1.
Dual gauge
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A dual-gauge railway is a line of track that provides for trains of two separate track gauges. A mixed-gauge railway provides for more than two gauges, but is also a term sometimes used to denote dual-gauge. A dual-gauge track configuration usually consists of three rails, two rails, one for each gauge, plus a common rail--although at times, commonality is not possible. In an ordinary three-rail dual-gauge configuration, the two adjacent outer rails give provide each of the gauges, while the outer rail is common to trains of both gauges operating over it. This configuration is not to be confused with the electric current traction rail or a check or guard rail, in railways, the most important specification is that of rail gauge, the distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of the travel rails. A problem arises when different gauges outside of this tolerance meet one another, in allowing railway tracks of different gauges to share the same alignment, costs can be reduced, and infrastructure shared, e. g. platforms, bridges and tunnels etc. Dual gauge can replace two separate tracks by sharing one common running rail and one of the two outer rails which determine the gauge. However, there are complications and costs involved that may offset the savings. One issue is that points are more complex, and therefore more expensive, arrangements are necessary to ensure trains of both gauges can be safely signalled, track circuits and mechanical interlocking where provided must be operated through the common rail. Also, the rail will have an increased wear and tear over the other separate gauge rails. The following pairs of gauges can be dual-gauged without problem, standard gauge and 1,676 mm,3 ft and 3 ft 6 in, and 5 ft and 6 ft. Standard gauge and 1,600 mm can also be dual-gauged, albeit with lighter, narrow-footed rails and this last combination is of particular historical interest, as it was of strategic significance during World War II. If three-rail dual gauge is impossible, four-rail gauntlet track dual-gauge has to be used, the complications and difficulties outlined illustrate the benefits of standardised railway gauges, where possible. Alternatively the rails may be too light for the loads imposed by broader-gauge railcars, such potential problems can rule out dual-gauge as a feasible option, unless heavier rails are installed. Dual-gauge lines in Java were regauged from 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in to 3 ft 6 in during the Japanese administration in 1942-1943, regauging occurred only on the relatively short Brumbung-Kedungjati-Gundih main line and the Kedungjati-Ambarawa branch line, as the rest of the line was already dual-gauge. In Los Angeles the 3 ft 6 in Los Angeles Railway, the Colorado and Southern Railway had both standard and narrow gauge trackage, and had dual-gauge track between Denver, Colorado and Golden, until 1941. Similarly, a section of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroads Alamosa-Durango Line from Alamosa, the East Broad Top Railroad and Coal Company formerly had considerable dual-gauge trackage in its Mount Union, Pennsylvania yard. Alaska and British Columbia are proposing dual gauge,1,435 mm standard gauge and 914 mm, track so that a narrow gauge tourist train and standard gauge ore trains can share the right of way
2.
Toodyay, Western Australia
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Toodyay, known as Newcastle between 1860 and 1910, is a town on the Avon River in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia,85 kilometres north-east of Perth on Ballardong Nyoongar land. The first European settlement occurred in the area in 1836, after flooding in the 1850s, the townsite was moved to its current location in the 1860s. It is connected by railway and road to Perth, during the 1860s, it was home to bushranger Moondyne Joe. The original village of Toodyay was one of the earliest inland towns in Western Australia, the first village was established in 1836. Drummond established his homestead Hawthornden nearby, the original location is subject to flooding, which led to its abandonment in the 1850s, and a new townsite was established on higher ground 2 kilometres upstream. This was proclaimed by Governor Arthur Kennedy on 1 October 1860 as Newcastle, the Shire of Toodyays official history gives the meaning as place of plenty. According to Noongar belief, a bird calls its own name and this name Duidgee is preserved in the riverside recreation area Duidgee Park. Toodyay is also known as the place that is misty and foggy, the Newcastle Gaol, in Clinton Street, completed in 1864, was in use as a state prison until 1909. It is now preserved as a building and tourist attraction. In 1870, a flour mill, Connors Mill, was built on Stirling Terrace by George Hasell. The mill was used to generate electricity in the early twentieth century. Saved from demolition in the 1970s, and restored to demonstrate the process and machinery. The historic architecture of shops and residences along the street, Stirling Terrace. Some of the buildings are listed on the Australian Heritage Database. They include the Freemasons Hotel, the Victoria Hotel, and Urwins Store on Stirling Terrace, in 1861, Western Australias notorious bushranger Moondyne Joe was imprisoned in Toodyay for stealing a horse, but escaped. After a series of crimes and prison terms, he was on the run again, the annual Moondyne Festival is a light-hearted celebration of this darker side of Toodyays history. Being an hours drive from Perth, present day Toodyay is a venue for tourists. A picturesque circuit of Toodyay Road through Gidgegannup, Toodyay, Chittering Valley, other destinations include olive oil farms, lavender farms, holiday retreats, hotels, restaurants, caravan parks, an emu farm and a public archery park
3.
