129-665: The Stourbridge Town branch line is a 0.8-mile (1.3 km) railway branch line , in Stourbridge , West Midlands , England . It is the shortest railway line in Britain. It is widely believed to be the shortest line in Europe to host a daily service, although this is incorrect; it is notably beaten by the branch line to Friedrichshafen Hafen , in Germany. The line, which was originally constructed to provide transshipment with
258-508: A bus station . The line was controlled by traditional semaphore signals until at least 1990, later than the adjacent main line. However, the line is currently worked by the "One Train Working" system with a train staff as authority to occupy the line, and there are no working signals. In 2021 the whole of the branch received new rail, sleepers and ballast, the first upgrade of the track since 1902. The line has been used several times as
387-408: 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 ,
516-586: 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,
645-731: 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
774-542: 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
903-492: 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
1032-431: 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
1161-469: 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
1290-691: A conventional tube railway for the area and London Transport obtained Parliamentary powers to build a line from Charing Cross station to Fenchurch Street, Surrey Docks (now Surrey Quays railway station ), the Isle of Dogs , North Greenwich and Custom House to Woolwich Arsenal . This was intended to be the second stage of the Fleet line – which had been renamed the Jubilee line , the first stage of which opened in 1979 from Stanmore to Charing Cross . This would have cost around £325 million. However, when
1419-523: A cost of £200 million funded mostly by the private sector as a Private finance initiative . It left the Island Gardens route south of the Crossharbour turn-back sidings, and dropped gently to Mudchute , where a street-level station replaced the high-level one on the former London & Blackwall Railway viaduct. The line then entered a tunnel, following the route of the viaduct to
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#17328024034121548-550: 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
1677-457: A door fails to remain shut. Cutty Sark station is underground, and both costs and the risk to nearby historic buildings prevent platform extension. The tunnel has an emergency walkway. Additional work beyond that needed to take the three-car trains was also carried out at some stations. This included replacing canopies with more substantial ones along the full platform length. A new South Quay station has been built 200 m (660 ft) east of
1806-478: 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
1935-516: A feasibility study into extending the system under the River Thames . This led the council to advocate an extension via Greenwich and Deptford , terminating at Lewisham railway station . The ambitions of the operators were supported by politicians in Parliament, including the future Labour Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott , and Lord Whitty ; and by 1996 construction work had begun. The Lewisham extension opened on 20 November 1999, at
2064-527: A flat triangular junction near Poplar . Services ran from Tower Gateway to Island Gardens and from Stratford to Island Gardens; the north side of the junction was used only for access to the Poplar depot . The stations were mostly of a common design and constructed from standard components. A common feature was a short half-cylindrical glazed blue canopy. All stations were above ground and were generally unstaffed. All stations featured lifts and level access into
2193-437: 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
2322-498: 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
2451-423: 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
2580-583: A low-level connection with the District line that would have allowed DLR trains to run on London Underground tracks to a variety of central London destinations. However, it quickly became apparent that there was no capacity on the existing network for integrating the DLR into the Underground. Two southern terminus options were put forward, at Cubitt Town (today's Island Gardens station ) and Tiller Road, on
2709-407: A low-level interchange to be constructed alongside the existing Underground station, but this would have been a very costly venture. The Minories option, a high-level station virtually on the site of the old Minories railway station , was selected and became the current Tower Gateway DLR terminus. Aldgate East would have been perhaps the most ambitious of all of the options, as it originally envisaged
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#17328024034122838-659: A number of exclusively light rail options, using trams or tram like vehicles. The cost of extending the Jubilee line to the area was now estimated to be around £450 million. The core of the route ran alongside the Great Eastern line out of London and south along the former London & Blackwall Railway line through the Isle of Dogs. Three terminus options were proposed at the west end, at Tower Hill, Minories and Aldgate East . The Tower Hill option would have required
2967-477: 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
3096-676: 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
3225-465: 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
3354-439: 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
