1.
Rotterdam Centraal station
–
Rotterdam Centraal is the main railway station of the city Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The station received an average of 110,000 passengers daily in 2007, the current station building, located at Station Square, was officially opened in March 2014. Delftse Poort station was damaged by bombing in the Rotterdam Blitz. The new Centraal station was rebuilt just westwards of the site and its original building was designed by architect Sybold van Ravesteyn and was completed on 13 March 1957, officially opening on 21 May. Maas station had closed in 1953 and trains from Utrecht were diverted to Centraal station via the new Rotterdam Noord station, however, the Hofpleinlijn continued to bypass the station. Hofplein station was closed in 2010 after the Hofpleinlijn was redirected through a tunnel. On 9 February 1968 Princess Beatrix opened the first metro line in the Netherlands at Centraal station, the line connected the station to the south of Rotterdam and is now known as Line D. The first subway station had a platform with two tracks. On 28 September 2009, a new and more spacious underground station opened next to the old one. The new station has two platforms with three tracks. The mainline station nowadays has seven platforms with thirteen platform tracks. There are three tracks without platform, in 2007, it was used by approximately 110,000 passengers a day. The 1957 station building was closed in 2007 and demolished the next year - making it the first major railway station in the Netherlands to be taken down to make way for a new one. The new station was completed and opened in 2014, furthermore, the existing station, especially the passenger tunnel, also became too small to handle the growing number of passengers. Traveller numbers were projected to be 320,000 per day in 2025, to cope with this increase, a new station was necessary. On 16 May 2006 Mayor Ivo Opstelten revealed a work of Onno Poiesz consisting of the word EXIT, the final closure of the outdated station took place on September 2,2007, in the presence of Mayor Opstelten, to allow for the demolition of the station. Between 16 January 2008 and the end of March 2008 the station was completely demolished, passengers then, for years, had to use amenities housed in a temporary shelter, a smurf-blue building complex on Conrad Street on the northeast corner of the Groothandelsgebouw. The bicycle tunnel served as a passenger tunnel
2.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands, also informally known as Holland is the main constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a densely populated country located in Western Europe with three territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom. The three largest cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague, Amsterdam is the countrys capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of parliament and government. The port of Rotterdam is the worlds largest port outside East-Asia, the name Holland is used informally to refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands. Netherlands literally means lower countries, influenced by its low land and flat geography, most of the areas below sea level are artificial. Since the late 16th century, large areas have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, with a population density of 412 people per km2 –507 if water is excluded – the Netherlands is classified as a very densely populated country. Only Bangladesh, South Korea, and Taiwan have both a population and higher population density. Nevertheless, the Netherlands is the worlds second-largest exporter of food and agricultural products and this is partly due to the fertility of the soil and the mild climate. In 2001, it became the worlds first country to legalise same-sex marriage, the Netherlands is a founding member of the EU, Eurozone, G-10, NATO, OECD and WTO, as well as being a part of the Schengen Area and the trilateral Benelux Union. The first four are situated in The Hague, as is the EUs criminal intelligence agency Europol and this has led to the city being dubbed the worlds legal capital. The country also ranks second highest in the worlds 2016 Press Freedom Index, the Netherlands has a market-based mixed economy, ranking 17th of 177 countries according to the Index of Economic Freedom. It had the thirteenth-highest per capita income in the world in 2013 according to the International Monetary Fund, in 2013, the United Nations World Happiness Report ranked the Netherlands as the seventh-happiest country in the world, reflecting its high quality of life. The Netherlands also ranks joint second highest in the Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, the region called Low Countries and the country of the Netherlands have the same toponymy. Place names with Neder, Nieder, Nether and Nedre and Bas or Inferior are in use in all over Europe. They are sometimes used in a relation to a higher ground that consecutively is indicated as Upper, Boven, Oben. In the case of the Low Countries / the Netherlands the geographical location of the region has been more or less downstream. The geographical location of the region, however, changed over time tremendously
3.
