1.
Railway electrification system
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A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure, selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas, some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation, Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network, some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own lines, switches and transformers. Power is supplied to moving trains with a continuous conductor running along the track usually takes one of two forms. The first is a line or catenary wire suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings. Locomotives or multiple units pick up power from the wire with pantographs on their roofs that press a conductive strip against it with a spring or air pressure. Examples are described later in this article, the second is a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding pickup shoe. Both overhead wire and third-rail systems usually use the rails as the return conductor. In comparison to the alternative, the diesel engine, electric railways offer substantially better energy efficiency, lower emissions. Electric locomotives are usually quieter, more powerful, and more responsive and they have no local emissions, an important advantage in tunnels and urban areas. Different regions may use different supply voltages and frequencies, complicating through service, the limited clearances available under catenaries may preclude efficient double-stack container service. Possible lethal electric current due to risk of contact with high-voltage contact wires, overhead wires are safer than third rails, but they are often considered unsightly. These are independent of the system used, so that. The permissible range of voltages allowed for the voltages is as stated in standards BS EN50163. These take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation, railways must operate at variable speeds. Until the mid 1980s this was only practical with the brush-type DC motor, since such conversion was not well developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most early electrified railways used DC and many still do, particularly rapid transit and trams
2.
Three-phase
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In electrical engineering, three-phase electric power systems have at least three conductors carrying alternating current voltages that are offset in time by one-third of the period. A three-phase system may be arranged in delta or star, harmonic current in the neutral may become very large if non-linear loads are connected. Generally, in power systems, the loads are distributed as evenly as is practical between the phases. It is usual practice to discuss a balanced system first and then describe the effects of unbalanced systems as deviations from the elementary case. An important property of three-phase power is that the power available to a resistive load and this is essential for keeping large generators and motors running smoothly. The neutral current is the vector sum of the line currents. In practice, systems rarely have perfectly balanced loads, currents, the analysis of unbalanced cases is greatly simplified by the use of the techniques of symmetrical components. An unbalanced system is analysed as the superposition of three balanced systems, each with the positive, negative or zero sequence of balanced voltages, when specifying wiring sizes in a three-phase system, we only need to know the magnitude of the phase and neutral currents. The neutral current can be determined by adding the three phase currents together as complex numbers and then converting from rectangular to polar co-ordinates, devices that utilize rectifier-capacitor front ends introduce third order harmonics. Third harmonic currents are in-phase on each of the supply phases, any polyphase system, by virtue of the time displacement of the currents in the phases, makes it possible to easily generate a magnetic field that revolves at the line frequency. Such a revolving magnetic field makes polyphase induction motors possible, the field produced by a single-phase winding can provide energy to a motor already rotating, but without auxiliary mechanisms the motor will not accelerate from a stop when energized. A rotating magnetic field of steady amplitude requires that all three phase currents be equal in magnitude, and accurately displaced one-third of a cycle in phase, unbalanced operation results in undesirable effects on motors and generators. Such arrays will evenly balance the load between the phases of the source system. For example, balanced two-phase power can be obtained from a network by using two specially constructed transformers, with taps at 50% and 86. 6% of the primary voltage. This Scott T connection produces a true two-phase system with 90° time difference between the phases, another example is the generation of higher-phase-order systems for large rectifier systems, to produce a smoother DC output and to reduce the harmonic currents in the supply. When three-phase is needed but only single-phase is readily available from the electricity supplier and it is possible to measure the power in a three-phase system using two transducers when there is no neutral, or three transducers when there is neutral. Blondels theorem states that the number of measurement elements required is one less than the number of current-carrying conductors, mcGraw-Hill Electrical and Electronic Engineering Series
3.
Voltage
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Voltage, electric potential difference, electric pressure or electric tension is the difference in electric potential energy between two points per unit electric charge. The voltage between two points is equal to the work done per unit of charge against an electric field to move the test charge between two points. This is measured in units of volts, voltage can be caused by static electric fields, by electric current through a magnetic field, by time-varying magnetic fields, or some combination of these three. A voltmeter can be used to measure the voltage between two points in a system, often a reference potential such as the ground of the system is used as one of the points. A voltage may represent either a source of energy or lost, used, given two points in space, x A and x B, voltage is the difference in electric potential between those two points. Electric potential must be distinguished from electric energy by noting that the potential is a per-unit-charge quantity. Like mechanical potential energy, the zero of electric potential can be chosen at any point, so the difference in potential, i. e. the voltage, is the quantity which is physically meaningful. The voltage between point A to point B is equal to the work which would have to be done, per unit charge, against or by the electric field to move the charge from A to B. The voltage between the two ends of a path is the energy required to move a small electric charge along that path. Mathematically this is expressed as the integral of the electric field. In the general case, both an electric field and a dynamic electromagnetic field must be included in determining the voltage between two points. Historically this quantity has also called tension and pressure. Pressure is now obsolete but tension is used, for example within the phrase high tension which is commonly used in thermionic valve based electronics. Voltage is defined so that negatively charged objects are pulled towards higher voltages, therefore, the conventional current in a wire or resistor always flows from higher voltage to lower voltage. Current can flow from lower voltage to higher voltage, but only when a source of energy is present to push it against the electric field. This is the case within any electric power source, for example, inside a battery, chemical reactions provide the energy needed for ion current to flow from the negative to the positive terminal. The electric field is not the only factor determining charge flow in a material, the electric potential of a material is not even a well defined quantity, since it varies on the subatomic scale. A more convenient definition of voltage can be found instead in the concept of Fermi level, in this case the voltage between two bodies is the thermodynamic work required to move a unit of charge between them
4.
Volt
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The volt is the derived unit for electric potential, electric potential difference, and electromotive force. One volt is defined as the difference in potential between two points of a conducting wire when an electric current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power between those points. It is also equal to the difference between two parallel, infinite planes spaced 1 meter apart that create an electric field of 1 newton per coulomb. Additionally, it is the difference between two points that will impart one joule of energy per coulomb of charge that passes through it. It can also be expressed as amperes times ohms, watts per ampere, or joules per coulomb, for the Josephson constant, KJ = 2e/h, the conventional value KJ-90 is used, K J-90 =0.4835979 GHz μ V. This standard is typically realized using an array of several thousand or tens of thousands of junctions. Empirically, several experiments have shown that the method is independent of device design, material, measurement setup, etc. in the water-flow analogy sometimes used to explain electric circuits by comparing them with water-filled pipes, voltage is likened to difference in water pressure. Current is proportional to the diameter of the pipe or the amount of water flowing at that pressure. A resistor would be a reduced diameter somewhere in the piping, the relationship between voltage and current is defined by Ohms Law. Ohms Law is analogous to the Hagen–Poiseuille equation, as both are linear models relating flux and potential in their respective systems, the voltage produced by each electrochemical cell in a battery is determined by the chemistry of that cell. Cells can be combined in series for multiples of that voltage, mechanical generators can usually be constructed to any voltage in a range of feasibility. High-voltage electric power lines,110 kV and up Lightning, Varies greatly. Volta had determined that the most effective pair of metals to produce electricity was zinc. In 1861, Latimer Clark and Sir Charles Bright coined the name volt for the unit of resistance, by 1873, the British Association for the Advancement of Science had defined the volt, ohm, and farad. In 1881, the International Electrical Congress, now the International Electrotechnical Commission and they made the volt equal to 108 cgs units of voltage, the cgs system at the time being the customary system of units in science. At that time, the volt was defined as the difference across a conductor when a current of one ampere dissipates one watt of power. The international volt was defined in 1893 as 1/1.434 of the emf of a Clark cell and this definition was abandoned in 1908 in favor of a definition based on the international ohm and international ampere until the entire set of reproducible units was abandoned in 1948. Prior to the development of the Josephson junction voltage standard, the volt was maintained in laboratories using specially constructed batteries called standard cells
5.
Direct current
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Direct current is a flow of electrical charge carriers that always takes place in the same direction. The current need not always have the magnitude, but if it is to be defined as dc. This contrasts with alternating current which varies the direction of flow, sources of direct current include power supplies, electrochemical cells and batteries, and photovoltaic cells and panels. The intensity, or amplitude, of a direct current might fluctuate with time, in some such cases the dc has an ac component superimposed on it. An example of this is the output of a cell that receives a modulated light communications signal. A source of dc is sometimes called a dc generator, batteries and various other sources of dc produce a constant voltage. This is called pure dc and can be represented by a straight, the peak and effective values are the same. The peak to peak value is zero because the instantaneous amplitude never changes, in some instances the value of a dc voltage pulsates or oscillates rapidly with time, in a manner similar to the changes in an ac wave. The unfiltered output of a wave or a full wave rectifier. In 1820, Hans Christian Orsted discovered that electrical current creates a magnetic field and this discovery made scientists relate magnetism to the electric phenomena. In 1879, Thomas Edison invented the light bulb. He improved a 50-year-old idea using lower current electricity, a vacuum inside the globe and a small carbonized filament. At that time, the idea of lightning was not new. Edison not only invented an incandescent electric light, but an electric lighting system contained all the necessary elements to make the incandescent light safe, economical. Prior to 1879, direct current electricity had been used in lighting for the outdoors and it was in the 1880s when the modern electric utility industry began. It was an evolution from street lighting systems and from gas and it was located in Lower Manhattan, on Pearl Street. This station provided light and electricity to customers in a one square mile range, the station was called Thomas Edisons Pearl Street Electricity Generating Station. This station introduced four elements of an electric utility system, Efficient distribution, competitive price, reliable central generation
6.
Frequency
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Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as frequency, which emphasizes the contrast to spatial frequency. The period is the duration of time of one cycle in a repeating event, for example, if a newborn babys heart beats at a frequency of 120 times a minute, its period—the time interval between beats—is half a second. Frequency is an important parameter used in science and engineering to specify the rate of oscillatory and vibratory phenomena, such as vibrations, audio signals, radio waves. For cyclical processes, such as rotation, oscillations, or waves, in physics and engineering disciplines, such as optics, acoustics, and radio, frequency is usually denoted by a Latin letter f or by the Greek letter ν or ν. For a simple motion, the relation between the frequency and the period T is given by f =1 T. The SI unit of frequency is the hertz, named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, a previous name for this unit was cycles per second. The SI unit for period is the second, a traditional unit of measure used with rotating mechanical devices is revolutions per minute, abbreviated r/min or rpm. As a matter of convenience, longer and slower waves, such as ocean surface waves, short and fast waves, like audio and radio, are usually described by their frequency instead of period. Spatial frequency is analogous to temporal frequency, but the axis is replaced by one or more spatial displacement axes. Y = sin = sin d θ d x = k Wavenumber, in the case of more than one spatial dimension, wavenumber is a vector quantity. For periodic waves in nondispersive media, frequency has a relationship to the wavelength. Even in dispersive media, the frequency f of a wave is equal to the phase velocity v of the wave divided by the wavelength λ of the wave. In the special case of electromagnetic waves moving through a vacuum, then v = c, where c is the speed of light in a vacuum, and this expression becomes, f = c λ. When waves from a monochrome source travel from one medium to another, their remains the same—only their wavelength. For example, if 71 events occur within 15 seconds the frequency is, the latter method introduces a random error into the count of between zero and one count, so on average half a count. This is called gating error and causes an error in the calculated frequency of Δf = 1/, or a fractional error of Δf / f = 1/ where Tm is the timing interval. This error decreases with frequency, so it is a problem at low frequencies where the number of counts N is small, an older method of measuring the frequency of rotating or vibrating objects is to use a stroboscope
7.
