, operated by Sustrans , runs from just south of Fairfield station to St Werburgh's Road Metrolink station ; it forms part of Routes 6 and 60 of the National Cycle Network . The Metrolink light rail tram system, first demonstrated on the Fallowfield Line in 1987, eventually came into operation across Greater Manchester in 1992; it made use of several former British Rail lines, converted for light rail operation. Most of
1919-477: A number of trains per hour (tph). Passenger trains can usually be into two types of operation, intercity railway and intracity transit. Whereas intercity railway involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled), intracity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency (especially during peak hours). Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as
2020-676: A piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury , London, the Catch Me Who Can , but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive
2121-465: A pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive Blücher , also a successful flanged -wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the northeast of England, which became the first public steam railway in
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#17327724430572222-439: 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 . Smooth, durable road surfaces have been made for wheeled vehicles since prehistoric times. In some cases, they were narrow and in pairs to support only the wheels. That is, they were wagonways or tracks. Some had grooves or flanges or other mechanical means to keep
2323-739: A single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen ( Royal Saxon State Railways ) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG . They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 ( de.wiki ). The first regular used diesel–electric locomotives were switcher (shunter) locomotives . General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in
2424-407: A standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world. Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman . Sir William Thomson examined it in 1888 and described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which
2525-632: A terminus about one-half mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway , completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont , has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham . The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which
2626-408: A wheel. This was a large stationary engine , powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump . Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising
2727-472: Is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with the invention of the steam locomotive in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway,
2828-410: Is a single, self-powered car, and may be electrically propelled or powered by a diesel engine . Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and other engines small enough to fit under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains. Steam locomotives are locomotives with
2929-479: Is corrected by connecting each feeder station to a different combination of phases. To avoid the train pantograph bridging together two feeder stations which may be out-of-phase with each other, neutral sections are provided at feeder stations and track sectioning cabins. SVCs are used for load balancing and voltage control. In some cases dedicated single-phase AC power lines were built to substations with single phase AC transformers. Such lines were built to supply
3030-399: Is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel–electric on unelectrified sections and as electric locomotives on electrified sections. Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation , horse-drawn, cable , gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine . A passenger train stops at stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is
3131-427: Is doubled to 50 kV to obtain greater power and increase the distance between substations. Such lines are usually isolated from other lines to avoid complications from interrunning. Examples are: The 2 × 25 kV autotransformer system is a split-phase electric power system which supplies 25 kV power to the trains, but transmits power at 50 kV to reduce energy losses. It should not be confused with
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3232-477: Is one of the two primary means of land transport , next to road transport . It is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed . Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains . Power is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport
3333-400: Is then fed, sometimes several kilometres away, to a railway feeder station located beside the tracks. Switchgear at feeder stations, and at track sectioning cabins located halfway between feeder stations, provides switching to feed the overhead line from adjacent feeder stations if one feeder station loses grid supply. Since only two phases of the high-voltage supply are used, phase imbalance
3434-556: Is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes." In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks . In 1906, Rudolf Diesel , Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered
3535-563: The Hope Valley line to Manchester Central, via Hyde Road , Fallowfield and Chorlton-cum-Hardy , before joining a section of line from Old Trafford into Manchester Central. In 1897, the MS&LR became the Great Central Railway ; in 1923, the line was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Over this period, the Fallowfield Loop line suffered from competition from alternative rail services into Manchester, provided by
3636-722: The Royal train , transporting the Queen and Prince Philip on the formal opening of the DLR. In 1991, DLR Number 11 was the first of the P86 fleet to be sold to the City of Essen , Germany, where it is in service today on the Essen Stadtbahn . Following its closure in 1988, the Fallowfield Loop line's tracks were lifted and the route became derelict and overgrown for several years. Around 2001,
3737-541: The Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825. The quick spread of railways throughout Europe and North America, following the 1830 opening of the first intercity connection in England, was a key component of the Industrial Revolution . The adoption of rail transport lowered shipping costs compared to water transport, leading to "national markets" in which prices varied less from city to city. In
3838-615: The United Kingdom , South Korea , Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates
