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Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge

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The Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge , also known as the BNSF Railway Bridge 8.8 , is a swing-span , through truss bridge in Portland , Oregon , United States. Currently owned and operated by BNSF Railway , it crosses an anabranch of the Columbia River known as North Portland Harbor and historically as the Oregon Slough. The bridge's northern end is on Hayden Island , which, along with Tomahawk Island, forms the north shore of the channel. Completed in 1908, the two-track bridge is one of only two swing bridges surviving in Portland, which once had several bridges of that type, both for road and rail traffic. The only other remaining swing bridge in the Portland area is another rail-only bridge on the same line, BNSF's nearby Bridge 9.6 , spanning the Columbia River.

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104-498: The bridge is used regularly by freight trains of both BNSF and Union Pacific Railroad , as well as by Amtrak passenger trains on routes connecting Portland with Seattle and with Chicago via Spokane, Washington . The 8.8 in the name is the distance, in miles, from Portland's Union Station , the same as for Bridge 5.1 (across the Willamette River ) and Bridge 9.6 on the same line. The Oregon Slough Railroad Bridge

208-448: A goods station (freight station in US). Smaller locomotives transferred the rail cars from the sidings and goods stations to a classification yard , where each car was coupled to one of several long-distance trains being assembled there, depending on that car's destination. When long enough, or based on a schedule, each long-distance train was then dispatched to another classification yard. At

312-435: A shark skin imitating paint that would reduce drag through a riblet effect. Aircraft are a major potential application for new technologies such as aluminium metal foam and nanotechnology such as the shark skin imitating paint. Propeller systems, such as turboprops and propfans are a more fuel efficient technology than jets . But turboprops have an optimum speed below about 450 mph (700 km/h). This speed

416-662: A bicycle typically requires 100–200 times less energy to produce than an automobile. In addition, bicycles require less space both to park and to operate and they damage road surfaces less, adding an infrastructural factor of efficiency. A motorised bicycle allows human power and the assistance of a 49 cm (3.0 cu in) engine, giving a range of 160 to 200 mpg ‑US (1.5–1.2 L/100 km; 190–240 mpg ‑imp ). Electric pedal-assisted bikes run on as little as 1.0 kWh (3.6 MJ) per 100 km, while maintaining speeds in excess of 30 km/h (19 mph). These best-case figures rely on

520-525: A bicycle will use between 10 and 25 times less energy per distance travelled than a personal car, depending on fuel source and size of the car. This figure does depend on the speed and mass of the rider: greater speeds give higher air drag and heavier riders consume more energy per unit distance. In addition, because bicycles are very lightweight (usually between 7–15 kg) this means they consume very low amounts of materials and energy to manufacture. In comparison to an automobile weighing 1500 kg or more,

624-488: A broad gauge connection. (A metre-gauge connection between the two broad gauge networks, the Transandine Railway was constructed but is not currently in service. See also Trans-Andean railways . ) Most other countries have few rail systems. The standard gauge in the east, connect with Paraguay and Uruguay. The railways of Africa were mostly started by colonial powers to bring inland resources to port. There

728-792: A car, train, or plane. Rail and bus are generally required to serve 'off peak' and rural services, which by their nature have lower loads than city bus routes and inter city train lines. Moreover, due to their 'walk on' ticketing it is much harder to match daily demand and passenger numbers. As a consequence, the overall load factor on UK railways is 35% or 90 people per train: Conversely, airline services generally work on point-to-point networks between large population centres and are 'pre-book' in nature. Using yield management , overall load factors can be raised to around 70–90%. Intercity train operators have begun to use similar techniques, with loads reaching typically 71% overall for TGV services in France and

832-447: A direct rail connection. Despite the closure of many minor lines carload shipping from one company to another by rail remains common. Railroads were early users of automatic data processing equipment, starting at the turn of the twentieth century with punched cards and unit record equipment . Many rail systems have turned to computerized scheduling and optimization for trains which has reduced costs and helped add more train traffic to

936-477: A distance of 45 km. The ship takes 18 days from Tanjung (Singapore) to Rotterdam (Netherlands), 11 from Tanjung to Suez, and 7 from Suez to Rotterdam, which is roughly 430 hours, and has 80 MW, +30 MW. 18 days at a mean speed of 25 knots (46 km/h) gives a total distance of 10,800 nautical miles (20,000 km). Assuming the Emma Maersk consumes diesel (as opposed to fuel oil which would be

1040-405: A heavy train load of people at every stop is inefficient. Modern electric trains therefore use regenerative braking to return current into the catenary while they brake. The International Union of Railways has stated that full stop service commuter trains reduce emissions by 8-14% by employing regenerative braking, and very dense suburban network trains by ~30%. High-speed electric trains like

1144-544: A higher share of the energy contained in the original Uranium is used in France than in e.g. the United States with its once thru fuel cycle . The specific energy consumption of the trains worldwide amounts to about 150 kJ/pkm (kilojoule per passenger kilometre) and 150 kJ/tkm (kilojoule per tonne kilometre) (ca. 4.2 kWh/100 pkm and 4.2 kWh/100 tkm) in terms of final energy. Passenger transportation by rail systems requires less energy than by car or plane (one seventh of