Hertz
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The hertz is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units and is defined as one cycle per second. It is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the first person to provide proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. Hertz are commonly expressed in SI multiples kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz, kilo means thousand, mega meaning million, giga meaning billion and tera for trillion. Some of the units most common uses are in the description of waves and musical tones, particularly those used in radio-. It is also used to describe the speeds at which computers, the hertz is equivalent to cycles per second, i. e. 1/second or s −1. In English, hertz is also used as the plural form, as an SI unit, Hz can be prefixed, commonly used multiples are kHz, MHz, GHz and THz. One hertz simply means one cycle per second,100 Hz means one hundred cycles per second, and so on. The unit may be applied to any periodic event—for example, a clock might be said to tick at 1 Hz, the rate of aperiodic or stochastic events occur is expressed in reciprocal second or inverse second in general or, the specific case of radioactive decay, becquerels. Whereas 1 Hz is 1 cycle per second,1 Bq is 1 aperiodic radionuclide event per second, the conversion between a frequency f measured in hertz and an angular velocity ω measured in radians per second is ω =2 π f and f = ω2 π. This SI unit is named after Heinrich Hertz, as with every International System of Units unit named for a person, the first letter of its symbol is upper case. Note that degree Celsius conforms to this rule because the d is lowercase. — Based on The International System of Units, the hertz is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who made important scientific contributions to the study of electromagnetism. The name was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1930, the term cycles per second was largely replaced by hertz by the 1970s. One hobby magazine, Electronics Illustrated, declared their intention to stick with the traditional kc. Mc. etc. units, sound is a traveling longitudinal wave which is an oscillation of pressure. Humans perceive frequency of waves as pitch. Each musical note corresponds to a frequency which can be measured in hertz. An infants ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, the range of ultrasound, infrasound and other physical vibrations such as molecular and atomic vibrations extends from a few femtoHz into the terahertz range and beyond. Electromagnetic radiation is described by its frequency—the number of oscillations of the perpendicular electric and magnetic fields per second—expressed in hertz. Radio frequency radiation is measured in kilohertz, megahertz, or gigahertz
8.
Alternating current
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Alternating current, is an electric current which periodically reverses direction, whereas direct current flows only in one direction. A common source of DC power is a cell in a flashlight. The abbreviations AC and DC are often used to mean simply alternating and direct, the usual waveform of alternating current in most electric power circuits is a sine wave. In certain applications, different waveforms are used, such as triangular or square waves, audio and radio signals carried on electrical wires are also examples of alternating current. These types of alternating current carry information encoded onto the AC signal and these currents typically alternate at higher frequencies than those used in power transmission. Electrical energy is distributed as alternating current because AC voltage may be increased or decreased with a transformer, use of a higher voltage leads to significantly more efficient transmission of power. The power losses in a conductor are a product of the square of the current and this means that when transmitting a fixed power on a given wire, if the current is halved, the power loss will be four times less. Power is often transmitted at hundreds of kilovolts, and transformed to 100–240 volts for domestic use, high voltages have disadvantages, such as the increased insulation required, and generally increased difficulty in their safe handling. In a power plant, energy is generated at a convenient voltage for the design of a generator, near the loads, the transmission voltage is stepped down to the voltages used by equipment. Consumer voltages vary somewhat depending on the country and size of load, the voltage delivered to equipment such as lighting and motor loads is standardized, with an allowable range of voltage over which equipment is expected to operate. Standard power utilization voltages and percentage tolerance vary in the different mains power systems found in the world, high-voltage direct-current electric power transmission systems have become more viable as technology has provided efficient means of changing the voltage of DC power. HVDC systems, however, tend to be expensive and less efficient over shorter distances than transformers. Three-phase electrical generation is very common, the simplest way is to use three separate coils in the generator stator, physically offset by an angle of 120° to each other. Three current waveforms are produced that are equal in magnitude and 120° out of phase to each other, if coils are added opposite to these, they generate the same phases with reverse polarity and so can be simply wired together. In practice, higher pole orders are commonly used, for example, a 12-pole machine would have 36 coils. The advantage is that lower rotational speeds can be used to generate the same frequency, for example, a 2-pole machine running at 3600 rpm and a 12-pole machine running at 600 rpm produce the same frequency, the lower speed is preferable for larger machines. If the load on a system is balanced equally among the phases. Even in the worst-case unbalanced load, the current will not exceed the highest of the phase currents
9.
Single-phase electric power
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In electrical engineering, single-phase electric power is the distribution of alternating current electric power using a system in which all the voltages of the supply vary in unison. Single-phase distribution is used when loads are mostly lighting and heating, single phase AC power systems peak in voltage at 90° and 270°. Because of the rises and falls in voltage, power is not delivered at a constant rate, the waveforms of the three supply conductors are offset from one another in time by one-third of their period. When the three phases are connected to windings around the interior of a motor stator, they produce a magnetic field. The primary difference between phase and three phase AC power is the constancy of delivery. Standard frequencies of single-phase power systems are either 50 or 60 Hz, special single-phase traction power networks may operate at 16.67 Hz or other frequencies to power electric railways. In some countries such as the United States, single phase is divided in half to create split-phase electric power for household appliances. No arrangement of transformers can convert a single-phase load into a load on a polyphase system. A single-phase load may be powered from a distribution system either by connection between a phase and neutral or by connecting the load between two phases. The load device must be designed for the voltage in each case, in North America, a typical three-phase system will have 208 volts between the phases and 120 volts between phase and neutral. If heating equipment designed for the 240-volt three-wire single phase system is connected to two phases of a 208 volt supply, it will only produce 75% of its heating effect. Single-phase motors may have taps to allow their use on either 208 V or 240 V supplies, on higher voltage systems where a single phase transformer is in use to supply a low voltage system, the method of splitting varies. In North American utility distribution practice, the primary of the transformer is wired across a single high voltage feed wire and neutral. Rural distribution may be a single phase at a medium voltage, in Britain the step-down primary is wired phase-phase. Single-phase power distribution is used especially in rural areas, where the cost of a three-phase distribution network is high and motor loads are small. High power systems, say hundreds of kVA or larger, are always three phase. The largest supply normally available as single phase varies according to the standards of the electrical utility, in the UK a single-phase household supply may be rated 100 A or even 125 A, meaning that there is little need for 3 phase in a domestic or small commercial environment. Much of the rest of Europe has traditionally had much smaller limits on the size of single phase supplies resulting in houses being supplied with 3 phase
10.
Three-phase electric power
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Three-phase electric power is a common method of alternating-current electric power generation, transmission, and distribution. It is a type of system and is the most common method used by electrical grids worldwide to transfer power. It is also used to large motors and other heavy loads. The three-phase system was invented by Galileo Ferraris, Mikhail Dolivo-Dobrovolsky, Jonas Wenström. The common reference is usually connected to ground and often to a current-carrying conductor called the neutral. Due to the difference, the voltage on any conductor reaches its peak at one third of a cycle after one of the other conductors. This phase delay gives constant power transfer to a linear load. It also makes it possible to produce a magnetic field in an electric motor. In a three-phase system feeding a balanced and linear load, the sum of the currents of the three conductors is zero. In other words, the current in each conductor is equal in magnitude to the sum of the currents in the two, but with the opposite sign. The return path for the current in any phase conductor is the two phase conductors.5 times as many wires. Thus, the ratio of capacity to conductor material is doubled, the same ratio of capacity to conductor material can also be attained with a center-grounded single-phase system. However, two-phase power results in a smooth torque in a generator or motor. Three-phase systems may also have a wire, particularly in low-voltage distribution. The neutral allows three separate single-phase supplies to be provided at a constant voltage and is used for supplying groups of domestic properties which are each single-phase loads. The connections are arranged so that, as far as possible in each group, further up the distribution system, the currents are usually well balanced. Transformers may be wired in a way that they have a secondary but a three-wire primary while allowing unbalanced loads. This makes it possible to reduce the size of the neutral conductor because it carries little or no current, with a balanced load, all the phase conductors carry the same current and so can be the same size
11.
Overhead line
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An overhead line or overhead wire is used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses, or trains. Overhead line is designed on the principle of one or more overhead wires situated over rail tracks, the feeder stations are usually fed from a high-voltage electrical grid. Electric trains that collect their current from overhead lines use a device such as a pantograph and it presses against the underside of the lowest overhead wire, the contact wire. Current collectors are electrically conductive and allow current to flow through to the train or tram, non-electric locomotives may pass along these tracks without affecting the overhead line, although there may be difficulties with overhead clearance. Alternative electrical power transmission schemes for trains include third rail, ground-level power supply, batteries and this article does not cover regenerative braking, where the traction motors act as generators to retard movement and return power to the overhead. To achieve good high-speed current collection, it is necessary to keep the wire geometry within defined limits. This is usually achieved by supporting the wire from a second wire known as the messenger wire or catenary. This wire approximates the path of a wire strung between two points, a catenary curve, thus the use of catenary to describe this wire or sometimes the whole system. This wire is attached to the wire at regular intervals by vertical wires known as droppers or drop wires. It is supported regularly at structures, by a pulley, link, the whole system is then subjected to a mechanical tension. As the contact wire makes contact with the pantograph, the insert on top of the pantograph is worn down. The straight wire between supports will cause the wire to cross over the whole surface of the pantograph as the train travels around the curve, causing uniform wear. On straight track, the wire is zigzagged slightly to the left. The movement of the wire across the head of the pantograph is called the sweep. The zigzagging of the line is not required for trolley poles. Depot areas tend to have only a wire and are known as simple equipment or trolley wire. When overhead line systems were first conceived, good current collection was only at low speeds. Compound equipment - uses a second wire, known as the auxiliary
12.
Third rail
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A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway locomotive or train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a transit or rapid transit system. Third rail systems are supplied from direct current electricity. The third-rail system of electrification is unrelated to the third used in dual gauge railways. Third-rail systems are a means of providing electric power to trains. On most systems, the rail is placed on the sleeper ends outside the running rails. The conductor rail is supported on ceramic insulators or insulated brackets, the trains have metal contact blocks called shoes which make contact with the conductor rail. The traction current is returned to the station through the running rails. The conductor rail is made of high conductivity steel. The conductor rails have to be interrupted at level crossings, crossovers, tapered rails are provided at the ends of each section, to allow a smooth engagement of the trains contact shoes. Because third rail systems present electric shock hazards close to the ground, a very high current must therefore be used to transfer adequate power, resulting in high resistive losses, and requiring relatively closely spaced feed points. The electrified rail threatens electrocution of anyone wandering or falling onto the tracks. This can be avoided by using platform screen doors, or the risk can be reduced by placing the rail on the side of the track away from the platform. There is also a risk of pedestrians walking onto the tracks at level crossings, the Paris Metro has graphic warning signs pointing out the danger of electrocution from urinating on third rails, precautions which Chicago did not have. The end ramps of conductor rails present a practical limitation on speed due to the impact of the shoe. The world speed record for a rail train is 174 km/h attained on 11 April 1988 by a British Class 442 EMU. In the event of a collision with an object, the beveled end ramps of bottom running systems can facilitate the hazard of having third rail penetrate the interior of a passenger car. This is believed to have contributed to the death of five passengers in the Valhalla train crash of 2015, third rail systems using top contact are prone to accumulations of snow, or ice formed from refrozen snow, and this can interrupt operations
13.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
14.
Adelaide
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Adelaide is the capital city of the state of South Australia, and the fifth-most populous city of Australia. In June 2016, Adelaide had a resident population of 1,326,354 million. South Australia, with a total of 1, the demonym Adelaidean is used in reference to the city and its residents. Adelaide is north of the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the Adelaide Plains between the Gulf St Vincent and the low-lying Mount Lofty Ranges which surround the city. Adelaide stretches 20 km from the coast to the foothills, and 94 to 104 km from Gawler at its northern extent to Sellicks Beach in the south. Named in honour of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen consort to King William IV, Colonel William Light, one of Adelaides founding fathers, designed the city and chose its location close to the River Torrens, in the area originally inhabited by the Kaurna people. Lights design set out Adelaide in a layout, interspaced by wide boulevards and large public squares. Early Adelaide was shaped by prosperity and wealth—until the Second World War, it was Australias third-largest city and it has been noted for early examples of religious freedom, a commitment to political progressivism and civil liberties. It has been known as the City of Churches since the mid-19th century, as South Australias seat of government and commercial centre, Adelaide is the site of many governmental and financial institutions. Most of these are concentrated in the city centre along the boulevard of North Terrace, King William Street. Today, Adelaide is noted for its festivals and sporting events, its food and wine, its long beachfronts. It ranks highly in terms of liveability, being listed in the Top 10 of The Economist Intelligence Units Worlds Most Liveable Cities index in 2010,2011,2012 and 2015. It was also ranked the most liveable city in Australia by the Property Council of Australia in 2011,2012 and 2013, prior to its proclamation as a British settlement in 1836, the area around Adelaide was inhabited by the indigenous Kaurna Aboriginal nation. Kaurna culture and language was almost completely destroyed within a few decades of the European settlement of South Australia in 1836, however, extensive documentation by early missionaries and other researchers has enabled a modern revival of both language and culture. South Australia was officially proclaimed as a new British colony on 28 December 1836, the event is commemorated in South Australia as Proclamation Day. The site of the capital was surveyed and laid out by Colonel William Light. Adelaide was established as a colony of free immigrants, promising civil liberties and freedom from religious persecution. Wakefields idea was for the Government to survey and sell the land at a rate that would maintain land values high enough to be unaffordable for labourers and journeymen
15.
