1.
Railway platform
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A railway platform is a section of pathway, alongside rail tracks at a railway station, metro station or tram stop, at which passengers may board or alight from trains or trams. Almost all rail stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms, the term platform has also gained usage as a verb among some rail conductors, as in, The first two cars will not platform at. The term railway platform can also mean any type of freight platform beside a rail siding for loading/unloading freight to/from rail cars. The most basic form of platform consists of an area at the level as the track. This would often not be considered a true platform, the more traditional platform is elevated relative to the track but often lower than the train floor, although ideally they should be at the same level. On the London Underground some stations are served by both District line and Piccadilly line trains, and the Piccadilly trains have lower floors. A tram stop is often in the middle of the street, usually it has as a platform a refuge area of a height to that of the sidewalk. The latter requires extra care by passengers and other traffic to avoid accidents, both types of tram stops can be seen in the tram networks of Melbourne and Toronto. A train station may be served by heavy-rail and light-rail vehicles with lower floors and have a dual- height platform, platform types include the bay platform, side platform, split platform and island platform. A bay platform is one at which the track terminates, i. e. a dead-end or siding, trains serving a bay platform must reverse in or out. A side platform is the usual type, alongside tracks where the train arrives from one end. An island platform has through platforms on both sides, it may be indented on one or both ends, with bay platforms, to reach an island platform there may be a bridge, a tunnel, or a level crossing. The climb up to the bridge or down to the tunnel may use stairs, ramps, escalators, lifts, or a combination of the above. Some, such as London Waterloo East, use instead of numbers, some, such as Paris-Gare de Lyon, use letters for one group of platforms. Usually platform numbering is a numbering of the areas in the station. In some cases, tracks used only for traffic without platform access also have a number. In North America, reference is made to a track. The term platform is used in the US, but a single island platform may have access to two tracks
2.
Track (rail transport)
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The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties and ballast, plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a surface for their wheels to roll upon. For clarity it is referred to as railway track or railroad track. Tracks where electric trains or electric trams run are equipped with a system such as an overhead electrical power line or an additional electrified rail. The term permanent way also refers to the track in addition to structures such as fences etc. Most railroads with heavy traffic use continuously welded rails supported by sleepers attached via baseplates that spread the load, a plastic or rubber pad is usually placed between the rail and the tieplate where concrete sleepers are used. The rail is held down to the sleeper with resilient fastenings. For much of the 20th century, rail track used softwood timber sleepers and jointed rails, jointed rails were used at first because contemporary technology did not offer any alternative. The joints also needed to be lubricated, and wear at the mating surfaces needed to be rectified by shimming. For this reason jointed track is not financially appropriate for heavily operated railroads, timber sleepers are of many available timbers, and are often treated with creosote, copper-chrome-arsenic, or other wood preservative. Pre-stressed concrete sleepers are used where timber is scarce and where tonnage or speeds are high. Steel is used in some applications, the track ballast is customarily crushed stone, and the purpose of this is to support the sleepers and allow some adjustment of their position, while allowing free drainage. A disadvantage of traditional track structures is the demand for maintenance, particularly surfacing and lining to restore the desired track geometry. Weakness of the subgrade and drainage deficiencies also lead to maintenance costs. This can be overcome by using ballastless track, in its simplest form this consists of a continuous slab of concrete with the rails supported directly on its upper surface. There are a number of systems, and variations include a continuous reinforced concrete slab. Many permutations of design have been put forward, however, ballastless track has a high initial cost, and in the case of existing railroads the upgrade to such requires closure of the route for a long period. Its whole-life cost can be lower because of the reduction in maintenance, some rubber-tyred metros use ballastless tracks
3.