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1248-450: A human doing 70% of the work, with around 3.6 MJ (1.0 kWh) per 100 km coming from the motor. This makes an electric bicycle one of the most efficient possible motorised vehicles, behind only a motorised velomobile and an electric unicycle (EUC). Electric kick scooters, such as those used by scooter-sharing systems like Bird or Lime , typically have a maximum range of under 30 km (19 mi) and are commonly limited to

1352-452: A location, whose origin/destination was a rail terminal yard. This product sometimes arrived at/departed from that yard by means of a through freight. At a minimum, a way freight comprised a locomotive and caboose, to which cars called pickups and setouts were added or dropped off along the route. For convenience, smaller consignments might be carried in the caboose , which prompted some railroads to define their cabooses as way cars, although

1456-626: A lot of energy to produce and are used for relatively short periods will require a great deal more energy over their effective lifespan than those that do not, and are therefore much less energy efficient than they may otherwise seem. Hybrid and electric cars use less energy in their operation than comparable petroleum-fuelled cars but more energy is used to manufacture them, so the overall difference would be less than immediately apparent. Compare, for example, walking, which requires no special equipment at all, and an automobile, produced in and shipped from another country, and made from parts manufactured around

1560-587: A maximum speed of 25 km/h (15.5 mph). Intended to fit into a last mile niche and be ridden in bike lanes, they require little skill from the rider. Because of their light weight and small motors, they are extremely energy-efficient with a typical energy efficiency of 1.1 kWh (4.0 MJ) per 100 km (1904 MPGe 810 km/L 0.124 L/100 km), even more efficient than bicycles and walking. However, as they must be recharged frequently, they are often collected overnight with motor vehicles, somewhat negating this efficiency. The lifecycle of electric scooters

1664-457: A new, but little-used, connection to the standard-gauge network is available at Zahedan . The four major Eurasian networks link to neighboring countries and to each other at several break of gauge points. Containerization has facilitated greater movement between networks, including a Eurasian Land Bridge . Canada , Mexico and the United States are connected by an extensive, unified standard gauge rail network. The one notable exception

1768-673: A port. Rail freight uses many types of goods wagon (UIC) or freight car (US). These include box cars (US) or covered wagons (UIC) for general merchandise, flat cars (US) or flat wagons (UIC) for heavy or bulky loads, well wagons or "low loader" wagons for transporting road vehicles; there are refrigerator vans for transporting food, simple types of open-topped wagons for transporting bulk material, such as minerals and coal , and tankers for transporting liquids and gases. Most coal and aggregates are moved in hopper wagons or gondolas (US) or open wagons (UIC) that can be filled and discharged rapidly, to enable efficient handling of

1872-420: A rail line through Central America to South America. Brazil has a large rail network, mostly metre gauge, with some broad gauge. It runs some of the heaviest iron ore trains in the world on its metre gauge network. Argentina have Indian gauge networks in the south, standard gauge in the east and metre gauge networks in the north. The metre gauge networks are connected at one point, but there has never been

1976-466: A result, three major rail gauges are in use. A standard gauge Trans-Australian Railway spans the continent. In 2011, North American railroads operated 1,471,736 freight cars and 31,875 locomotives, with 215,985 employees, They originated 39.53 million carloads (averaging 63 tons each) and generated $ 81.7 billion in freight revenue. The largest (Class 1) U.S. railroads carried 10.17 million intermodal containers and 1.72 million trailers. Intermodal traffic

2080-506: A road vehicle. Several types of cargo are not suited for containerization or bulk; these are transported in special cars custom designed for the cargo. Less-than-carload freight is any load that does not fill a boxcar or box motor or less than a Boxcar load . Historically in North America, trains might be classified as either way freight or through freight. A way freight generally carried less-than-carload shipments to/from

2184-526: A standard design feature, hilly terrain would have less impact on an EUC compared to a vehicle with friction brakes such as a push bike. This combined with the single wheel ground interaction may make the EUC the most efficient known vehicle at low speeds (below 25 km/h), with the velomobile overtaking the position as most efficient at higher speeds due to superior aerodynamics. Automobiles are generally inefficient when compared to other modes of transport, due to

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2288-639: A town or area, by hopping a freight train is sometimes referred to as "catching-out", as in catching a train out of town. Bulk cargo constitutes the majority of tonnage carried by most freight railroads. Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. These cargo are usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, as a liquid or solid, into a railroad car . Liquids, such as petroleum and chemicals, and compressed gases are carried by rail in tank cars . Hopper cars are freight cars used to transport dry bulk commodities such as coal , ore , grain , track ballast , and

2392-522: A variable pitch propfan that produced less noise and achieved high speeds. Related to fuel efficiency is the impact of aviation emissions on climate . Cunard stated that Queen Elizabeth 2 travelled 49.5 feet per imperial gallon of diesel oil (3.32 m/L or 41.2 ft/US gal), and that it had a passenger capacity of 1777. Thus carrying 1777 passengers we can calculate an efficiency of 16.7 passenger miles per imperial gallon (16.9 L/100 p·km or 13.9 p·mpg –US ). MS  Oasis of