3483-599: A shallow subsurface station at Island Gardens , accessible by stairs or a lift. It crossed under the Thames to Cutty Sark in the centre of Greenwich, and surfaced at Greenwich railway station , with cross-platform interchange between the northbound track and the London-bound main line . The line snaked on a concrete viaduct to Deptford Bridge , before descending to Elverson Road at street level, close to Lewisham town centre, terminating in two platforms between and below
3612-739: 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
3741-407: 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
3870-636: A success, their service could be further extended into Stourbridge town centre as a light rail system. Press reports in August 2010 marked the milestone of half a million passengers having been passed, and indicated substantial growth rates and reliability levels comparable to the Docklands Light Railway ; a new depot could consolidate this early success. In 2023 the shuttle celebrated seven million passenger journeys since services began 14 years before. The train operates six times per hour over
3999-632: 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
Stourbridge Town branch line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4128-454: A total length of 12.1 km (7.5 miles). It was mainly elevated on disused railway viaducts or new concrete viaducts, and adopted disused surface railway formations between Poplar and Stratford. The trains were fully automated, controlled by computer, and had no driver; a Passenger Service Agent (PSA) on each train, originally referred to as a "Train Captain", was responsible for patrolling
4257-459: A tunnel, which opened in 1991 at a cost of £295 million. This extension left Tower Gateway on a stub. The original trains were not suitable for underground usage due to not meeting the fire safety laws for underground trains. They were operated for a time on the above-ground sections only, and were later sold . As the Canary Wharf office complex grew, Canary Wharf DLR station
4386-408: 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
4515-531: Is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks , which usually consist of two parallel steel rails . Rail transport 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
4644-410: 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
4773-399: 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
4902-420: Is minimal staffing on the 149 trains (which have no driving cabs) and at major interchange stations; the four below-ground stations are staffed, to comply with health and safety regulations for underground stations. The DLR was the first major railway infrastructure project in Britain where access for disabled people was considered, with level access into the train from platforms and lifts at all stations. The DLR
5031-411: Is operated and maintained by franchisee KeolisAmey Docklands (a joint venture of transport company Keolis and infrastructure support provider Amey ) for Transport for London (TfL). Passenger numbers have increased as the network has expanded since its launch. In the financial year 2023/24, there were 98.9 million passenger journeys. In the 18th and 19th century, new docks were built east of
5160-408: Is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport 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
5289-556: 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
Stourbridge Town branch line - Misplaced Pages Continue
5418-527: The City of London to cater for the rapidly growing city. The last of these docks opened in 1921 in the Royal Docks . From the early 1960s, the docks began to decline as cargo was containerised and mechanised. The older docks did not have space to expand, and could not handle larger vessels. The docks had been connected to the national railway network via the London and Blackwall Railway (L&BR), which
5547-507: The City of London . First opened on 31 August 1987, the DLR has been extended multiple times, giving a total route length of 38 km (24 miles). Lines now reach north to Stratford , south to Lewisham , west to Tower Gateway and Bank in the City of London financial district, and east to Beckton , London City Airport and Woolwich Arsenal . An extension to Thamesmead is currently being proposed. Normal operations are automated, so there
5676-473: The ExCeL exhibition centre , although this is not supported by any additional turnback infrastructure. Trains serve every station on the route, but trains from Bank to Lewisham do not call at West India Quay because they are routed along the diveunder track to avoid junction conflicts. When required, such as during engineering works or for special events, other routes may be operated, such as Beckton to Lewisham if
5805-560: The First World War , but has otherwise remained open since. Although the branch line was originally double-tracked, after 1935 the two tracks were worked as two parallel single lines, with the non-passenger track used for freight workings beyond the station over a bridge across Foster Street (a bridge rebuilt in 1957 then subsequently demolished in 1967 after the goods branch closed) towards the Stourbridge Basin. (Until
5934-552: The Great Western Railway , the short and steeply inclined branch originally carried both passenger traffic from nearby Stourbridge Junction to the terminus at Stourbridge Town and freight to the Amblecote Goods Depot at Stourbridge Basin . The branch opened for passenger traffic on 1 October 1879 and for goods traffic on 1 January 1880. It briefly closed between April 1915 and February 1919 due to