Adelaide Metro
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Adelaide Metro is the public transport system of Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. Adelaide Metro began in 2000 with the privatisation of existing government-operated bus, the Glenelg Tram, the only of Adelaides tramways to survive the 1950s, was also integrated into the current system. Despite this, almost 80 percent of Adelaides metropolitan buses still run on diesel instead of more environmentally friendly fuel like biodiesel. Adelaide Metro has faced criticism for punctuality issues, unreliable services, ageing buses, the complaints increased since the system switched to a private operator in October 2011. The Adelaide Metro received 7,562 feedback reports–more than 40 a day–in 2012, in order to counteract these problems and increase accountability, performance data will now be published weekly as opposed to quarterly by the Adelaide Metro. This will highlight how trains and buses are performing in terms of punctuality and service, the 2014 service figures indicate that the system performed slightly better in 2014 than it did the previous year. The Adelaide Metro is a brand introduced in April 2000 following the round of tenders privatisation of formerly government-operated bus services. Previously, the transport system in Adelaide has been known under several names. Adelaide removed all tramlines during the 1960s leaving only the Glenelg line and this tramline was extended in 2007 by the Department Of Transport, Energy & Infrastructure, and again to the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in 2010. In July 1994, the STA was abolished and government public transport services were transferred to TransAdelaide, in 1995-96, there was a partial tendering of the bus services. TransAdelaide retained three contract regions, Serco won two contract regions, and Hills Transit a joint venture between Australian Transit Enterprises and TransAdelaide, one, Services were run and marketed under each operators name, presenting a disjointed network to the public. The 2000 round of tenders saw the end of TransAdelaides direct operation of bus services in its own right, although it retained the train and tram services. The Adelaide Metro brand was applied across all operators, appearing to the public as a unified network, with common livery, timetable designs. The largest element of Adelaides public transport system is a fleet of diesel, the majority of services terminate in the Adelaide city centre, suburban railway stations or shopping centre interchanges. A major component of the Adelaide Metro bus service is the O-Bahn guided busway to Modbury carrying around 9 million passengers a year. From opening in 1986 until August 2011 it was the worlds longest busway, with a length of 12 kilometres and remains the worlds fastest busway with a maximum permitted speed of 100km/h. Serco had previously informed the Minister for Transport that it was not willing to continue to operate the bus services for a five years on the terms contained in the then existing Contract. Serco had made a submission to the Department of Transport & Urban Planning proposing to operate the bus services in the areas on new terms
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Melbourne
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Melbourne is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in Australia and Oceania. The name Melbourne refers to an urban agglomeration spanning 9,900 km2, the metropolis is located on the large natural bay of Port Phillip and expands into the hinterlands towards the Dandenong and Macedon mountain ranges, Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley. It has a population of 4,641,636 as of 2016, and its inhabitants are called Melburnians. Founded by free settlers from the British Crown colony of Van Diemens Land on 30 August 1835, in what was then the colony of New South Wales, it was incorporated as a Crown settlement in 1837. It was named Melbourne by the Governor of New South Wales, Sir Richard Bourke, in honour of the British Prime Minister of the day, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. It was officially declared a city by Queen Victoria, to whom Lord Melbourne was close, in 1847, during the Victorian gold rush of the 1850s, it was transformed into one of the worlds largest and wealthiest cities. After the federation of Australia in 1901, it served as the interim seat of government until 1927. It is a financial centre in the Asia-Pacific region. It is recognised as a UNESCO City of Literature and a centre for street art, music. It was the host city of the 1956 Summer Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the main passenger airport serving the metropolis and the state is Melbourne Airport, the second busiest in Australia. The Port of Melbourne is Australias busiest seaport for containerised and general cargo, Melbourne has an extensive transport network. The main metropolitan train terminus is Flinders Street Station, and the regional train. Melbourne is also home to Australias most extensive network and has the worlds largest urban tram network. Before the arrival of settlers, humans had occupied the area for an estimated 31,000 to 40,000 years. At the time of European settlement, it was inhabited by under 2000 hunter-gatherers from three indigenous tribes, the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong. The area was an important meeting place for the clans of the Kulin nation alliance and it would be 30 years before another settlement was attempted. Batman selected a site on the bank of the Yarra River. Batman then returned to Launceston in Tasmania, in early August 1835 a different group of settlers, including John Pascoe Fawkner, left Launceston on the ship Enterprize
17.
Yarra Trams
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Yarra Trams is the trading name of the Tram network in Melbourne, which is owned by VicTrack and which is leased to Yarra Trams by Public Transport Victoria on behalf of the Government of Victoria. The current franchise is operated by Keolis Downer, as at May 2014, Yarra Trams operate 487 trams, across 26 tram routes and a free City Circle tourist tram, over 1,763 tram stops. With 250 km of track, Melbournes tram network is the largest in the world. In 2015/16,203.8 million journeys were taken on Melbournes trams, on 1 October 1997 in preparation for privatisation, the Public Transport Corporations tram operations were split into two business units, Swanston Trams and Yarra Trams. TransdevTSL, a joint venture between Transfield Services, Transdev and Egis, successfully bid to take over the Yarra Trams services from 29 August 1999, Transdev bought out Egis share in 2000. The joint venture inherited 23 W,31 Z3,28 A1,42 A2, two B1 and 55 B2 class trams and took over the operation of 10 routes and four depots, Camberwell, East Preston, Kew and Southbank. In March 2000 a new white with green and blue stripes, after National Express handed back its M>Tram franchise having been unable to renegotiate financial terms, the State Government temporarily took it over. In May 2003 the State Government announced it would establish a company to operate both networks, and was negotiating with TransdevTSL to operate this entity. In February 2004 an agreement was reached, and the networks were reunited on 18 April 2004 under the Yarra Trams brand, when the franchise was next tendered, Transdev TSL and Keolis Downer were shortlisted to bid. In June 2009 the franchise was awarded to Keolis Downer with the new franchise commencing on 30 November 2009, the Yarra Trams brand was retained. Keolis Downer introduced a new Yarra Trams logo along with a new livery featuring yellow doors, having met performance criteria, in 2016 the State Government entered negotiations with Keolis Downer to extend the franchise until November 2024. As at June 2016 the fleet consisted of over 450 W, Z3, A1, A2, B1, B2, C, C2, D and E class trams, operated from eight depots. In October 2001, Yarra Trams took delivery o the first of 36 C class Citadis trams which have operated on route 109 to complement the extension to Box Hill. As part of the acquisition of M>Tram in 2004, Yarra Trams acquired 39 D class Combino trams, the are leased from the Commonwealth Bank, rather than VicTrack. Heritage W-class trams, namely on the City Circle tourist service, due to these trams being limited to 40 km/h as a result of a series of modifications due to braking problems, their use is restricted to ensure limited interference with modern trams. In 2003, Yarra Trams trialled a seating layout which became known as Apollo, the trial involved removing 30 seats from a B-class tram and replacing the removed seats with bum racks which are found in Citadis trams. This resulted in a capacity for standing passengers on crowded services during peak hours. A further ten trams received the seating layout during refurbishment, seventy E-class are being delivered by Bombardier Transportation, Dandenong
18.
Belgium
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Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a sovereign state in Western Europe bordered by France, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxembourg, and the North Sea. It is a small, densely populated country which covers an area of 30,528 square kilometres and has a population of about 11 million people. Additionally, there is a group of German-speakers who live in the East Cantons located around the High Fens area. Historically, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg were known as the Low Countries, the region was called Belgica in Latin, after the Roman province of Gallia Belgica. From the end of the Middle Ages until the 17th century, today, Belgium is a federal constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. It is divided into three regions and three communities, that exist next to each other and its two largest regions are the Dutch-speaking region of Flanders in the north and the French-speaking southern region of Wallonia. The Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. A German-speaking Community exists in eastern Wallonia, Belgiums linguistic diversity and related political conflicts are reflected in its political history and complex system of governance, made up of six different governments. Upon its independence, declared in 1830, Belgium participated in the Industrial Revolution and, during the course of the 20th century, possessed a number of colonies in Africa. This continuing antagonism has led to several far-reaching reforms, resulting in a transition from a unitary to a federal arrangement during the period from 1970 to 1993. Belgium is also a member of the Eurozone, NATO, OECD and WTO. Its capital, Brussels, hosts several of the EUs official seats as well as the headquarters of major international organizations such as NATO. Belgium is also a part of the Schengen Area, Belgium is a developed country, with an advanced high-income economy and is categorized as very high in the Human Development Index. A gradual immigration by Germanic Frankish tribes during the 5th century brought the area under the rule of the Merovingian kings, a gradual shift of power during the 8th century led the kingdom of the Franks to evolve into the Carolingian Empire. Many of these fiefdoms were united in the Burgundian Netherlands of the 14th and 15th centuries, the Eighty Years War divided the Low Countries into the northern United Provinces and the Southern Netherlands. The latter were ruled successively by the Spanish and the Austrian Habsburgs and this was the theatre of most Franco-Spanish and Franco-Austrian wars during the 17th and 18th centuries. The reunification of the Low Countries as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands occurred at the dissolution of the First French Empire in 1815, although the franchise was initially restricted, universal suffrage for men was introduced after the general strike of 1893 and for women in 1949. The main political parties of the 19th century were the Catholic Party, French was originally the single official language adopted by the nobility and the bourgeoisie
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Antwerp
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Antwerp is a city in Belgium, the capital of Antwerp province in the region of Flanders. With a population of 510,610, it is the most populous city proper in Belgium and its metropolitan area houses around 1,200,000 people, which is second behind Brussels. Antwerp is on the River Scheldt, linked to the North Sea by the Westerschelde estuary, the Port of Antwerp is one of the biggest in the world, ranking second in Europe and within the top 20 globally. Antwerp has long been an important city in the Low Countries, the inhabitants of Antwerp are nicknamed Sinjoren, after the Spanish honorific señor or French seigneur, lord, referring to the Spanish noblemen who ruled the city in the 17th century. The city hosted the 1920 Summer Olympics, according to folklore, notably celebrated by a statue in front of the town hall, the city got its name from a legend about a giant called Antigoon who lived near the Scheldt river. He exacted a toll from passing boatmen, and for those who refused, he severed one of their hands, eventually the giant was killed by a young hero named Silvius Brabo, who cut off the giants own hand and flung it into the river. Hence the name Antwerpen, from Dutch hand werpen, akin to Old English hand and wearpan, a longstanding theory is that the name originated in the Gallo-Roman period and comes from the Latin antverpia. Antverpia would come from Ante Verpia, indicating land that forms by deposition in the curve of a river. Note that the river Scheldt, before a period between 600 and 750, followed a different track. This must have coincided roughly with the current ringway south of the city, however, many historians think it unlikely that there was a large settlement which would be named Antverpia, but more something like an outpost with a river crossing. However, John Lothrop Motley argues, and so do a lot of Dutch etymologists and historians, aan t werp is also possible. This warp is a hill or a river deposit, high enough to remain dry at high tide. Another word for werp is pol hence polders, historical Antwerp allegedly had its origins in a Gallo-Roman vicus. Excavations carried out in the oldest section near the Scheldt, 1952–1961, produced pottery shards, the earliest mention of Antwerp dates from the 4th century. In the 4th century, Antwerp was first named, having been settled by the Germanic Franks, the name was reputed to have been derived from anda and werpum. The Merovingian Antwerp was evangelized by Saint Amand in the 7th century, at the end of the 10th century, the Scheldt became the boundary of the Holy Roman Empire. Antwerp became a margraviate in 980, by the German emperor Otto I, in the 11th century Godfrey of Bouillon was for some years known as the marquis of Antwerp. In the 12th century, Norbert of Xanten established a community of his Premonstratensian canons at St. Michaels Abbey at Caloes
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Trams in Antwerp
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The Antwerp tramway network is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Antwerp, a city in the Flemish region of Belgium. The network is operated by the Flemish regions transportation company De Lijn, as of 2015, it featured thirteen lines, seven of which pass partially underground. Horse-drawn trams were the predecessor of electric trams. The first order for the existence of the «American Tram», as the tram was referred that time, was addressed to the citywide proprietors Ed. Paujaurd’hui and A. Edvard still on June 27,1865, the first horse tram line opened in Antwerp on May 25,1873. It linked church in Berchem district with Meir avenue in the city center, nine years later, there were already 9 lines of horse-drawn tram in Antwerp. There was also one omnibus route there, the public transport of Antwerp was exploited by 9 different companies. One of them operated omnibus, other eight — various horse tram routes, the work permit for electrifying the tram system was granted by CGTA on March 12,1902 just after half year form applying. Along with electrification it was planned to rebuild lines from 1,435 mm gauge to 1,000 mm, the works started on the omnibus route Draakplaats — Grote Markt. In fact this is the first tram line which stated to work, since omnibuses are road transport, therefore, there were no infrastructure built before electrifying this line. On May 6,1902 along the way of the omnibus route, tracks were laid. After that the tracks started to be rebuilt along with the electrification of the drawn line on the boulevard ring. For a time of work, omnibuses which became unused temporarily replaced horse drawn cars, on July 9,1902 horse drawn cars started to move on a former omnibus route segment from Nieuwstraat to Grote Markt. The first gantry for a tram line was installed on June 10,1902 on the Kunstlei boulevard. On August 13,1902 the catenary was connected to the electric power substation. Then the electric tram test rides started, the normal operation of an electric tram started on September 2,1902. First there was a mix of electric trams and horse cars on the line, and then, the horse-drawn trams left the boulevards of Antwerp - forever. In August 2012, De Lijn ordered a fleet of Flexity 2 trams from Bombardier and these would replace many of the older PCC trams, and displace Hermelijn trams onto other routes
21.