2496-438: A viable competitor where water transport is available. Freight trains are sometimes illegally boarded by individuals who do not have the money or the desire to travel legally, a practice referred to as " hopping ". Most hoppers sneak into train yards and stow away in boxcars. Bolder hoppers will catch a train "on the fly", that is, as it is moving, leading to occasional fatalities, some of which go unrecorded. The act of leaving

2600-538: Is also notably shorter than that of bicycles, often reaching only a single digit number of years. An electric unicycle (EUC) cross electric skateboard variant called the Onewheel Pint can carry a 50 kg person 21.5 km at an average speed of 20 km/h. The battery holds 148Wh. Without taking energy lost to heat in the charging stage into account, this equates to an efficiency of 6.88Wh/km or 0.688kWh/100 km. Additionally, with regenerative braking as

2704-427: Is consumed by an average fossil fuel or electric car (the velomobile efficiency corresponds to 4700 miles per US gallon, 2000 km/L, or 0.05 L/100 km). Real energy from food used by human is 4–5 times more. Unfortunately their energy efficiency advantage over bicycles becomes smaller with decreasing speed and disappears at around 10 km/h where power needed for velomobiles and triathlon bikes are almost

2808-488: Is generated, the actual primary energy use may be higher. Driving practices and vehicles can be modified to improve their energy efficiency by about 15%. Automobile fuel efficiency is most commonly expressed in terms of the volume of fuel consumed per one hundred kilometres (l/100 km), but in some countries (including the United States, the United Kingdom and India) it is more commonly expressed in terms of

2912-535: Is less than used with jets by major airlines today. With the current high price for jet fuel and the emphasis on engine/airframe efficiency to reduce emissions, there is renewed interest in the propfan concept for jetliners that might come into service beyond the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 XWB. For instance, Airbus has patented aircraft designs with twin rear-mounted counter-rotating propfans. NASA has conducted an Advanced Turboprop Project (ATP), where they researched

3016-502: Is limited to (at best) Carnot efficiency and there are transmission losses on the way from the power plant to the train. Switzerland, which has electrified virtually its entire railway network ( heritage railways like the Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke being notable exceptions), derives much of the electricity used by trains from hydropower , including pumped hydro storage . While the mechanical efficiency of

3120-418: Is maximized. Efficiency varies significantly with passenger loads, and losses incurred in electricity generation and supply (for electrified systems), and, importantly, end-to-end delivery, where stations are not the originating final destinations of a journey. While electric motors used in most passenger trains are more efficient than internal combustion engines , power generation in thermal power plants

3224-551: Is moved by containers stacked on transport ships; 26% of all container transshipment is carried out in China. As of 2005 , some 18 million total containers make over 200 million trips per year. Use of the same basic sizes of containers across the globe has lessened the problems caused by incompatible rail gauge sizes in different countries by making transshipment between different gauge trains easier. While typically containers travel for many hundreds or even thousands kilometers on

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3328-471: Is normally measured in terms of the mass of transported cargo times distance per unit of energy, in the SI, kilograms metres per joule ( kg.m/J ). Volumetric efficiency with respect to vehicle capacity may also be reported, such as passenger-mile per gallon (PMPG), obtained by multiplying the miles per gallon of fuel by either the passenger capacity or the average occupancy. The occupancy of personal vehicles

3432-406: Is not carried on the train, only the trailer. Piggyback trains are common in the United States, where they are also known as trailer on flat car or TOFC trains, but they have lost market share to containers (COFC), with longer, 53-foot containers frequently used for domestic shipments. There are also roadrailer vehicles, which have two sets of wheels, for use in a train, or as the trailer of

3536-575: Is owned by private companies that also operate freight trains on those tracks. Since the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, the freight rail industry in the U.S. has been largely deregulated. Freight cars are routinely interchanged between carriers, as needed, and are identified by company reporting marks and serial numbers. Most have computer readable automatic equipment identification transponders. With isolated exceptions , freight trains in North America are hauled by diesel locomotives , even on

3640-409: Is required by the crew to steer the boat and adjust the sails using lines. In addition energy will be needed for demands other than propulsion, such as cooking, heating or lighting. The fuel efficiency of a single-occupancy boat is highly dependent on the size of its engine, the speed at which it travels, and its displacement. With a single passenger, the equivalent energy efficiency will be lower than in

3744-840: Is still the main use of freight railroads. Greater connectivity opens the rail network to other freight uses including non-export traffic. Rail network connectivity is limited by a number of factors, including geographical barriers, such as oceans and mountains, technical incompatibilities, particularly different track gauges and railway couplers , and political conflicts. The largest rail networks are located in North America and Eurasia. Long distance freight trains are generally longer than passenger trains, with greater length improving efficiency. Maximum length varies widely by system. ( See longest trains for train lengths in different countries.) Many countries are moving to increase speed and volume of rail freight in an attempt to win markets over or to relieve overburdened roads and/or speed up shipping in

3848-515: Is the busiest freight line in the world Such economies of scale drive down operating costs. Some freight trains can be over 7 km long. Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using standard shipping containers (also known as ' ISO containers' or 'isotainers') that can be loaded with cargo, sealed and placed onto container ships , railroad cars , and trucks . Containerization has revolutionized cargo shipping. As of 2009 approximately 90% of non- bulk cargo worldwide