6063-549: The Network Rail printed timetables and Internet site, and now runs on a permanent basis. The line has been operated by two Class 139 Parry People Movers since June 2009. It was previously operated by a single Class 153 car, and prior to that a Class 121 , locally known as Daisy the DMU . Although the line has been threatened with closure several times in the past, People Mover had suggested that should their railcar prove
6192-563: The North London Line from Canning Town to Stratford, links the Docklands area with domestic high-speed services on High Speed 1 . It was an important part of transport improvements for the 2012 Olympic Games , much of which were held on a site adjoining Stratford International. The first contract for construction work was awarded on 10 January 2007 and construction started in mid-2007. Originally scheduled to open in mid-2010,
6321-588: The Thatcher Government came to power, the plans to extend the Jubilee line were halted and the new government insisted that a lower-cost option should be pursued. In July 1981, the government established the London Docklands Development Corporation (LDDC) to coordinate the redevelopment of the Docklands. The need to provide a cheap public transport solution led to it commissioning London Transport to evaluate
6450-692: The United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway, 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
6579-615: 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
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#17328024034126708-414: 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
6837-458: 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
6966-418: 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
7095-425: The same name , and between Fenchurch Street and the DLR's western termini of Tower Gateway and Bank. Between Limehouse and Tower Gateway, the DLR runs parallel to the London, Tilbury and Southend line . [REDACTED] The following services are operated in normal off-peak service from 26 September 2022: At peak times, these same services run, but with the frequency increased by 25 per cent. Additionally, in
7224-487: 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
7353-521: 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
7482-508: 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),
7611-464: 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
7740-453: The Bank and Tower Gateway branch is closed. The new rolling stock to be introduced from 2024 onwards will support service improvements. Most stations are elevated , with others at street level, in cutting or underground. Access to the platforms is mostly by staircase and lift, with escalators at some stations. From the outset the system has been fully accessible to wheelchairs; much attention
7869-530: 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
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#17328024034127998-514: 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
8127-542: The Docklands area. The area was thought to have great potential for redevelopment, located close to the City of London with historic warehouses and large areas of water. In 1972, the London Docklands Study team commissioned Travis Morgan & Partners to propose redevelopment of the area. In 1973, they proposed, among other recommendations, that a "minitram" people-mover system capable of carrying up to 20 people in each unit should be constructed to connect
8256-570: The Docklands with the planned Fleet line tube railway terminus at Fenchurch Street railway station . The Greater London Council formed a Docklands Joint Committee with the Boroughs of Greenwich , Lewisham , Newham , Southwark and Tower Hamlets in 1974 to undertake the redevelopment of the area. A light railway system was envisaged, terminating either at Tower Hill tube station or at nearby Fenchurch Street, but both options were seen as too expensive. Nonetheless, in 1976 another report proposed
8385-634: The Mile End Road to turn south before using an old railway alignment to reach Poplar. A final report – prepared by the GLC, LDDC, government departments and London Transport – was published in June 1982, proposing a north–south route from Mile End to the Isle of Dogs, and an east–west route linking the Isle of Dogs to the City of London. Even during the development of the line, proposals for future extensions were being envisaged and investigated. Following
8514-522: The North Kent main line, close to the stop on the Elizabeth line to Abbey Wood via West India and Royal Docks, met by Private Finance Initiative funding. Construction began in June 2005, the same month that the contracts were finalised, and the tunnels were completed on 23 July 2007, and formally opened by Boris Johnson , Mayor of London on 12 January 2009. Following completion, the project
8643-575: The Parliamentary process, the northern terminus of the line was changed to Stratford , as part of efforts to segregate the line from road and other railway traffic, as the LDDC were pushing for the line to use a "high tech automated system". In 1984, the contract for the initial system was awarded to a GEC / John Mowlem joint venture, which proposed fully automated operation using light rail vehicles . The two Acts of Parliament that authorised
8772-770: The Stourbridge Town Arm of the Stourbridge Canal , is now solely used for passenger services. The route is operated by Pre Metro Operations on behalf of West Midlands Trains . It is currently branded as part of the West Midlands Railway sub-brand. Under the previous franchise, which ended on 10 December 2017, the service was branded as the London Midland Stourbridge Shuttle . Service is provided using two Class 139 Parry People Movers . Constructed by
