1.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris
–
In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris
Paris
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Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris
–
The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
2.
High-speed rail in France
–
The first French high-speed rail line opened in 1981, between Pariss and Lyons suburbs. It was at time the only high-speed rail line in Europe. As of December 2014, the French high-speed rail network comprises 2,037 km of Lignes à grande vitesse, in 1976, the government agreed to fund the first line. The LGV opened to the public between Paris and Lyon on 27 September 1981, high-speed lines based on LGV technology connecting with the French network have been built in Belgium, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. The newest high-speed lines allow speeds of 320 km/h in normal operation, originally LGVs were defined as lines permitting speeds greater than 200 km/h, revised to 250 km/h. Like most high-speed trains in Europe, TGVs also run on tracks, at the normal maximum speed for those lines. TGV track construction has a few key differences from normal railway lines, the radii of curves are larger so that trains can traverse them at higher speeds without increasing the centripetal acceleration felt by passengers. The radii of LGV curves have historically been greater than 4 km, LGVs can incorporate steeper gradients than normal. This facilitates planning and reduces their cost of construction, the high power/weight and adhesive weight/total weight ratios of TGVs allow them to climb much steeper grades than conventional trains. The considerable momentum at high speeds also helps to climb these slopes very quickly without greatly increasing energy consumption, the Paris-Sud-Est LGV has grades of up to 3. 5%. On a high-speed line it is possible to have greater superelevation, since all trains are travelling at the same speed, curve radii in high-speed lines have to be large, but increasing the superelevation allows for tighter curves while supporting the same train speed. Allowance for tighter curves can reduce costs by reducing the number and/or length of tunnels or viaducts. Track alignment is more precise than on railway lines, and ballast is in a deeper-than-normal profile, resulting in increased load-bearing capacity. Heavy rail is used and the rails are more upright, with an inclination of 1 in 40 as opposed to 1 in 20 on normal lines. Use of continuously welded rails in place of shorter, jointed rails yields a comfortable ride at high speed, the points/switches are different from those on the lignes classiques. Every LGV set of points incorporates a swingnose crossing, which eliminates the gap in support that causes shock. Eliminating these gaps makes the passage of a TGV over LGV switches imperceptible to passengers, reduces stresses on wheels and track, the diameter of tunnels is greater than normally required by the size of the trains, especially at entrances. This limits the effects of air pressure changes and noise pollution such as tunnel boom, LGVs are reserved primarily for TGVs
High-speed rail in France
–
Avignon TGV station
High-speed rail in France
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Signalling block marker
High-speed rail in France
–
TGV Réseau trainset 540 at
Rennes, in
Brittany
High-speed rail in France
–
Eurostar and
Thalys PBA side-by-side in Paris
Gare du Nord
3.
High-speed rail in Belgium
–
Belgiums high-speed rail network provides mostly international connections from Brussels to France, Germany and The Netherlands. Four high-speed train services operate in Belgium, Thalys, Eurostar, InterCityExpress. All operators stop in Brussels-South railway station, Belgiums largest train station, some services also stop in Liège and Antwerp. Eurostar connects Brussels to London St Pancras, the German ICE operates between Brussels-South, Liège-Guillemins railway station and Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof via Köln. There are three high-speed lines in Belgium which support 300 km/h operation, and one that supports speeds up to 260 km/h, all are electrified at 25 kV AC,50 Hz, unlike most of the rest of the network which uses 3 kV DC. HSL1 connects Brussels with the French border,88 km long, it began service on 14 December 1997. The line has appreciably shortened rail journeys, the journey from Paris to Brussels now taking 1,22. In combination with the LGV Nord, it has also impacted international journeys to France and London, ensuring high-speed through-running by Eurostar, TGV, Thalys PBA, the total construction cost was €1.42 billion. HSL2 runs between Leuven and Ans.95 km long it began service on 15 December 2002, combined with HSL3 to the German border, the combined eastward high speed lines have greatly accelerated journeys between Brussels, Paris and Germany. HSL2 is used by Thalys and ICE trains as well as fast internal InterCity services, HSL3 connects Liège to the German border. 56 km long, it was completed on 15 December 2007, HSL3 is used by international Thalys and ICE trains only, as opposed to HSL2 which is also used for fast internal InterCity services. HSL4 connects Antwerp north to the Dutch border where it meets the HSL-Zuid and it is 87 km long, comprising 40 km dedicated high speed tracks and 57 km modernised lines. Mostly completed in 2007, the opening of the line was delayed till December 2009 due to problems with signalling, HSL4 is used by Thalys trains and fast internal InterCity and NS Hispeed train service is planned for 2012. Between Brussels and Antwerp, trains travel at 160 km/h on the existing line. At the E19/A12 motorway junction, trains leave the line to run on new dedicated high-speed tracks to the Dutch border at 300 km/h. 25N, which is part of the Diabolo project, is being built between Schaarbeek and Mechelen and is being constructed for a speed of 220 km/h. There is also a project under way to renovate Mechelen railway station, when this line is completed, there will be a near-continuous stretch of high-speed line from Brussels to Amsterdam, save for the section between Mechelen and Antwerp. It is not known whether the Belgian government plans to construct a line between Mechelen and Antwerp, the track around Rotterdam station has curvatures that are too tight to allow trains to run at full speed and trains run on conventional track between Schiphol and Amsterdam
High-speed rail in Belgium
–
TGV and Thalys share a platform at Brussels-South Station
High-speed rail in Belgium
–
High-speed rail in Belgium and the Netherlands
4.
Rail transport in Luxembourg
–
The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois is the national railway company of Luxembourg. In 2013, it carried approximately 20.7 million passengers and 804 million tonnes kilometers of goods, the company employs 3,090 people, making CFL the countrys seventh-largest corporate employer. The Luxembourg rail system comprises 275 route-kilometres, of which 140 km is double track and 135 km single track, of the total track length of 617 km,574 km are electrified. The majority of the track is operated at 25 kV,50 Hz. Luxembourg borders Belgium, France and Germany, correspondingly, there are cross-border services into these countries. Some are wholly run by CFL, whereas others are run by SNCF, NMBS/SNCB, CFL passenger trains cover the majority of the network. CFL operates the majority of its passenger trains using EMUs and electric locomotives with push-pull stock, the company also has a fleet of diesel locomotives for hauling freight trains and for general shunting purposes. Luxembourg is a member of the International Union of Railways, the UIC Country Code for Luxembourg is 82. CFL is the result of a nationalisation of private companies in 1946. Passenger kilometers on CFL-trains for each fiscal year ), CFL owns a relatively modern fleet of passenger trains, with a majority of double-decker trains. Nearly all routes are operated with electric trains
Rail transport in Luxembourg
–
CFL Dosto regional train in Luxembourg.
Rail transport in Luxembourg
–
Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois (CFL)
Rail transport in Luxembourg
–
Most CFL-services are operated with modern double-decker trains, such as these
Class 2200.
5.
High-speed rail in Germany
–
Construction of the first German high-speed rail lines began shortly after that of the French LGVs. However, legal battles caused significent delays, so that the German InterCityExpress trains were deployed ten years after the TGV network was established. The ICE network is more integrated with pre-existing lines and trains as a result of the different settlement structure in Germany. ICE trains reached destinations in Austria and Switzerland soon after they entered service, starting in 2000, multisystem third-generation ICE trains entered the Netherlands and Belgium. The third generation of the ICE has a speed of 330 km/h and has reached speeds up to 363 km/h. Admission of ICE trains onto French LGVs was applied for in 2001, since June 2007, ICEs service Paris from Frankfurt and Saarbrücken via the LGV Est. Unlike the TGV in France or Shinkansen in Japan, Germany has experienced an accident on a high-speed service. In the Eschede train disaster of 1998, a first generation ICE experienced catastrophic wheel failure while travelling at 200 km/h near Eschede, of 287 passengers aboard,101 people died and 88 were injured in the resulting derailment. The accident was the result of faulty design and, following the crash. Thalys trains began running in Germany in 1997, from the Belgian HSL3 to Aachen, TGV POS trains began running in Germany in 2007, to Karlsruhe and Stuttgart using the Mannheim–Stuttgart and Karlsruhe–Basel high-speed lines. Germany has developed the Transrapid, a levitation train system. The Transrapid reaches speeds up to 550 km/h, a test track with a total length of 31.5 km operated in Emsland until Early 2012, when it was closed and dismantled. In China, Shanghai Maglev Train, a Transrapid technology based maglev built in collaboration with Siemens, Germany, has been operational since March 2004
High-speed rail in Germany
–
3rd Generation ICE, the newest high-speed trains in Germany
6.
High-speed rail in Italy
–
High-speed rail in Italy consists of two lines connecting most of the countrys major cities. The first line connects Turin to Salerno via Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples, the runs from Turin to Venice via Milan. Trains are operated with a top speed of 300 km/h,25 million passengers traveled on the network in 2011. Passenger service is provided by Trenitalia and, since April 2012, by NTV-Italo, the first high-speed rail route in Italy, the Direttissima, opened in 1977, connecting Rome with Florence. The top speed on the line was 250 km/h, giving an end-to-end journey time of about 90 minutes with an speed of 200 km/h. This line used a 3 kV DC supply, high-speed service was introduced on the Rome-Milan line in 1988-89 with the ETR450 Pendolino train, with a top speed of 250 km/h and cutting travel times from about 5 hours to 4. The prototype train ETR X500 was the first Italian train to reach 300 km/h on the Direttissima on 25 May 1989, the Italian high-speed rail projects suffered relevant extra-costs and delay. Corruption and un-ethical behaviour played a key role, service on the high speed lines is provided by Trenitalia and privately owned NTV. It operates mainly on lines, AGV575, speeds up to 360 km/h, operated by NTV as Italo, ETR1000, operated by Trenitalia. Maximum speed of these trainsets is currently limited at 300 km/h while tracks are pending certification for 360 km/h operations, current limitations on the tracks set at 300 km/h the maximum operating speed of the trains. Along with the development of ETR1000 by AnsaldoBreda and Bombardier Transportation, secondary stock, ETR460, ETR485, tilting, speeds up to 250 km/h for other services, operated by Trenitalia. ETR470, tilting, speeds up to 250 km/h, operated by Trenitalia on services between Italy and Switzerland, new Pendolino ETR610 are being introduced to the Italy-Switzerland route. TGV trains also run on the Paris-Turin-Milan service, but do not use any high-speed line in Italy, the following high-speed rail lines are in use. The table shows minimum and maximum travel times, the Milan to Salerno is the major north-south corridor of the high-speed network. The Milan–Bologna segment opened on 13 December 2008 and its construction cost was about 6.9 billion euro. The 182 km line runs parallel to the Autostrada del Sole, there are eight connections with historic lines. At the Reggio Emilia interconnection a new designed by the Valencian architect Santiago Calatrava was opened in June 2013. Calatrava has also designed a bridge where the line crosses the A1 motorway
High-speed rail in Italy
–
ETR 500 Frecciarossa (
Trenitalia)
High-speed rail in Italy
–
ETR 1000 Frecciarossa 1000 (
Trenitalia)
High-speed rail in Italy
–
AGV 575 Italo (
NTV)
High-speed rail in Italy
–
ETR 600 Frecciargento (
Trenitalia)
7.
AVE
–
Ave is a Latin word, used by the Romans as a salutation and greeting, meaning hail. It is the imperative form of the verb avēre, which meant to be well. The Classical Latin pronunciation of ave was or, in Church Latin, it is ideally, and in English, it tends to be pronounced /ˈɑːveɪ/. The term was used to greet the Caesar or other authorities. Suetonius recorded that on one occasion, naumachiarii—captives and criminals fated to die fighting during mock naval encounters—addressed Caesar with the words Ave Caesar, morituri te salutant. in an attempt to avoid death. The expression is not recorded as being used in Roman times on any other occasion, the Vulgate version of the Annunciation translates the salute of the angel to Mary, Mother of Jesus as Ave Maria, gratia plena. Ave Maria is a Catholic Marian prayer that also has inspired authors of religious music, within Satanism, the phrase Ave Satana is used, along with its more popular English translation Hail Satan. Fascist regimes during the 20th century also adopted the greeting and it was also distinctly used during the National Socialist Third Reich in the indirect German translation, heil. Roman salute Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant
AVE
–
"HAVE" Mosaic outside the
House of the Faun,
Pompeii (Have is a spelling variant of Ave).
AVE
8.
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands 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
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands in 5500 BC
Netherlands
–
Flag
Netherlands
–
The Netherlands in 500 BC
Netherlands
–
An oak figurine found in
Willemstad, North Brabant (4500 BC).
9.
Track gauge
–
In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
Track gauge
–
Indian Narrow and Broad gauge tracks
Track gauge
–
Track gauge
Track gauge
–
Fish-belly cast-iron rails from the Cromford and High Peak Railway
Track gauge
–
An early Stephenson locomotive
10.