Coast Tram (Belgium)
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The Coast Tram is a public transport service connecting the cities and towns along the entire Belgian coast, between De Panne near the French border and Knokke-Heist. At 68 km in length, it is the longest tram line in the world, the line is built at 1,000 mm metre gauge and fully electrified at 600 V DC. On its creation, the line was managed by the NMVB, the service makes 69 stops along the 68 km long line, with a tram running every ten minutes during the peak summer months, during which it is used by over 3 million passengers. The service has recently made more accessible through the addition of low-floor centre sections to existing vehicles. This avoids delays to the schedule when the road bridge that the tram line normally follows is raised for boats passing under it. A similar feature exists at the end of Ostend station around the lock entrance to the Vlotdok. De Lijn NMVB / SNCV De Kusttram De Lijn Buurtspoorweg foto archief TRAMANIA Buurtspoorweg sponsoring UrbanRail. net page
22.
Brussels
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Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels which is the capital of Belgium. The Brussels-Capital Region is a part of both the French Community of Belgium and the Flemish Community, but is separate from the region of Flanders or Wallonia. The region has a population of 1.2 million and an area with a population of over 1.8 million. Brussels is the de facto capital of the European Union as it hosts a number of principal EU institutions, the secretariat of the Benelux and the headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are also located in Brussels. Today, it is considered an Alpha global city, historically a Dutch-speaking city, Brussels has seen a language shift to French from the late 19th century onwards. Today, the majority language is French, and the Brussels-Capital Region is a bilingual enclave within the Flemish Region. All road signs, street names, and many advertisements and services are shown in both languages, Brussels is increasingly becoming multilingual with increasing numbers of migrants, expatriates and minority groups speaking their own languages. The most common theory of the origin of Brussels name is that it derives from the Old Dutch Broekzele or Broeksel, meaning marsh, Saint Vindicianus, the bishop of Cambrai made the first recorded reference to the place Brosella in 695 when it was still a hamlet. The origin of the settlement that was to become Brussels lies in Saint Gaugericus construction of a chapel on an island in the river Senne around 580. The official founding of Brussels is usually situated around 979, when Duke Charles of Lower Lotharingia transferred the relics of Saint Gudula from Moorsel to the Saint Gaugericus chapel, Charles would construct the first permanent fortification in the city, doing so on that same island. Lambert I of Leuven, Count of Leuven gained the County of Brussels around 1000 by marrying Charles daughter, as it grew to a population of around 30,000, the surrounding marshes were drained to allow for further expansion. The Counts of Leuven became Dukes of Brabant at about this time, in the 13th century, the city got its first walls. After the construction of the city walls in the early 13th century, to let the city expand, a second set of walls was erected between 1356 and 1383. Today, traces of it can still be seen, mostly because the small ring, Brabant had lost its independence, but Brussels became the Princely Capital of the prosperous Low Countries, and flourished. In 1516 Charles V, who had been heir of the Low Countries since 1506, was declared King of Spain in St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. Upon the death of his grandfather, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor in 1519 and it was in the Palace complex at Coudenberg that Charles V abdicated in 1555. This impressive palace, famous all over Europe, had expanded since it had first become the seat of the Dukes of Brabant. In 1695, during the Nine Years War, King Louis XIV of France sent troops to bombard Brussels with artillery, together with the resulting fire, it was the most destructive event in the entire history of Brussels
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Trams in Brussels
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The Brussels tram system is a transport system in Brussels, Belgium. It is the 16th largest tram system in the world by route length, in 2016, the Brussels tram system consists of 17 tram lines. As of 2011, the systems total route length was 138.9 km. Its development has demonstrated many of the quandaries that face local public transport planners, the Brussels tram system also has a number of interesting peculiarities. The first horse-drawn trams were introduced in Brussels in 1869, running from the Porte de Namur to the Bois de la Cambre, the first electric tramway came to Brussels in 1894. This means that three-way deals are necessary between Brussels’ own STIB/MIVB, Flanders’ De Lijn and Wallonia’s TEC, STIB sees itself as a provider of mobility rather than just public transport, and has a 49% share in the Cambio carsharing franchise. The Brussels conurbation —19 municipalities plus adjoining commuter belt — is also served by a dense network of main-line trains. The MOBIB contactless smart card can be used on buses, trams and the metro, a simple tariff system permits unlimited changes with a one-hour period for €2.50 when bought from the driver, €2.10 from a ticket machine. Ridership has been rising, and user-friendly features that have grown up through custom, for instance, passengers open the doors by pressing a green strip on the central pole or an illuminated button, and drivers usually make a point of waiting for latecomers. However, overcrowding at rush hours and at weekend is common, fare-dodging is reputedly quite high, despite periodic enforcement campaigns, and this is being addressed by the installation of ticket barriers in all metro stations. From 2013, the obligation to check out of as well as into the system is being progressively introduced, as of 2013, there are 19 tram routes, totaling 138.9 kilometres, and serving most parts of the city, including the two partial ring routes. Almost all trams are double-ended and all are double-sided, and while some stub termini remain, the route pattern shows some notable gaps, particularly along major radial routes, because these were originally served by the national network of buurtspoorwegen/tramways vicinaux. These had a gauge of one metre, rather than the Brussels standard gauge, the complementary routing of vicinal and urban tracks and the replacement of key lines by metro has led to some peculiar track layouts, for instance at the Barrière de St-Gilles/Bareel St-Gillis. Though all seven roads at this circular junction originally had tram lines, to negotiate a sharp turn, the old route T18 had to make a 270-degree turn on its journey away from the city centre, looping round and crossing its own path. Under the South station, the premetro and metro tracks swap from running on the right to running on the left where they run parallel to provide interchange between the two lines. This serves no apparent purpose, but may be because main line trains in Belgium run on the left, trams cross back to the right under Place Bara but the metro stays on the left as far as the Roi Baudouin terminus. Between 2006 and 2009, a transformation of the network took place, with the aim of improving regularity. The premetro service between North station and Albert was restructured with fewer lines passing through it, but at more regular intervals and these routes use the new longer Bombardier trams
24.
Charleroi
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Charleroi is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By January 1,2008, the population of Charleroi was 201,593. The inhabitants are called Carolorégiens or simply Carolos, the municipality of Charleroi straddles both banks of the river Sambre in an area marked by industrial activities, which has been nicknamed the Pays Noir, part of the larger sillon industriel. Even though most of the factories have closed since the 1950s, Charleroi lies around 50 kilometres south of Brussels. Several public buildings, temples and villas were built in the area in the Roman period, burial places, with jewels and weapons, have been found. The first written mention of a place called Charnoy dates from a 9th-century offering in the Lobbes abbey, during the Middle Ages, Charnoy was one of the many small hamlets in the area, with no more than about 50 inhabitants, part of the County of Namur. The history of the city of Charleroi began in 1666, in September of that same year, the name Charnoy was officially replaced by that of the newly founded city of Charles-Roi, so named in honor of Charles II. The chronogram FVNDATVR CAROLOREGIVM can be found in the register of the parish of Charnoy for the year 1666, a year later, Louis XIV’s armies, under the command of the Vicomte de Turenne, besieged the unfinished fortress. Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban completed the work, the future city was granted its privileges, a bridge was built over the river. The French Prince of Conti took the city again in 1745, glass, steel and coal industries, which had already sprung up a century earlier, could now flourish. Trouble began again in 1790, the year of the uprising that eventually led to the United States of Belgium. The Austrians occupied the city, were forced out by the French after the Battle of Jemappes on November 6,1792, and took it back again four months later. On June 12,1794, the French revolutionary Army of Sambre-et-Meuse under the command of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, invested Charleroi, the city took the revolutionary name of Libre-sur-Sambre until 1800. After Frances defeat in 1814, the area was annexed to the Netherlands. Napoleon stayed in Charleroi for a couple of days in June 1815, after the Industrial Revolution, Charleroi benefited from the increased use of coke in the metallurgical industry. People from across Europe were attracted by the opportunities. Following the Industrial revolution in Wallonia, Charleroi from the 1850s–1860s became one of the most important places where labor strikes broke out, in 1886,12 strikers were killed by the Belgian army in Roux. In the 1880s, miners in Hainaut were recruited by the Dominion Coal Company in Glace Bay and these miners were anxious to flee the repression following bloody strikes and riots in Liège and Charleroi during the Walloon Jacquerie of 1886
25.