8901-430: 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
9030-402: 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
9159-471: 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
9288-527: 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
9417-475: 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
9546-522: 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
9675-465: The former location as nearby curves precluded lengthening. Mudchute now has a third platform. For this upgrade DLR purchased an additional 31 cars compatible with existing rolling stock. The works were originally planned as three phases: Bank-Lewisham, Poplar-Stratford, and the Beckton branch. The original £200 million contract was awarded on 3 May 2007. Work started in 2007 and Bank-Lewisham
9804-454: 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. Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway ( DLR ) is an automated light metro system primarily serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London and providing a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and
9933-1230: 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
10062-453: The line opened on 31 August 2011. On 11 November 2015 the Mayor of London announced that all stations on this line would be rezoned from zone 3 to zone 2/3. New stations were Canning Town , Star Lane , West Ham , Abbey Road , Stratford High Street and Stratford International . Of these, Canning Town, West Ham and Stratford are former North London Line stations, and Stratford High Street
10191-580: The line to be built were passed in 1984 and 1985. Construction of the system began shortly after in 1985, with the joint venture careful to minimise costs in light of the £77 million budget. Two thirds of the route was built on underused or disused railway infrastructure, and station architecture used a kit-of-parts approach to save money. The railway was formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 30 July 1987, and passenger services began on 31 August. The initial system comprised two routes, from Tower Gateway and Stratford to Island Gardens , with
10320-507: The line, with a journey time of three minutes. These are the passenger figures on the line from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2022. Comparing 2002–2003 to 2019–2020, Stourbridge Town numbers increased by 138% and Stourbridge Junction by 378%. The branch has become notorious for the steep downhill gradient leading from Junction station, and over the years there have been several incidents: Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport )
10449-429: 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
10578-529: The longer trains when required. In addition to the three-car station extensions, partly funded from the 2012 Olympics budget, a line was opened from Canning Town to Stratford and Stratford International railway station along the former North London Line of the national railway system, with additional stations. It parallels the London Underground Jubilee line for much of its length. The extension to Stratford International , taking over
10707-569: 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
10836-453: The main-line platforms at Lewisham railway station, with buses stopping outside the station. The extension quickly proved profitable. An extension to London City Airport from the existing Beckton branch was explored in the mid-90s, at first via travelator from Royal Albert , and then in 1998 via a proposed lift-bridge over the dock with an intermediate station at West Silvertown. The government initially supported this proposal, and in 1999
10965-433: 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
11094-488: The morning peak, alternate Stratford – Canary Wharf services extend to Lewisham. At terminal stations, trains reverse direction in the platforms, except at Bank where there is a reversing headshunt in the tunnel beyond the station. During service disruption or planned engineering work, trains can also turn back at Crossharbour and Mudchute . There is also capability for an additional shuttle from Canning Town to Prince Regent when exhibitions are in progress at
11223-402: The nearby Tower Hill tube station or Fenchurch Street railway station . The criticism arose partly because the system usage was higher than expected. Plans were developed, before the system opened, to extend it to Bank in the west and Beckton in the east. Stations and trains were extended to two-unit length, and the system was expanded into the heart of the City of London to Bank through
11352-412: 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
11481-599: The north side of the Royal Docks complex was chosen, and opened in March 1994 at a cost of £280 million. Initially it was thought the line was likely to be underutilised, due to the sparse development in the area and for this reason two additional stations at Thames Wharf (not to be confused with the later Thames Wharf proposal on the Woolwich branch) and Connaught were omitted. As part of this extension, one side of
11610-577: The north, Beckton and Woolwich Arsenal in the east, and Central London in the west, splitting to Bank and Tower Gateway . The northern, southern and south-eastern branches terminate at the National Rail stations at Stratford, Stratford International, Lewisham and Woolwich Arsenal. Other interchanges with National Rail are at Limehouse , Greenwich and West Ham , while out-of-station interchanges for Oyster card holders are available between Shadwell DLR station and Windrush line 's station of