Train station
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A train station, railway station, railroad station, or depot is a railway facility where trains regularly stop to load or unload passengers or freight. It generally consists of at least one platform and a station building providing such ancillary services as ticket sales. If a station is on a line, it often has a passing loop to facilitate traffic movements. The smallest stations are most often referred to as stops or, in parts of the world. Stations may be at level, underground, or elevated. Connections may be available to intersecting rail lines or other modes such as buses. In British usage, the station is commonly understood to mean a railway station unless otherwise qualified. In the United States, the most common term in contemporary usage is train station, Railway station and railroad station are less frequent. Outside North America, a depot is place where buses, trains, or other vehicles are housed and maintained and from which they are dispatched for service. The two-storey Mount Clare station in Baltimore, Maryland, which survives as a museum, first saw service as the terminus of the horse-drawn Baltimore. The oldest terminal station in the world was Crown Street railway station in Liverpool, built in 1830, as the first train on the Liverpool-Manchester line left Liverpool, the station is slightly older than the Manchester terminal at Liverpool Road. The station was the first to incorporate a train shed, the station was demolished in 1836 as the Liverpool terminal station moved to Lime Street railway station. Crown Street station was converted to a goods station terminal, the first stations had little in the way of buildings or amenities. The first stations in the modern sense were on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, manchesters Liverpool Road Station, the second oldest terminal station in the world, is preserved as part of the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester. It resembles a row of Georgian houses, dual-purpose stations can sometimes still be found today, though in many cases goods facilities are restricted to major stations. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, such stations were known as flag stops or flag stations. Many stations date from the 19th century and reflect the architecture of the time. Countries where railways arrived later may still have such architecture, as later stations often imitated 19th-century styles, various forms of architecture have been used in the construction of stations, from those boasting grand, intricate, Baroque- or Gothic-style edifices, to plainer utilitarian or modernist styles
4.
Bus rapid transit
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Bus rapid transit is a bus-based public transport system designed to improve capacity and reliability relative to a conventional bus system. BRT aims to combine the capacity and speed of a metro with the flexibility, lower cost, the first BRT system was the Rede Integrada de Transporte in Curitiba, Brazil, which entered service in 1974. This inspired many similar systems around Brazil and the world, such as TransMilenio in Bogotá, Colombia, as of November 2016, a total of 207 cities in six continents have implemented BRT systems, accounting for 5,468 km of BRT lanes. The Latin American countries with the most daily ridership are Brazil, Colombia, in the other regions, China and Iran also stand out. Currently, TransJakarta considered as the longest BRT route in the world with approximately 210 kilometres length connecting the Indonesian capital city, BRT uses buses on a wide variety of rights-of-way, including mixed traffic, dedicated lanes on surface streets, and busways separated from traffic. Critics have charged that the bus rapid transit has sometimes been misapplied to systems that lack most or all the essential features which differentiate it from conventional bus services. The first BRT system in the world was the Rede Integrada de Transporte, implemented in Curitiba, Brazil, most of the elements that have become associated with BRT were innovations first suggested by Curitiba Mayor Architect Jaime Lerner. Other systems made further innovations, including platooning in Porto Alegre, in the United States, BRT began in 1977, with Pittsburghs South Busway, operating on 4.3 miles of exclusive lanes. Its success led to the Martin Luther King Jr, east Busway in 1983, a fuller BRT deployment including a dedicated busway of 9.1 miles, traffic signal preemption, and peak service headway as low as two minutes. After the opening of the West Busway,5.1 miles in length in 1990, new Orleans ran buses on Canal Street in a dedicated right of way beginning in the 1960s. This style of service was maintained until 2004 when streetcar service was restored on this 4-mile route segment, in 1995, Quito, Ecuador, opened trolleybus BRT. The success of TransMilenio spurred other cities to develop high quality BRT systems, in January 2004 the first BRT in Asia, TransJakarta, opened in Jakarta, Indonesia. As of 2015, at 210 kilometres, it is the longest BRT system in the world, africas first BRT system was opened in Lagos, Nigeria, in March 2008 but is considered as a light BRT system by many people. Johannesburg’s BRT, Rea Vaya, was the first true BRT in Africa, in August 2009, Rea Vaya and MIO were the first two systems to combine full BRT with some services that also operated in mixed traffic, then joined the BRT trunk infrastructure. BRT systems normally include most of the features, Bus-only lanes make for faster travel. Separate rights of way may be elevated, in a cutting, or in a tunnel, Transit malls or bus streets may also be created in city centers. Centre of roadway or bus-only corridor keeps buses away from the busy curb-side, fare prepayment at the station, instead of on board the bus, eliminates the delay caused by passengers paying on board. Prohibiting turns for traffic across the bus lane significantly reduces delays to the buses, Bus priority will often be provided at signalized intersections to reduce delays by extending the green phase or reducing the red phase in the required direction compared to the normal sequence
5.