3939-414: The overhead lines and the supporting infrastructure, as well as the generating station that is needed to produce electricity. 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
4040-458: The puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process , which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron
4141-418: The rotary phase converter , enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high-voltage national networks. An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as
Fallowfield Loop railway line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4242-540: The 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting in the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . The first high-speed railway system was introduced in Japan in 1964, and high-speed rail lines now connect many cities in Europe , East Asia , and the eastern United States . Following some decline due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had
4343-521: The 1930s (the famous " 44-tonner " switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929. In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse. Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph) were started before
4444-472: The 1950s. One of the reasons it was not introduced earlier was the lack of suitable small and lightweight control and rectification equipment before the development of solid-state rectifiers and related technology. Another reason was the increased clearance required under bridges and in tunnels, which would have required major civil engineering in order to provide the increased clearance to live parts. Where existing loading gauges were more generous, this
4545-508: The 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful. The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h (190 mph), has been built in Japan, Spain, France , Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China),
4646-520: The 1960s. The main reason why electrification using utility frequency had not been widely adopted before was the lack of reliability of Mercury arc rectifiers that could fit on the train. This in turn related to the requirement to use DC series motors , which required the current to be converted from AC to DC and for that a rectifier is needed. Until the early 1950s, mercury-arc rectifiers were difficult to operate even in ideal conditions and were therefore unsuitable for use in railway locomotives. It
4747-438: The 1990s, as they can be controlled by voltage, and have an almost ideal torque vs speed characteristic. In the 1990s, high-speed trains began to use lighter, lower-maintenance three-phase AC induction motors. The N700 Shinkansen uses a three-level converter to convert 25 kV single-phase AC to 1,520 V AC (via transformer) to 3 kV DC (via phase-controlled rectifier with thyristor) to a maximum 2,300 V three-phase AC (via
4848-464: The 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line , Switzerland. Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed
4949-413: The 50 kV system. In this system, the current is mainly carried between the overhead line and a feeder transmission line instead of the rail. The overhead line (3) and feeder (5) are on opposite phases so the voltage between them is 50 kV, while the voltage between the overhead line (3) and the running rails (4) remains at 25 kV. Periodic autotransformers (9) divert the return current from
5050-530: The Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers. These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became
5151-514: The DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies : they could only be carried within locomotive bodies. In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. In 1896, Oerlikon installed
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#17327724430575252-613: The French TGV . Railway electrification using 25 kV , 50 Hz AC has become an international standard. There are two main standards that define the voltages of the system: The permissible range of voltages allowed are as stated in the above standards and take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation. This system is now part of the European Union's Trans-European railway interoperability standards (1996/48/EC "Interoperability of
5353-456: The LNER from Levenshulme and later from the electric trams . By the 1930s, the LNER had greatly reduced the stopping services and used the line mostly for express trains. After 1948, the line moved under the ownership of the nationalised British Railways . Briefly, consideration was given to electrification of the line, but instead the local stopping services were withdrawn and Fallowfield station
5454-714: The Trans-European high-speed rail system" and 2001/16/EC "Interoperability of the Trans-European Conventional rail system"). Systems based on this standard but with some variations have been used. In countries where 60 Hz is the normal grid power frequency, 25 kV at 60 Hz is used for the railway electrification. In Japan, this is used on existing railway lines in Tohoku Region , Hokuriku Region , Hokkaido and Kyushu , of which Hokuriku and Kyushu are at 60 Hz . Some lines in
5555-544: The United States have been electrified at 12.5 kV 60 Hz or converted from 11 kV 25 Hz to 12.5 kV 60 Hz . Use of 60 Hz allows direct supply from the 60 Hz utility grid yet does not require the larger wire clearance for 25 kV 60 Hz or require dual-voltage capability for trains also operating on 11 kV 25 Hz lines. Examples are: Early 50 Hz AC railway electrification in the United Kingdom
5656-467: The disused Fallowfield Loop was not included in these plans, except for a short stretch of line between Central station and St. Werburgh's Road . This line was to be developed by re-opening the former Cheshire Lines Committee track, which branches off the Fallowfield line south to East Didsbury . It remained disused for many years, due to lack of funding, until July 2011 when a new Metrolink extension
5757-432: The disused buildings into "Chorltonville", a fictional Southern U.S. -style station which was the setting for a televised performance by prominent Blues artists of the day, including Muddy Waters , Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee , Sister Rosetta Tharpe , Rev. Gary Davis and others. The performers and artists are shown being taken by steam train from Manchester Central to Wilbraham Road and performances take place on
5858-430: The duty of a guard/train manager/conductor . Passenger trains are part of public transport and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains provide long-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit services, operating with a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way requirements, and service frequency. Service frequencies are often expressed as