High-speed rail
–
High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. The first such system began operations in Japan in 1964 and was known as the bullet train. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design, only in Europe does HSR cross international borders. China has 22,000 kilometres of HSR as of end December 2016, while high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Multiple definitions for high-speed rail are in use worldwide, the European Union Directive 96/48/EC, Annex 1 defines high-speed rail in terms of, Infrastructure, track built specially for high-speed travel or specially upgraded for high-speed travel. Minimum Speed Limit, Minimum speed of 250 km/h on lines built for high speed. This must apply to at least one section of the line, Rolling stock must be able to reach a speed of at least 200 km/h to be considered high speed. Operating conditions, Rolling stock must be designed alongside its infrastructure for complete compatibility, safety and quality of service, category II – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h. Category III – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h, the UIC prefers to use definitions because they consider that there is no single standard definition of high-speed rail, nor even standard usage of the terms. They make use of the European EC Directive 96/48, stating that high speed is a combination of all the elements which constitute the system, infrastructure, rolling stock and operating conditions. The International Union of Railways states that high-speed rail is a set of unique features, many conventionally hauled trains are able to reach 200 km/h in commercial service but are not considered to be high-speed trains. These include the French SNCF Intercités and German DB IC, National domestic standards may vary from the international ones. Railways were the first form of land transportation and had an effective monopoly on passenger traffic until the development of the motor car. Speed had always been an important factor for railroads and they tried to achieve higher speeds. The line used three-phase current at 10 kilovolts and 45 Hz, on 23 October 1903, the S&H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of 206.7 km/h and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved 210.2 km/h. These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail, however, after the breakthrough of electric railroads, it was clearly the infrastructure – especially the cost of it – which hampered the introduction of high-speed rail. Several disasters happened – derailments, head-on collisions on single-track lines, collisions with traffic at grade crossings. The physical laws were well-known, i. e. if the speed was doubled, the radius should be quadrupled
High-speed rail
–
The
Tōkaidō Shinkansen high-speed line in Japan, with
Mount Fuji in the background
High-speed rail
–
The German 1903 record holder
High-speed rail
–
The German Fliegender Hamburger
High-speed rail
–
Burlington
Zephyr passenger train
11.
SNCF
–
SNCF is Frances national state-owned railway company and manages the rail traffic in France and the Principality of Monaco. SNCF operates the national rail services, including the TGV. Its functions include operation of services for passengers and freight. SNCF employs more than 180,000 people in 120 countries around the globe, the railway network consists of about 32,000 km of route, of which 1,800 km are high-speed lines and 14,500 km electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily, since July 2013, SNCF headquarters are located in a Parisian suburb at 2, place aux Étoiles,93200 Saint Denis. In 2010 SNCF was ranked 22nd in France and 214th globally on the Fortune Global 500 list and it is the main business of the SNCF group, which in 2014 employed 245,763 people and had €27.2 billion of sales in 120 countries. The chairman of the SNCF group is Guillaume Pépy, SNCF operates almost all of Frances railway system, including the TGV, In the 1970s, SNCF began the TGV high-speed train programme with the intention of creating the worlds fastest railway network. It came to fruition in 1981, when the first TGV service, today, SNCF operates 1,850 km of designated high-speed track that accommodate more than 800 high-speed services per day. SNCF’s TGV trains carry more than 100 million passengers a year, TGV lines and TGV technology are now spread across several European countries in addition to South Korea.8 km/h. SNCF has a safety record. After nearly 30 years in operation, SNCF’s TGV system has experienced one fatal accident. SNCF also owns the tracks and the stations, since the 1990s, SNCF has been selling railway carriages to regional governments, with the creation of the Train Express Régional brand. SNCF also maintains a broad scope of business that includes work on freight lines, inter-city lines. SNCF experts provide logistics, design, construction, operations and maintenance services, SNCF operates the international ticketing agency, Voyages SNCF. SNCF has employees in 120 countries offering extensive overseas and cross border consulting and those projects include, Israel, Assistance and Training. SNCF International provides assistance to Israel Railways in every area of operations including projects to upgrade the networks general safety regulations. Other assistance and training programmes involve Infrastructure and the Traction Division, SNCF supervised the prime contractor responsible for construction of the Taiwan Railways Administration’s main high-speed rail line. It also trained rail traffic controllers, drivers, and crew members, on behalf of the Government of Taiwan, SNCF managed the high-speed railway Command Control Centre
SNCF
–
A high-speed train
TGV Duplex from SNCF
SNCF
SNCF
–
A SNCF
Transport Express Régional train
SNCF
–
TGV 4402 operation V150 reaching 574 km/h on 3 April 2007 near
Le Chemin, France.
12.
Rail transport operations
–
A railway has two major components, the rolling stock and the infrastructure. The operation of the railway is through a system of control, originally by mechanical means, signalling systems used to control the movement of traffic may be either of fixed block or moving block variety. Fixed block signalling Most blocks are fixed blocks, i. e. they delineate a section of track between two defined points, on timetable, train order, and token-based systems, blocks usually start and end at selected stations. On signalling-based systems, blocks start and end at signals. Alternatively, cab signalling may be in use, the lengths of blocks are designed to allow trains to operate as frequently as necessary. A lightly used line might have blocks many kilometres long. Moving block signalling A disadvantage of fixed blocks is that the trains are permitted to run, the longer the stopping distance. With moving block, computers are used to calculate a safe zone, behind each moving train, the system depends on precise knowledge of where each train is and how fast it is moving. With moving block, lineside signals are not provided, and instructions are passed direct to the trains and it has the advantage of increasing track capacity by allowing trains to run much closer together. Most rail systems serve a number of functions on the track, carrying local, long distance and commuter passenger trains. The emphasis on each varies by country, some urban rail transit, rapid transit and light rail systems are isolated from the national system in the cities they serve. Some freight lines serving mines are also isolated, and these are owned by the mine company. An industrial railway is a rail system used inside factories or mines. Steep grade railways are isolated, with special safety systems. The permanent way trails through the physical geography, the tracks geometry is limited by the physical geography. Trains are pushed/pulled by one or more locomotive units, two or more locomotives coupled in multiple traction are frequently used in freight trains. Railroad cars or rolling stock consist of cars, freight cars, maintenance cars. Modern passenger trains sometimes are pushed/pulled by a tail and head unit, many passenger trains consist of multiple units with motors mounted beneath the passenger cars
Rail transport operations
–
Two
British Rail Class 143 DMUs at Cardiff Queen Street station in the United Kingdom. Both trains are operated by
Arriva Trains Wales.
Rail transport operations
–
The
Secunderabad Railway Station is one of the busiest stations of
Indian Railways
Rail transport operations
–
Freight wagons await unloading
13.
Alstom
–
A merger with parts of the General Electric Company plc formed GEC-Alstom in 1989, the company became Alstom in 1998. In 2014, Alstom and General Electric announced that a US$17 billion bid for the power and grid divisions had been made. The GE acquisition deal for the power and grid division was accepted by EU and US anticompetition authorities in mid 2015, in 1932, Alsthom expanded into transportation by acquiring Constructions Electriques de France, Tarbes, a manufacturer of electric locomotives as well as electrical and hydraulic equipment. In 1969, Compagnie Générale dElectricité became the majority shareholder of Alsthom, in 1976, Alsthom merged with Chantiers de lAtlantique, becoming Alsthom Atlantique. Thus, the business expanded into marine, the next year, it constructed the first 1300 MW generator set for the Paluel power station, setting a world record with an output of 1500 MW. In 1978, Alsthom delivered its first TGV to SNCF, the TGV went on to break world rail speed records in 1981 and in 1990. It also set the endurance record for high-speed train lines in 2001. In 1986, Alsthom Belfort received an order from EDF for the largest gas turbine in the world, in 1988–89, holding company CGEE Alstom acquired ACEC Energie and ACEC Automatisme from the dissolution of Belgian electrical engineering company ACEC SA. Alstom acquired 100% of ACECs transport division, renaming it ACEC Transport, in 1991, Alstoms parent company CGE was renamed Alcatel Alsthom Compagnie Générale dElectricité, or Alcatel Alsthom for short. In 1994, GEC Alsthom acquired the vehicle manufacturer Linke-Hofmann-Busch from Salzgitter AG. In 1995, the acquired the remaining shares in the steam turbine manufacturer MAN Energie. In early 1998, GEC Alsthom acquired the electrical contractor Cegelec, in 1998, GEC-Alsthom bought Italian firm SASIB SpAs rail signalling subsidiary Sasib Railways, which included the former General Railway Signal. In June 1998, GEC Alsthom was listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, GEC, at the same time, the company name was changed to Alstom. In 1999, Alstoms energy division merged with ABB in a 50–50 joint company known as ABB Alstom Power, Alstom also bought Canadas Télécité, a passenger information and security solutions company, and sold its heavy-duty gas turbine business to General Electric. The next year, it bought out ABBs share in ABB Alstom Power, in 2000, Alstom sold its diesel engine businesses to MAN Group. It also acquired a 51% stake in Fiat Ferroviaria, the Italian rail manufacturer, in April 2003, Alstom sold its industrial turbine business to Siemens for €1.1 billion. By 2003, Alstom was facing a crisis due to poor sales and over $5 billion of debt liabilities. Alstoms share price had dropped 90% over two years, in 2004, the French state took a 21% stake in Alstom and received an EU-approved French government bailout worth €2.5 billion
Alstom
–
Alstom headquarters
14.
Turbotrain
–
The Turbotrain was any of several French high-speed, gas turbine trains. The earliest Turbotrain entered service in 1967, for use on Frances SNCF intercity lines, there were several versions, four in total, with the last exiting service in 2005, and it is the Turbotrain that made advances possible for the TGV. In 1967, the SNCF converted a 2-car X4300 Class diesel multiple unit originally built by ANF Industrie starting in 1963. The new gas-turbine engine was installed into the car of this 2-car set. Trials started on 25 April 1967, the TGS reached 252 km/h on 15 October 1971. This is the first-generation of production Turbotrains and these ETG trains were four carriage trainsets which offered 188 seats and possessed one diesel engine and one gas turbine engine. The gas-turbine engine was a 820 kW Turbomeca Turmo IIIF3 gas-turbine Voith hydraulic, the ETGs entered service in 1971 on the Paris-Caen-Cherbourg. A total of 14 of these trainsets were manufactured from 1969-1972 by ANF. These trains were maintained at the Venissieux trainshed in Lyon for many years, electrification of the Grenoble line caused some trainsets to be shifted to work in Clermont Ferrand and Metz. These trains had five carriages with 280 seats and were built between 1972 and 1976 by ANF and MTE, forty-one RTG trainsets were manufactured for SNCF service. These trains were equipped with one 820 kW Turmo IIIF1 gas turbine in the cabs and one Turmo XII1,200 kW gas turbine in the odd-numbered cabs. Normally, the even-numbered 820 kW engine was shut down once the train reached cruising speeds, the RTG entered service in 1973 on the Strasbourg-Lyon and Lyon-Nantes lines, it subsequently entered service on the Paris-Caen-Cherbourg and Paris-Deauville-Dives-Cabourg lines in 1975. In later years, the SNCF RTG trainsets were modified to allow two RTG trains to be operated together by one driver as a multiple-unit train, six examples of the RTG were built by ANF for Amtrak and were dubbed Turboliners in the United States. The Egyptian National Railways purchased three enlarged 10-car turbotrains manufactured by ANF for a planned 160 km/h service on the 208 km route between Cairo and Alexandria. However, the trackage is not suitable for such speeds, four units of Turbotrains were introduced in Iran in 1974 with max speed of 160 km/h between Tehran-Mashhad that later in 2008 were converted to DMU by substitution of diesel instead of turbines. This experimental Turbotrain TGV001 set the speed record for gas turbine-powered rail vehicles with 318 km/h on 8 December 1972. The electrification in 1996 of the Paris-Caen-Cherbourg line moved the RTGs onto the Lyon-Bordeaux until 2005 and this TGV001 was a five-car trainset which possessed four gas-turbine engines with a total output of 6,500 hp and all axles motored. This train was tested over more than 34,000 miles running at over 200 km/h, of which almost half were covered at more than 257 km/h
Turbotrain
–
SNCF 's turbotrain in
Houlgate on the
Deauville -
Dives line.
Turbotrain
–
Turbotrain at
Roanne.
15.