Angel tube station
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Angel is a London Underground station in the Angel area of the London Borough of Islington. It is on the Bank branch of the Northern line, between Old Street and Kings Cross St. Pancras stations, in Travelcard Zone 1, the station was originally built by the City & South London Railway and opened on 17 November 1901. The station served as a terminus until the line was extended to Euston on 12 May 1907, the station was rebuilt in the early 1990s to accommodate the large number of passengers using the station. As a result, the station has a southbound platform, the longest escalators on the Underground network. It is also a station on the Crossrail 2 proposed line. It is also the nearest station to the campus of City University and Chapel Market, a London street market. Between Angel and Old Street is the disused City Road station, Angel station was originally built by the City & South London Railway, and opened on 17 November 1901 as the northern terminus of a new extension from Moorgate. The station building was designed by Sydney Smith and was on the corner of City Road, on 12 May 1907, the C&SLR opened a further extension from Angel to Euston and Angel became a through station. Access to the platforms from street level was via three Euston Anderson electric lifts before the rebuilding of the station. When the C&SLR line was closed for reconstruction in the early 1920s to accommodate larger trains, the station façade was reclad with tiling. For years since its opening, the station suffered from overcrowding and had a very narrow island platform. Consequently, the station was rebuilt in the early 1990s. Because of the distance between the new entrance and the platforms, and their depth, two flights of escalators were required, aligned approximately at a right angle, the stations ticket hall has a sculpture of an Angel by Kevin Boys. Angel is also one of the number of stations to have only access to the platforms. With a vertical rise of 27 metres and a length of 60 metres, Angel station has the longest escalators on the Underground, the station was refurbished and work began on 2 January 2007. Additional CCTV cameras and Help Points were installed, bringing the total to 77 cameras in the station and 9 Help Points to better aid hearing-impaired passengers, in addition, new communications equipment was introduced and damaged signs were replaced with new ones. When Angel was opened, a long siding was provided for train stabling, converging from the left onto the northbound line just south of the station. This was retained over the years but eventually it was closed on 23 January 1959 to simplify through running, the siding lay derelict and unused until the rebuilding scheme
6.
London Underground
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The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
7.
Union station (TTC)
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Union is a rapid transit station on Line 1 Yonge–University of the Toronto subway and RT in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1954 as one of original stations on the citys first section of subway. The station is terminus of the 509 Harbourfront and 510 Spadina streetcar routes. Union Station is located on Front Street between the Yonge Street and University Avenue sections of the line and it directly connected to the railway station and regional bus terminal of the same name. Based on Torontos street grid, Union is the southernmost subway station, however, using compass directions, Kipling. Union connects the subway with GO Transit, Via Rail, Union Pearson Express trains, wi-fi service is available at this station. North side entrances, Street-level stairs on north side of Front Street, Underground connection from Royal Bank Plaza Underground connection from Brookfield Place South side entrances,2 street-level staircases on south side of Front Street. Outdoor connections via the moat to Union railway station The station opened as the terminus of the original Yonge subway line on March 30,1954. On February 28,1963, Union became a station with the opening of the University section of the Yonge–University line. On June 22,1990, Union became the terminus of route 604 Harbourfront LRT, a new underground streetcar platform was built south of the subway tracks, connected to the station concourse by a 30-metre pedestrian tunnel and a flight of stairs. Elevators were installed in 1996, making Union one of the first wheelchair-accessible subway stations in Toronto, an elevator was added to the streetcar platforms, even though streetcars were not accessible themselves. By the time accessible streetcars began serving the station in 2014, on August 18,2014, a second subway platform was opened to serve Yonge line trains, leaving the existing platform to serve only University line trains. Flexity Outlook streetcars started to serve Union from route 510 Spadina on October 12,2014, as a result, passengers are now required to have Proof-of-payment to depart Union by streetcar. In 2003, planning began on an expansion to address overcrowding in the station. Despite being one of the busiest stations in the system, the station had only one island platform serving both the University and Yonge lines, and a small concourse area. The resulting plan was to build a new platform on the south side of the tracks to serve the Yonge line. This new platform would feature a level connection to the streetcar platform, the project also included significantly expanding the concourse level and replacing all finishes. Preparatory work began in 2006, and construction began in February 2011, the new second platform opened on August 18,2014
8.