Charleroi Metro
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Charleroi Metro is a 33-kilometre light rail network in Belgium, consisting of a loop line around central Charleroi and two branches towards the suburbs of Gilly and Anderlues. A third branch to Châtelet was partially built but never entered service, the current system was opened in seven phases ranging from 1976 to 2012, which included 28 stations, of which 24 were in service as of 2012 along with 6 regular tram stops in Anderlues. On 22 June 2013,18 more stations were to the system added when line M3 to Gosselies went into service. The original plans for the network were much more extensive with 8 branches radiating from the central loop and this branch runs on the street as a normal tram after Pétria station, following a line of the old Vicinal network. A4 km branch with 6 stations runs northeast to Gilly, a 7.5 km branch with 18 tram stops runs north to Gosselies. In addition, another branch is inactive, A branch running east towards Châtelet was built during the 1980s. A first section comprising 4 stations was completed but never entered service, the network allows transfers to the national railway network at the main Charleroi-Sud railway station as well as at the secondary Charleroi-Ouest station. The completion and opening of the loop in 2012 led to a significant reorganization of the premetro/tram lines previously operating on the system. The five former premetro lines –54,55,84,88, line numbers are used alone on maps and station signage, while the prefix M is added on timetables and on destination indicators of trams, to avoid confusion with similarly numbered bus lines. The system is run by TEC Charleroi, a subsidiary of the Walloon public transport operator, intervals between trains depend on the period. The standard interval is 30 minutes for lines M1 and M2 and this interval becomes 60 minutes on weekends and holidays, and during the July–August period. On line M4, the interval is 10 minutes, similarly. From 2012 on, all trams have been equipped with orange colored LED destination indicators, displaying the line number, prior to that, mechanical destination indicators were used, using various layouts. The most common display showed two distinctly colored rectangles indicating the most important stations of the line, with the number displayed on a white square between both rectangles. Rectangle color used the code, Pale yellow, used on lines originating/terminating in Anderlues. Bright yellow, used on lines originating/terminating at Gilly, dark blue, used on lines originating/terminating at Sud. Dark green, used on lines originating/terminating at Parc, beside this system, it happened that trams only displayed the terminus station as one of Charleroi-Sud or Parc, without line number. Line 84 used a different display with black characters on a full white background
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Ghent
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Ghent is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province and it is a port and university city. With 240,191 inhabitants in the beginning of 2009, Ghent is Belgiums second largest municipality by number of inhabitants, the current mayor of Ghent, Daniël Termont, leads a coalition of the Socialistische Partij Anders, Groen and Open VLD. The ten-day-long Ghent Festival is held every year and attended by about 1–1.5 million visitors, archaeological evidence shows human presence in the region of the confluence of Scheldt and Leie going back as far as the Stone Age and the Iron Age. Most historians believe that the name for Ghent, Ganda, is derived from the Celtic word ganda which means confluence. Other sources connect its name with a deity named Gontia. There are no records of the Roman period, but archaeological research confirms that the region of Ghent was further inhabited. When the Franks invaded the Roman territories from the end of the 4th century and well into the 5th century, they brought their language with them and Celtic, around 650, Saint Amand founded two abbeys in Ghent, St. Peters and Saint Bavos Abbey. The city grew from several nuclei, the abbeys and a commercial centre, around 800, Louis the Pious, son of Charlemagne, appointed Einhard, the biographer of Charlemagne, as abbot of both abbeys. In 851 and 879, the city was attacked and plundered twice by the Vikings. Within the protection of the County of Flanders, the city recovered and flourished from the 11th century, by the 13th century, Ghent was the biggest city in Europe north of the Alps after Paris, it was bigger than Cologne or Moscow. Within the city walls lived up to 65,000 people, the belfry and the towers of the Saint Bavo Cathedral and Saint Nicholas Church are just a few examples of the skyline of the period. The rivers flowed in an area where land was periodically flooded. These rich grass meersen were ideally suited for herding sheep, the wool of which was used for making cloth, during the Middle Ages Ghent was the leading city for cloth. The wool industry, originally established at Bruges, created the first European industrialized zone in Ghent in the High Middle Ages, the mercantile zone was so highly developed that wool had to be imported from Scotland and England. This was one of the reasons for Flanders good relationship with Scotland and England, Ghent was the birthplace of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Trade with England suffered significantly during the Hundred Years War, the city recovered in the 15th century, when Flanders was united with neighbouring provinces under the Dukes of Burgundy. High taxes led to a rebellion and eventually the Battle of Gavere in 1453, around this time the centre of political and social importance in the Low Countries started to shift from Flanders to Brabant, although Ghent continued to play an important role
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Trams in Ghent
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The Ghent tramway network is a network of tramways forming part of the public transport system in Ghent, a city in the Flemish Region of Belgium, with a total of four lines. Since 1991, the network has operated by De Lijn. As of the end of 2008, the network had 40 HermeLijn trams and 43 PCC trams, the network covers approximately 30 kilometers. The rail gauge is 1,000 mm metre gauge and trams are powered by 600 V DC overhead wires, the network uses dedicated rights of way as well as mixed traffic, the right of way on Groot-Britanniëlaan is shared with buses. The system used to have one short tunnel, around 150 meters long, passing underneath Sint-Pieters railway station, the Sint-Pieters Station tram stop was located inside the tunnel. It was opened on June 28,1996, the system has no triangles and only a single turnback loop. Therefore, all rolling stock must be bidirectional, with cabs at each end, there are also two non-switch 90-degree crossings, between the lines of routes 1 and 21/22, on the crossing of Zonnestraat with Veldstraat as well as Korte Meers street. There are two crossings because the track of route 1 passes over streets in each direction, along the Korte Meer the tram track goes toward the city center, the Korenmarkt stop, yet returns along the pedestrian/tram-only shopping area along the Veldstraat. On streets where tram tracks are located away from the sidewalk, i. e. in the middle of the roadway, horse-drawn trams appeared in Gent in 1874. The rolling stock consisted of 43 carriages,14 of them open, the horse-drawn trams were operated by Les Tramways de la Ville de Gand, which existed until 1897. On August 13 of 1897 operating concessions were issued to the Société Anonyme des Railways Éonomiques de Liège-Seraing et Extensions and these companies merged on January 4,1898 to form the SA des Tramways Electriques de Gand. The aim of this move was to replace horses by electric traction and it was also decided to use battery-powered trams, since they did not require unsightly overhead lines. The power of battery operated trams was 25 hp, the maximum speed of each was 12 km/h, by law, the operator was not allowed to travel any faster. A special 600 kW generating station was built to charge the batteries of these trams, however, battery traction was operationally unsuccessful, so in 1903 a decision was made to install overhead electrification. The first trams powered by overhead lines entered service in 1904 and this date marks the birth of a tramway in Gent. From 1904 to 1961 the system was operated by Tramway Electriques de Gand, during the process of electrification, the rail gauge size was reduced from 1435 mm to 1000 mm. In the 1960s the tram network of Gent decreased rapidly, there were eleven routes in 1961, by 1974 there were just four, the route to Melle closed on New Years Eve,1973. In 1961 the tram property was transferred from the TEG Tramway Electriques de Gand to the MIVG municipal organization, until 1974 the archaic two/three-axle trams de oude gele tramkes were used on Gents tram network
28.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
29.
Calgary
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Calgary is a city in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated at the confluence of the Bow River and the Elbow River in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, the city anchors the south end of what Statistics Canada defines as the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The city had a population of 1,239,220 in 2016, making it Albertas largest city, also in 2016, Calgary had a metropolitan population of 1,392,609, making it the fourth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada. The Calgary CMA is home to the second-highest number of head offices in Canada among the countrys 800 largest corporations. In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympic Games, Calgary was named after Calgary on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. In turn, the name originates from a compound of kald and gart, similar Old Norse words, meaning cold and garden, alternatively, the name might be Gaelic Cala ghearraidh, meaning beach of the meadow, or Gaelic for either clear running water or bay farm. The Calgary area was inhabited by people whose presence has been traced back at least 11,000 years. Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by the Blackfoot, Blood, Peigan, in 1787, cartographer David Thompson spent the winter with a band of Peigan encamped along the Bow River. He was a Hudsons Bay Company trader and the first recorded European to visit the area, John Glenn was the first documented European settler in the Calgary area, in 1873. The site became a post of the North-West Mounted Police, the NWMP detachment was assigned in 1875 to protect the western plains from US whisky traders, and to protect the fur trade. Originally named Fort Brisebois, after NWMP officer Éphrem-A, Brisebois, it was renamed Fort Calgary in 1876 by Colonel James Macleod. When the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the area in 1883, over a century later, the Canadian Pacific Railway headquarters moved to Calgary from Montreal in 1996. Calgary was officially incorporated as a town in 1884, and elected its first mayor, in 1894, it was incorporated as The City of Calgary in what was then the North-West Territories. The Calgary Police Service was established in 1885 and assumed municipal, local duties from the NWMP, the Calgary Fire of 1886 occurred on November 7,1886. Fourteen buildings were destroyed with losses estimated at $103,200, although no one was killed or injured, city officials drafted a law requiring all large downtown buildings to be built with Paskapoo sandstone, to prevent this from happening again. After the arrival of the railway, the Dominion Government started leasing grazing land at minimal cost, as a result of this policy, large ranching operations were established in the outlying country near Calgary. Already a transportation and distribution hub, Calgary quickly became the centre of Canadas cattle marketing and meatpacking industries. By the late 19th century, the Hudsons Bay Company expanded into the interior and established posts along rivers that later developed into the cities of Winnipeg, Calgary
30.
Calgary Transit
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Calgary Transit is the public transit service which is owned and operated by the city of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In 2015, an estimated 110 million passengers boarded approximately 1,176 Calgary Transit vehicles, what would eventually become Calgary Transit began as the Calgary Street Railway on July 5,1909, with twelve electric streetcars serving what was at the time a city of 30,000. Eventually the electric lines were phased out together — to be replaced by diesel buses. In 1972, CTS assumed its current name of Calgary Transit, between the early 1970s and 2000, Calgary Transit had a three tier bus service. Standard bus routes were identified with white bus stop signs, Blue Arrow bus routes, marked by blue signs, provided limited stops, and all day service to suburban neighborhoods from the city centre. Express service was indicated with red signs and provided extremely limited bus service to the far reaches of the city during peak hours only and these tiers have been slowly phased out, since Calgary Transit began expanding C-Train lines and capacity and implementing BRT service. In 2012 Calgary Transit planners presented mayor Naheed Nenshis council with a tentative 30-year plan RouteAhead to enhance the capacities of Calgary Transit, on December 13,2012 Craig Hardy, became the one hundred millionth rider of the year a record never reached in its 103-year history. He received free transit for a year and was celebrated by mayor Nenshi, on May 25,1981, Calgary Transit became one of the first transit systems in North America to operate a light rail system — the C-Train, on which construction had begun in 1978. The original line ran from Anderson Station to 8th St SW in Downtown Calgary, on June 28,2004, two new stations for the south line opened, Shawnessy Station and Somerset-Bridlewood Station. On December 17,2007, an extension was made to the Route 202 northeast line from Whitehorn to the new McKnight-Westwinds Station, on June 15,2009, Crowfoot Station was added on the northwest line located directly west of Crowfoot Town Centre in the median of Crowchild Trail. On August 27,2012, Martindale and Saddletowne Stations was added to the northeast line, on December 10,2012, the West LRT opened, with six new stations and the Downtown West - Kerby one in downtown. Since it is Calgarys newest LRT line in 25 years, it is an extension of Route 202, after this opening, the C-Train system total length is now 56.2 kilometres long. On July 18,2007, Calgary Transit officially unveiled a new red and white livery for its C-Train, Articulated Busses, on August 27,2008, a train en route to the Somerset station collided with a construction crane in between the Dalhousie and Brentwood stations. Six were injured in the accident, including one child, on February 18,2009 Calgary Transit celebrated the 1,000,000, 000th rider, randomly selecting a passenger, Shelly Xiao during a ceremony at the 1 Street SW CTrain Station. On August 30,2004, Calgary Transit opened a bus transit line to operate future C-Train routes. The BRT system consisted of a route, Route 301. A subsequent route, Route 305, was added in 2008, serving the Bowness, a third route, Route 302, entered service on August 31,2009, along a proposed southeast LRT corridor. The Blue Arrow name all but disappeared in 2000 in order to all bus stops under one common scheme
31.
CTrain
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CTrain is a light rail transit system in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It began operation on May 25,1981 and has expanded as the city has increased in population, the system is operated by Calgary Transit, as part of the Calgary municipal governments transportation department. It is now one of the busiest light rail systems in North America, with over 300,000 daily riders. About 45% of workers in downtown Calgary take the CTrain to work, the CTrain system has two routes, which have been designated Route 201 - the Red line, and Route 202 - the Blue line. They have a route length of 59.9 kilometres. The longer route serves the southern and northwestern areas of the city, the shorter route serves the northeastern and western sections of the city. Most track is at grade, with its own right-of-way, the downtown portion is a shared right-of-way, serving both routes along the 7th Avenue South transit mall at street level. This portion is a zone and serves as a downtown people mover. The tracks split at the east and west ends of downtown into lines leading to the south, six percent of the system is underground, and seven percent is grade-separated. Trains are powered by overhead wires, using pantographs to draw power. In the first quarter of 2015, the CTrain system had an average of 333,800 unlinked passenger trips per weekday, in 2007, 45% of the people working in downtown Calgary took transit to work, the citys objective is to increase that to 60%. In late 2015 Calgary Transit began operating four-car LRT trains on the CTrain system, the lengthening of trains was done to alleviate overcrowding as the system was already carrying more than 300,000 passengers per day, and many trains were overcrowded. Many of the stations were also worn out by high passenger traffic. The idea of rail transit in Calgary originated in a 1967 Calgary transportation study, a fourth line, a north central line running from downtown to Thorncliffe mostly along Centre Street was also envisioned, but was thought to be beyond the scope of the study. However, a boom in the 1970s had caused the heavy rail concept to fall out of favour due to the increased costs of construction. LRT was chosen over dedicated busways and the expansion of the Blue Arrow bus service because light rail has lower operating costs. The Blue Arrow service all but disappeared in 2000, the present-day CTrain originated in a 1975 plan, calling for construction of a single line, from the downtown core to Anderson Road. The plan was approved by City Council in May 1977, with construction of what would become the LRTs South Line beginning one month later, the South Line opened on May 25,1981
32.