Gas turbine
–
A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of internal combustion engine. It has an upstream rotating compressor coupled to a turbine. The basic operation of the gas turbine is similar to that of the power plant except that the working fluid is air instead of water. Fresh atmospheric air flows through a compressor that brings it to higher pressure, energy is then added by spraying fuel into the air and igniting it so the combustion generates a high-temperature flow. This high-temperature high-pressure gas enters a turbine, where it expands down to the exhaust pressure, the turbine shaft work is used to drive the compressor and other devices such as an electric generator that may be coupled to the shaft. The energy that is not used for shaft work comes out in the exhaust gases, the purpose of the gas turbine determines the design so that the most desirable energy form is maximized. Gas turbines are used to power aircraft, trains, ships, electrical generators,50, Heros Engine — Apparently, Heros steam engine was taken to be no more than a toy, and thus its full potential not realized for centuries. 1000, The Trotting Horse Lamp was used by the Chinese at lantern fairs as early as the Northern Song dynasty. When the lamp is lit, the heated airflow rises and drives an impeller with horse-riding figures attached on it,1629, Jets of steam rotated an impulse turbine that then drove a working stamping mill by means of a bevel gear, developed by Giovanni Branca. 1678, Ferdinand Verbiest built a model carriage relying on a jet for power. 1791, A patent was given to John Barber, an Englishman and his invention had most of the elements present in the modern day gas turbines. The turbine was designed to power a horseless carriage,1861, British patent no.1633 was granted to Marc Antoine Francois Mennons for a Caloric engine. The patent shows that it was a gas turbine and the show it applied to a locomotive. Also named in the patent was Nicolas de Telescheff, a Russian aviation pioneer,1872, A gas turbine engine was designed by Franz Stolze, but the engine never ran under its own power. 1894, Sir Charles Parsons patented the idea of propelling a ship with a turbine, and built a demonstration vessel. This principle of propulsion is still of some use,1895, Three 4-ton 100 kW Parsons radial flow generators were installed in Cambridge Power Station, and used to power the first electric street lighting scheme in the city. 1899, Charles Gordon Curtis patented the first gas engine in the USA. 1900, Sanford Alexander Moss submitted a thesis on gas turbines, in 1903, Moss became an engineer for General Electrics Steam Turbine Department in Lynn, Massachusetts
Gas turbine
–
Sketch of John Barber's gas turbine, from his patent
Gas turbine
–
Examples of gas turbine configurations: (1)
turbojet, (2)
turboprop, (3)
turboshaft (electric generator), (4) high-bypass
turbofan, (5) low-bypass
afterburning turbofan.
Gas turbine
–
A typical axial-flow gas turbine turbojet, the
J85, sectioned for display. Flow is left to right, multistage compressor on left, combustion chambers center, two-stage turbine on right.
Gas turbine
–
GE H series power generation gas turbine: in
combined cycle configuration, this 480-
megawatt unit has a rated
thermal efficiency of 60%.
16.
1973 oil crisis
–
The 1973 oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo occurred in response to United States support for Israel during the Yom Kippur War, by the end of the embargo in March 1974, the price of oil had risen from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12 globally, US prices were significantly higher. The embargo caused an oil crisis, or shock, with many short- and long-term effects on global politics and it was later called the first oil shock, followed by the 1979 oil crisis, termed the second oil shock. The embargo was a response to American involvement in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, six days after Egypt and Syria launched a surprise military campaign against Israel, the US supplied Israel with arms. In response to this, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries announced an oil embargo against Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the crisis had a major impact on international relations and created a rift within NATO. Some European nations and Japan sought to disassociate themselves from United States foreign policy in the Middle East to avoid being targeted by the boycott, Arab oil producers linked any future policy changes to peace between the belligerents. To address this, the Nixon Administration began multilateral negotiations with the combatants and they arranged for Israel to pull back from the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. By January 18,1974, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger had negotiated an Israeli troop withdrawal from parts of the Sinai Peninsula, the promise of a negotiated settlement between Israel and Syria was enough to convince Arab oil producers to lift the embargo in March 1974. The embargo occurred at a time of rising petroleum consumption by industrialized countries and coincided with an increase in oil imports by the worlds largest oil consumer. In the aftermath, targeted countries initiated a variety of policies to contain their future dependency. The 1973 oil price shock, with the accompanying 1973–74 stock market crash, was regarded as the first discrete event since the Great Depression to have a persistent effect on the US economy, the embargos success demonstrated Saudi Arabias diplomatic and economic power. It was the largest oil exporter and a politically and religiously conservative kingdom, in 1970, US oil production started to decline, exacerbating the embargos impact. Following this, Nixon named James E. Akins as US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia to audit US production capacity, the confidential results were alarming—no spare capacity was available and production could only decrease. The oil embargo had little effect on supply, according to Akins. OPEC was organized to resist pressure by the Seven Sisters to reduce oil prices, at first, OPEC operated as an informal bargaining unit for resource-rich third-world countries. OPEC confined its activities to gaining a share of the profits generated by oil companies. In the early 1970s it began to exert economic and political strength, on August 15,1971, the United States unilaterally pulled out of the Bretton Woods Accord. The US abandoned the Gold Exchange Standard whereby the value of the dollar had been pegged to the price of gold and all other currencies were pegged to the dollar, shortly thereafter, Britain followed, floating the pound sterling
1973 oil crisis
–
Gas stealers beware, 1974
1973 oil crisis
–
USA oil production and imports. As shown the import spike starts from US peak and the so-called "embargo" almost has no effect.
1973 oil crisis
–
Gasoline ration stamps printed by the
Bureau of Engraving and Printing in 1974, but not used.
1973 oil crisis
–
Gas stations abandoned during the crisis were sometimes used for other purposes. This station at
Potlatch, Washington was turned into a
revival hall.
17.
Lyon
–
Lyon or Lyons is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, about 470 km from Paris and 320 km from Marseille. Inhabitants of the city are called Lyonnais, Lyon had a population of 506,615 in 2014 and is Frances third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. Lyon is the capital of the Metropolis of Lyon and the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the metropolitan area of Lyon had a population of 2,237,676 in 2013, the second-largest in France after Paris. The city is known for its cuisine and gastronomy and historical and architectural landmarks and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Lyon was historically an important area for the production and weaving of silk. It played a significant role in the history of cinema, Auguste, the city is also known for its famous light festival, Fête des Lumières, which occurs every 8 December and lasts for four days, earning Lyon the title of Capital of Lights. Economically, Lyon is a centre for banking, as well as for the chemical, pharmaceutical. The city contains a significant software industry with a focus on video games. Lyon hosts the headquarters of Interpol, Euronews, and International Agency for Research on Cancer. Lyon was ranked 19th globally and second in France for innovation in 2014 and it ranked second in France and 39th globally in Mercers 2015 liveability rankings. These refugees had been expelled from Vienne by the Allobroges and were now encamped at the confluence of the Saône and Rhône rivers, dio Cassius says this task was to keep the two men from joining Mark Antony and bringing their armies into the developing conflict. The Roman foundation was at Fourvière hill and was officially called Colonia Copia Felix Munatia, a name invoking prosperity, the city became increasingly referred to as Lugdunum. The earliest translation of this Gaulish place-name as Desired Mountain is offered by the 9th-century Endlicher Glossary, in contrast, some modern scholars have proposed a Gaulish hill-fort named Lugdunon, after the Celtic god Lugus, and dúnon. It then became the capital of Gaul, partly due to its convenient location at the convergence of two rivers, and quickly became the main city of Gaul. Two emperors were born in city, Claudius, whose speech is preserved in the Lyon Tablet in which he justifies the nomination of Gallic senators. Today, the archbishop of Lyon is still referred to as Primat des Gaules, the Christians in Lyon were martyred for their beliefs under the reigns of various Roman emperors, most notably Marcus Aurelius and Septimus Severus. Local saints from this period include Blandina, Pothinus, and Epipodius, in the second century AD, the great Christian bishop of Lyon was the Easterner, Irenaeus. Burgundian refugees fleeing the destruction of Worms by the Huns in 437 were re-settled by the commander of the west, Aëtius. This became the capital of the new Burgundian kingdom in 461, in 843, by the Treaty of Verdun, Lyon, with the country beyond the Saône, went to Lothair I
Lyon
–
Top, the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fourvière, the Place des Terreaux with the Fontaine Bartholdi and Lyon City Hall at night. Centre, the Parc de la Tête d'Or, the Confluence district and the old city. Bottom, the Pont Lafayette, the Part-Dieu district with the Place Bellecour in the foreground during the Festival of Lights.
Lyon
–
Place Carnot, Lyons
Lyon
–
The lion has been the symbol of the city for centuries and is represented throughout the city.
Lyon
–
Lyon in the 18th century
18.
Land speed record for railed vehicles
–
Determination of the fastest rail vehicle in the world varies depending on the definition of rail. The world record for manned passenger trains is held by the L0 Series, the world record for conventional wheeled manned passenger trains is held by Frances specially tuned TGV. Reduced to three cars with higher voltage, larger wheels and higher-tension pantograph wires, it broke the record in April 2007. The fastest manned rail vehicle was a rocket sled, which carried USAF Colonel John Stapp at 1,017 km/h. Unmanned rocket sleds that ride on rails have reached over 10,400 km/h, legend, Arr, Disposition and number of elements forming the train. Power, DC, DC 3rd rail, AC, Single phase, Triphase, gas, Steam, Diesel-hydraulic, Propeller, Rocket, Jet. The following is a list of speed records for rail vehicles with electric traction motors, the following is a list of speed records for steam locomotives. The following is a list of speed records for rail vehicles that use air propulsion to move rail vehicles while the wheels are rolling along the track. Using an air cushion and a Monorail, the Aérotrain set on 5 March 1974 a mean speed of 417.6 km/h, the following are the lists of world record average operating speeds between two stations. The average speeds are measured by the time and the distance between the two stations
Land speed record for railed vehicles
–
Rocket sled that achieved Mach 8.5
Land speed record for railed vehicles
–
An
L0 Series trainset, holding the non-conventional train world speed record of 603 km/h (375 mph)
Land speed record for railed vehicles
–
TGV 4402 (operation V150) reaching 574.8 km/h (357 mph)
Land speed record for railed vehicles
–
John Stapp riding a rocket sled at
Edwards Air Force Base
19.
LGV Est
–
The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne, typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne and Vendenheim. The line halved the time between Paris and Strasbourg and provides fast services between Paris and the principal cities of eastern France as well as Luxembourg, Germany. The LGV Est is a segment of the Main line for Europe project to connect Paris with Budapest with high-speed rail service, the line was built in two phases. Construction on the 300 km from Vaires-sur-Marne to Baudrecourt began in 2004, Construction on the 106 km second phase from Baudrecourt to Vendenheim began in June 2010, the second phase opened to commercial service on 3 July 2016. Opening of the phase was delayed after a train derailed near Eckwersheim during commissioning trials. A specially modified train performed a series of high-speed tests on the first phase of the LGV Est prior to its opening, in April 2007, it reached a top speed of 574.8 km/h, becoming the fastest conventional train and fastest train on a national rail system. The line passes through the French regions of Grand Est and Île-de-France, the first 300 km section of this new route, linking Vaires-sur-Marne near Paris to Baudrecourt in the Moselle, entered service on 10 June 2007. The second phase includes the 4, 200-metre Saverne Tunnel, in 1969, Metz politician Raymond Mondon requested a study of a fast train from Paris to Strasbourg along the route of the planned A4 autoroute. In 1970-71, the International Union of Railways developed a plan of fast intercity connections in continental Europe. Its connection between Paris and Strasbourg was very similar to the route of the LGV Est, the UIC master plan called for this line to be constructed shortly after Paris-Lyon and Paris-Brussels lines. In 1974, the director of SNCF confirmed that the wanted to follow the UIC master plan. Germany, which was developing the Transrapid maglev system, was reserved about the TGV system being developed by France. A1975 study concluded that the traffic to only Alsace. In 1982, recognizing German reluctance to extend the line into Germany, the LGV Est is a direct result of a project begun in 1985 with the establishment of a working group chaired by Claude Rattier and later by Philippe Essig. Their report provided the basis for design studies conducted in 1992-93. The initial 1980s plan extended along a corridor from Paris to Munich, in 1988, the German government agreed to a rail line from Paris to Frankfurt via Saarbrücken. The following year, Philippe Essig presented the route that would later be built and at the same time addressed the other problem and this route, further north than previous proposals, served Reims and Strasbourg. Financing of this called for contributions from local governments—a first in France for construction of a high-speed line—and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
LGV Est
–
LGV Est
20.
Railway Gazette International
–
Railway Gazette International is a monthly business journal covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Railway Gazette International traces its history to May 1835 as The Railway Magazine, the Railway Gazette title dates from July 1905, created to cover railway commercial and financial affairs. In April 1914 it merged with The Railway Times, which incorporated Herapaths Railway Journal, around this time it also absorbed The Railway News. It then reflected all aspects of railway activity, particularly in the British Empire, in January 1964, it merged with sister publication Diesel Railway Traction and its frequency reduced from weekly to fortnightly. In October 1970, it was renamed Railway Gazette International and reduced in frequency to monthly, Railway Gazette International is part of the Railway Gazette Group, itself part of DVV Media Group. It was part of Reed Business Information until 1 April 2007
Railway Gazette International
–
Railway Gazette International cover, May 2009
21.
Gare de Champagne-Ardenne TGV
–
Champagne-Ardenne TGV is a railway station that opened in June 2007 along with the LGV Est, a TGV high-speed rail line from Paris to Strasbourg. It is located in Bezannes, about five kilometres south of Reims, twenty-seven TGV trains serve the station daily in each direction, for a total of fifty-four trains per day. It is directly connected to the stations of, Gare de lEst, Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 2 – TGV, Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, TGV connect it directly in Lille, Rennes, Nantes, Bordeaux, and Strasbourg. However, Champagne-Ardenne TGV is not served by the TGV Sud-Est, and there is no direct connection to Lyon and Avignon
Gare de Champagne-Ardenne TGV
–
Champagne-Ardenne
Gare de Champagne-Ardenne TGV
–
TGV traveling through the station without stopping.