UGL Rail
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UGL Rail is an Australian rail company specialising in building, maintaining and refurbishing diesel locomotives, diesel & electric multiple units and freight wagons. It is a subsidiary of UGL Limited and is based in Melbourne and it operates factories in Broadmeadow, Chullora, Spotswood and Bassendean. While it used to operate a factory in Taree, the plant has currently shut down, founded in Australia in 1899 by Cornish brothers Alfred and Ralph Goninan as an engineering and manufacturing company for the coal industry. A Goninan & Co Limited was incorporated as a company in 1905. A Goninan & Co moved to more convenient freehold land at Broadmeadow in 1919 and they made pitheads, boilers, wagons and a huge, cast 41-ton block for the districts coal trade. In October 1964 A Goninan & Co was purchased by Howard Smith, in August 1999 A Goninan & Co was sold to United Group and rebranded United Goninan. In 2005 it was renamed United Group Rail as part of a reorganisation following United Group purchasing of Alstoms Australian subsidiary, Alstom Transport Australia, while most items were manufactured at Broadmeadows, it did purchase Comengs Bassendean, Western Australia plant. This plant rebuilt many Pilbara Alco locomotives with General Electric components in the 1990s as well as building 17 Westrail P class and 60 NR class locomotives. In 1983 a factory was established in Townsville to fulfill a contract for Queensland Railways 2600 class locomotives that required them to be built locally and it later built the 2800 class. In the early 1990s A Goninan & Co refurbished S and V sets at Broadmeadow as part of the Citydecker program, UGL Rail owns 20% of Metro Trains Melbourne, the consortium that has run Melbournes metro railway network since November 2009. Company website RailPower partners with Premier Australian Railway Engineers United Goninan to market hybrid locomotives in Australia and SE Asia Alfred Goninan
4.
Cummins
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Dongfeng Motor Corporation is a Chinese state-owned automobile manufacturer headquartered in Wuhan, China. Traditionally one of the Big Three Chinese automakers, Dongfeng is currently in the top four in terms of output along with Changan Motors, FAW Group, in addition to commercial and consumer vehicles, it also manufactures parts and cooperates with foreign companies. Counting six global automakers as partners, it has more Sino-foreign joint ventures than any other Chinese carmaker and these partnerships allow it to produce and sell a variety of foreign-brand products in China including those of Citroën, Honda, Kia, Nissan, Peugeot, and Renault. Other brand names associated with Dongfeng include Fengshen, Infiniti, Luxgen, heavy-duty commercial vehicles and buses are sold under the eponymous Dongfeng brand although c.2015 the Dual Sparrows logo started appearing on consumer products as well. The company was the second-largest Chinese vehicle maker in 2014 by production volume manufacturing over 3.5 million whole vehicles that year, commercial vehicle production that year was higher than all other domestic manufacturers at nearly 450,000. Dongfeng has two listed subsidiaries—Dongfeng Motor Group Co and Dongfeng Automobile Co Ltd. Some sources may refer to the company as Dong Feng, use an acronym like DFM, or use the name in conjunction with others when referring to a subsidiary, joint venture, or other associated enterprise. Known as Second Automobile Works until 1992, Dongfeng, or East Wind in Chinese, was founded in 1969. Its origins lie in a dictate of Chairman Mao Zedong, as part of his Third Front strategy, traditionally manufacturing commercial vehicles, by 2001 these made up about 73% of Dongfengs production. By 2012, that figure had reversed, and 73% of manufactures were passenger cars, however, the percentage of consumer offerings was likely lower as passenger car counts may include microvans, tiny commercial vehicles that are popular in China. Post-1985, further reforms took place that allowed Dongfeng greater autonomy, by the mid-1980s, its assets had tripled from those initially given to it by the state in 1981, and management was desirous of even greater production capacity. But in 1995, the company was experiencing financial difficulties as was the case with many Chinese automobile manufacturers at this time, the situation was still dire in 1998 precipitating a 1999 restructuring of the company. This state owned enterprise has come into conflict with authority at both the national and provincial levels, the Chinese partner in many Sino-foreign joint venture companies, Dongfeng initiated most of these cooperative efforts with foreign firms in the early 2000s. But its first was established in 1992 with French PSA Group, known as Dongfeng Citroën Automobile Company, it was the forerunner to the current Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile Limited. By 2003, Dongfeng had established joint ventures with Kia Motors, Honda, as of 2011, it had more Sino-foreign joint ventures than any other Chinese automaker, and the 2013 creation of a partnership with French Renault means it retains this title today. In 2009, it sold 1.9 million vehicles ranking second among domestic automakers, at the 2010 Beijing Auto Show, Dongfeng displayed an electric vehicle concept car, a physical representation of its vow to bring an electric car to market by 2015. In 2010, the company sold 2.72 million units and it reported 1.72 million sales of passenger vehicles that same year. 2011 production figures put the company in place, in terms of production volume, in its home market
5.