11739-493: The northern end of the station. The old platforms (formerly 1 and 2) adjacent to the Jubilee line were rebuilt for the DLR, renumbered 16 (towards Stratford International) and 17 (towards Beckton/Woolwich Arsenal). Interchange between the Stratford International branch and DLR trains via Poplar is possible although the platforms are widely separated and at different levels. There is no physical connection between
11868-498: The original flat triangular junction was replaced by a grade-separated junction west of Poplar. Poplar was rebuilt to give cross-platform interchange between the Stratford and Beckton lines, with a new grade-separated junction built east of the station at the divergence of the Stratford and Beckton lines. As part of the extension, a new, larger, depot was built at Beckton . Early on, Lewisham London Borough Council commissioned
11997-409: The original, distinctive rounded roof design. Stations are unstaffed, except the underground stations at Bank , Stratford International and Woolwich Arsenal for safety reasons, a few of the busier interchange stations, Canning Town , West Ham , and City Airport, which has a ticket office for passengers unfamiliar with the system. Canning Town, Custom House and Prince Regent are normally staffed on
12126-525: 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
12255-567: The publishing of the report, the Departments of the Environment and Transport agreed to provide £77 million towards construction of the extension, with a deadline of 1987. The funding agreement also included conditions to maximise the use of modern technology, and that no ongoing subsidy would be available from government. Initially, the system was planned to be manually operated and having some stretches of street running. During
12384-532: The redevelopment of the bus station in 2012, the bridge abutment remained visible in Foster Street.) The station and branch were listed for closure under the Beeching Axe , but were later delisted in 1965. The goods branch closed in 1965. The 1879 Stourbridge Town station survived mostly intact until February 1979 when it was demolished and the branch cut back by 70 yards (65 metres), leaving room for
12513-441: 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
12642-548: The system, between Bow Church and Stratford . The opportunity was taken to double the track in three stages, to improve capacity. There was originally no provision for works beyond the realigned section in the Crossrail Act . The DLR has 38 km (24 miles) of tracks, with 45 stations. The three lines shown on the TfL DLR map have six branches: to Lewisham in the south, Stratford and Stratford International in
12771-596: The test route for new types of small rail transport. The Great Western Railway used both autotrains and one of the early railcars on this route, and in December 2005 the route began being used to test the Parry People Mover , a highly energy-efficient railcar, to provide the Sunday service. The experiment has been sufficiently successful to the extent that the Sunday service in June 2006 was included in both
12900-475: The three-car upgrade work and the 'diveunder' (sometimes referred to as a flyunder but DLR have coined the term in this instance 'diveunder'), and the improved timetable came into use on 24 August 2009. With the development of the eastern Docklands as part of the Thames Gateway initiative and London's staging of the 2012 Summer Olympics , several extensions and enhancements were undertaken. Capacity
13029-475: 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
13158-543: 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
13287-419: The train from platforms, catering for disabled people, people with small children and elderly people. The initial system had a relatively low capacity, but the Docklands area very quickly developed into a major financial centre and employment zone, increasing traffic. In particular Tower Gateway, at the edge of the City of London, attracted criticism for its poor connections, as it did not connect directly with
13416-508: The train, checking tickets, making announcements and controlling the doors. PSAs could take control of the train in circumstances including equipment failure and emergencies. A total of eleven units supplied by Linke-Hofmann-Busch comprised the first generation of the Docklands Light Railway rolling stock . The system was lightweight, with stations designed for trains of only a single articulated vehicle. The three branches totalled 13 km (8.1 miles), had 15 stations, and were connected by
13545-416: 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
13674-458: The two branches. One of the tunnel portals for Elizabeth line is on the original site of Pudding Mill Lane station . As a consequence, work was carried out to divert the DLR between City Mill River and the River Lea onto a new viaduct further south. This included a replacement station, which opened on 28 April 2014. The former station stood on the only significant section of single track on
13803-547: The west side of Millwall Dock , with two possible routes to reach them. A "western" route would have run from the Westferry station alongside West Ferry Road via Cuba Street, then either terminating at Tiller Road or continuing over Millwall Docks Cut to a terminus at Cubitt Town. The "central" option required the West India Docks to be infilled or bridged and would run down the middle of the peninsula, through what
13932-629: 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 ,
14061-622: 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
14190-512: 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
14319-602: 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