22.
Shijiazhuang
–
Shijiazhuang, formerly romanized Shihkiachwang, is the capital and largest city of North Chinas Hebei Province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about 263 kilometres southwest of Beijing, Shijiazhuangs total population ranked twelfth in mainland China. Shijiazhuang experienced dramatic growth after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949, the population of the metropolitan area has more than quadrupled in 30 years as a result of industrialization and infrastructural developments. From 2008 to 2011, Shijiazhuang implemented a plan which concluded with the reorganization of the city resulting in an increase of green areas and new buildings. A train station, airport and a system have been opened. The oldest name of the city was Shiyi, in pre-Han times, it was the site of the city of Shiyi in the state of Zhao, and from Han to Sui times it was the site of a county town with the same name. With the reorganization of government in the early period of the Tang dynasty. Shijiazhuang then became more than a local market town, subordinated to the flourishing city of Zhengding a few miles to the north. The growth of Shijiazhuang into one of Chinas major cities began in 1905, two years later the town became the junction for the new Shitai line, running from Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan, Shanxi. The city also became the centre of a road network. By 1935 it had far outstripped Zhengding as an economic centre, at the end of World War II the character of the city changed when it took on an administrative role as the preeminent city in western Hebei, and developed into an industrial city. Some industries, such as manufacturing, tobacco processing. On November 12,1947, the city was captured by Communist forces, in 1948, the city, formerly known as Shímén, was renamed Shijiazhuang. Today, the area is a memorial site, after 1949 the industrialisation of the city gathered momentum. Its population more than tripled in the decade 1948–58, in the 1950s, the city experienced a major expansion in the textile industry, with large-scale cotton spinning, weaving, printing, and dyeing works. In addition there are plants processing local farm produce, in the 1960s it was the site of a new chemical industry, with plants producing fertilizer and caustic soda. Shijiazhuang also became a base, with a tractor-accessory plant. In 1967, Tianjin was again carved out of Hebei, remaining a separate entity today, and thus the provincial capital was moved to Baoding
Shijiazhuang
–
Shijiazhuang Skyline
Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang
–
Haze near the Shijiazhuang Wanda Plaza in 2013
Shijiazhuang
–
Far view of Shijiazhuang
23.
Zhengzhou
–
Zhengzhou is a Chinese city and the provincial capital of Henan Province in east-central China. As a prefecture-level city, it serves as the political, economic, technological. The city lies on the bank of the Yellow River. Zhengzhou has a population of 9,378,000 inhabitants with a population of 6,406,000. Zhengzhou is now a growing city. Greater Zhengzhou was named as one of the 13 emerging megacities or megalopolises in China in a July 2012 report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, the Shang dynasty established Aodu or Bodu in Zhengzhou. This prehistorical city had become abandoned as ruins long before the First Emperor of China in BC260, since 1950, archaeological finds in a walled city in Eastern Zhengzhou have provided evidence of Neolithic Shang dynasty settlements in the area. Outside this city, remains of public buildings and a complex of small settlements have been discovered. The site is identified with the Shang capital of Ao and is preserved in the Shang dynasty Ruins monument in Guanchen District. The Shang, who moved their capital due to frequent natural disasters. The site, nevertheless, remained occupied, Zhou tombs have also been discovered, legend suggests that in the Western Zhou period the site became the fief of a family named Guan. From this derives the name borne by the county since the late 6th century BC—Guancheng, the city first became the seat of a prefectural administration in AD587, when it was named Guanzhou. In 605 it was first called Zhengzhou—a name by which it has been virtually ever since. The name Zhengzhou came from the Sui dynasty, even though it was located in Chenggao, the government moved to the contemporary city during the Tang dynasty. It achieved its greatest importance under the Sui, Tang, and early Song dynasties, when it was the terminus of the New Bian Canal, which joined the Yellow River to the northwest. There, at a place called Heyin, a vast granary complex was established to supply the capitals at Luoyang and Changan to the west, in the Song period, however, the transfer of the capital eastward to Kaifeng robbed Zhengzhou of much of its importance. It was a capital during the five dynasties of Xia, Shang, Guan, Zheng, and Han, and a prefecture during the eight dynasties of Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Jin, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. Zhengzhou thus became a rail junction and a regional center for cotton, grain, peanuts
Zhengzhou
–
Pollution smokestack in Zhengzhou, China
Zhengzhou
–
Clockwise from top left: Erqi Memorial Tower, Emperors Yan and Huang, Dengfeng Observatory, Shaolin Monastery, Zhengzhou Exhibition Center; and Center: The Pagoda Forest at the Shaolin Temple
Zhengzhou
–
Henan Museum.
Zhengzhou
–
Pagoda Forest at Shaolin Temple.
24.
LGV Nord
–
The LGV Nord is a French 333-kilometre -long high-speed rail line, opened in 1993, that connects Paris to the Belgian border and the Channel Tunnel via Lille. With a maximum speed of 300 kilometres per hour, the line appreciably shortened rail journeys between Paris and Lille. Its extensions to the north and the south have reduced journey times to Great Britain and Benelux and its route is twinned with the A1 for 130 kilometres. As it is built in flat areas, the maximum incline is 25 metres per kilometre. Traffic is controlled by the Lille rail traffic centre, the LGV Nord begins at Arnouville-lès-Gonesse,16.6 kilometres from the Gare du Nord on the Paris–Lille railway line. After passing east of the forest of Ermenonville over the viaduc de Verberie, at Ablaincourt-Pressoir, a new station, Gare TGV Haute-Picardie, is served only by inter-regional TGVs. At Croisilles, Pas-de-Calais, a junction leads to the Agny link towards Arras, the LGV crosses the A1 autoroute at Seclin. After the Fretin junction, the LGV has a connection to the network at Lezennes. This junction is used for TGVs going to Lille-Flandres, all TGVs and some Eurostars stop at Lille-Europe. Non-stop Eurostars pass through a tunnel under the city of Lille at 200 kilometres per hour, the line passes south of Armentières and north of Hazebrouck. At Cassel, a provides a connection with Dunkirk. The LGV continues west, crossing the A26 autoroute at Zouafques and ends at Calais-Fréthun and this enables TGV service to Calais and Eurostars through the Channel Tunnel to London. The TGVs continue to Calais-Ville or reverse in either Calais stations and go on to Boulogne-sur-Mer and Étaples-Le Touquet, the route was much criticised, particularly by those in the Picardy region. The LGV crosses the region without a stop, Amiens in particular would have liked to have been on the line. The government judged a route via Amiens to be impracticable, as the Lille route demanded a straight line between Paris and Lille in order to give a reasonable Paris-Lille-London journey time. The LGV Picardie project would address this issue by serving Amiens, Amiens wanted a station closer to the town centre, stopping at Gare dAmiens. ² Arras station is reached via a branch of the LGV Nord that splits off near the village of Croisilles, rain had caused a hole to open up under the track, the hole dated from the First World War but had not been detected during construction. The front power car and the front four carriages derailed, out of the 200 passengers, one was slightly injured
LGV Nord
–
Eurostar north of Watten.
LGV Nord
–
A Deutsche Bahn high-speed train
LGV Nord
–
Veolia's planned use of the
AGV train would cut journey times to London
LGV Nord
–
Spanish AVE train
25.
Thalys
–
Thalys is an international high-speed train operator originally built around the LGV Nord high-speed line between Paris and Brussels. This track is shared with Eurostar trains that go from Paris or Brussels to London via Lille, Thalys serves Amsterdam and Cologne as well. Its system is managed by Thalys International and operated by THI Factory, before Thalys, there had been an express rail service between Paris and Brussels since 1924 on the train service lÉtoile du Nord. In the 1970s it connected the two cities in around 2 hours 30 minutes, the decision to build a high-speed railway between Paris, Brussels, Cologne and Amsterdam was made in 1987. On 4 June 1996 the first train left Paris using the LGV Nord until it reached Belgium, in 1997, the Belgian HSL1 line, allowing 300 km/h and running from the French border to the outskirts of Brussels, was completed for service. On 14 December 1997 the first Thalys train from Paris to Brussels ran on the HSL1, at the same time service commenced to Cologne and Aachen in Germany, and Bruges, Charleroi, Ghent, Mons, Namur and Ostend in Belgium. On 19 December 1998 the Thalys Neige service started to the ski resorts of Tarentaise Valley, on 28 November 1999, the company changed its name to Thalys International. In 2000, Thalys started a daily Service between Brussels and Geneva, Thalys Soleil started offering direct connections to the Provence, initially to Valence, and extended to Avignon and Marseille in 2002. Service between Brussels and Cologne was improved in December 2002 when trains began running on the new HSL2 in Belgium, in 2003, services started to Brussels International Airport and the Thalys Nuits d’Été service to Marne-la-Vallée. Deutsche Bahn purchased 10% of the company in 2007, HSL3 was completed in 2007, but Thalys trains had not yet been equipped with the ETCS signalling equipment necessary to use the new line. After installation and testing, Thalys began operating on HSL3 on 13 December 2009, for the same reasons, Thalys started operating on the HSL 4/HSL-Zuid high-speed line between Antwerp and Amsterdam 13 December 2009, two years after the lines construction. Since 29 August 2011, one journey to Cologne has been extended to Essen Hauptbahnhof. In June 2013, Deutsche Bahn stopped selling Thalys tickets, Thalys has served Düsseldorf Airport station since the winter 2013 schedule went into effect. On 12 April 2014, Thalys started a service between Lille Europe and Amsterdam Centraal. At the end of March 2015, Thalys dropped the Paris – Oostende, on 30 March 2015, Thalys became a train company, and operates since under its own train operator certificate. Starting from 13 December 2015, service in Germany is extended to Dortmund, beyond Brussels, the main cities Thalys trains reach are Antwerp, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Liège, Aachen and Cologne. Trains to these destinations run partly on dedicated high-speed tracks, the high-speed lines used by Thalys are HSL1 between Paris and Brussels, HSL 4/HSL-Zuid between Antwerp and Amsterdam, and the HSL2 and HSL3 between Brussels and Aachen. For its seasonal operations within France, other high-speed lines are used, journeys from Brussels to Paris are normally 1 hour,22 minutes, for a distance of approximately 300 kilometres
Thalys
Thalys
–
PBA
Thalys
–
PBKA
Thalys
–
Thalys PBKA at
Köln Messe/Deutz station with an Essen-bound train
26.
Eurostar
–
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Avignon, Brussels, Lille, Lyon, Marseille and Paris. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel, the London terminus is St Pancras International, with the other British calling points being Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. Calling points in France are Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe, with trains to Paris terminating at Gare du Nord, Trains to Belgium terminate at Midi/Zuid station in Brussels. In addition, there are limited services from London to Disneyland Paris at Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, services to southern France as of 1 May 2015 and seasonal services to the Alps in winter. The service is operated by 27 eighteen-coach Class 373/1 trains which run at up to 300 kilometres per hour on a network of high-speed lines. The LGV Nord line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, the French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–Brussels Thalys services and also with TGV trains. Eurostar has become the dominant operator on the routes that it operates, other operators have expressed an interest in starting competing services following deregulation in 2010. On 1 September 2010, Eurostar was incorporated as a corporate entity called Eurostar International Limited. EIL is owned by SNCF, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hermes Infrastructure, in June 2014, the UK shareholding in Eurostar International Limited was transferred from London and Continental Railways / Department for Transport to HM Treasury. In October 2014, it was announced that the UK government planned to raise £300 million by selling that stake. In March 2015, the UK government announced that it would be selling its 40% share to an Anglo-Canadian consortium made up of Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and this sale was completed in May 2015. The history of Eurostar can be traced to the 1986 choice of a tunnel to provide a cross-channel link between Britain and France. A previous attempt at constructing a tunnel between the two nations had begun in 1974, but was quickly aborted, in 1988 construction began on a new basis. Eurotunnel was created to manage and own the tunnel, which was finished in 1993, British Rail and SNCF contracted with Eurotunnel to use half the tunnels capacity for this purpose. In 1987 Britain, France and Belgium set up an International Project Group to specify a train to provide an international high-speed passenger service through the tunnel. An order for 30 trainsets, to be manufactured in France but with some British, on 20 June 1993, the first Eurostar test train travelled through the tunnel to the UK. Various technical difficulties in running the new trains on British tracks were quickly overcome, on 14 November 1994 Eurostar services began between Waterloo International station in London, Gare du Nord in Paris and Brussels-South railway station in Brussels. In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average speed of 171.5 km/h between London and Paris
Eurostar
Eurostar
–
Eurostar relocated from
Waterloo International station to
St Pancras International station in 2007
Eurostar
–
A pair of Eurostar trains at the former
Waterloo International
Eurostar
–
Domestic entrance to
Ashford International, since 2007
27.