Track (rail transport)
–
The track on a railway or railroad, also known as the permanent way, is the structure consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties and ballast, plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a surface for their wheels to roll upon. For clarity it is referred to as railway track or railroad track. Tracks where electric trains or electric trams run are equipped with a system such as an overhead electrical power line or an additional electrified rail. The term permanent way also refers to the track in addition to structures such as fences etc. Most railroads with heavy traffic use continuously welded rails supported by sleepers attached via baseplates that spread the load, a plastic or rubber pad is usually placed between the rail and the tieplate where concrete sleepers are used. The rail is held down to the sleeper with resilient fastenings. For much of the 20th century, rail track used softwood timber sleepers and jointed rails, jointed rails were used at first because contemporary technology did not offer any alternative. The joints also needed to be lubricated, and wear at the mating surfaces needed to be rectified by shimming. For this reason jointed track is not financially appropriate for heavily operated railroads, timber sleepers are of many available timbers, and are often treated with creosote, copper-chrome-arsenic, or other wood preservative. Pre-stressed concrete sleepers are used where timber is scarce and where tonnage or speeds are high. Steel is used in some applications, the track ballast is customarily crushed stone, and the purpose of this is to support the sleepers and allow some adjustment of their position, while allowing free drainage. A disadvantage of traditional track structures is the demand for maintenance, particularly surfacing and lining to restore the desired track geometry. Weakness of the subgrade and drainage deficiencies also lead to maintenance costs. This can be overcome by using ballastless track, in its simplest form this consists of a continuous slab of concrete with the rails supported directly on its upper surface. There are a number of systems, and variations include a continuous reinforced concrete slab. Many permutations of design have been put forward, however, ballastless track has a high initial cost, and in the case of existing railroads the upgrade to such requires closure of the route for a long period. Its whole-life cost can be lower because of the reduction in maintenance, some rubber-tyred metros use ballastless tracks
4.
India
–
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and it is bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. It shares land borders with Pakistan to the west, China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the northeast, in the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Indias Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a border with Thailand. The Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE, in the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, early political consolidations took place under the Maurya and Gupta empires, the later peninsular Middle Kingdoms influenced cultures as far as southeast Asia. In the medieval era, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam arrived, much of the north fell to the Delhi sultanate, the south was united under the Vijayanagara Empire. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal empire, in the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, and in the mid-19th under British crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which later, under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance, in 2015, the Indian economy was the worlds seventh largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption, malnutrition, a nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the third largest standing army in the world and ranks sixth in military expenditure among nations. India is a constitutional republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a pluralistic, multilingual and multi-ethnic society and is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindu, the latter term stems from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, which was the historical local appellation for the Indus River. The ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as The people of the Indus, the geographical term Bharat, which is recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations. Scholars believe it to be named after the Vedic tribe of Bharatas in the second millennium B. C. E and it is also traditionally associated with the rule of the legendary emperor Bharata. Gaṇarājya is the Sanskrit/Hindi term for republic dating back to the ancient times, hindustan is a Persian name for India dating back to the 3rd century B. C. E. It was introduced into India by the Mughals and widely used since then and its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety
5.
Railway platform height
–
On a railway, the platform height refers to the height of a railway platform Above Top of Rail. A related term is train floor height which is the height of the floor of the rail vehicle, worldwide, there are a large number of incompatible standards for platform heights and train floor heights. When raised platforms are in use, the width must also be compatible. Differences in platform height can pose a risk for passenger safety, platform ramps, steps, and platform gap fillers together with hazard warnings such as mind the gap are used to reduce risk and enable access. Platform height affects the gauge, and must conform to the structure gauge physical clearance specifications for the system. Tracks which are shared between freight and passenger service must have platforms which do not obstruct either type of railroad car, to reduce station construction costs, many train systems use a low platform, and require passenger cars with internal stairs up to the train floor. Buses, trams, trolleys and railway cars are divided into several typical categories. Trains The majority of systems in Australia use high level platforms with a platform height a small distance below the train floor level. Exception to this include Queensland who have narrow gauge trains and lower platforms, in New South Wales, by 2000, the platform step had been allowed to grow to a maximum of about 300 mm, which was uncomfortably large. For Sydneys 2000 Olympics, new and altered platforms were designed to match the Tangara trains, which are 3,000 mm wide, leaving a gap of about 80 mm. This has become the standard for all subsequent platforms and trains in NSW, the tramway network in Melbourne have some low level platforms and low floor vehicles, but most trams have steps and are boarded from the road. The Gold Coast and Sydney light rail networks have low floor trams and platforms at all stops, chinese platforms are 380 mm,550 mm,760 mm and 1,250 mm. Areas adjacent to broad gauge countries/regions, such as Xinjiang and Inner-Mongolia, platforms on the MTR are 1,250 mm above the rail for the Tung Chung Line and Airport Express, but the height of those on other urban lines is unknown. It seems like all the MTR lines built before the MTR-KCR merger in 2007 have the same specs, platforms on the East Rail Line are 42 in high. Since all the former KCR lines excluding light rail are built to the same specs, iranian platforms are 380 mm,550 mm and 760 mm. Like in China, areas adjacent to broad gauge countries/regions such as the eastern regions such as around Mashhad and Zahedan, north Korean platforms are standardized at 1,250 mm only. In there,1,250 mm is the norm, lower-level platforms are already raised to this height, typical Korail platforms are 550 mm. Older platforms are lower than 500mm, elsewhere, such as Hokkaido and the Tohoku/Hokuriku region of Honshu,920 mm – and even 760 mm platforms are still commonplace
6.