5959-402: The end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets. In 1784 James Watt , a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive . Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen , hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering
6060-471: The end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways. The first passenger horsecar or tram , Swansea and Mumbles Railway , was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until
6161-527: The engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales . Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon
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#17327724430576262-475: The era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near
6363-522: The first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway . Each 30-tonne locomotive had two 110 kW (150 hp) motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at a constant speed and provide regenerative braking , and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri ) in 1899 on
6464-447: The greater cost for high-voltage equipment. It was found that 25 kV was an optimal point, where a higher voltage would still improve efficiency but not by a significant amount in relation to the higher costs incurred by the need for larger insulators and greater clearance from structures. To avoid short circuits , the high voltage must be protected from moisture. Weather events, such as " the wrong type of snow ", have caused failures in
6565-618: The highest possible radius. All these features are dramatically different from freight operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically feasible. 25 kV AC railway electrification This electrification is ideal for railways that cover long distances or carry heavy traffic. After some experimentation before World War II in Hungary and in the Black Forest in Germany , it came into widespread use in
6666-1230: The limit being regarded at 200 to 350 kilometres per hour (120 to 220 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai maglev 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. Due to their heightened speeds, route alignments for high-speed rail tend to have broader curves than conventional railways, but may have steeper grades that are more easily climbed by trains with large kinetic energy. High kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20 horsepower per short ton or 16 kilowatts per tonne); this allows trains to accelerate and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut and fill and tunnelling requirements). Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures are designed with
6767-429: The locomotive-hauled train's drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the front 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. These are used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar
6868-569: The main portion of the B&;O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified. The London Underground , the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using
6969-433: The mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2 ) proved technically viable. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp , a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used
7070-606: The neutral rail, step it up, and send it along the feeder line. This system was initially deployed on France's then new Paris-Lyon High speed rail line in 1981, and has gone on to be used by New Zealand Railways in 1988, Indian Railways , Russian Railways , Italian High Speed Railways, UK High Speed 1 , most of the West Coast Main Line and Crossrail , with some parts of older lines being gradually converted, French lines (LGV lines and some other lines ), most Spanish high-speed rail lines, Amtrak and some of
7171-412: The noise they made on the tracks. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck , Cumbria , England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot , near Liverpool , sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to
7272-542: The past. An example of atmospheric causes occurred in December 2009, when four Eurostar trains broke down inside the Channel Tunnel . Electric power for 25 kV AC electrification is usually taken directly from the three-phase transmission system . At the transmission substation, a step-down transformer is connected across two of the three phases of the high-voltage supply and lowers the voltage to 25 kV . This
7373-461: The possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick , a British engineer born in Cornwall . This used high-pressure steam to drive
7474-611: The public event, Debdale Park station was dismantled and the timber platform was used to build the new Hag Fold railway station near Wigan; the electric overhead line equipment was taken down and re-used at the Heaton Park Tramway on the lakeside extension. The demonstration train DLR Number 11 was transported to London, where it was put into operation on the Docklands Light Railway. It served as
7575-441: The standard for railways. Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron, usually simply referred to as "iron", was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented
7676-521: The station platforms. Shortly before its demise, the Fallowfield Loop line played an important role in the early development of the Manchester Metrolink tram network; in 1987, the stretch of track at Debdale Park , on the site of the former Hyde Road railway station , was used for a public demonstration of Project Light Rail , the working title for the development of a new light rail / tram network in Manchester. The event made use of
7777-475: The time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway , built in 1830. Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery-electric locomotive. Davidson later built
7878-543: 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 engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control. Traditionally, trains are pulled using
7979-471: The transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica . 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. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from
8080-629: The wheels on track. For example, evidence indicates that a 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos paved trackway transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt . In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug ,
8181-559: The world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive Rocket , which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all