Tours
–
Tours is a city located in the centre-west of France. It is the centre of the Indre-et-Loire department and the largest city in the Centre-Val de Loire region of France. In 2012, the city of Tours had 134,978 inhabitants, Tours stands on the lower reaches of the River Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. The surrounding district, the province of Touraine, is known for its wines, for the alleged perfection of its local spoken French. The city is also the end-point of the annual Paris–Tours cycle race, in Gallic times the city was important as a crossing point of the Loire. Becoming part of the Roman Empire during the 1st century AD, the name evolved in the 4th century when the original Gallic name, Turones, became first Civitas Turonum then Tours. It was at time that the amphitheatre of Tours, one of the five largest amphitheatres of the Empire, was built. Tours became the metropolis of the Roman province of Lugdunum towards 380–388, dominating the Loire Valley, Maine, one of the outstanding figures of the history of the city was Saint Martin, second bishop who shared his coat with a naked beggar in Amiens. This incident and the importance of Martin in the medieval Christian West made Tours, and its position on the route of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, a major centre during the Middle Ages. In the 6th century Gregory of Tours, author of the Ten Books of History, in the 9th century, Tours was at the heart of the Carolingian Rebirth, in particular because of Alcuin abbot of Marmoutier. The outcome was defeat for the Muslims, preventing France from Islamic conquest, in 845, Tours repulsed the first attack of the Viking chief Hasting. In 850, the Vikings settled at the mouths of the Seine, still led by Hasting, they went up the Loire again in 852 and sacked Angers, Tours and the abbey of Marmoutier. During the Middle Ages, Tours consisted of two juxtaposed and competing centres, in the west, the new city structured around the Abbey of Saint Martin was freed from the control of the City during the 10th century and became Châteauneuf. This space, organized between Saint Martin and the Loire, became the centre of Tours. Between these two centres remained Varennes, vineyards and fields, little occupied except for the Abbaye Saint-Julien established on the banks of the Loire, the two centres were linked during the 14th century. Tours became the capital of the county of Tours or Touraine and it was the capital of France at the time of Louis XI, who had settled in the castle of Montils, Tours and Touraine remained until the 16th century a permanent residence of the kings and court. The rebirth gave Tours and Touraine many private mansions and castles and it is also at the time of Louis XI that the silk industry was introduced – despite difficulties, the industry still survives to this day. At this time, the Catholics returned to power in Angers, the Massacre of Saint-Barthelemy was not repeated at Tours
Tours
–
Town hall and Place Jean Jaurès
Tours
–
Place Plumereau, Medieval buildings
Tours
–
Tours Cathedral: 15th-century
Flamboyant Gothic west front with Renaissance pinnacles, completed 1547.
Tours
–
Place Jean Jaurès
28.
Commuting
–
Commuting is periodically recurring travel between ones place of residence and place of work, or study, and in doing so exceed the boundary of their residential community. It sometimes refers to any regular or often repeated traveling between locations, even when not work-related, a distinction is also often made between commuters who commute daily or weekly between their residence to work place, and are therefore considered respectively local or long-distance commuters. Later, the back formations commute and commuter were coined therefrom, commuted tickets would usually allow the traveller to repeat the same journey as often as they liked during the period of validity, normally, the longer the period the cheaper the cost per day. Before the 19th century, most workers lived less than a walk from their work. Today, many people travel daily to work a long way from their own towns, cities, in the near future there may be another move away from the traditional commute with the introduction of flexible working. Some have suggested that employees would be far more productive and live healthier. Commuting has had a impact on modern life. It has allowed cities to grow to sizes that were not practical. Many large cities or conurbations are surrounded by belts, also known as metropolitan areas, commuter towns, dormitory towns. The prototypical commuter lives in one of areas and travels daily to work or to school in the core city. A UK study, published in 2009, found that women suffer four times as much psychological stress from their work commute than do men, institutions that have few dormitories or low student housing populations are called commuter schools in the United States. As an example, Interstate 405 located in Southern California is one of the busiest freeways in the United States, commuters may sit up to two hours in traffic during rush hour. Construction work or collisions on the freeway distract and slow down commuters, cars carrying only one occupant use fuel and roads less efficiently than shared cars or public transport, and increase traffic congestion. Commuting by car is a factor contributing to air pollution. Carpool lanes can help commuters reach their destinations more quickly, encourage people to socialize, some governments and employers have introduced employee travel reduction programs that encourage such alternatives as car-pooling and telecommuting. Some are also carpooling using Internet sites to save money, alternatives like personal rapid transit have also been proposed to reap the energy-efficiency benefits of a mass transit system while maintaining the speed and convenience of individual transport. Traffic emissions, such as trucks, buses, and automobiles. Airborne by-products from vehicle exhaust systems cause air pollution and are an ingredient in the creation of smog in some large cities
Commuting
–
Commuters on the
New York City Subway during
rush hour
Commuting
–
Rush hour at
Shinjuku Station,
Tokyo
Commuting
–
Traffic jam in
Baltimore,
Maryland
29.
Shinkansen
–
The Shinkansen is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by five Japan Railways Group companies. The nickname bullet train is used in English for these high-speed trains. The maximum operating speed is 320 km/h, test runs have reached 443 km/h for conventional rail in 1996, and up to a world record 603 km/h for maglev trains in April 2015. Shinkansen literally means new trunk line, referring to the rail line network. The name Superexpress, initially used for Hikari trains, was retired in 1972 but is used in English-language announcements. The original Tōkaidō Shinkansen, connecting the largest cities of Tokyo, carrying 151 million passengers per year, and at over 5 billion total passengers it has transported more passengers than any other high-speed line in the world. The service on the line operates much larger trains and at higher frequency than most other high speed lines in the world. At peak times, the line carries up to thirteen trains per hour in direction with sixteen cars each with a minimum headway of three minutes between trains. While the Shinkansen network has been expanding, Japans declining population is expected to cause ridership to decline over time, the recent expansion in tourism has boosted ridership marginally. Japan was the first country to build dedicated railway lines for high-speed travel, because of the mountainous terrain, the existing network consisted of 1,067 mm narrow-gauge lines, which generally took indirect routes and could not be adapted to higher speeds. Consequently, Japan had a greater need for new high-speed lines than countries where the standard gauge or broad gauge rail system had more upgrade potential. Other significant people responsible for its development were Tadanao Miki, Tadashi Matsudaira. They were responsible for much of the development of the first line. All three had worked on aircraft design during World War II, the popular English name bullet train is a literal translation of the Japanese term dangan ressha, a nickname given to the project while it was initially being discussed in the 1930s. The name stuck because of the original 0 Series Shinkansens resemblance to a bullet and these plans were abandoned in 1943 as Japans position in World War II worsened. However, some construction did commence on the line, several tunnels on the present-day Shinkansen date to the war-era project, by the mid-1950s the Tōkaidō Line was operating at full capacity, and the Ministry of Railways decided to revisit the Shinkansen project. In 1957, Odakyu Electric Railway introduced its 3000 series SE Romancecar train and this train gave designers the confidence that they could safely build an even faster standard gauge train. Thus the first Shinkansen, the 0 series, was built on the success of the Romancecar, in the 1950s, the Japanese national attitude was that railways would soon be outdated and replaced by air travel and highways as in America and many countries in Europe
Shinkansen
–
A lineup of
JR East Shinkansen trains, October 2012
Shinkansen
–
A lineup of
JR West Shinkansen trains, October 2008
Shinkansen
–
A 0 series set in Tokyo, May 1967
Shinkansen
–
Shinkansen
standard gauge track, with welded rails to reduce vibration
30.
Cabinet of France
–
The Government of the French Republic exercises executive power. It is composed of a minister, who is the head of government. Senior ministers are titled as Ministers, whereas junior ministers are titled as Secretaries of State, a smaller and more powerful executive body, called the Council of Ministers, is composed only of the senior ministers, though some Secretaries of State may attend Council meetings. By comparison, the Government of France is equivalent to Her Majestys Government in the United Kingdom, all members of the French government are nominated by the President of the Republic on the advice of the Prime Minister. Members of the government are ranked in an order, which is established at the time of government formation. In this hierarchy, the Prime Minister is the head of government and he is nominated by the President of the Republic. After being nominated to lead a government, the Prime Minister nominee must propose a list of ministers to the President, the President can either accept or reject these proposed ministers. Ministers are ranked by importance, Ministers of State are senior ministers and it is an honorary rank, granted to some Ministers as a sign of prestige. Ministers are senior ministers, and are members of the Council of Ministers, Secretaries of State are junior ministers. This is the lowest rank in the French ministerial hierarchy, Secretaries work directly under a Minister, or sometimes directly under the Prime Minister. While the Council of Ministers does not include Secretaries of State as members, according to the Constitution of the French Fifth Republic, the government directs and decides the policy of the nation. In practice, the government writes bills to be introduced to parliament, all political decisions made by the government must be registered in the government gazette. All bills and some decrees must be approved by the Council of Ministers, furthermore, it is the Council of Ministers that defines the collective political and policy direction of the government, and takes practical steps to implement that direction. In addition to writing and implementing policy, the government is responsible for national defence, the workings of the government of France are based on the principle of collegiality. Meetings of the Council of Ministers take place every Wednesday morning at the Élysée Palace and they are presided over by the President of the Republic, who promotes solidarity and collegiality amongst government ministers. These meetings follow a set format, in the first part of a meeting, the Council deliberates over general interest bills, ordinances, and decrees. In the second part, the Council discusses individual decisions by each Minister regarding the appointment of civil servants. In addition, the Minister of Foreign Affairs provides the Council with weekly updates on important international issues, most government work, however, is done elsewhere
Cabinet of France
–
Government of the French Republic
31.
Hovercraft
–
A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is a craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft are hybrid vessels operated by a pilot as a rather than a captain as a marine vessel. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a volume of air below the hull that is slightly above atmospheric pressure. The pressure difference between the higher pressure air below the hull and lower pressure ambient air above it produces lift, for stability reasons, the air is typically blown through slots or holes around the outside of a disk- or oval-shaped platform, giving most hovercraft a characteristic rounded-rectangle shape. Typically this cushion is contained within a flexible skirt, which allows the vehicle to travel over small obstructions without damage, the first practical design for hovercraft was derived from a British invention in the 1950s to 1960s. They are now used throughout the world as specialised transports in disaster relief, coastguard, military, although now a generic term for the type of craft, the name Hovercraft itself was a trademark owned by Saunders-Roe, hence other manufacturers use of alternative names to describe the vehicles. There have been attempts to understand the principles of high air pressure below hulls. To a great extent, the majority of these can be termed ground effect or water effect vehicles rather than hovercraft, the principal difference is that a hovercraft can lift itself while still, whereas the majority of other designs require forward motion to create lift. These active-motion surface effect vehicles are known in specific cases as ekranoplan, the first mention in the historical record of the concepts behind surface-effect vehicles that used the term hovering was by Swedish scientist Emanuel Swedenborg in 1716. The shipbuilder Sir John Isaac Thornycroft patented a design for an air cushion ship / hovercraft in the 1870s. In 1915, the Austrian Dagobert Müller built the worlds first air cushion boat, only when in motion could the craft trap air under the front, increasing lift. The vessel also required a depth of water to operate and could not transition to land or other surfaces, designed as a fast torpedo boat, the Versuchsgleitboot had a top speed over 32 knots. It was thoroughly tested and even armed with torpedoes and machine guns for operation in the Adriatic. It never saw combat, however, and as the war progressed it was eventually scrapped due to the lack of interest and perceived need. The theoretical grounds for motion over an air layer were constructed by Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovskii in 1926 and 1927, in 1929, Andrew Kucher of Ford began experimenting with the Levapad concept, metal disks with pressurized air blown through a hole in the center. Levapads do not offer stability on their own, several must be used together to support a load above them. Lacking a skirt, the pads had to very close to the running surface. He initially imagined these being used in place of casters and wheels in factories and warehouses, in 1931, Finnish aero engineer Toivo J. Kaario began designing a developed version of a vessel using an air cushion and built a prototype Pintaliitäjä, in 1937
Hovercraft
–
A Formula 1 racing hovercraft
Hovercraft
–
Hovercraft.
Hovercraft
–
A Lithuanian Coast Guard hovercraft with engine off and skirt deflated.
Hovercraft
–
The same hovercraft with engine on and skirt inflated.
32.