Train
–
A train is a form of rail transport consisting of a series of vehicles that usually runs along a rail track to transport cargo or passengers. Motive power is provided by a locomotive or individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Although historically steam propulsion dominated, the most common forms are diesel and electric locomotives. Other energy sources include horses, engine or water-driven rope or wire winch, gravity, pneumatics, batteries, the word train comes from the Old French trahiner, from the Latin trahere pull, draw. There are various types of trains that are designed for particular purposes, a train may consist of a combination of one or more locomotives and attached railroad cars, or a self-propelled multiple unit. The first trains were rope-hauled, gravity powered or pulled by horses, from the early 19th century almost all were powered by steam locomotives. A passenger train is one which includes passenger-carrying vehicles which can often be very long, one notable and growing long-distance train category is high-speed rail. In order to much faster operation over 500 km/h, innovative Maglev technology has been researched for years. In most countries, such as the United Kingdom, the distinction between a tramway and a railway is precise and defined in law, a freight train uses freight cars to transport goods or materials. Freight and passengers may be carried in the train in a mixed consist. Rail cars and machinery used for maintenance and repair of tracks, etc. are termed maintenance of way equipment, similarly, dedicated trains may be used to provide support services to stations along a train line, such as garbage or revenue collection. There are various types of trains that are designed for particular purposes, a train can consist of a combination of one or more locomotives and attached railroad cars, or a self-propelled multiple unit. Trains can also be hauled by horses, pulled by a cable, special kinds of trains running on corresponding special railways are atmospheric railways, monorails, high-speed railways, maglev, rubber-tired underground, funicular and cog railways. A passenger train may consist of one or several locomotives and coaches, alternatively, a train may consist entirely of passenger carrying coaches, some or all of which are powered as a multiple unit. In many parts of the world, particularly the Far East and Europe, freight trains are composed of wagons or trucks rather than carriages, though some parcel and mail trains are outwardly more like passenger trains. Trains can also be mixed, comprising both passenger accommodation and freight vehicles, special trains are also used for track maintenance, in some places, this is called maintenance of way. A train with a locomotive attached at each end is described as top and tailed, where a second locomotive is attached temporarily to assist a train up steep banks or grades it is referred to as banking in the UK, or helper service in North America. Recently, many loaded trains in the United States have been made up one or more locomotives in the middle or at the rear of the train
7.
Nederlandse Spoorwegen
–
Nederlandse Spoorwegen or NS is the principal passenger railway operator in the Netherlands. NS provides rail services on the Dutch main rail network, the rail infrastructure is maintained by network manager ProRail, which was split off from NS in 2003. Freight services, formerly operated by NS Cargo, merged with the DB Schenker group in 2000, NS runs 4,800 scheduled domestic trains a day, serving 1.1 million passengers. Also, NS provides international rail services from the Netherlands to other European destinations, the NS was founded in 1938 when the two largest Dutch railway companies, the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij and the Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Staatsspoorwegen, formally merged. These two companies had already been intensively cooperating as early as 1917, There were both economic and ideological reasons for the cooperation. As a result of the First World War, the Dutch economy had declined causing HSM, given their national importance, allowing them to slip into bankruptcy was not considered acceptable. While remaining independent companies, HSM and SS improved overall efficiency by cooperatively integrating their operations, the Dutch government further supported HSM and SS by purchasing shares in both firms. In 1938, the government merged the two companies to form the Nederlandse Spoorwegen, in the process, the government bought all remaining shares, yet never nationalized the company. Therefore, NS remained, and still is, a company solely owned by the Dutch government. The NS went on a strike once during the war, in the winter of 1944-45, the NS played a pivotal role in the reconstruction of the country. There was little alternative transport in the country besides the train, while the 1950s were a good time for the company, it started to decline in the 1960s, like most other railways around the world. The NS had been involved in the transport of coal from the mines in Limburg to the remainder of the country, the NS responded with an aggressive strategy named Spoorslag 70. This strategy meant, among other things, that the NS substantially increased the number of trains per hour, however, it was quite clear that this would never return the company to profitability. Nevertheless, the company was declared to be of national importance, in the early 1990s, the government started to question the subsidies given to the NS. Not only were there questions regarding the way the NS spent the subsidies, the government decided on the verzelfstandiging of the NS. The idea was not only rail transport was economically viable. There were two external circumstances which allowed for this to happen, secondly, the old CEO of the NS, Leo Ploeger, retired, which allowed the government to name a new CEO which would execute the governments plans. The new CEO was Rob den Besten, the plans entailed that the government would remain responsible for the rail infrastructure, while the NS would provide the transport on a commercial basis
8.
