Haha katika kusoma kwangu kote sijawahi sikia usa kwenye railway technology
First experiments
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High-speed rail development began in Germany in 1899 when the
Prussian state railway joined with ten electrical and engineering firms and electrified 72 km (45 mi) of military owned railway between
Marienfelde and
Zossen. The line used
three-phase current at
10 kilovolts and
45 Hz.[
citation needed]
The Van der Zypen & Charlier company of
Deutz, Cologne built two railcars, one fitted with electrical equipment from
Siemens-Halske, the second with equipment from
Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft (AEG), that were tested on the
Marienfelde–
Zossen line during 1902 and 1903
Since the origins of rail in Europe, during the Industrial Revolution at the beginning of the 19th century, the speed of passenger trains was of the essence for competition – not necessarily with other transport modes, but with other rail companies. It also provided concrete evidence of technological development in the most advanced countries at that time. If, in 1829, the 50 km/h reached by the impressive “Rocket” locomotive from George Stephenson was understandably regarded as high speed rail, it did not take long to achieve even more impressive performances: 100 km/h before 1850, 130 km/h in 1854, and even 200 km/h at the beginning of the 20th century. However, these are just rail speed records. The maximum speed in revenue operation was much more modest but nevertheless important. In the 1930s, the top and the average speeds between two cities using steam, electric or diesel power were 180 km/h and 135 km/h respectively. However, the emergence of other transport modes, such as aviation (faster) and private cars (point-topoint private travel at any time), prompted railways to take further steps to keep up with competition.
1964: The birth of Shinkansen
After some significant speed records in Europe (in Germany, Italy, UK and particularly in France – 331 km/h in 1955), the world was surprised when, on 1 October 1964, the Japanese National Railways began operation of a brand new, 515-km, standard gauge line (1 435 mm, unlike the conventional metre-gauge lines previously built in Japan) : the Tokaido Shinkansen, from Tokyo Central to Shin Osaka. This line aimed to provide the transport system with a capacity commensurate with the impressively rapid growth of the Japanese economy. JNR promoted the concept of not only a new line, but a new transport system, which was later extended to the rest of the country and became the backbone of passenger transport for future generations in Japan. Tokaido Shinkansen was conceived to operate at 210 km/h (this was later increased), with a broad loading gauge, electric motor units powered at 25 kV AC, Automatic Train Control (ATC), Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) and other modern improvements.
High-Speed Rail (HSR) was born.
1964 – 1981: The advent of the TGV
After the huge technical and commercial success of Shinkansen, several European countries, particularly France, Germany, and Italy, developed new technologies and innovations aimed at overcoming the decline of rail market shares. Despite an uncertain future (introduction of Concorde, political opposition, the first petrol crisis in 1973, etc.), SNCF, the French national railway company, began operation of the first high speed line between Paris and Lyon on 27 September 1981, at a maximum speed of 260 km/h.
The new European HSR rapidly proliferated and expanded its services, thanks to its interoperability with the existing rail network
19th – 20th century: From the birth of the railways to HSR Because the rail mode is a guided and low grip transportation system, the history of the railway is an endless history of speed. Since the…
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