3952-472: Is the isolated Alaska Railroad , which is connected to the main network by rail barge . Due primarily to external factors such as geography and the commodity mix favoring commodities such as coal, the modal share of freight rail in North America is one of the highest worldwide. Rail freight is well standardized in North America, with Janney couplers and compatible air brakes . The main variations are in loading gauge and maximum car weight. Most trackage

4056-945: Is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers . A freight train , cargo train, or goods train is a group of freight cars (US) or goods wagons ( International Union of Railways ) hauled by one or more locomotives on a railway, transporting cargo all or some of the way between the shipper and the intended destination as part of the logistics chain. Trains may haul bulk material , intermodal containers , general freight or specialized freight in purpose-designed cars. Rail freight practices and economics vary by country and region. When considered in terms of ton-miles or tonne-kilometers hauled, energy efficiency can be greater with rail transportation than with other means. Maximum economies are typically realized with bulk commodities (e.g., coal ), especially when hauled over long distances. Moving goods by rail often involves transshipment costs, particularly when

4160-438: Is the useful travelled distance , of passengers, goods or any type of load; divided by the total energy put into the transport propulsion means. The energy input might be rendered in several different types depending on the type of propulsion, and normally such energy is presented in liquid fuels , electrical energy or food energy . The energy efficiency is also occasionally known as energy intensity . The inverse of

4264-403: Is typically lower than capacity by a considerable degree and thus the values computed based on capacity and on occupancy will often be quite different. Energy efficiency is expressed in terms of fuel economy: Energy consumption (reciprocal efficiency) is expressed terms of fuel consumption: Electricity consumption: Producing electricity from fuel requires much more primary energy than

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4368-591: Is used in India for selected freight-only lines. In some countries rolling highway , or rolling road, trains are used; trucks can drive straight onto the train and drive off again when the end destination is reached. A system like this is used on the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, as well as on the Konkan Railway in India. In other countries, the tractor unit of each truck

4472-410: Is used, while for any type of human-propelled vehicle, the energy input is measured in terms of Calories . It is typical to convert between different types of energy and units. For passenger transport , the energy efficiency is normally measured in terms of passengers times distance per unit of energy, in the SI, passengers metres per joule ( pax.m/J ); while for cargo transport the energy efficiency

4576-685: The N700 Series Shinkansen (the Bullet Train ) employ regenerative braking, but due to the high speed, UIC estimates regenerative braking to only reduce emissions by 4.5%. A principal determinant of energy consumption in aircraft is drag , which must be in the opposite direction of motion to the craft. Passenger airplanes averaged 4.8 L/100 km per passenger (1.4 MJ/passenger-km) (49 passenger-miles per gallon) in 1998. On average 20% of seats are left unoccupied. Jet aircraft efficiencies are improving: Between 1960 and 2000 there

4680-468: The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe) in 1996 to form BNSF Railway. A fire was seen on the span and put out on February 26, 2019, temporarily shutting down all train traffic. The bridge's swing span is opened for river traffic an average of only 12 times per month. Operation of the swing span is performed by an on-call operator. Freight rail transport Rail freight transport

4784-489: The International System of Units , the energy efficiency in transport is measured in terms of metre per joule, or m/J . Nonetheless, several conversions are applicable, depending on the unit of distance and on the unit of energy. For liquid fuels , normally the quantity of energy input is measured in terms of the liquid's volume, such as litres or gallons. For propulsion which runs on electricity, normally kWh

4888-539: The 2010s, most North American Class I railroads have adopted some form of precision railroading . The Guatemala railroad is currently inactive, preventing rail shipment south of Mexico. Panama has freight rail service, recently converted to standard gauge, that parallels the Panama Canal . A few other rail systems in Central America are still in operation, but most have closed. There has never been

4992-473: The Airbus A380. Further developed Minix winglets have been said to offer 6 percent reduction in fuel consumption. Winglets at the tip of an aircraft wing smooth out the wing-tip vortex (reducing the aircraft's wing drag) and can be retrofitted to any airplane. NASA and Boeing are conducting tests on a 500 lb (230 kg) " blended wing " aircraft. This design allows for greater fuel efficiency since

5096-567: The European MEET project (Methodologies for Estimating Air Pollutant Emissions) illustrate the different consumption patterns over several track sections. The results show the consumption for a German ICE high-speed train varied from around 19 to 33 kW⋅h/km (68–119 MJ/km; 31–53 kW⋅h/mi). The Siemens Velaro D type ICE trains seat 460 (16 of which in the restaurant car ) in their 200-meter length edition of which two can be coupled together. Per Deutsche Bahn calculations,

5200-641: The European Union participate in an auto-gauge network. The United Kingdom is linked to this network via the Channel Tunnel . The Marmaray project connects Europe with eastern Turkey, Iran, and the Middle East via a rail tunnel under the Bosphorus . The 57-km Gotthard Base Tunnel improved north–south rail connections when it opened in 2016. Spain and Portugal are mostly broad gauge, though Spain has built some standard gauge lines that connect with

5304-550: The European high-speed passenger network. A variety of electrification and signaling systems is in use, though this is less of an issue for freight; however, clearances prevent double-stack service on most lines. Buffer-and-screw couplings are generally used between freight vehicles, although there are plans to develop an automatic coupler compatible with the Russian SA3. See Railway coupling conversion . The countries of