Track gauge
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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
6.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
7.
High-speed rail
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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
8.
Control car
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They can be used with Diesel or electric motive power, allowing push-pull operation without the use of an additional locomotive. They can also be used with a car or a railcar. In a few cases control cars were used with steam locomotives, especially in Germany, in the United States, cab cars are control cars similar to regular passenger car, but with a full drivers compartment built into one or both ends. They can be similar to regular rail cars, to the point of including a gangway between cars so that they could be used in the middle of a passenger train like a regular car if necessary. European railways have used such equipment since the 1920s, in the United States they appeared for the first time in the 1960s. In the United Kingdom, driving trailers may have one or two driving cabs, Trains operating with a locomotive at one end and a control car at the other do not require the locomotive to run around to the opposite end of the train when reversing direction at a terminus. Control cars can carry passengers, baggage, mail or a combination thereof, and may and they must also be fitted with all necessary communication and safety systems like GSM-R or European Train Control System. The classic control method was a multiple unit cable with jumpers between cars, in North America and Ireland a standard AAR 27-wire cable is used, in other countries cables with up to 61 wires can be found. A more recent method is to control the train through a Time-Division Multiplexed connection, some commuter rail agencies in the United States routinely use cab cars in place of regular passenger coaches on trains. However, with agencies such as Metra, these cars make the train less aerodynamic. The Chicago and North Western Railway had 42 control cabs built by Pullman-Standard in 1960 and it was an outgrowth of multiple-unit operation that was already common on diesel locomotives of the time. The Agence métropolitaine de transport in Canada uses control cars on all its trains, except its electric multiple units, during the mid-1990s, as push-pull operations became more common in the United States, cab-cars came under criticism for providing less protection to engine crews during level crossing accidents. This has been addressed by providing additional reinforcing in cab cars and this criticism became stronger after the 2005 Glendale train crash, in which a Metrolink train collided with a Jeep Grand Cherokee at a level crossing in California. The train was traveling with its cab car in the front, eleven people were killed in the accident, and about 180 were injured. In early 2015, another collision occurred in Oxnard, California, the truck driver left his vehicle before the impact, but the collision resulted in multiple car derailments, jacknifing, injuries, and the death of the engineer. From the 1970s until 1999, the Long Island Rail Road used a number of older locomotives converted to power packs, the original prime movers were replaced with 600 horsepower engines/generators solely for supplying HEP with the engineers control stand left intact. Locomotives converted included ALCO FA-1s and FA-2s, EMD F7s and one F9, ontarios GO Transit had a similar program for EMD FP7s. Amtrak developed their Non-powered Control Unit by removing the prime mover, main alternator, the control stand was left in place, as were equipment allowing horn, bell and headlight operation
9.
Railcar
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A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term railcar is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach, some railways, e. g. the Great Western Railway, used the term Railmotor. If it is able to pull a train, it is rather called a motor coach or a motor car. In its simplest form it may be more than a motorised version of a railway handcar. The term is also used as an alternative name for the small types of multiple unit which consist of more than one coach. The term is used more generally now in Ireland to refer to any multiple unit. In North America the term “railcar” has a broader meaning. Railcars have also employed on premier services. It is possible for several railcars to run together, each with its own driver, the reason for this was to keep costs down, since small railcars were not always fitted with multiple unit control. There are also articulated railcars, with bogies under the point between the rather than two pivoting bogies under each carriage. Like many high-end DMUs, these vehicles are made of 2 or 3 connected units that are coupled as “married pairs or triplets”. Passengers may walk between the married pair units without having to open or pass through doors, unit capacities range from 70 to over 300 seated passengers. The equipment is highly customisable with a variety of engine, transmission, coupler systems. This restriction makes it impossible to operate them on existing rail corridors with conventional passenger rail service. The light regional railcars are used by a number of railroads in Germany amongst others, railbuses were used commonly in countries such as Germany, Italy, France, United Kingdom, the Czech Republic and Sweden. A type of known as a Pacer is still commonly used in the United Kingdom. In Australia, where they were often called Rail Motors, railcars were used for passenger services on lightly used lines. In France they are called an Autorail, once very common their use died out as local lines were closed
10.