Gas turbine-electric locomotive
–
A gas turbine - electric locomotive, or GTEL, is a locomotive that uses a gas turbine to drive an electric generator or alternator. The electric current thus produced is used to power traction motors and this type of locomotive was first experimented with during the Second World War, but reached its peak in the 1950s to 1960s. Few locomotives use this system today, a GTEL uses a turbo-electric drivetrain in which a turboshaft engine drives an electrical generator or alternator via a system of gears. The electrical power is distributed to power the motors that drive the locomotive. In overall terms the system is similar to a conventional diesel-electric. A gas turbine offers some advantages over a piston engine, there are few moving parts, decreasing the need for lubrication and potentially reducing maintenance costs, and the power-to-weight ratio is much higher. A turbine of a power output is also physically smaller than an equally powerful piston engine. However, a power output and efficiency both drop dramatically with rotational speed, unlike a piston engine, which has a comparatively flat power curve. This makes GTEL systems useful primarily for long-distance high-speed runs, Union Pacific operated the largest fleet of such locomotives of any railroad in the world, and was the only railroad to use them for hauling freight. Most other GTELs have been built for passenger trains. With a rise in costs, gas turbine locomotives became uneconomical to operate. Additionally, Union Pacifics locomotives required more maintenance than originally anticipated, in 1939 the Swiss Federal Railways ordered a GTEL with a 1,620 kW of maximum engine power from Brown Boveri. It was completed in 1941, and then underwent testing before entering regular service, the Am 4/6 was the first gas turbine - electric locomotive. It was intended primarily to work light, fast, passenger trains on routes which normally handle insufficient traffic to justify electrification, two gas turbine locomotives of different design,18000 and 18100 were ordered by the Great Western Railway, but completed for the newly nationalised British Railways. 18000 was built by Brown Boveri and delivered in 1949 and it was a 1840 kW GTEL, ordered by the GWR and used for express passenger services. 18100 was built by Metropolitan-Vickers and delivered in 1951 and it had an aircraft-type gas turbine of 2.2 MW. Maximum speed was 90 miles per hour, the British Rail APT-E, prototype of the Advanced Passenger Train, was turbine-powered. Like the French TGV, later models were electric instead and this choice was made because British Leyland, the turbine supplier, ceased production of the model used in the APT-E
Gas turbine-electric locomotive
–
UP 18, preserved at the Illinois Railway Museum.
Gas turbine-electric locomotive
–
British Rail APT-E
Gas turbine-electric locomotive
–
GT1-001
33.
TGV 001
–
TGV001 was a high-speed railway train built in France. It was the first TGV prototype and was commissioned in 1969, the TGV001 was an experimental gas turbine-electric locomotive-powered trainset built by Alstom to break speed records between 250–300 kilometres per hour. The experimental train was part of a vast research program on high rail speeds and this program covered all technical aspects, principally traction, the behaviour of the vehicles, braking, aerodynamics and signalling. Originally, two trains were to be built, but only one was produced, the second was to be a tilting train equipped with an active tilting system, but was abandoned owing to technical difficulties. This turbotrain was built in a different fashion than its predecessors. This concept as well as the shape of the TGV001 was kept when designing the future TGV, each axle was equipped with a traction motor with the advantage of small weight per axle but maximum power. Electric traction permitted dynamic braking, particularly effective at high speeds, each locomotive was equipped with two Turbomeca Turmo turbines, also used in the Super Frelon helicopters. As well as having control of the turbines, the locomotives were equipped with traction. The TGV001 was a train, each carriage shared one bogie with the next. This setup ensured greater stability and permitted the suspension to be placed near the centre of gravity of each carriage, despite setting the land speed record for railed vehicles at 318 kilometres per hour, this train never saw commercial use. TGV001 was finished on 24 March 1972 and began to undergo testing on 4 April 1972 and it went on to carry out 5227 test runs, running five hundred thousand kilometres and breaking the 300-kilometre-per-hour barrier 175 times. TGV001 still holds the speed record for a gas turbine-electric locomotive. The 1973 oil crisis caused an increase in the price of oil, after which it was deemed impractical to use oil to power the TGV. Tests officially concluded on 19 June 1978, T001, Bischheim, T002, Belfort. Turbotrain Gas turbine-electric locomotive Gas turbine train SNCF British Rail APT-E30 ans de TGV
TGV 001
–
TGV 001
TGV 001
–
T 001 seen from
Autoroute A4 in
Bischheim.
34.
Petroleum
–
Petroleum is a naturally occurring, yellow-to-black liquid found in geological formations beneath the Earths surface, which is commonly refined into various types of fuels. Components of petroleum are separated using a technique called fractional distillation and it consists of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other organic compounds. The name petroleum covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crude oil and petroleum products that are made up of refined crude oil. A fossil fuel, petroleum is formed when large quantities of dead organisms, usually zooplankton and algae, are buried underneath sedimentary rock, Petroleum has mostly been recovered by oil drilling. Drilling is carried out studies of structural geology, sedimentary basin analysis. Petroleum is used in manufacturing a variety of materials. Concern over the depletion of the earths finite reserves of oil, the burning of fossil fuels plays the major role in the current episode of global warming. The word petroleum comes from Greek, πέτρα for rocks and Greek, the term was found in 10th-century Old English sources. It was used in the treatise De Natura Fossilium, published in 1546 by the German mineralogist Georg Bauer, Petroleum, in one form or another, has been used since ancient times, and is now important across society, including in economy, politics and technology. Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society. By 347 AD, oil was produced from bamboo-drilled wells in China, early British explorers to Myanmar documented a flourishing oil extraction industry based in Yenangyaung that, in 1795, had hundreds of hand-dug wells under production. The mythological origins of the oil fields at Yenangyaung, and its hereditary monopoly control by 24 families, Pechelbronn is said to be the first European site where petroleum has been explored and used. The still active Erdpechquelle, a spring where petroleum appears mixed with water has been used since 1498, Oil sands have been mined since the 18th century. In Wietze in lower Saxony, natural asphalt/bitumen has been explored since the 18th century, both in Pechelbronn as in Wietze, the coal industry dominated the petroleum technologies. In 1848 Young set up a small business refining the crude oil, Young eventually succeeded, by distilling cannel coal at a low heat, in creating a fluid resembling petroleum, which when treated in the same way as the seep oil gave similar products. The production of oils and solid paraffin wax from coal formed the subject of his patent dated 17 October 1850. In 1850 Young & Meldrum and Edward William Binney entered into partnership under the title of E. W. Binney & Co. at Bathgate in West Lothian, the worlds first oil refinery was built in 1856 by Ignacy Łukasiewicz. The demand for petroleum as a fuel for lighting in North America, edwin Drakes 1859 well near Titusville, Pennsylvania, is popularly considered the first modern well
Petroleum
–
Pumpjack pumping an oil well near
Lubbock, Texas
Petroleum
–
An oil refinery in Mina-Al-Ahmadi, Kuwait
Petroleum
–
Natural petroleum spring in
Korňa, Slovakia
Petroleum
–
Oil derrick in
Okemah, Oklahoma, 1922
35.
Overhead lines
–
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
Overhead lines
–
Overhead lines on
Swiss Federal Railways
Overhead lines
–
Overhead lines in China
Overhead lines
–
Overhead lines in Denmark near
Roskilde. For aesthetic reasons the support structure is constructed from hollow
Corten steel masts.
Overhead lines
–
Brussels-South, overhead wires suspended across multiple tracks.
36.
Nuclear power in France
–
Nuclear energy, in the form of fission, is the primary source of energy in France. In 2004, fission energy made up the largest share of Frances energy consumption at 39%, looking purely at electricity, though,416. 800TWh out of the countrys total production of 546TWh of electricity was from fission-electric power stations, the highest percentage in the world. Électricité de France – the countrys main electricity generation and distribution company – manages the countrys 58 power reactors. EDF is substantially owned by the French Government, with around 85% shares in government hands.5 billion.14 per kWh to households, France was the biggest electricity exporter in the EU in 2012, exporting 45TWh of electricity to its neighbours. With very inclement weather, when demand exceeds supply, France infrequently becomes a net-importer of electricity in these rare cases, Frances nuclear power industry has been called a success story that has put the nation ahead of the world in terms of providing cheap energy with low CO2 emissions. Before World War II, France had been involved in nuclear research through the work of the Joliot-Curies. He was relieved of his duties in 1950 for political reasons, the CEA was created by Charles de Gaulle on 18 October 1945. Nuclear research was discontinued for a time after the war because of the instability of the Fourth Republic, however, in the 1950s a civil nuclear research program was started, a by-product of which would be plutonium. In 1956 a secret Committee for the Military Applications of Atomic Energy was formed, the first nuclear power plant by EDF in France was opened in 1962. Other nuclear facilities in France were online by 1956, for instance Marcoule, at the time of the oil crisis most of Frances electricity came from foreign oil. Nuclear power allowed France to compensate for its lack of energy resources by applying its strengths in heavy engineering. The situation was summarized in a slogan, In France, we do not have oil, the plan envisaged the construction of around 80 nuclear plants by 1985 and a total of 170 plants by 2000. Work on the first three plants, at Tricastin, Gravelines, and Dampierre started the year and France installed 56 reactors over the next 15 years. Opinion polls show support for atomic energy has dropped since Fukushima, forty-percent of the French are hesitant about nuclear energy while a third are in favor and 17 percent are against, according to a survey by pollster Ifop published November 13. Within ten years 22 out of the 58 reactors will have been operating for over 40 years, generation costs from the new Flamanville EPR reactor are estimated to be at least in the 70 to 90 EUR/MWh range, depending on construction outcome. Academics at Paris Dauphine University forecast that domestic electricity prices rise by about 30% by 2020. Following François Hollandes victory in the 2012 presidential election, it is thought there may be a partial nuclear phaseout in France. In 2015, the National Assembly voted that by 2025 only 50% of Frances energy will be produced by nuclear plants, a widespread programme of reactor checks was started involving a progressive programme of reactor shutdowns, likely to continue over the winter high electricity demand period into 2017
Nuclear power in France
–
The
Saint-Laurent site, showing two CP2, 900MWe class reactors and the cooling tower on the right
Nuclear power in France
–
The
Cattenom site houses four 1300 MWe class reactors
Nuclear power in France
–
The
Civaux site houses two 1450 MWe class reactors, the most recent design operating today
37.
Kinetic energy
–
In physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes, the same amount of work is done by the body in decelerating from its current speed to a state of rest. In classical mechanics, the energy of a non-rotating object of mass m traveling at a speed v is 12 m v 2. In relativistic mechanics, this is an approximation only when v is much less than the speed of light. The standard unit of energy is the joule. The adjective kinetic has its roots in the Greek word κίνησις kinesis, the dichotomy between kinetic energy and potential energy can be traced back to Aristotles concepts of actuality and potentiality. The principle in classical mechanics that E ∝ mv2 was first developed by Gottfried Leibniz and Johann Bernoulli, Willem s Gravesande of the Netherlands provided experimental evidence of this relationship. By dropping weights from different heights into a block of clay, Émilie du Châtelet recognized the implications of the experiment and published an explanation. The terms kinetic energy and work in their present scientific meanings date back to the mid-19th century, early understandings of these ideas can be attributed to Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, who in 1829 published the paper titled Du Calcul de lEffet des Machines outlining the mathematics of kinetic energy. William Thomson, later Lord Kelvin, is given the credit for coining the term kinetic energy c, energy occurs in many forms, including chemical energy, thermal energy, electromagnetic radiation, gravitational energy, electric energy, elastic energy, nuclear energy, and rest energy. These can be categorized in two classes, potential energy and kinetic energy. Kinetic energy is the movement energy of an object, Kinetic energy can be transferred between objects and transformed into other kinds of energy. Kinetic energy may be best understood by examples that demonstrate how it is transformed to, for example, a cyclist uses chemical energy provided by food to accelerate a bicycle to a chosen speed. On a level surface, this speed can be maintained without further work, except to overcome air resistance, the chemical energy has been converted into kinetic energy, the energy of motion, but the process is not completely efficient and produces heat within the cyclist. The kinetic energy in the moving cyclist and the bicycle can be converted to other forms, for example, the cyclist could encounter a hill just high enough to coast up, so that the bicycle comes to a complete halt at the top. The kinetic energy has now largely converted to gravitational potential energy that can be released by freewheeling down the other side of the hill. Since the bicycle lost some of its energy to friction, it never regains all of its speed without additional pedaling, the energy is not destroyed, it has only been converted to another form by friction
Kinetic energy
–
The cars of a
roller coaster reach their maximum kinetic energy when at the bottom of their path. When they start rising, the kinetic energy begins to be converted to gravitational
potential energy. The sum of kinetic and potential energy in the system remains constant, ignoring losses to
friction.
38.
Bogie
–
A bogie is a chassis or framework carrying wheels, attached to a vehicle, thus serving as a modular subassembly of wheels and axles. Bogies take various forms in various modes of transport, while bogie is the preferred spelling and first-listed variant in various dictionaries, bogey and bogy are also used. A bogie in the UK, or a truck, wheel truck. In Indian English, bogie may also refer to a railway carriage. In South Africa, the bogie is often alternatively used to refer to a freight or goods wagon. The first standard gauge British railway to build coaches with bogies, an alternate configuration often is used in articulated vehicles, which places the bogies under the connection between the carriages or wagons. Most bogies have two axles, but some cars designed for heavy loads have more axles per bogie, heavy-duty cars may have more than two bogies using span bolsters to equalize the load and connect the bogies to the cars. Suspension to absorb shocks between the frame and the rail vehicle body, Common types are coil springs, or rubber airbags. At least one wheelset, composed of an axle with bearings and a wheel at each end The bolster, the railway car is supported at the pivot point on the bolster. Axle box suspensions absorb shocks between the bearings and the bogie frame. The axle box suspension usually consists of a spring between the frame and axle bearings to permit up-and-down movement, and sliders to prevent lateral movement. A more modern design uses solid rubber springs, brake equipment, Two main types are used, brake shoes that are pressed against the tread of the wheel, and disc brakes and pads. More modern, bolsterless bogie designs omit these features, instead taking advantage of the movement of the suspension to permit rotational movement. The Commonwealth bogie, manufactured by the English Steel Corporation under licence from the Commonwealth Steel Company in Illinois, fitted with SKF or Timken bearings, it was introduced in the late 1950s for all BR Mark 1 vehicles. It was a heavy, cast-steel design weighing about 6.5 long tons, with sealed roller bearings on the axle ends, the leaf springs were replaced by coil springs running vertically rather than horizontally. The advanced design gave a better quality than the BR1. The side frame of the bogie was usually of bar construction, with simple horn guides attached, the axle boxes had a cast-steel equaliser beam or bar resting on them. The bar had two steel coil springs placed on it and the bogie frame rested on the springs, the effect was to allow the bar to act as a compensating lever between the two axles and to use both springs to soften shocks from either axle
Bogie
–
A diamond bogie with
axle boxes, known in American English as a "truck"
Bogie
–
Commonwealth bogie as used on BR Mark 1 and CIE Park Royals
Bogie
–
B4 bogie as used on BR Mark 2 and Irish Cravens
Bogie
–
Side view of a
SEPTA K-Car bogie
39.