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5408-479: The San Francisco Bay Area, while the 2006 UK estimated average is 1.58. Due to the efficiency of electric motors, electric cars are much more efficient than their internal combustion engine counterparts, consuming on the order of 38 megajoules (38 000 kJ) per 100 km in comparison to 142 megajoules per 100 km for combustion powered cars. However, depending on the way the electricity

5512-481: The Seas has a capacity of 6,296 passengers and a fuel efficiency of 14.4 passenger miles per US gallon. Voyager-class cruise ships have a capacity of 3,114 passengers and a fuel efficiency of 12.8 passenger miles per US gallon. Emma Maersk uses a Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C , which consumes 163 g/kWh and 13,000 kg/h. If it carries 13,000 containers then 1 kg fuel transports one container for one hour over

5616-630: The Spokane line would also follow the north bank, running east from Vancouver. East from Portland, the south bank of the Columbia already had a rail line, owned by the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (later absorbed by Union Pacific Railroad ). As with the other two opening bridges built concurrently on the same Portland–Vancouver line, the span was designed by bridge engineer Ralph Modjeski . Construction started in 1906, and most of

5720-663: The United States and Canada, where much larger and heavier cars are more common. The usage of private vehicles can be significantly decreased and can help to promote sustainable urban growth if more appealing non-motorized transportation options are developed, as well as more comfortable public transportation environments. Trains are in general one of the most efficient means of transport for freight and passengers . Advantages of trains include low friction of steel wheels on steel rails, as well as an intrinsic high occupancy rate. Train lines are typically used to serve urban or inter-urban transit applications where their capacity utilization

5824-483: The age of online shopping . In Japan, trends towards adding rail freight shipping are more due to availability of workers rather than other concerns. Rail freight tonnage as a percent of total moved by country: Rail freight ton-milage as a percent of total moved by country: There are four major interconnecting rail networks on the Eurasian land mass, along with other smaller national networks. Most countries in

5928-425: The amount of electricity produced. Energy consumption: In the following table the energy efficiency and energy consumption for different types of passenger land vehicles and modes of transport, as well as standard occupancy rates, are presented. The sources for these figures are in the correspondent section for each vehicle, in the following article. The conversions amongst different types of units, are well known in

6032-458: The art. For the conversion amongst units of energy in the following table, 1 litre of petrol amounts to 34.2 MJ , 1 kWh amounts to 3.6 MJ and 1 kilocalorie amounts to 4184 J. For the car occupation ratio, the value of 1.2 passengers per automobile was considered. Nonetheless, in Europe this value slightly increases to 1.4. The sources for conversions amongst units of measurements appear only of

6136-638: The bridge structural work was completed by mid-1908. The first train crossed the span on October 23, 1908, and the bridge opened for regular use in November 1908. The 334-foot-long (102 m) swing-span section is located at the south end. The remainder consists of seven shorter fixed-truss spans, each approximately 162 ft (49 m) in length. The bridge's owner and operator was the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway until that company's merger with other railroads in 1970 to form Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) and then BN until it, in turn, merged with

6240-402: The consumption per unit distance per vehicle increases with increasing number of passengers, this increase is slight compared to the reduction in consumption per unit distance per passenger. This means that higher occupancy yields higher energy efficiency per passenger. Automobile occupancy varies across regions. For example, the estimated average occupancy rate is about 1.3 passengers per car in

6344-477: The distance per volume fuel consumed (km/L or miles per gallon ). This is complicated by the different energy content of fuels such as petrol and diesel. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) states that the energy content of unleaded petrol is 115,000 British thermal unit (BTU) per US gallon (32 MJ/L) compared to 130,500 BTU per US gallon (36.4 MJ/L) for diesel. Automobiles have significant energy use in their life cycle, not directly attributable to

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6448-633: The electrified Northeast Corridor . Ongoing freight-oriented development includes upgrading more lines to carry heavier and taller loads, particularly for double-stack service, and building more efficient intermodal terminals and transload facilities for bulk cargo. Many railroads interchange in Chicago, and a number of improvements are underway or proposed to eliminate bottlenecks there. The U.S. Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandates eventual conversion to Positive Train Control signaling. In

6552-421: The elements (chiefly rain) such as grain, sugar, and fertilizer. Open cars are used for commodities such as coal, which can get wet and dry out with less harmful effect. Hopper cars have been used by railways worldwide whenever automated cargo handling has been desired. Rotary car dumpers simply invert the car to unload it, and have become the preferred unloading technology, especially in North America; they permit

6656-530: The energy efficiency in any type of vehicle, experts tend to measure the energy in the International System of Units , i.e., joules . Therefore, in the International System of Units, the energy efficiency in transport is measured in terms of metre per joule, or m/J, while the energy consumption in transport is measured in terms of joules per metre, or J/m. The more efficient the vehicle, the more metres it covers with one joule (more efficiency), or

6760-427: The energy efficiency in transport is the energy consumption in transport. Energy efficiency in transport is often described in terms of fuel consumption , fuel consumption being the reciprocal of fuel economy . Nonetheless, fuel consumption is linked with a means of propulsion which uses liquid fuels , whilst energy efficiency is applicable to any sort of propulsion. To avoid said confusion, and to be able to compare