Multiple unit
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Multiple units are self-propelled train carriages capable of coupling with other units of the same or similar type and still being controlled from one driving cab. Often these are passenger trainsets consisting of more than one carriage, single self-propelling carriages are multiple units if capable of operating with other units. Multiple units are classified by their source and are of two main types, electric multiple unit or diesel multiple unit. Diesel-powered units may be classified by their transmission type, diesel-electric. Locomotives utilising multiple-unit train control are not multiple units, multiple-unit train control was first used in Electric Multiple Units in the 1890s. This allowed electrically-powered rapid transit trains to be operated from a driving position. Early users of multiple units include the Liverpool Overhead Railway. The United Kingdom and France had many examples of steam trains, or autotrains. These provided many of the benefits of a multiple unit. While a professor at the University of Denver, Sidney Howe Short conducted important experiments which established that multiple unit powered cars were a way to operate trains. Most MUs are powered either by traction motors, receiving their power through a rail or overhead wire. Diesel-electric multiple units have an engine that drives a generator producing electricity to drive traction motors in a similar fashion to a diesel-electric locomotive. A multiple-unit has the power and traction components as a locomotive. In many cases these cars can only propel themselves when they are part of the unit and it is not necessary for every single car in an MU to be motorized. Therefore, MU cars can be motor units or trailer units, instead of motors, trailing units can contain supplementary equipment such as air compressors, batteries, etc. trailer cars may also be fitted with a driving cab. In most cases, MU trains can only be driven/controlled from dedicated cab cars, an example of this arrangement is the NJ Transit Arrows. Virtually all rapid transit rolling stock, such as used on the New York City Subway, the London Underground. Most trains in the Netherlands and Japan are MUs, making them suitable for use in areas of population density
11.
Western Australian Government Railways
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Western Australian Government Railways was the operator of railway services in the state of Western Australia between October 1890 and June 2003. Owned by the State Government, it was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsibility for tram and ferry operations that it assumed and its freight operations were privatised in December 2000 with the remaining passenger operations transferred to the Public Transport Authority in July 2003. The first WAGR line opened on 26 July 1879 between Geraldton and Northampton and it was followed by the Eastern Railway from Fremantle to Guildford via Perth on 1 March 1881. The WAGR adopted the narrow gauge of 3 ft 6 in in order to construction costs. Over the next few decades, a network of main lines and branches throughout Western Australia would be built. Prior to the use of road transport, the network was of vital importance in the state, particularly for the moving of agricultural, forestry. As road transportation expanded and losses escalated, many lines closed from 1949, the network peaked in 1937 at 6,600 kilometres. Unusually for such a network, only one tunnel was required. A few isolated lines were operated, such as the Marble Bar line in the Pilbara, a concerted program of dieselisation saw diesel locomotives replace the last steam locomotives in March 1972. This resulted in smaller communities losing their facilities. However, in the wheatbelt, bulk handling of grain continued despite the changes, the WAGR was renamed a number of times to reflect extra responsibility for tram and ferry operations that it assumed and later relinquished. The public entity that continued to operate passenger services was renamed the Western Australian Government Railways Commission, although some passenger trains were bestowed nicknames, it wasnt until The Westland was launched in 1938, that a service was officially named. Further trains were named in the 1960s in an effort to increase the prestige of rail travel, the WAGR operated services from Perth to many destinations throughout the state. In 1935, it operated 63 sleeper services a week and it also operated local passenger, many operating as mixed trains. The last of these ceased in 1973, the line was 800 metres in length and operated within the confines of the East Perth Power Station. The electric locomotive used on the railway is preserved at the Western Australian Rail Transport Museum in Bassendean, in December 1937, the Governor class diesel railcars were introduced on daylight regional services from Perth. The longer distance services remained locomotive hauled, where lines were closed in the 1940s and 1950s, or passenger services discontinued, road bus services were introduced. Most of the services and the routes continue to the present
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