Edmonton
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Edmonton /ˈɛdməntən/ is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, the city anchors the north end of what Statistics Canada defines as the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The city had a population of 932,546 in 2016, making it Albertas second-largest city, also in 2016, Edmonton had a metropolitan population of 1,321,426, making it the sixth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada. Edmonton is North Americas northernmost city with a population over one million. A resident of Edmonton is known as an Edmontonian, Edmontons historic growth has been facilitated through the absorption of five adjacent urban municipalities and a series of annexations ending in 1982. Known as the Gateway to the North, the city is a point for large-scale oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta. Edmonton is a cultural, governmental and educational centre and it hosts a year-round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname Canadas Festival City. It is home to North Americas largest mall, West Edmonton Mall, in 1754, Anthony Henday, an explorer for the Hudsons Bay Company, may have been the first European to enter the Edmonton area. By 1795, Fort Edmonton was established on the north bank as a major trading post for the Hudsons Bay Company. The new forts name was suggested by John Peter Pruden after Edmonton, London, the home town of both the HBC deputy governor Sir James Winter Lake, and Pruden. In 1876, Treaty 6, which includes what is now Edmonton, was signed between the Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Queen Victoria as Queen of Canada, as part of the Numbered Treaties of Canada. The agreement includes the Plains and Woods Cree, Assiniboine, and other governments of First Nations at Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt. The area covered by the treaty represents most of the area of the current provinces of Saskatchewan. The arrival of the CPR and the C&E Railway helped bring settlers and entrepreneurs from eastern Canada, Europe, U. S. the Edmonton areas fertile soil and cheap land attracted settlers, further establishing Edmonton as a major regional commercial and agricultural centre. Some people participating in the Klondike Gold Rush passed through South Edmonton/Strathcona in 1897, in November 1905, the Canadian Northern Railway arrived in Edmonton, accelerating growth. During the early 1900s, Edmontons rapid growth led to speculation in real estate, in 1912, Edmonton amalgamated with the City of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River, as a result, the city extended south of the North Saskatchewan River for the first time. Just prior to World War I, the boom ended, many impoverished families moved to subsistence farms outside the city, while others fled to greener pastures in other provinces. Recruitment to the Canadian army during the war contributed to the drop in population
33.
Edmonton Transit Service
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The Edmonton Transit System, also called ETS, is the public transit service owned and operated by the city of Edmonton, Alberta. It operates Edmontons bus and light rail systems, ETS provides service on buses and light-rail transit within the City of Edmonton limits, in addition to Fort Saskatchewan, Spruce Grove, and the Edmonton Garrison at Namao. It also provides connections to transit services operated by the City of St. Albert. Another trial service to Beaumont in 2003-2004 was discontinued due to low ridership, ETS provides service to the Edmonton International Airport, while Leduc Transit provides bus service to Leduc. ETS operates a fleet of accessible low floor buses, which have been progressively introduced into the system since 1993. These include the 858 40-foot New Flyer D40LF, and the 33 60-foot D60LF articulated models, ETS uses the timed-transfer system, where suburban feeder routes run to a transit centre, and passengers can then transfer to a base route/LRT to the city centre or the university. Some feeder routes provide express service to and from the city centre. The Ookspress was an express route that ferried people from Churchill Station directly to the main NAIT campus that primarily used electric buses. The Ookspress was cancelled when the Metro Line opened on September 6,2015, as of November 2014, there are 22 routes equipped. A mobile app, ETS Live to Go, has been released, over 750 buses have Smart Bus technology as of May 2016. Mobile data terminals inform the drivers how to drive a route if they are unfamiliar, the buses equipped have internal covert cameras to monitor safety. City council has approved funding for Smartbus deployment on all bus routes as of 2019 and 2020, on September 4th 2016, all 928 busses in the ETS fleet had been fully equipped with Smart bus technology, earlier than initially planned. Late Night Owl Service Night service began in September 2015, routes 1,4,8, and 9 and 512. These buses operate until 3,30 AM, morning service then resumes around 5,00 AM. LRT route night service is provided by Route 512 which stops close to each Capital Line LRT station overnight, other routes end service at varying times. In May 2007, Edmonton Transit Security were appointed Peace Officers under the Alberta Peace Officer Act, Transit Peace Officers can hand out tickets for Provincial Statutes and Edmonton bylaws on Transit property. Transit Security uses Crown Victoria Police Interceptor cruisers as their source of transportation. Routes numbered 30-99 are south Edmonton routes, while routes 100-199 run north of the river, for example, routes 60 to 79 are located in Mill Woods, while routes 160-179 are located in Castle Downs
34.
Edmonton Light Rail Transit
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Edmonton Light Rail Transit, commonly referred to as the LRT, is a light rail system in Edmonton, Alberta. Part of the Edmonton Transit System, the system has 18 stations on two lines and 24.3 km of track, ETS designates the first line as the Capital Line. The 21-kilometre line starts at Clareview in Edmontons northeast and ends at Century Park in Edmontons south end, the Metro Line is a 3. 3-kilometre extension of the system from Churchill LRT Station in downtown Edmonton northwest to NAIT LRT Station. It had been scheduled to open in spring 2014, but was delayed to September 6,2015. The first phase of the 27 kilometres Valley Line, which is planned to run from downtown Edmonton to Mill Woods, in 1962, Canadian Bechtel Ltd. was commissioned to develop a plan for Edmontons rapid transit system. Construction began in 1974 with a budget of $65 million, Edmonton became the first city in North America with a metropolitan population of less than one million to build a modern light rail system. The population was just over 445,000 when construction started on the route in 1974 and it also became the first city in Western Canada to operate a rapid transit system. Testing of the new line started in 1977 with regular service starting April 22,1978, the original line was 6.9 km long. When the line opened, fare collection was modelled on traditional rapid transit lines, low volumes of activity at some entrances led to weekend closures of alternate station entrances. In November 1980, Edmonton Transit switched to a modified European-style proof of payment system, fares were now collected by automated ticket vending machines with irregular proof of payment inspectors, which permitted keeping all entrances open and required fewer staff. On April 26,1981, ETS opened an extension of 2.2 km on the CN right-of-way to Clareview Station. In June 1983, the rail tunnel downtown was extended by 0.8 km to Bay. The D. L. MacDonald Yard, between Belvedere and Clareview, opened in December 1983 to store and service the vehicles, the line was extended in September 1989 by 0.8 km to Grandin Station. On August 23,1992, the extension opened from Grandin to University Station. Menzies Bridge, crossing the North Saskatchewan River with a level for pedestrians and cyclists. Major upgrades to the Belvedere and Clareview stations were made in 1998 and 2001 respectively, on January 1,2006, the line was extended 0.6 km south through the University Campus to Health Sciences Station, which is located at street level. On April 25,2009, McKernan/Belgravia and South Campus stations were opened as part of the south LRT expansion, with Southgate and Century Park opening on April 24,2010. The first of the new Siemens SD-160 light rail vehicle train cars for the new extension were shipped by rail from Florin, California, on April 24,2008, arriving in Edmonton on May 9,2008
35.
Toronto
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Toronto is the most populous city in Canada and the provincial capital of Ontario. With a population of 2,731,571, it is the fourth most populous city in North America after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles. A global city, Toronto is a centre of business, finance, arts, and culture. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited the area now known as Toronto for thousands of years, the city itself is situated on the southern terminus of an ancient Aboriginal trail leading north to Lake Simcoe, used by the Wyandot, Iroquois, and the Mississauga. Permanent European settlement began in the 1790s, after the broadly disputed Toronto Purchase of 1787, the British established the town of York, and later designated it as the capital of Upper Canada. During the War of 1812, the town was the site of the Battle of York, York was renamed and incorporated as the city of Toronto in 1834, and became the capital of the province of Ontario during the Canadian Confederation in 1867. The city proper has since expanded past its original borders through amalgamation with surrounding municipalities at various times in its history to its current area of 630.2 km2. While the majority of Torontonians speak English as their primary language, Toronto is a prominent centre for music, theatre, motion picture production, and television production, and is home to the headquarters of Canadas major national broadcast networks and media outlets. Toronto is known for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the tallest free-standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. The name Toronto is likely derived from the Iroquois word tkaronto and this refers to the northern end of what is now Lake Simcoe, where the Huron had planted tree saplings to corral fish. A portage route from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron running through this point, in the 1660s, the Iroquois established two villages within what is today Toronto, Ganatsekwyagon on the banks of the Rouge River and Teiaiagonon the banks of the Humber River. By 1701, the Mississauga had displaced the Iroquois, who abandoned the Toronto area at the end of the Beaver Wars, French traders founded Fort Rouillé on the current Exhibition grounds in 1750, but abandoned it in 1759. During the American Revolutionary War, the region saw an influx of British settlers as United Empire Loyalists fled for the British-controlled lands north of Lake Ontario, the new province of Upper Canada was in the process of creation and needed a capital. Dorchester intended the location to be named Toronto, in 1793, Governor John Graves Simcoe established the town of York on the Toronto Purchase lands, instead naming it after Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany. Simcoe decided to move the Upper Canada capital from Newark to York, the York garrison was constructed at the entrance of the towns natural harbour, sheltered by a long sandbar peninsula. The towns settlement formed at the end of the harbour behind the peninsula, near the present-day intersection of Parliament Street. In 1813, as part of the War of 1812, the Battle of York ended in the towns capture, the surrender of the town was negotiated by John Strachan. US soldiers destroyed much of the garrison and set fire to the parliament buildings during their five-day occupation, the sacking of York was a primary motivation for the Burning of Washington by British troops later in the war
36.
Toronto streetcar system
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The Toronto streetcar system is a network of eleven streetcar routes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission. It is both the largest and busiest light-rail system in North America as well as the largest tramway in the Americas in terms of ridership, number of cars, the network is concentrated primarily in Downtown Toronto and in proximity to the citys waterfront. Much of the route network dates to the 19th century. Most of Torontos streetcar routes operate on trackage shared with vehicular traffic. Some routes operate wholly or partly within their own rights-of-way, at the eight downtown stations, excepting Union, from Queens Park to College on Line 1 Yonge–University, streetcars stop on the street outside the station entrances. Torontos streetcars provide most of the downtown cores surface transit service, four of the TTCs five most heavily used surface routes are streetcar routes. In 2013, ridership on the system totalled more than 100 million. In 1861, the City of Toronto issued a transit franchise for a horse-drawn street railway. Alexander Eastons Toronto Street Railway opened the first street railway line in Canada on September 11,1861, operating from Yorkville Town Hall to the St. Lawrence Market. At the end of the TSR franchise, the City government ran the railway for eight months, the TRC was the first operator of horseless streetcars in Toronto. The first electric car ran on August 15,1892, there came to be problems with interpretation of the franchise terms for the City. By 1912, the city limits had extended significantly, with the annexation of communities to the north and the east and the west. After many attempts to force the TRC to serve these areas, the City created its own street railway operation, the Toronto Civic Railways to do so, repeated court battles forced the TRC to build new cars, but they were of old design. When the TRC franchise ended in 1921, the Toronto Transportation Commission was created, the TTC began in 1921 as solely a streetcar operation, with the bulk of the routes acquired from the private TRC and merged with the publicly operated Toronto Civic Railways. In 1923, the TTC took over the Lambton, Davenport and Weston routes of the Toronto Suburban Railway, in 1925, routes were operated on behalf of the Township of York, but the TTC was contracted to operate them. One of these routes was the former TSR Weston route, in 1927, the TTC became the operator of three radial lines of the former Toronto and York Radial Railway. The last TTC-operated radial closed in 1948, after the Second World War, many cities across North America and Europe began to eliminate their streetcar systems in favour of buses. In 1966, the TTC announced plans to eliminate all streetcar routes by 1980, Streetcars were considered out of date, and their elimination in almost all other cities made it hard to buy new vehicles and maintain the existing ones
37.