6864-455: The energy needed to move a person by car in an urban context, ). This is the reason why, although accounting for 9% of world passenger transportation activity (expressed in pkm) in 2015, rail passenger services represented only 1% of final energy demand in passenger transportation. Energy consumption estimates for rail freight vary widely, and many are provided by interested parties. Some are tabulated below. Having to accelerate and decelerate

6968-410: The energy of the fuel consumed, to accurately account for the total energy used. Finally, vehicle energy efficiency calculations would be misleading without factoring the energy cost of producing the vehicle itself. This initial energy cost can of course be depreciated over the life of the vehicle to calculate an average energy efficiency over its effective life span. In other words, vehicles that take

7072-618: The energy used per 100 seat-km is the equivalent of 0.33 litres (12 imp fl oz) of gasoline (0.33 litres per 100 kilometres (860 mpg ‑imp ; 710 mpg ‑US )). The data also reflects the weight of the train per passenger. For example, TGV double-deck Duplex trains use lightweight materials, which keep axle loads down and reduce damage to track and also save energy. The TGV mostly runs on French nuclear fission power plants which are again limited – as all thermal power plants – to Carnot efficiency . Due to nuclear reprocessing being standard operating procedure,

7176-485: The fewer joules it uses to travel over one metre (less consumption). The energy efficiency in transport largely varies by means of transport. Different types of transport range from some hundred kilojoules per kilometre (kJ/km) for a bicycle to tens of megajoules per kilometre (MJ/km) for a helicopter . Via type of fuel used and rate of fuel consumption, energy efficiency is also often related to operating cost ($ /km) and environmental emissions (e.g. CO 2 /km). In

7280-464: The first row. A 68 kg (150 lb) person walking at 4 km/h (2.5 mph) requires approximately 210 kilocalories (880 kJ) of food energy per hour, which is equivalent to 4.55 km/MJ. 1 US gal (3.8 L) of petrol contains about 114,000 British thermal units (120 MJ) of energy, so this is approximately equivalent to 360 miles per US gallon (0.65 L/100 km). Velomobiles (enclosed recumbent bicycles) have

7384-626: The fleet-average annual improvement per available seat-kilometre was estimated at 2.4%. Concorde the supersonic transport managed about 17 passenger-miles to the Imperial gallon; similar to a business jet, but much worse than a subsonic turbofan aircraft. Airbus puts the fuel rate consumption of their A380 at less than 3 L/100 km per passenger (78 passenger-miles per US gallon). The mass of an aircraft can be reduced by using light-weight materials such as titanium , carbon fibre and other composite plastics. Expensive materials may be used, if

7488-409: The former Soviet Union , along with Finland and Mongolia , participate in a Russian gauge -compatible network, using SA3 couplers . Major lines are electrified. Russia's Trans-Siberian Railroad connects Europe with Asia, but does not have the clearances needed to carry double-stack containers. Numerous connections are available between Russian-gauge countries with their standard-gauge neighbors in

7592-492: The highest energy efficiency of any known mode of personal transport because of their small frontal area and aerodynamic shape. At a speed of 50 km/h (31 mph), the velomobile manufacturer WAW claims that only 0.5 kWh (1.8 MJ) of energy per 100 km is needed to transport the passenger (= 18 J/m). This is around 1 ⁄ 5 (20%) of what is needed to power a standard upright bicycle without aerodynamic cladding at same speed, and 1 ⁄ 50 (2%) of that which

7696-469: The idea of the first double-stack intermodal car in 1977. SP then designed the first car with ACF Industries that same year. At first it was slow to become an industry standard, then in 1984 American President Lines started working with the SP and that same year, the first all "double stack" train left Los Angeles, California for South Kearny, New Jersey , under the name of "Stacktrain" rail service. Along

7800-414: The latter ceased, and the public sector took over passenger transportation. Railroads are subject to the network effect : the more points they connect to, the greater the value of the system as a whole. Early railroads were built to bring resources, such as coal, ores and agricultural products from inland locations to ports for export. In many parts of the world, particularly the southern hemisphere, that

7904-462: The like. This type of car is distinguished from a gondola car (US) or open wagon (UIC) in that it has opening doors on the underside or on the sides to discharge its cargo. The development of the hopper car went along with the development of automated handling of such commodities, with automated loading and unloading facilities. There are two main types of hopper car: open and covered; Covered hopper cars are used for cargo that must be protected from

8008-517: The materials. Rail transport is very energy-efficient, and much more environmentally friendly than road transport. Compared to road transport whісh employs the uѕе of trucks (lorries) , rail transportation ensures that goods that соuld оtherwіѕе be transported on а number of trucks are transported in а single shipment. Thіѕ saves а lot аѕ fаr аѕ cost connected to the transportation are concerned. Rail freight transport also has very low external costs . Therefore, many governments have been stimulating

8112-437: The more precise fuel) then 1 kg diesel = 1.202 litres = 0.317 US gallons. This corresponds to 46,525 kJ. Assuming a standard 14 tonnes per container (per teu) this yields 74 kJ per tonne-km at a speed of 45 km/h (24 knots). A sailboat , much like a solar car, can locomote without consuming any fuel. A sail boat such as a dinghy using just wind power requires no input energy in terms of fuel. However some manual energy