Pantograph (rail)
–
A pantograph is an apparatus mounted on the roof of an electric train, tram or electric bus to collect power through contact with an overhead catenary wire. It is a type of current collector. Typically, a wire is used, with the return current running through the track. The term stems from the resemblance of some styles to the mechanical pantographs used for copying handwriting, the pantograph was invented in 1879 by Walter Reichel, chief engineer at Siemens & Halske in Germany. A flat slide-pantograph was invented in 1895 at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad The familiar diamond-shaped roller pantograph was invented by John Q. Brown of the Key System shops for their commuter trains ran between San Francisco and the East Bay section of the San Francisco Bay Area in California. They appear in photographs of the first day of service,26 October 1903, for many decades thereafter, the same diamond shape was used by electric-rail systems around the world and remains in use by some today. The most common type of today is the so-called half-pantograph. Louis Faiveley invented this type of pantograph in 1955, the half-pantograph can be seen in use on everything from very fast trains to low-speed urban tram systems. The electric transmission system for electric rail systems consists of an upper. The pantograph is spring-loaded and pushes a contact shoe up against the underside of the wire to draw the current needed to run the train. The steel rails of the act as the electrical return. As the train moves, the shoe slides along the wire and can set up standing waves in the wires which break the contact. This means that on some systems adjacent pantographs are not permitted, pantographs are the successor technology to trolley poles, which were widely used on early streetcar systems. However, many of these networks, including Torontos, are undergoing upgrades to accommodate pantograph operation, as a precaution against loss of pressure in the second case, the arm is held in the down position by a catch. For high-voltage systems, the air supply is used to blow out the electric arc when roof-mounted circuit breakers are used. Pantographs may have either a single or a double arm, double-arm pantographs are usually heavier, requiring more power to raise and lower, but may also be more fault-tolerant. On railways of the former USSR, the most widely used pantographs are those with a double arm, some streetcars use double-arm pantographs, among them the Russian KTM-5, KTM-8, LVS-86 and many other Russian-made trams, as well as some Euro-PCC trams in Belgium
Pantograph (rail)
–
The diamond-shaped, electric-rod pantograph of the Swiss
cogwheel locomotive of the
Schynige Platte railway in
Schynige Platte, built in 1911
Pantograph (rail)
–
The (asymmetrical) 'Z'-shaped pantograph of the electrical pickup on the
Berlin Straßenbahn. This pantograph uses a single-arm design
Pantograph (rail)
–
Close up of a single arm pantograph on a
British Rail Class 333.
Pantograph (rail)
–
High-performance pantograph used for measurements on the
ICE S
40.
Suspension (vehicle)
–
This article is primarily about four-wheeled vehicle suspension. For information on two-wheeled vehicles suspensions see the motorcycle suspension, motorcycle fork, bicycle suspension, Suspension is the system of tires, tire air, springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels and allows relative motion between the two. Suspension systems must support both roadholding/handling and ride quality, which are at odds with each other, the tuning of suspensions involves finding the right compromise. The suspension also protects the vehicle itself and any cargo or luggage from damage, the design of front and rear suspension of a car may be different. An early form of suspension on ox-drawn carts had the swing on iron chains attached to the wheeled frame of the carriage. This system remained the basis for all suspension systems until the turn of the 19th century, no modern automobiles use the strap suspension system. Automobiles were initially developed as self-propelled versions of horse-drawn vehicles, however, horse-drawn vehicles had been designed for relatively slow speeds, and their suspension was not well suited to the higher speeds permitted by the internal combustion engine. The first workable spring-suspension required advanced metallurgical knowledge and skill, within a decade, most British horse carriages were equipped with springs, wooden springs in the case of light one-horse vehicles to avoid taxation, and steel springs in larger vehicles. These were often made of steel and usually took the form of multiple layer leaf springs. Leaf springs have been around since the early Egyptians, ancient military engineers used leaf springs in the form of bows to power their siege engines, with little success at first. The use of springs in catapults was later refined and made to work years later. Springs were not only made of metal, a tree branch could be used as a spring. Horse-drawn carriages and the Ford Model T used this system, and it is used today in larger vehicles. This was the first modern system and, along with advances in the construction of roads. In 1901 Mors of Paris first fitted an automobile with shock absorbers, with the advantage of a damped suspension system on his Mors Machine, Henri Fournier won the prestigious Paris-to-Berlin race on 20 June 1901. Fourniers superior time was 11 hrs 46 min 10 sec, while the best competitor was Léonce Girardot in a Panhard with a time of 12 hrs 15 min 40 sec. Coil springs first appeared on a vehicle in 1906 in the Brush Runabout made by the Brush Motor Company. Today, coil springs are used in most cars, in 1920, Leyland Motors used torsion bars in a suspension system
Suspension (vehicle)
–
The front suspension components of a
Ford Model T.
Suspension (vehicle)
–
The rear suspension on a truck: a
leaf spring.
Suspension (vehicle)
–
Part of car front suspension and
steering mechanism: tie rod, steering arm, king pin axis (using
ball joints).
Suspension (vehicle)
–
Van Diemen RF01 Racing Car Suspension.
41.
Brake
–
A brake is a mechanical device that inhibits motion by absorbing energy from a moving system. It is used for slowing or stopping a vehicle, wheel, axle, or to prevent its motion. Most brakes commonly use friction between two surfaces pressed together to convert the energy of the moving object into heat, though other methods of energy conversion may be employed. For example, regenerative braking converts much of the energy to electrical energy, other methods convert kinetic energy into potential energy in such stored forms as pressurized air or pressurized oil. Eddy current brakes use magnetic fields to convert energy into electric current in the brake disc, fin, or rail. Still other braking methods even transform kinetic energy into different forms, Brakes are generally applied to rotating axles or wheels, but may also take other forms such as the surface of a moving fluid. In practice, fast vehicles usually have significant air drag, almost all wheeled vehicles have a brake of some sort. Even baggage carts and shopping carts may have them for use on a moving ramp, most fixed-wing aircraft are fitted with wheel brakes on the undercarriage. Some aircraft also feature air brakes designed to reduce their speed in flight, notable examples include gliders and some World War II-era aircraft, primarily some fighter aircraft and many dive bombers of the era. These allow the aircraft to maintain a speed in a steep descent. The Saab B17 dive bomber and Vought F4U Corsair fighter used the deployed undercarriage as an air brake, Friction brakes on automobiles store braking heat in the drum brake or disc brake while braking then conduct it to the air gradually. When traveling downhill some vehicles can use their engines to brake, when the brake pedal of a modern vehicle with hydraulic brakes is pushed against the master cylinder, ultimately a piston pushes the brake pad against the brake disc which slows the wheel down. On the brake drum it is similar as the cylinder pushes the brake shoes against the drum which also slows the wheel down, Brakes may be broadly described as using friction, pumping, or electromagnetics. Typically the term brake is used to mean pad/shoe brakes and excludes hydrodynamic brakes. Friction brakes are often rotating devices with a pad and a rotating wear surface. Other brake configurations are used, but less often, a drum brake is a vehicle brake in which the friction is caused by a set of brake shoes that press against the inner surface of a rotating drum. The drum is connected to the rotating roadwheel hub, drum brakes generally can be found on older car and truck models. However, because of their low production cost, drum brake setups are also installed on the rear of some low-cost newer vehicles, compared to modern disc brakes, drum brakes wear out faster due to their tendency to overheat
Brake
–
Disc brake on a
motorcycle
Brake
–
Rendering of a drum brake
Brake
–
Single pivot side-pull bicycle
caliper brake.
Brake
–
Brake booster from a
Geo Storm.
42.
Unsprung weight
–
In a ground vehicle with a suspension, the unsprung mass is the mass of the suspension, wheels or tracks, and other components directly connected to them, rather than supported by the suspension. Unsprung mass includes the mass of such as the wheel axles, wheel bearings, wheel hubs, tires, and a portion of the weight of driveshafts, springs, shock absorbers. If the vehicles brakes are mounted outboard, their mass is considered part of the unsprung mass. The unsprung mass of a wheel controls a trade-off between a wheels bump-following ability and its vibration isolation, bumps and surface imperfections in the road cause tire compression—which induces a force on the unsprung mass. The unsprung mass then responds to this force with movement of its own, for this reason, lighter wheels are sought especially for high-performance applications. For longer bumps that the follow, greater unsprung mass causes more energy to be absorbed by the wheels. The shock absorbers, if any, damp the motion also. So the wheels execute some vibrations after each bump before coming to rest and these cause sustained wheel bounce in subsequent vehicles, enlarging the bumps. High unsprung mass also exacerbates wheel control issues under hard acceleration or braking, as mentioned above, there is a positive effect of unsprung mass. Unsprung mass is largely a function of the design of a vehicles suspension, heavy components such as the differential can be made part of the sprung mass by connecting them directly to the body. Lightweight materials, such as aluminum, plastic, carbon fiber, the term unsprung mass was coined by the mathematician Albert Healey of the Dunlop tyre company. This lecture was published as a 100-page paper, inboard brakes can significantly reduce unsprung mass, but put more load on half axles and universal joints, and require space that may not be easily accommodated. If located next to a differential or transaxle, waste heat from the brakes may overheat the differential or vice versa, particularly in hard use, such as motor racing. They also make anti-dive suspension characteristics harder to achieve as the moment created by the act of braking is not reacted on the suspension arms, the Chapman strut used the driveshafts as suspension arms, thus requiring only the weight of one component rather than two. Scooter-type motorcycles use an integrated drive system that pivots as part of the rear suspension. This arrangement is linked to the use of small wheels
Unsprung weight
–
This article needs additional citations for
verification. Please help improve this article by
adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)
43.
Automobile
–
A car is a wheeled, self-powered motor vehicle used for transportation and a product of the automotive industry. The year 1886 is regarded as the year of the modern car. In that year, German inventor Karl Benz built the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, cars did not become widely available until the early 20th century. One of the first cars that was accessible to the masses was the 1908 Model T, an American car manufactured by the Ford Motor Company. Cars were rapidly adopted in the United States of America, where they replaced animal-drawn carriages and carts, cars are equipped with controls used for driving, parking, passenger comfort and safety, and controlling a variety of lights. Over the decades, additional features and controls have been added to vehicles, examples include rear reversing cameras, air conditioning, navigation systems, and in car entertainment. Most cars in use in the 2010s are propelled by a combustion engine. Both fuels cause air pollution and are blamed for contributing to climate change. Vehicles using alternative fuels such as ethanol flexible-fuel vehicles and natural gas vehicles are also gaining popularity in some countries, electric cars, which were invented early in the history of the car, began to become commercially available in 2008. There are costs and benefits to car use, the costs of car usage include the cost of, acquiring the vehicle, interest payments, repairs and auto maintenance, fuel, depreciation, driving time, parking fees, taxes, and insurance. The costs to society of car use include, maintaining roads, land use, road congestion, air pollution, public health, health care, road traffic accidents are the largest cause of injury-related deaths worldwide. The benefits may include transportation, mobility, independence. The ability for humans to move flexibly from place to place has far-reaching implications for the nature of societies and it was estimated in 2010 that the number of cars had risen to over 1 billion vehicles, up from the 500 million of 1986. The numbers are increasing rapidly, especially in China, India, the word car is believed to originate from the Latin word carrus or carrum, or the Middle English word carre. In turn, these originated from the Gaulish word karros, the Gaulish language was a branch of the Brythoic language which also used the word Karr, the Brythonig language evolved into Welsh where Car llusg and car rhyfel still survive. It originally referred to any wheeled vehicle, such as a cart, carriage. Motor car is attested from 1895, and is the formal name for cars in British English. Autocar is a variant that is attested from 1895
Automobile
–
Benz "Velo" model (1894) by German inventor
Carl Benz – entered into an
early automobile race as a
motocycle
Automobile
–
A modern car,
BMW E90
Automobile
–
Cugnot's 1771 fardier à vapeur, as preserved at the
Musée des Arts et Métiers, Paris
Automobile
–
Karl Benz, the inventor of the modern car
44.