14448-528: Was aided by a five-year programme of investment for public transport across London that was unveiled by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone on 12 October 2004. On 2 December 2005, an eastward branch along the approximate route of the former Eastern Counties and Thames Junction Railway on the southern side of the Royal Docks complex opened from Canning Town to King George V via London City Airport . A further extension from King George V to Woolwich Arsenal opened on 10 January 2009, providing interchange with
14577-442: Was at the time an area of derelict warehouses. Ultimately this latter option was chosen, though the 1981 London Transport report warned that without extensive development around Canary Wharf the area would be "very isolated with poor traffic prospects" – as indeed it was, for a number of years. The northern terminus was proposed at Mile End , with options including street running down Burdett Road towards Limehouse or along
14706-514: 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
14835-706: 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
14964-537: Was built on the site of Stratford Market railway station. From Canning Town to Stratford the extension runs parallel to the Jubilee line of the London Underground . As well as providing interchange with the adjacent Jubilee line stations, there are additional DLR stations at Star Lane, Abbey Road and Stratford High Street. At Stratford new platforms were built for the North London Line at
15093-555: Was closed in 1966 for lack of traffic. From the mid-1960s, the docks gradually closed down - leading to major job losses and economic deprivation. In the 1970s, the opening of new deep water Tilbury container docks located further east in Essex exacerbated the issue, with the Royal Docks closing in 1981. Throughout the 1970s, the government and the Greater London Council (GLC) put forward various plans to redevelop
15222-472: Was developed to the route known today with a further extension to King George V. At this time, the further route to Woolwich Arsenal was developed with an intermediate station at Woolwich Reach, but was viewed as a longer-term aspiration. The Woolwich Reach station (on the south bank of the Thames, at the site of the Marlborough Road ventilation and escape shaft), was descoped in 2000. The extension
15351-434: Was increased by upgrading for trains with three cars, each with four doors per side. The alternative of more frequent trains was rejected as the signalling changes needed would have cost no less than upgrading to longer trains and with fewer benefits. The railway had been built for single-car operation, and the upgrade required both strengthening viaducts to take heavier trains and lengthening many platforms. The extra capacity
15480-548: 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 ,
15609-489: 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
15738-529: Was necessary at the Delta Junction north of West India Quay . It was decided to include this in a plan for further grade separation to eliminate the conflict between services to Stratford and from Bank. A new timetable was introduced, with improved frequencies at peak hours. The new grade-separated route from Bank to Canary Wharf is used throughout the day, bypassing West India Quay station until mid-evening. Work on this project proceeded concurrently with
15867-415: Was originally due to be completed in 2009. However, the work programme for the first two phases was merged and the infrastructure work was completed by the end of January 2010. The Lewisham-Bank route now runs three-car trains exclusively. They started running on the Beckton branch on 9 May 2011. Stratford to Lewisham and Bank to Woolwich Arsenal services sometimes operate as three-car trains; other routes run
15996-412: Was paid to quick and effective accessibility for all passengers. The station platforms match the floor height of the cars, giving level access for passengers with wheelchairs or pushchairs. Most stations are of a modular design dating back to the initial system, extended and improved with two side platforms, each with separate access from the street, and platform canopies, although few examples remain of
16125-408: Was redeveloped from a small wayside station to a large one with six platforms serving three tracks and a large overall roof, fully integrated into the malls below the office towers. The east of Docklands needed better transport connections to encourage development, and a fourth branch, towards Beckton , was planned, with several route options available. A route from Poplar via Canning Town and
16254-465: Was shortlisted for the 2009 Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award. The original Tower Gateway station was closed in mid-2008 for complete reconstruction. The two terminal tracks either side of a narrow island platform were replaced by a single track between two platforms, one for arriving passengers and the other for departing ( Spanish solution ). It reopened on 2 March 2009. As part of an upgrade to allow three-car trains, strengthening work
16383-762: 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
16512-636: 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
16641-402: Was useful for the 2012 Summer Olympics , which increased the use of London's transport network. The main contractor for the expansion and alteration works was Taylor Woodrow . Elverson Road, Royal Albert, Gallions Reach and Cutty Sark have not been extended for three-car trains; such extension may be impossible in some cases. Selective door operation is used, with emergency walkways in case
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