8216-817: The next classification yard, cars are resorted . Those that are destined for stations served by that yard are assigned to local trains for delivery. Others are reassembled into trains heading to classification yards closer to their final destination. A single car might be reclassified or switched in several yards before reaching its final destination, a process that made rail freight slow and increased costs. Because, of this, freight rail operators have continually tried to reduce these costs by reducing or eliminating switching in classification yards through techniques such as unit trains and containerization , and in some countries these have completely replaced mixed freight trains. In many countries, railroads have been built to haul one commodity, such as coal or ore, from an inland point to

8320-462: The rails. Freight railroads' relationship with other modes of transportation varies widely. There is almost no interaction with airfreight , close cooperation with ocean-going freight and a mostly competitive relationship with long distance trucking and barge transport. Many businesses ship their products by rail if they are shipped long distance because it can be cheaper to ship in large quantities by rail than by truck; however barge shipping remains

8424-413: The railway, Swiss experience shows that with properly coordinated logistics, it is possible to operate a viable intermodal (truck + rail) cargo transportation system even within a country as small as Switzerland . Most flatcars (flat wagons) cannot carry more than one standard 40-foot (12.2 m) container on top of another because of limited vertical clearance , even though they usually can carry

8528-491: The railway. Many factories did not have direct rail access. This meant that freight had to be shipped through a goods station , sent by train and unloaded at another goods station for onward delivery to another factory. When lorries (trucks) replaced horses it was often economical and faster to make one movement by road. In the United States, particularly in the West and Midwest , towns developed with railway and factories often had

8632-550: The rare earth metals and other materials used in lithium-ion batteries and in the electric drive motors. This represents a significant portion of the energy used over the life of the car (in some cases nearly as much as energy that is used through the fuel that is consumed, effectively doubling the car's per-distance energy consumption), and cannot be ignored when comparing automobiles to other transport modes. As these are average numbers for French automobiles and they are likely to be significantly larger in more auto-centric countries like

8736-541: The reduction of mass justifies the price of materials through improved fuel efficiency. The improvements achieved in fuel efficiency by mass reduction, reduces the amount of fuel that needs to be carried. This further reduces the mass of the aircraft and therefore enables further gains in fuel efficiency. For example, the Airbus A380 design includes multiple light-weight materials. Airbus has showcased wingtip devices (sharklets or winglets) that can achieve 3.5 percent reduction in fuel consumption. There are wingtip devices on

8840-410: The relatively high weight of the vehicle compared to its occupants. On a percentage basis, if there is one occupant in an automobile, only about 0.5% of the total energy used is used to move the person in the car, while the remaining 99.5% (about 200 times more) is used to move the car itself. An important driver of energy consumption of cars per passenger is the occupancy rate of the vehicle. Although

8944-470: The running of the vehicle. An important consideration is the energy costs of producing the energy form used by the automobile. Bio-fuels, electricity and hydrogen , for instance, have significant energy inputs in their production. Hydrogen production efficiency are 50–70% when produced from natural gas, and 10–15% from electricity. The efficiency of hydrogen production, as well as the energy required to store and transport hydrogen, must to be combined with

9048-469: The same. A standard lightweight, moderate-speed bicycle is one of the most energy-efficient forms of transport. Compared with walking, a 64 kg (140 lb) cyclist riding at 16 km/h (10 mph) requires about half the food energy per unit distance: 27 kcal/km, 3.1 kWh (11 MJ) per 100 km, or 43 kcal/mi. This converts to about 732 mpg ‑US (0.321 L/100 km; 879 mpg ‑imp ). This means that

9152-501: The shipper or receiver lack direct rail access. These costs may exceed that of operating the train itself, a factor that practices such as containerization , trailer-on-flatcar or rolling highway aim to minimize. Traditionally, large shippers built factories and warehouses near rail lines and had a section of track on their property called a siding where goods were loaded onto or unloaded from rail cars. Other shippers had their goods hauled ( drayed ) by wagon or truck to or from

9256-536: The standard-gauge network of North Korea in the east, with the Russian-gauge network of Russia, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan in the north, and with the meter-gauge network of Vietnam in the south. India and Pakistan operate entirely on broad gauge networks. Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts currently restrict rail traffic between the two countries to two passenger lines. There are also links from India to Bangladesh and Nepal, and from Pakistan to Iran, where

9360-424: The switch of freight from trucks onto trains, because of the environmental benefits that it would bring. Railway transport and inland navigation (also known as 'inland waterway transport' (IWT) or 'inland shipping') are similarly environmentally friendly modes of transportation, and both form major parts of the 2019 European Green Deal . In Europe (particularly Britain), many manufacturing towns developed before

9464-466: The term equally applied to boxcars used for that purpose. Way stops might be industrial sidings, stations/flag stops, settlements, or even individual residences. With the difficulty of maintaining an exact schedule, way freights yielded to scheduled passenger and through trains. They were often mixed trains that served isolated communities. Like passenger service generally, way freights and their smaller consignments became uneconomical. In North America,

