TRANSPORTMOST SOUTHERLY OPERATING RAILWAY
The Southern Fuegian Railway or El Tren del Fin
del Mundo (“The Train at the End of the World”)
in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, was originally built
c. 1902 to serve a prison. Today, tourist trains run
7 km (4.3 mi) along it, from Fin del Mundo station
to El Parque Nacional station in the Tierra del
Fuego National Park.FIRST PUBLIC ELECTRIC RAILWAY
STILL IN OPERATION
The Volk’s Electric Railway, which runs for around
1 mi (1.62 km) along the seafront at Brighton in
the UK, first opened for business on 4 Aug 1883.
It was designed by Magnus Volk (UK). The first
public electric railway entered service on 16 May
1881 at Lichterfelde near Berlin in Germany. It was
2.5 km (1.5 mi) long, ran on 180-V current and
carried 26 passengers at 48 km/h (30 mph).Railed vehicle
A four-stage rocket sled system accelerated
an 87-kg (192-lb) payload to 10,385 km/h
(6,453 mph) in 6.031 sec at Holloman High Speed
Test Track in New Mexico, USA, on 30 Apr 2003“Indoor” speed by a train
On 9 Feb 2009, a speed of 362 km/h
(225 mph) was reached by an ETR 500 Y1
train in the Monte Bibele tunnel between
Bologna and Florence in ItalySpeed by a maglev train
A Series L0 (A07) train owned by the Central
Japan Railway Company reached 603 km/h
(374.69 mph) on a test line in Yamanashi,
Japan, on 21 Apr 2015Train on any national rail system
The Société Nationale des Chemins de fer
Français (SNCF) TGV POS Set No.4402
reached a speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph)
on 3 Apr 2007 (see above)FIRST...
Steam locomotive to run on rails
The earliest steam locomotive to operate on rails
was built by engineer Richard Trevithick (UK) at
Penydarren Iron Works in Merthyr Tydfil, UK. It
made its maiden trip on 21 Feb 1804.
Underground railway system
The first section of the UK’s London Underground
opened on 9 Jan 1863. The initial stretch of the
Metropolitan line ran 6 km (3.73 mi) between
Paddington and Farringdon Street. To build the
line, the “cut and cover” system was used, with
streets along the route dug up, tracks laid in a
trench, and then re-covered with a brick tunnel
and new upper road surface.Internal combustion electric railcar
In 1903, the North Eastern Railway built
an electric railcar powered by an internal
combustion engine in York, UK. Numbered 3170,
it was the first of two similar “Autocar” vehicles.
The railcar was intended to use electric motors
rather than less efficient steam engines. In order
for the motor to run, the necessary electricity
supply was generated on board the vehicle by
a petrol-powered internal combustion engine.
Both cars operated until 1931, when they were
withdrawn from traffic – one was scrapped, and
the coach body of 3170 was used as a holiday
home. It was rescued in 2006 and has been
the subject of a comprehensive restoration
programme, including the construction of a
new running underframe.All-female rush-hour carriages
Women-only train carriages have been a part of
Japanese rail travel for a number of years, but
in Jul 2002 the West Japan Railway Company
(JR West), headquartered in Osaka, Japan,
introduced the first such carriages for rush hour.Underwater rail link joining two continents
On 29 Oct 2013, the Marmaray tunnel opened
between Europe and Asia across the Bosphorus
Strait in Turkey. The 8-mi-long (12.8-km) rail
tunnel was designed to carry commuters
between the Asian and European sides of
Istanbul, as part of the “Marmaray” project to
rebuild and improve transport connections in
this major cultural city. The underwater section
of the tunnel was built from 11 cast concrete
sections, each around 135 m (443 ft) long. These
were lowered some 58 m (190 ft) to the seabed,
where they were joined, sealed, covered with
earth and pumped dry – making a total undersea
tunnel length of 0.86 mi (1.4 km).Q: When did the production
of steam locomotives
end in China?
A: 1988
FASTEST TRAIN ON A NATIONAL RAIL SYSTEM
A French SNCF modified version of the TGV called V150 (with
larger wheels than usual and two engines driving three double-
decker cars) reached 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph) on 3 Apr 2007.
The peak speed was achieved near the village of Le Chemin,
between the Meuse and Champagne-Ardenne TGV stations.
This is the highest speed recorded by a train on any national
rail system (as opposed to a dedicated test track).MOST NORTHERLY RAILWAY STATION
Karskaya station is situated deep in the Arctic Circle on Russia’s Yamal
Peninsula, an area rich in natural gas and oil resources. It is the terminus
of the 572-km-long (355.4-mi) Russian broad-gauge 1,520-mm (4-ft
11.8-in) line from the junction at Obskaya via Bovanenkovo. The line,
which was privately built, is owned and operated by
Gazprom and was opened to Karskaya in Feb 2011.