Enschede
–
Enschede, also known as Eanske in the local dialect of Twents, is a municipality and a city in the eastern Netherlands in the province of Overijssel and in the Twente region. Enschede lies in the part of Overijssel and is the easternmost city of more than 100,000 inhabitants in the Netherlands. The city lies a few kilometres from Germany, which borders the municipality, in the west, Hengelo is the first important place and at the eastern side, Gronau plays that role. More than a few small rivers flow through or surround the city, Enschede contains five official city districts. Although the former airport is derelict and plans to revive the place are canceled in 2012. The early history of Enschede is largely unknown, but a settlement existed around the Old Marketplace in early medieval times. The name of settlement is mentioned as Anescede or Enscede meaning either near the border or near the Es and sported a church, a marketplace. Enschede was granted city rights around 1300 which were confirmed in 1325 by Bishop Jan III van Diest, because a stone wall was too expensive, Enschede had a system of ditches, palisades and hedges instead, which is still reflected in the street-names Noorderhagen and Zuiderhagen. The city plan of this era is still recognisable in the street-pattern, the city was spared destruction in 1597 at its capture during the Eighty Years War when after a short siege, the Spanish garrison surrendered the city and the defences were razed. One such factory to have produced textiles in the late 19th century is the Hardick & Seckel Factory, the industrialisation stimulated a large increase in population, which by 1894 had reached an estimated 18,267, nineteenth-century urban growth was at first rather chaotic. The names of the slums are still notorious, although they have long since torn down. In 1907 the laissez faire mentality was dropped and Enschede was the first city in the Netherlands to draw up an official expansion-plan, during the Second World War Enschede was one of the first Dutch cities to be captured by German troops, being the city closest to Germany. Resistance members helped many of the Jews from Enschede to hide on farms in the vicinity, out of approximately 1300 Jews in Enschede,500 were saved, compared to less than 20% in the rest of the Netherlands. Enschede was bombed on several occasions, most notably on October 10,1943, during the first raid the nearby airport was a target of opportunity for the VIII Bomber Command during a raid on rail- and waterways in Münster. 141 people died and many houses were damaged, the latter mission named Enschede as a target of opportunity during Big Week after bombers had been recalled due to adverse weather. In the 1970s the textile production in Enschede came to a halt and this had a profound effect on the populace. Enschede became one of the poorest municipalities in the Netherlands and went bankrupt, large areas of industrial wasteland came to mark the city. With the support of the government, this property was acquired
9.
London Underground
–
The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
10.
District line
–
The District line is a London Underground service that crosses Greater London from east to west. From Upminster, the terminus, the line runs through Central London to Earls Court before dividing into three western branches, to Ealing Broadway, Wimbledon and Richmond. There is a branch that goes from Earls Court to Kensington. A branch also runs north from Earls Court to Edgware Road via Paddington, the track and stations between Barking and Aldgate East are shared with the Hammersmith & City line, and between Tower Hill and Gloucester Road and on the Edgware Road branch with the Circle line. Some of the stations are shared with the Piccadilly line, unlike Londons deep-level tube railways, the railway tunnels are just below the surface, and the trains are of a similar size to those on British main lines. The District line is the busiest of the lines as well the fifth busiest line overall on the London Underground with over 208 million passengers in the year 2011/12. The original Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. Services were operated at first using wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives, electrification was financed by the American Charles Yerkes, and electric services began in 1905. In 1933 the railway was absorbed by the London Passenger Transport Board, in the first half of the 1930s the Piccadilly line took over the Uxbridge and Hounslow branches, although a peak-hour District line service ran on the Hounslow branch until 1964. Kensington has been served by the District line since 1946, the trains carried guards until one-person operation was introduced in 1985. The signalling system is being upgraded, and the current D Stock trains are to be replaced by new 7-car S Stock trains by spring 2017, the Metropolitan District Railway was formed to build and operate part an underground inner circle connecting Londons railway termini. The first line opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster, by 1871 when the District began operating its own trains, the railway had extended to West Brompton and a terminus at Mansion House. Hammersmith was reached from Earls Court, services were extended to Richmond over the tracks of the London and South Western Railway and branches reached Ealing Broadway, Hounslow, as part of the project that completed the Circle line in October 1884, the District began to serve Whitechapel. Services began running to Upminster in 1902, after a link to the London, electric multiple-units were introduced on other services in 1905, and East Ham became the eastern terminus. Hounslow and Uxbridge were served by 2 or 3-car shuttles from Mill Hill Park, some also served South Acton. Services were extended again to Barking in 1908 and Upminster in 1932, in 1933 Piccadilly trains reached to Hounslow West, the District continuing to run services with an off-peak shuttle from South Acton to Hounslow. Most of the cars on the District line were the 1904–05 B Stock type with wooden bodies. The off-peak District line services on the Hounslow branch were withdrawn on 29 April 1935, following bombing of the West London Line in 1940 the LMS and the Metropolitan line services over the West London Line were both suspended