9568-426: The turbines involved is comparatively high, pumped hydro involves energy losses and is only cost effective as it can consume energy during times of excess production (leading to low or even negative spot prices ) and release the energy again during high-demand times. with some sources claiming up to 87%. Actual consumption depends on gradients, maximum speeds, and loading and stopping patterns. Data produced for

9672-454: The use of simpler, tougher, and more compact (because sloping ends are not required) gondola cars instead of hoppers. The heaviest trains in the world carry bulk traffic such as iron ore and coal . Loads can be 130 tonnes per wagon and tens of thousands of tonnes per train. Daqin Railway transports more than 1 million tonnes of coal to the east sea shore of China every day and in 2009

9776-500: The vehicle efficiency to yield net efficiency. Because of this, hydrogen automobiles are one of the least efficient means of passenger transport, generally around 50 times as much energy must be put into the production of hydrogen compared to how much is used to move the car. Another important factor is the energy needed to build and maintain roads is an important consideration, as is the energy returned on energy invested (EROEI). Between these two factors, roughly 20% must be added to

9880-618: The way the train transferred from the SP to Conrail . It saved shippers money and now accounts for almost 70 percent of intermodal freight transport shipments in the United States, in part due to the generous vertical clearances used by U.S. railroads. These lines are diesel-operated with no overhead wiring . Double stacking is also used in Australia between Adelaide , Parkes , Perth and Darwin . These are diesel-only lines with no overhead wiring. Saudi Arabian Railways use double-stack in its Riyadh - Dammam corridor. Double stacking

9984-425: The weight of two. Carrying half the possible weight is inefficient. However, if the rail line has been built with sufficient vertical clearance, a double-stack car can accept a container and still leave enough clearance for another container on top. Both China and India run electrified double-stack trains with overhead wiring. In the United States, Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) with Malcom McLean came up with

10088-720: The west (throughout Europe) and south (to China, North Korea, and Iran via Turkmenistan). While the USSR had important railway connections to Turkey (from Armenia) and to Iran (from Azerbaijan's Nakhchivan enclave), these have been out of service since the early 1990s, since a number of frozen conflicts in the Caucasus region have forced the closing of the rail connections between Russia and Georgia via Abkhazia, between Armenia and Azerbaijan , and between Armenia and Turkey . China has an extensive standard-gauge network. Its freight trains use Janney couplers . China's railways connect with

10192-518: The whole craft produces lift, not just the wings. The blended wing body (BWB) concept offers advantages in structural, aerodynamic and operating efficiencies over today's more conventional fuselage-and-wing designs. These features translate into greater range, fuel economy, reliability and life cycle savings, as well as lower manufacturing costs. NASA has created a cruise efficient STOL (CESTOL) concept. Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Applied Materials Research (IFAM) have researched

10296-495: The world from raw materials and minerals mined and processed elsewhere again, and used for a limited number of years. According to the French energy and environment agency ADEME, an average motor car has an embodied energy content of 20,800 kWh and an average electric vehicle amounts to 34,700 kWh. The electric car requires nearly twice as much energy to produce, primarily due to the large amount of mining and purification necessary for

10400-723: Was 6.2% of tonnage originated and 12.6% of revenue. The largest commodities were coal, chemicals, farm products, nonmetallic minerals and intermodal. Coal alone was 43.3% of tonnage and 24.7% of revenue. The average haul was 917 miles. Within the U.S. railroads carry 39.9% of freight by ton-mile, followed by trucks (33.4%), oil pipelines (14.3%), barges (12%) and air (0.3%). Railways carried 17.1% of EU freight in terms of tonne-km, compared to road transport (76.4%) and inland waterways (6.5%). Unlike passenger trains, freight trains are rarely named. Some, however, have gained names either officially or unofficially. Energy efficiency in transport#Trains The energy efficiency in transport

10504-562: Was a 55% overall fuel efficiency gain (if one were to exclude the inefficient and limited fleet of the DH Comet 4 and to consider the Boeing 707 as the base case). Most of the improvements in efficiency were gained in the first decade when jet craft first came into widespread commercial use. Compared to advanced piston engine airliners of the 1950s, current jet airliners are only marginally more efficient per passenger-mile. Between 1971 and 1998

10608-620: Was built in 1906–1908 by the Northern Pacific Railway (NP) for use by the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway (SP&S), as part of construction of a new line between Vancouver, Washington and Portland. SP&S was formed jointly by NP and Great Northern Railway , originally as the Portland & Seattle Railway, to build and ultimately operate new railroad lines from Portland to Seattle and Portland to Spokane . It

10712-528: Was little regard for eventual interconnection. As a result, there are a variety of gauge and coupler standards in use. A 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge network with Janney couplers serves southern Africa. East Africa uses metre gauge . North Africa uses standard gauge , but potential connection to the European standard gauge network is blocked by the Arab–Israeli conflict . Rail developed independently in different parts of Australia and, as

10816-606: Was renamed Spokane , Portland & Seattle Railway in early 1908 (before opening any track sections) after construction of the Portland–Spokane line got under way before the Seattle line. The planned new railroad was commonly referred to as the "North Bank road" (road being short for railroad or railroad line), or North Bank line, because the Seattle line would follow the Columbia River's north bank as far as Kelso and

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