Tram
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A tram is a rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets, and also sometimes on a segregated right of way. The lines or networks operated by tramcars are called tramways, Tramways powered by electricity, the most common type historically, were once called electric street railways. However, trams were used in urban areas before the universal adoption of electrification. Tram lines may run between cities and/or towns, and/or partially grade-separated even in the cities. Very occasionally, trams also carry freight, Tram vehicles are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains, but the size of trams is rapidly increasing. Some trams may also run on railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line. For all these reasons, the differences between the modes of rail transportation are often indistinct. In the United States, the tram has sometimes been used for rubber-tired trackless trains. Today, most trams use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph, in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail. If necessary, they may have dual power systems — electricity in city streets, trams are now included in the wider term light rail, which also includes segregated systems. The English terms tram and tramway are derived from the Scots word tram, referring respectively to a type of truck used in coal mines and the tracks on which they ran. The word tram probably derived from Middle Flemish trame, a Romanesque word meaning the beam or shaft of a barrow or sledge, the identical word la trame with the meaning crossbeam is also used in the French language. The word Tram-car is attested from 1873, although the terms tram and tramway have been adopted by many languages, they are not used universally in English, North Americans prefer streetcar, trolley, or trolleycar. The term streetcar is first recorded in 1840, and originally referred to horsecars, when electrification came, Americans began to speak of trolleycars or later, trolleys. The troller design frequently fell off the wires, and was replaced by other more reliable devices. The terms trolley pole and trolley wheel both derive from the troller, Modern trams often have an overhead pantograph mechanical linkage to connect to power, abandoning the trolley pole altogether. Conventional diesel tourist buses decorated to look like streetcars are sometimes called trolleys in the US, the term may also apply to an aerial ropeway, e. g. the Roosevelt Island Tramway. Over time, the trolley has fallen into informal use
38.
Croatia
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Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a sovereign state between Central Europe, Southeast Europe, and the Mediterranean. Its capital city is Zagreb, which one of the countrys primary subdivisions. Croatia covers 56,594 square kilometres and has diverse, mostly continental, Croatias Adriatic Sea coast contains more than a thousand islands. The countrys population is 4.28 million, most of whom are Croats, the Croats arrived in the area of present-day Croatia during the early part of the 7th century AD. They organised the state into two duchies by the 9th century, tomislav became the first king by 925, elevating Croatia to the status of a kingdom. The Kingdom of Croatia retained its sovereignty for nearly two centuries, reaching its peak during the rule of Kings Petar Krešimir IV and Dmitar Zvonimir, Croatia entered a personal union with Hungary in 1102. In 1527, faced with Ottoman conquest, the Croatian Parliament elected Ferdinand I of the House of Habsburg to the Croatian throne. In 1918, after World War I, Croatia was included in the unrecognized State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs which seceded from Austria-Hungary, a fascist Croatian puppet state backed by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany existed during World War II. After the war, Croatia became a member and a federal constituent of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991 Croatia declared independence, which came wholly into effect on 8 October of the same year, the Croatian War of Independence was fought successfully during the four years following the declaration. A unitary state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system, the International Monetary Fund classified Croatia as an emerging and developing economy, and the World Bank identified it as a high-income economy. Croatia is a member of the European Union, United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization, the service sector dominates Croatias economy, followed by the industrial sector and agriculture. Tourism is a significant source of revenue during the summer, with Croatia ranked the 18th most popular tourist destination in the world, the state controls a part of the economy, with substantial government expenditure. The European Union is Croatias most important trading partner, since 2000, the Croatian government constantly invests in infrastructure, especially transport routes and facilities along the Pan-European corridors. Internal sources produce a significant portion of energy in Croatia, the rest is imported, the origin of the name is uncertain, but is thought to be a Gothic or Indo-Aryan term assigned to a Slavic tribe. The oldest preserved record of the Croatian ethnonym *xъrvatъ is of variable stem, the first attestation of the Latin term is attributed to a charter of Duke Trpimir from the year 852. The original is lost, and just a 1568 copy is preserved—leading to doubts over the authenticity of the claim, the oldest preserved stone inscription is the 9th-century Branimir Inscription, where Duke Branimir is styled as Dux Cruatorvm. The inscription is not believed to be dated accurately, but is likely to be from during the period of 879–892, the area known as Croatia today was inhabited throughout the prehistoric period
39.
Zagreb
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Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of Croatia. It is located in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately 122 m above sea level. In the last official census of 2011 the population of the City of Zagreb was 792,875, the wider Zagreb metropolitan area includes the City of Zagreb and the separate Zagreb County bringing the total metropolitan area population up to 1,237,887. It is the biggest metropolitan area in Croatia, and the one with a population of over one million. Zagreb is a city with a history dating from the Roman times to the present day. The oldest settlement located in the vicinity of the city was the Roman Andautonia, the name Zagreb is recorded in 1134, in reference to the foundation of the settlement at Kaptol in 1094. Zagreb became a royal town in 1242. In 1851 Zagreb had its first mayor, Janko Kamauf, and in 1945 it was made the capital of Croatia when the demographic boom, the city extends over 30 kilometres east-west and around 20 kilometres north-south. The transport connections, concentration of industry, scientific, and research institutions, Zagreb is the seat of the central government, administrative bodies, and almost all government ministries. Almost all of the largest Croatian companies, media, and scientific institutions have their headquarters in the city and it is a city known for its diverse economy, high quality of living, museums, sporting, and entertainment events. Its main branches of economy are high-tech industries and the service sector, the etymology of the name Zagreb is unclear. It was used of the city only from 1852, but it had been in use as the name of the Zagreb dioecese since the 12th century. The name is first recorded in a charter by Ostrogon archbishop Felician, dated 1134, the older form of the name is Zagrab, the modern Croatian form Zagreb is first recorded in a 1689 map by Nicolas Sanson. An even older form is reflected in Hungarian Zabrag, for this, Desy proposes the etymology of Chabrag, a well-attested hypocorism of the name Cyprian. The same form is reflected in a number of Hungarian toponyms, the name Agram was used in German in the Habsburg period, this name has been classified as probably of Roman origin but according to Desy it could be an Austrian German reanalysis of *Zugram. In Middle Latin and Modern Latin, Zagreb is known as Agranum, in Croatian folk etymology, the name of the city has been derived from either the verb za-grab-, meaning to scoop or to dig. One folk legend illustrating this derivation ties the name to a drought of the early 14th century, in another legend, a city governor is thirsty and orders a girl named Manda to scoop water from Manduševac well, using the imperative, zagrabi, Mando. The oldest settlement located near todays Zagreb was a Roman town of Andautonia, now Šćitarjevo, Gradec and Kaptol were united in 1851 by ban Josip Jelačić, who was credited for this, with the naming the main city square, Ban Jelačić Square in his honour
40.
Trams in Zagreb
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The Zagreb tram network, run by the Zagrebački električni tramvaj, consists of 15 day and 4 night lines in Zagreb, Croatia. Trams operate on 116.3 kilometres of metre gauge route, during the day every line runs on average every 5–10 minutes, but almost every station serves at least two routes. Nighttime lines have exact timetables averaging at about every 40 minutes, the first horsecar tram line was opened in 1891, and the first electric tram ran in 1910. Zagrebs tram system transported 204 million passengers in 2008, at the end of the 19th century rapid urbanisation took place in Zagreb. City fathers started discussing the idea of installing horsecar system in Zagreb, the construction of one gauge tram track began on 11 May 1891. Tram should have put in service on 15 August 1891. Due to vehicle delivery delay, the tram was put in service on 5 September 1891 and that day was officially taken as the beginning of organised public transit system in Zagreb. Gauge was 0.76 m and track length was approximately 8 kilometres, the first electric tram track was opened on 18 August 1910. The horse-drawn trams were kept until an electric network was finished. The oldest rolling units of the post-World War II tram system were the two-axle TMK101 trams, three prototype units were built by ZET workshops in early 1950s, and other 68 units until 1965 by Đuro Đaković factory, with 110 matching trailers. A few of them were replaced by GT6, but they were in use until the TMK2200 series came. They were finally pulled out of service in the winter of 2008, † Line does not operate on weekends and public holidays. Lines 10 and 16 no longer exist, Line 16 used to connect Črnomerec and Zapruđe, but it was discontinued in 1991, due to a shortage of drivers when the Croatian war of independence started. Line 15 is an exception, since it was opened in the 1960s. 3 km from Mihaljevac to Dolje, the line runs on a completely segregated right of way. A special type of catenary was developed for the line, which allows trams to reach speeds of 60kmh, thus, the line from Mihaljevac to Dolje is the fastest and the shortest line in the entire tram network. Night-time lines are substituted by buses due to track maintenance. ZET rolling stock is very diverse and it currently includes around 240 motor units of 8 different tram types
41.
Czech Republic
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The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, is a nation state in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west, Austria to the south, Slovakia to the east and Poland to the northeast. The Czech Republic covers an area of 78,866 square kilometres with mostly temperate continental climate and it is a unitary parliamentary republic, has 10.5 million inhabitants and the capital and largest city is Prague, with over 1.2 million residents. The Czech Republic includes the territories of Bohemia, Moravia. The Czech state was formed in the late 9th century as the Duchy of Bohemia under the Great Moravian Empire, after the fall of the Empire in 907, the centre of power transferred from Moravia to Bohemia under the Přemyslid dynasty. In 1002, the duchy was formally recognized as part of the Holy Roman Empire, becoming the Kingdom of Bohemia in 1198 and reaching its greatest territorial extent in the 14th century. Following the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the whole Crown of Bohemia was gradually integrated into the Habsburg Monarchy alongside the Archduchy of Austria, the Protestant Bohemian Revolt against the Catholic Habsburgs led to the Thirty Years War. After the Battle of the White Mountain, the Habsburgs consolidated their rule, reimposed Roman Catholicism, the Czech part of Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germany in World War II, and was liberated in 1945 by the armies of the Soviet Union and the United States. The Czech country lost the majority of its German-speaking inhabitants after they were expelled following the war, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia won the 1946 elections. Following the 1948 coup détat, Czechoslovakia became a one-party communist state under Soviet influence, in 1968, increasing dissatisfaction with the regime culminated in a reform movement known as the Prague Spring, which ended in a Soviet-led invasion. Czechoslovakia remained occupied until the 1989 Velvet Revolution, when the communist regime collapsed, on 6 March 1990, the Czech Socialistic Republic was renamed to the Czech Republic. On 1 January 1993, Czechoslovakia peacefully dissolved, with its constituent states becoming the independent states of the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The Czech Republic joined NATO in 1999 and the European Union in 2004, it is a member of the United Nations, the OECD, the OSCE, and it is a developed country with an advanced, high income economy and high living standards. The UNDP ranks the country 14th in inequality-adjusted human development, the Czech Republic also ranks as the 6th most peaceful country, while achieving strong performance in democratic governance. It has the lowest unemployment rate in the European Union, the traditional English name Bohemia derives from Latin Boiohaemum, which means home of the Boii. The current name comes from the endonym Čech, spelled Cžech until the reform in 1842. The name comes from the Slavic tribe and, according to legend, their leader Čech, the etymology of the word Čech can be traced back to the Proto-Slavic root *čel-, meaning member of the people, kinsman, thus making it cognate to the Czech word člověk. The country has traditionally divided into three lands, namely Bohemia in the west, Moravia in the southeast, and Czech Silesia in the northeast. Following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia at the end of 1992, the Czech part of the former nation found itself without a common single-word geographical name in English, the name Czechia /ˈtʃɛkiə/ was recommended by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs
42.