8282-626: Was Budapest–Dunakeszi–Alag. The first fully electrified line was Budapest–Győr–Hegyeshalom (part of the Budapest–Vienna line). Although Kandó's solution showed a way for the future, railway operators outside of Hungary showed a lack of interest in the design. The first railway to use this system was completed in 1936 by the Deutsche Reichsbahn who electrified part of the Höllentalbahn between Freiburg and Neustadt installing
8383-512: Was a soft material that contained slag or dross . The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to the replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails. The introduction of the Bessemer process , enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to
8484-549: Was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814, George Stephenson , inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played
8585-514: Was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton , England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It
8686-706: Was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York . In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching. A system
8787-518: Was closed to passenger services on 7 July 1958. Express services out of Manchester Central continued to use the line, until that terminus was closed in 1969 during implementation of the Beeching cuts . For another two decades, the line was used by freight trains , until the line closed completely in 1988. In 1954, Reddish traction maintenance depot was built alongside the Fallowfield line, between Hyde Road and Levenshulme South stations. Its purpose
8888-417: Was converted to 25 kV AC in December 1984. Several years after its closure, Reddish depot was demolished; the site remained derelict until the late 2000s, when the site was redeveloped for housing. On 7 May 1964, six years after passenger services had been withdrawn from the line, Wilbraham Road railway station featured in a Granada Television music programme, Blues and Gospel Train . Granada transformed
8989-415: Was done using a steam engine beneath a bridge at Crewe . A section of 25 kV overhead line was gradually brought closer to the earthed metalwork of the bridge whilst being subjected to steam from the locomotive's chimney. The distance at which a flashover occurred was measured and this was used as a basis from which new clearances between overhead equipment and structures were derived. Occasionally 25 kV
9090-485: Was formally opened by David Mitchell MP, Minister of State for Transport , on 10 March 1987. Demonstrations were held on 14, 15, 20, 21 and 22 March 1987 at a specially-constructed railway station at Debdale Park. Ticket holders were treated to a short ride on the DLR vehicle along a 1-mile (1.6 km) stretch of track, from just north of the Hyde Road junction to just south of the closed Reddish depot. The DLR train
9191-466: Was fully opened in 1892 and remained in use until 1988; the stations at Hyde Road , Levenshulme South , Fallowfield and Wilbraham Road closed in 1958, following the withdrawal of passenger services. Reddish Traction Depot was built adjacent to the line in 1954, to maintain the new fleet of electric trains for the Woodhead Line . It remained open until 1983; it has since been demolished and
9292-548: Was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates, which came to be known as plateways . John Curr , a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks . In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway ,
9393-565: Was less of an issue. Railways using older, lower-capacity direct-current systems have introduced or are introducing 25 kV AC instead of 3 kV DC/ 1.5 kV DC for their new high-speed lines. The first successful operational and regular use of a utility frequency system dates back to 1931, tests having run since 1922. It was developed by Kálmán Kandó in Hungary, who used 16 kV AC at 50 Hz , asynchronous traction, and an adjustable number of (motor) poles. The first electrified line for testing
9494-489: Was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway . This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This
9595-512: Was opened to passengers between Deansgate-Castlefield (adjacent to the former Central Station) and St Werburgh's Road. A further Metrolink extension along the Didsbury line opened in May 2013. Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport ) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks , which usually consist of two parallel steel rails . Rail transport
9696-425: Was planned to use sections at 6.25 kV AC where there was limited clearance under bridges and in tunnels. Rolling stock was dual-voltage with automatic switching between 25 kV and 6.25 kV . The 6.25 kV sections were converted to 25 kV AC as a result of research work that demonstrated that the distance between live and earthed equipment could be reduced from that originally thought to be necessary. The research
9797-404: Was possible to use AC motors (and some railways did, with varying success), but they have had less than ideal characteristics for traction purposes. This is because control of speed is difficult without varying the frequency and reliance on voltage to control speed gives a torque at any given speed that is not ideal. This is why DC series motors were the most common choice for traction purposes until
9898-540: Was specially fitted with a pantograph and powered by overhead line ; it was driven manually rather than in automatic mode, which was to be normal practice when in operation on the Docklands system. The test track was closed to normal heavy rail traffic on demonstration days and, at night, the DLR train was stationed in a siding and the line was re-opened to freight trains. An exhibition also exhibited examples of street track, overhead line and platform facilities. After
9999-762: Was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. By the middle of the nineteenth century most european countries had military uses for railways. Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway , opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin , Germany, in 1881. It
10100-636: Was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway , using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague . The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting
10201-777: Was to service the new Class EM1 and EM2 electric locomotives and the Class 506 EMUs on the now-electrified Woodhead Line . After the Woodhead line closed beyond Hadfield in 1981, the depot's activity was reduced to servicing the EMUs on the Glossop Line until it was closed in April 1983. Servicing of the Class 506 EMUs was then transferred to Longsight depot , until the Glossop line
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