Toronto subway
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The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. It is a system consisting of three heavy rail lines operating predominantly underground and one elevated light metro line, collectively encompassing 69 stations and 68.3 kilometres of track. It accommodated an average of 1,066,100 passenger trips each weekday during the quarter of 2015. There are 4 rapid transit lines in Toronto plus another under construction, Line 1 Yonge–University, is the longest and busiest rapid transit line in the system. It opened as the Yonge subway in 1954 with a length of 7.4 kilometres, Today, the line is U-shaped having two northern terminals looping on its southern end via Union Station. An 8. 6-kilometre, six-station extension of Line 1 north to Vaughan is under construction, Line 2 Bloor–Danforth, opened in 1966, runs parallel to Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue between Kipling Station in Etobicoke and Kennedy Station in Scarborough. There is a plan to extend Line 2 eastwards from Kennedy Station to Scarborough Town Centre, Line 3 Scarborough is an above-ground medium-capacity rail line serving the citys eponymous suburban district. The line runs from Kennedy Station to McCowan Station passing Scarborough Town Centre and this is the only rapid transit line in Toronto to use Intermediate Capacity Transit System technology. There is a plan to close and dismantle Line 3 after Line 2 is extended to Scarborough Town Centre, Line 5 Eglinton is a 19-kilometre light rail line under construction scheduled to open in 2021. The line will have 25 stations of which 15 will be underground, here is a list of line, extension and station openings on the Toronto subway system. Canadas first subway, the Yonge subway, opened in 1954 with a length of 7.4 kilometres, the line ran under or parallel to Yonge Street between Eglinton Avenue and Union Station. It replaced the Yonge streetcar line, Canadas first streetcar line, in 1963, the line was extended under University Avenue north to Bloor Street to connect with the Bloor-Danforth subway at the double-deck St. George Station. In 1974, the line was extended from Eglinton Station north to Finch Station, the Spadina segment of the line was constructed north from St. George Station initially to Wilson Station in 1978, and eventually to Downsview Station in 1996. Part of the Spadina segment runs in the median of an expressway, four decades of extensions gave the line a U-shaped route running from its two northern terminals and looping on its southern end at Union Station. As of 1996, the line was 30.2 kilometres long, opened in 1966, the Bloor–Danforth subway runs east-west under or near Bloor Street and Danforth Avenue. It replaced the Bloor streetcar line, initially, the subway line ran between Keele Station to Woodbine Station. In 1968, the line was extended west to Islington Station and east to Warden Station, opened in 1985, the Scarborough RT is a light metro line running from Kennedy Station to McCowan station. The TTC started to construct the line to use Canadian Light Rail Vehicles and this line was never extended, and the current plan is to close and dismantle the line, replacing it with an extension of Line 2 to Scarborough Town Centre
9.
Umeda Station
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Umeda Station is a railway station located in Kita-ku in the northern commercial center of Osaka, Japan. It is the busiest station in Western Japan, serving 2,343,727 passengers daily in 2005, the nearby stations Ōsaka, Kitashinchi, Nishi-Umeda and Higashi-Umeda are within walking distance and connected by a large complex of underground malls. The underground Umeda terminal of Hanshin Electric Railway is located south of Ōsaka Station, the Hanshin station first opened on December 21,1906 as a ground level station and moved to the present underground location on March 21,1939. There are five bay platforms and four tracks on the second basement, there are east ticket gates on the second basement and center ticket gates and west ticket gates on the first basement. The Umeda terminal of Hankyu Railway is located northeast of Ōsaka Station, the station first opened on March 10,1910, as a ground-level station. The original location of the station was southeast of Ōsaka Station, the station was elevated on July 5,1926. When Ōsaka Station was elevated in 1934, Hankyus elevated tracks were forced to be removed, the switching of tracks were carried out on June 1,1934. This station facility was used until November 28,1971, when the move of station to the present location was completed and this move was because of a sharp increase of transit, which forced Hankyu to operate 8-car trains. The existence of JNR tracks on the end of the 1934 station prevented the expansion of the station so that the station could not handle long trains. After the opening of the current huge elevated station, spaces around and beneath the station, one of the symbols of the commercial complex surrounding the station is the BIG MAN video screen above the Kinokuniya bookshop, common and necessary places to meet in this bustling railway station. The Hankyu Department Store, built next to the station in 1929, was a pioneer of the business model of department stores run by urban railway companies in Japan. The store is still in business at the location even after the move of the station. There are ten bay platforms serving nine tracks on the third floor, there are south ticket gates on the third floor and center ticket gates and on Chayamachi ticket gates on the second floor. Umeda is the point of three lines of the municipal subway, the Midōsuji Line, the Tanimachi Line and the Yotsubashi Line. Among them, only the Midōsuji Line station is named Umeda, the Tanimachi Line station is Higashi-Umeda and the Yotsubashi Line station is Nishi-Umeda. These three stations are connected each other by underground walkways. Regular tickets of the subway, Surutto Kansai cards and IC cards are valid until the passenger gets out the ticket barrier of the station, Umeda Station on the Midōsuji Line started its operation on May 20,1933, as a temporary station. The station was moved to the present location on October 6,1935, originally the station with an island platform and two tracks was built amid one tunnel, but on November 5,1989, the station was expanded to a tunnel that existed next to the station
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