Brno
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Brno is the second largest city in the Czech Republic by population and area, the largest Moravian city, and the historical capital city of the Margraviate of Moravia. Brno is the center of the South Moravian Region in which it forms a separate district. The city is also a significant administrative centre and it is the seat of a number of state authorities, including the Ombudsman, and the Office for the Protection of Competition. Brno is also an important centre of education, with 33 faculties belonging to 13 institutes of higher learning. Brno Exhibition Centre ranks among the largest exhibition centres in Europe, the complex opened in 1928 and established the tradition of large exhibitions and trade fairs held in Brno. Brno hosts motorbike and other races on the Masaryk Circuit, an established in 1930. Another cultural tradition is a fireworks competition, Ignis Brunensis. The other large preserved castle near the city is Veveří Castle by the Brno Dam Lake and this castle is the site of a number of legends, as are many other places in Brno. Another architectural monument of Brno is the functionalist Villa Tugendhat which has been included on the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, one of the natural sights nearby is the Moravian Karst. The etymology of the name Brno is disputed and it perhaps comes from Old Czech brnie muddy, swampy. Alternative derivations are from a Slavic verb brniti or a Celtic language spoken in the area before it was overrun by Germanic peoples, throughout its history, Brnos locals also referred to the town in other languages, including Brünn in German, ברין in Yiddish and Bruna in Latin. The city was referred to as Brunn in English. The Asteroid 2889 Brno was named after the city, as well as the Bren light machine gun, one of the most famous weapons of World War II. In the early 11th century Brno was established as a castle of a prince from the House of Přemyslid. Brno was first mentioned in Cosmas Chronica Boëmorum dated to year 1091, seats of these rulers and thus capitals of these territories were castles and towns of Brno, Olomouc, and Znojmo. In the late 12th century, Moravia began to reunify, forming the Margraviate of Moravia, since then, until the mid of the 17th century, it was not clear which town should be the capital of Moravia. Political power was therefore divided between Brno and Olomouc, but Znojmo also played an important role. The Moravian Diet, the Moravian Land Tables, and the Moravian Land Court were all seated in both cities at once, however, Brno was the official seat of the Moravian Margraves, and later its geographical position closer to Vienna also became important
43.
Ostrava
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Ostrava is a city in the north-east of the Czech Republic and is the capital of the Moravian-Silesian Region. It is 15 km from the border with Poland, at the point of four rivers. The population was around 300,000 in 2013, Ostrava grew to prominence thanks to its position at the heart of a major coalfield, becoming an important industrial centre. Industries have been restructured, and the last coal was mined in the city in 1994. Lower Vítkovice has applied for inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, since the 1990s Ostrava has been transformed into a modern cultural city, with numerous theatres, galleries and other cultural facilities. It hosts a range of cultural and sporting events throughout the year. Among the best known are the Colours of Ostrava multi-genre music festival, the Janáček May classical music festival, Ostrava is home to two public universities, the VŠB-Technical University and the University of Ostrava. In 2014 Ostrava was a European City of Sport, the city co-hosted the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship in 2004 and 2015. The city’s coat of arms features a shield with a rearing silver horse standing on a green lawn. The horse wears a saddle and a red coverlet. At the top right of the shield there is a rose with green leaves. The horse in the coat-of-arms wears no bridle, the oldest known depiction of this coat-of-arms is on a seal dating from 1426, the first coloured version dates from 1728. This explanation is supported by most modern literature, in 2008, Ostrava’s new marketing logo was unveiled. Designed by Studio Najbrt, the logo “OSTRAVA. ” is used in presentations of the city both in the Czech Republic and abroad. The three exclamation marks are meant to symbolise the dynamism, energy and self-confidence of Ostrava and its people, the light blue colour of the city’s name is based on the heraldic tradition, while the exclamation marks are a contrasting darker blue. The logo is intended to be striking, provocative and above all memorable, the first written mention of Silesian Ostrava dates from 1229, when it was described as a settlement. The first mention of Moravian Ostrava describes it as a township, Ostrava grew up on the banks of the Ostrá River, from which it took its name. This river still divides the city into two parts, Moravian Ostrava and Silesian Ostrava
44.
Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
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Tallinn
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Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland,80 km south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm, from the 13th century until 1918, the city was known as Reval. Tallinn occupies an area of 159.2 km2 and has a population of 444,591, approximately 33% of Estonias total population lives in Tallinn. Tallinn was founded in 1248, but the earliest human settlements date back 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest capital cities of Northern Europe. The initial claim over the land was laid by the Danes in 1219 after a raid of Lyndanisse led by Valdemar II of Denmark. Due to its location, the city became a major trade hub, especially from the 14th to the 16th century. Tallinns Old Town is one of the best preserved cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tallinn is the political, financial, cultural and educational center of Estonia. Often dubbed the Silicon Valley of Europe, it has the highest number of startups per person in Europe and is a birthplace of international companies. The city is to house the headquarters of the European Unions IT agency, providing to the global cybersecurity it is the home to the NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. It is ranked as a city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku in Finland and it has been suggested that Quwri may have denoted a predecessor of the modern city. The earliest names of Tallinn include Kolyvan, which is known from East Slavic chronicles, up to the 13th century, the Scandinavians and Henry of Livonia in his chronicle called the town Lindanisa (or Lyndanisse in Danish, Lindanäs in Swedish and Ledenets in Old East Slavic. It has been suggested that the archaic Estonian word linda is similar to the Votic word lidna. According to this suggestion, nisa would have the meaning niemi, producing Kesoniemi, another ancient historical name for Tallinn in Finnish is Rääveli. The Icelandic Njals saga mentions Tallinn and calls it Rafala, which is a variant of the name Raphael, after the Danish conquest in 1219, the town became known in the German, Swedish and Danish languages as Reval. The name originated from Revelia Revala or Rävala, the adjacent ancient name of the surrounding area and it is usually thought to be derived from Taani-linn, after the Danes built the castle in place of the Estonian stronghold at Lindanisse. However, it could also have come from tali-linna, or talu-linna, the element -linna, like Germanic -burg and Slavic -grad / -gorod, originally meant fortress, but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names
46.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
47.
Helsinki
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Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki has a population of 629,512, a population of 1,231,595. Helsinki is located some 80 kilometres north of Tallinn, Estonia,400 km east of Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities. The Helsinki metropolitan area includes the core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen. It is the worlds northernmost metro area of one million people. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Nordic countries, Helsinki is Finlands major political, educational, financial, cultural, and research center as well as one of northern Europes major cities. Approximately 75% of foreign companies operating in Finland have settled in the Helsinki region, the nearby municipality of Vantaa is the location of Helsinki Airport, with frequent service to various destinations in Europe and Asia. In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2012 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, the city was the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest 2007. In 2011, the Monocle magazine ranked Helsinki the most liveable city in the world in its Liveable Cities Index 2011, in the Economist Intelligence Units August 2015 Liveability survey, assessing the best and worst cities to live in globally, Helsinki placed among the worlds top ten cities. Helsinki is used to refer to the city in most languages, the Swedish name Helsingfors is the original official name of the city. The Finnish name probably comes from Helsinga and similar names used for the river that is known as the Vantaa River. Helsingfors comes from the name of the parish, Helsinge and the rapids, which flowed through the original village. As part of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, one suggestion for the origin of the name Helsinge is that it originated with medieval Swedish settlers who came from Hälsingland in Sweden. Others have proposed that the name derives from the Swedish word helsing, other Scandinavian cities located at similar geographic locations were given similar names at the time, for example Helsingør and Helsingborg. The name Helsinki has been used in Finnish official documents and in Finnish language newspapers since 1819, the decrees issued in Helsinki were dated with Helsinki as the place of issue. This is how the form Helsinki came to be used in written Finnish, in Helsinki slang the city is called Stadi. Hesa, is not used by natives to the city, helsset is the Northern Sami name of Helsinki
48.
Helsinki tram
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The trams are the main means of transport in the city centre. 56.7 million trips were made in 2013, the Helsinki system is one of the oldest electrified tram networks in the world. In 2016, approximately 38 km of track was in operation with 13 routes. These lines do not appear in the map included with this article. The tram network is built almost exclusively on the streets of Helsinki, the track gauge is one metre. The network consists almost entirely of double track, in some parts the tracks are separated from other road traffic, elsewhere they share road space with cars and buses. The trams are powered with electricity conveyed by overhead wires, the traffic lights are synchronised to allow tram and bus traffic to flow relatively smoothly. As of 2010, there are four tram depots/workshops in Helsinki, HKL-maintained depots in Töölö, Vallila and Koskela, and a Bombardier Transportation-maintained workshop at Pasilan konepaja. The Töölö depot houses trams running on lines 4 and 10, as well as some of those on lines 7A and 7B, the Helsinki tram museum is located next to the Töölö depot. Between 1948 and 1974 the Töölö depot also housed the trolleybuses used on Helsinkis sole trolleybus line, the Vallila depot houses repair-, paint- and rebuilding facilities, and administrative functions. The Koskela depot is the largest tram depot in Helsinki and it houses approximately two thirds of trams in the city, and contains training facilities. The Koskela depot is linked to the main Helsinki tram network by a section of double track that is not used by passenger-serving trams. The workshop takes up a part of the former VR Group electric locomotive workshop at Pasilan konepaja, as of August 2008, the workshop does not have a permanent link to the tram network, instead, portable tracks are used to run the trams to and from the workshop. Planning process is under way for excavating a new tram depot in the base rock below the existing Vallila depot. The underground depot is planned to have facilities for housing 180 trams plus repair facilities, an alternative is rebuilding and expanding the Koskela depot, but this is projected to be more expensive than the planned underground depot. As of February 2015, HKL has up to 124 tram units that can be used in scheduled passenger service, HKL reported that it used 97 trams to operate peak-time scheduled traffic in the spring of 2013. Additionally, there are six trams in reserve and eight in charter use, the MLNRV I and II series, MLNRV Variotram, and Valmet NrI series comprise the current backbone of the fleet, but HKL is in the process of receiving 40 new Transtech Artic units. In 2006–12, all Valmet Nr II+ vehicles underwent a modification process in which a 6.5 m low-floor midsection was added to the tram
49.
Germany
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Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in central-western Europe. It includes 16 constituent states, covers an area of 357,021 square kilometres, with about 82 million inhabitants, Germany is the most populous member state of the European Union. After the United States, it is the second most popular destination in the world. Germanys capital and largest metropolis is Berlin, while its largest conurbation is the Ruhr, other major cities include Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf and Leipzig. Various Germanic tribes have inhabited the northern parts of modern Germany since classical antiquity, a region named Germania was documented before 100 AD. During the Migration Period the Germanic tribes expanded southward, beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire. During the 16th century, northern German regions became the centre of the Protestant Reformation, in 1871, Germany became a nation state when most of the German states unified into the Prussian-dominated German Empire. After World War I and the German Revolution of 1918–1919, the Empire was replaced by the parliamentary Weimar Republic, the establishment of the national socialist dictatorship in 1933 led to World War II and the Holocaust. After a period of Allied occupation, two German states were founded, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic, in 1990, the country was reunified. In the 21st century, Germany is a power and has the worlds fourth-largest economy by nominal GDP. As a global leader in industrial and technological sectors, it is both the worlds third-largest exporter and importer of goods. Germany is a country with a very high standard of living sustained by a skilled. It upholds a social security and universal health system, environmental protection. Germany was a member of the European Economic Community in 1957. It is part of the Schengen Area, and became a co-founder of the Eurozone in 1999, Germany is a member of the United Nations, NATO, the G8, the G20, and the OECD. The national military expenditure is the 9th highest in the world, the English word Germany derives from the Latin Germania, which came into use after Julius Caesar adopted it for the peoples east of the Rhine. This in turn descends from Proto-Germanic *þiudiskaz popular, derived from *þeudō, descended from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂- people, the discovery of the Mauer 1 mandible shows that ancient humans were present in Germany at least 600,000 years ago. The oldest complete hunting weapons found anywhere in the world were discovered in a mine in Schöningen where three 380, 000-year-old wooden javelins were unearthed
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