Aeroplane
–
An airplane or aeroplane is a powered, fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine or propeller. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations, the broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Commercial aviation is a massive industry involving the flying of tens of thousands of daily on airliners. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, the Wright brothers invented and flew the first airplane in 1903, recognized as the first sustained and controlled heavier-than-air powered flight. They built on the works of George Cayley dating from 1799, between 1867 and 1896, the German pioneer of human aviation Otto Lilienthal also studied heavier-than-air flight. Following its limited use in World War I, aircraft continued to develop. Airplanes had a presence in all the battles of World War II. The first jet aircraft was the German Heinkel He 178 in 1939, the first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, was introduced in 1952. The Boeing 707, the first widely successful commercial jet, was in service for more than 50 years. Aéroplane originally referred just to the wing, as it is a plane moving through the air, in an example of synecdoche, the word for the wing came to refer to the entire aircraft. In the United States and Canada, the airplane is used for powered fixed-wing aircraft. In the United Kingdom and most of the Commonwealth, the aeroplane is usually applied to these aircraft. Many stories from antiquity involve flight, such as the Greek legend of Icarus and Daedalus, and this machine may have been suspended for its flight. Some of the earliest recorded attempts with gliders were those by the 9th-century poet Abbas ibn Firnas, leonardo da Vinci researched the wing design of birds and designed a man-powered aircraft in his Codex on the Flight of Birds. In 1799, George Cayley set forth the concept of the airplane as a fixed-wing flying machine with separate systems for lift, propulsion. Cayley was building and flying models of fixed-wing aircraft as early as 1803, in 1856, Frenchman Jean-Marie Le Bris made the first powered flight, by having his glider LAlbatros artificiel pulled by a horse on a beach. Then Alexander F. Mozhaisky also made some innovative designs, in 1883, the American John J. Montgomery made a controlled flight in a glider. Other aviators who made similar flights at that time were Otto Lilienthal, Percy Pilcher, sir Hiram Maxim built a craft that weighed 3.5 tons, with a 110-foot wingspan that was powered by two 360-horsepower steam engines driving two propellers
Aeroplane
–
Boeing 737 -700 jet airliner
Aeroplane
–
Le Bris and his
glider, Albatros II, photographed by
Nadar, 1868
Aeroplane
–
Otto Lilienthal in mid-flight, c. 1895
Aeroplane
–
An
Antonov An-2 biplane
45.
SNCF TGV Duplex
–
The TGV Duplex is a French high-speed train of the TGV family, manufactured by Alstom, and operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It is unique among TGV trains in that it features bi-level carriages, the Duplex inaugurated the third generation of TGV trainsets. It was specially designed to increase capacity on high-speed lines with saturated traffic, with two seating levels and a seating capacity of 508 passengers, the Duplex increases the passenger capacity. While the TGV Duplex started as a component of the TGV fleet. The LGV Sud-Est from Paris to Lyon is the busiest high-speed line in France, after its opening in 1981 it rapidly reached capacity. Several options were available to increase capacity, the separation between trains was reduced to three minutes on some TGV lines, but the increasingly complex signalling systems, and high-performance brakes required, limited this option. Another option is to widen the train but is not practicable due to loading gauge restrictions. Running two trainsets coupled together in multiple-unit configuration provides extra capacity, but required very long station platforms, given length and width restrictions, the remaining option is to adopt a bi-level configuration, with seating on two levels, adding 45% more passenger capacity. TGV Duplex sets are run with a single deck Réseau set or another Duplex set. The Duplex feasibility study was completed in 1987, in 1988, a full-scale mockup was built to gauge customer reactions to the bi-level concept, traditionally associated with commuter and regional rail rather than with high-speed intercity trains. Discussions with GEC-Alsthom began soon after, and in July 1990 the company won the contract to build the TGV-2N, the contract was finalized in early 1991, at which point the official order was made. The first tests of a trainset in were November 1994. Soon after their first run, the first rake of eight trailers was tested at 290 km/h on the Sud-Est line, the trainset was powered by TGV Réseau power cars at the time, as the Duplex power cars were not ready. The first Duplex power car was mated to the trailers on 21 June 1995. Perhaps the most important innovation is the efficiency of the Duplex design, aluminium bodies - the strict requirement of a 17-tonne axle load limit made it imperative to cut down on weight, wherever possible. Extruded aluminum construction made possible a 20% reduction in structure weight, the nose, the first significant departure from Coopers original design, was styled by industrial designer Roger Tallon, as was the rest of the trainset. Crashworthiness - crush zones and rigid passenger compartments protect safety in the event of a collision, the power units frame is designed to take a 500 tonnes of force frontal load, and features structural fuses to absorb impact energy. Active pantograph - the Faiveley CX used on the Duplex has a pneumatically actuated active control system, two small gas cylinders in the wiper armature can tune the stiffness of the pantographs upper stage, to optimize contact at any speed
SNCF TGV Duplex
–
TGV Duplex at
Paris-Gare de Lyon.
SNCF TGV Duplex
–
First class on a TGV Duplex
SNCF TGV Duplex
–
Bi-level carriages allow 45% more capacity than in a single level TGV.
SNCF TGV Duplex
–
Réseau-Duplex en gare d'Orange
46.
Continental Europe
–
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe, or, by Europeans, simply the Continent, is the continuous continent of Europe, excluding surrounding islands. This historical core of Carolingian Europe was consciously invoked in the 1950s as the historical basis for the prospective European integration. In both Great Britain and Ireland, the Continent is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe, an apocryphal British newspaper headline supposedly once read, Fog in Channel, Continent Cut Off. It has also claimed that this was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s. In addition, the word Europe itself is regularly used to mean Europe excluding the islands of Great Britain, Iceland. The term mainland Europe is also sometimes used, derivatively, the adjective continental refers to the social practices or fashion of continental Europe. Examples include breakfast, topless sunbathing and, historically, long-range driving often known as Grand Touring. Differences include electrical plugs, time zones for the most part, the use of traffic, and for the United Kingdom, currency. Britain is physically connected to continental Europe through the undersea Channel Tunnel and this route is popular with refugees and migrants seeking to enter the UK. Especially in Germanic studies, continental refers to the European continent excluding the Scandinavian peninsula, Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. The reason for this is that although the Scandinavian peninsula is attached to continental Europe, kontinenten is a vernacular Swedish expression that refers to the area excluding Sweden, Norway, and Finland but including Denmark and the rest of continental Europe. In Norway, similarly, one speaks about Kontinentet as an entity, usually referring to Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Benelux countries. Today, the Scandinavian peninsula is accessible by train and road with several bridge/tunnel structures connecting the Danish peninsula of Jutland to Scania in Sweden. The Continent may sometimes refer to the part of Italy, the continental part of Spain, the continental part of France. The term is used from the perspective of the residents of each country to describe the continental portion of their country or the continent as a whole. Continental philosophy Geopolitical divisions of Europe Geographical midpoint of Europe Mainland Western Europe Hajnal line
Continental Europe
–
Map of the Scandiae islands by
Nicolaus Germanus for a 1467 publication of Cosmographia Claudii Ptolomaei Alexandrini.
Continental Europe
–
Continental Europe (green area); the boundaries of the continent are somewhat
disputed.
47.
Channel Tunnel
–
At its lowest point, it is 75 m deep below the sea bed, and 115 m below sea level. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour, the tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles—the largest such transport in the world—and international freight trains. The tunnel connects end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines, ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel. An early attempt at building a Channel Tunnel was made in the late 19th century, the eventual successful project, organised by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. At £5.5 billion, it was at the time the most expensive project ever proposed. The cost finally came in at £9 billion, well over its predicted budget, since its construction, the tunnel has faced several problems. Both fires and cold weather have temporarily disrupted its operation, illegal immigrants have attempted to use the tunnel to enter the UK, causing a minor diplomatic disagreement over the siting of the refugee camp at Sangatte, which was eventually closed in 2002. Migrants have also died attempting to cross through the tunnel, in 1839, Aimé Thomé de Gamond, a Frenchman, performed the first geological and hydrographical surveys on the Channel, between Calais and Dover. In 1865, a deputation led by George Ward Hunt proposed the idea of a tunnel to the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day, around 1866, William Low and Sir John Hawkshaw promoted ideas, but apart from preliminary geological studies none were implemented. An official Anglo-French protocol was established in 1876 for a railway tunnel. On the English side a 2. 13-metre diameter Beaumont-English boring machine dug a 1, on the French side, a similar machine dug 1,669 m from Sangatte. The project was abandoned in May 1882, owing to British political and these early works were encountered more than a century later during the TML project. The French did not take the idea seriously and nothing came of Lloyd Georges proposal, in 1929 there was another proposal but nothing came of this discussion and the idea was shelved. Proponents estimated construction to be about US$150 million, the engineers had addressed the concerns of both nations military leaders by designing two sumps—one near the coast of each country—that could be flooded at will to block the tunnel. This design feature did not override the concerns of both military leaders, and other concerns about hordes of undesirable tourists who would disrupt English habits of living. Military fears continued during World War II, the estimate caused rumours that Germany had already begun digging. In 1935, a British film from Gaumont Studios, The Tunnel and it referred briefly to its protagonist, a Mr. McAllan, as having completed a British Channel tunnel successfully in 1940, five years into the future of the films release. By 1955, defence arguments had become less relevant due to the dominance of air power, in 1958 the 1881 workings were cleared in preparation for a £100,000 geological survey by the Channel Tunnel Study Group
Channel Tunnel
–
Class 319 EMUs ran excursions trips into the tunnel from
Sandling railway station on 7 May 1994, the first passenger trains to do so
Channel Tunnel
–
Map of the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
–
The Channel Tunnel exhibit at the
National Railway Museum in
York, England, showing the circular cross section of the tunnel with the
overhead line powering a
Eurostar train. Also visible is the segmented tunnel lining
Channel Tunnel
–
Interior of
Eurotunnel Shuttle, a vehicle shuttle train. The largest railway wagon in the world, the shuttle trains transport vehicles between terminals at either end of the tunnel
48.
High Speed 1
–
High Speed 1, legally the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is a 109-kilometre high-speed railway between London and the United Kingdom end of the Channel Tunnel. The line crosses the River Medway, and under the River Thames and it cost £5.8 billion to build and opened on 14 November 2007. Trains reach speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour on section 1, intermediate stations are at Stratford International in London and Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. International passenger services are provided by Eurostar, with times of London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in 2 hours 15 minutes. As of November 2015, Eurostar has used a fleet of 27 Class 373/1 multi-system trains capable of 300 kilometres per hour and 320 kilometres per hour Class 374 trains, domestic high-speed commuter services serving the intermediate stations and beyond began on 13 December 2009. The fleet of 29 Class 395 passenger trains reach speeds of 225 kilometres per hour, DB Cargo UK run freight services on High Speed 1 using adapted Class 92 locomotives, enabling flat wagons carrying continental-size swap body containers to reach London for the first time. The CTRL project saw new bridges and tunnels built, with a combined length nearly as long as the Channel Tunnel itself, in 2002, the CTRL project was awarded the Major Project Award at the British Construction Industry Awards. The line was transferred to government ownership in 2009, with a 30-year concession for its operation being put up for sale in June 2010. The concession was awarded to a consortium of Borealis Infrastructure and Ontario Teachers Pension Plan in November 2010, a high-speed rail line, LGV Nord, has been in operation between the Channel Tunnel and the outskirts of Paris since the Tunnels opening in 1994. This has enabled Eurostar rail services to travel at 300 km/h for this part of their journey, a similar high-speed line in Belgium, from the French border to Brussels, HSL1, opened in 1997. In Britain, Eurostar trains had to run at a maximum of 160 km/h on existing tracks between London Waterloo and the Channel Tunnel and these tracks were shared with local traffic, limiting the number of services that could be run, and jeopardising reliability. The next plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link involved a tunnel reaching London from the south-east, and this opened the possibility of reusing the underused St Pancras station as the terminus, with access via the North London Line that crosses the throat of the station. The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, and it was rejected in 1994 by the then Transport Secretary, John MacGregor, as too difficult to construct and environmentally damaging. The idea of using St Pancras station as the core of the new terminus was retained, the original LCR consortium members were National Express Group, Virgin Group, S. G. Warburg & Co, Bechtel and London Electric. While the project was development by British Rail it was managed by Union Railways. On 14 November 2006, LCR adopted High Speed 1 as the name for the completed railway. Official legislation, documentation and line-side signage have continued to refer to CTRL, as the 1987 Channel Tunnel Act made government funding for a Channel tunnel rail link unlawful, construction did not take place as it was not financially viable. Construction was delayed until passage of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 which provided construction powers that ran for the following 10 years, the chief executive of the time Rob Holden stated that it was the largest land acquisition programme since the Second World War
High Speed 1
–
High Speed 1 approaching the
Medway Viaducts.
High Speed 1
–
High Speed 1
High Speed 1
–
Train 3313/3314 served as a laboratory train, reaching 300 km/h (186 mph) during Section 1 testing in 2003
High Speed 1
–
A Eurostar service on the CTRL, near
Ashford
