To date, almost a million kilometers of railway tracks have been laid in the leading countries of the world. Many inventions have been invented to improve railway transport: from trains moving from electricity to trains that move on a magnetic cushion without touching the rails.
Some inventions have firmly entered our lives, while others have remained at the level of plans. For example, the development of locomotives that would run on nuclear energy, but because of the high danger to the environment and the high financial costs, they were never built.
The world's first railway is being developed for a gravity train, which will move due to its inertia and gravity.
Rail transport has great potential. Invented more and more new ways to travel by rail, despite the fact that, it seems, everything in this area has long been invented.
The origin of railway transport
The very first railways began to appear in the middle of the 16th century throughout Europe. It could not be called railway in full. Trolleys that pulled horses rode along the tracks.
Basically, such roads were used in the development of stone, in mines and mines. They were made of wood, and horses could carry a load of much more weight on them than on a normal road.
But such rail tracks had a significant drawback: they quickly wore out, and the carts went out of the way. In order to reduce wear on the tree, cast iron or iron strips have been used for reinforcement.
The first railways, the rails of which are made entirely of cast iron, began to be used only in the 18th century.
First public railway
The world's first passenger railroad was built in England on October 27, 1825. It connected the cities of Stockton and Darlington, and initially it was assumed that coal would be transported from mines to the port of Stockon through it.
The railway project was handled by engineer George Stephenson, who already had experience operating and managing the railways in Killingworth. To begin the construction of the road, I had to wait for parliamentary approval for four years. The innovation had many opponents. Horse owners did not want to lose their income.
The very first train carrying passengers was converted from coal trolleys. And in 1833, for the rapid transportation of coal, the road was completed to Middlesbrough.
In 1863, the road became part of the Northeast Railway, which is still in operation to this day.
Underground railway
The world's first railway, which ran underground, was a breakthrough in the field of public transport. The first to build it were the British. The need for a subway appeared at a time when the inhabitants of London fully became acquainted with traffic jams.
In the first half of the 19th century, clusters of various carts appeared on the central streets of the city. Therefore, they decided to “unload” traffic flows by creating a tunnel underground.
The design of the London underground tunnel was invented by the Frenchman Mark Isambar Brunel, who lived in the UK.
The construction of the tunnel was completed in 1843. At first it was used only as a pedestrian crossing, but later the idea of the subway was born. And on January 10, 1893, the grand opening of the first underground railway took place.
Locomotive traction was used on it, and the length of the paths was only 3.6 kilometers. The average number of passengers carried was 26 thousand people.
In 1890, there was a modification of the compounds, and they began to move not on steam traction, but on electricity.
Magnetic Railway
The world's first railway, on which trains moved on an air cushion, was patented in 1902 by the German Alfred Zeiden. Construction attempts were made in many countries, but the first was presented at the International Transport Exhibition in Berlin in 1979. She worked only three months.
Trains on the magnetic railway move without touching the rails, and the only braking force for the train is the force of aerodynamic drag.
To date, magnetic cushion trains cannot compete with the railway and the subway, because, despite the high speed and noiselessness (some trains can reach speeds of up to 500 km / h), they have a number of significant drawbacks.
First, large financial investments will be required to create and maintain magnetic roads. Secondly, magnetic cushion trains. Thirdly, the electromagnetic field causes great harm to the environment. And fourthly, the magnetic railway has a very complex track infrastructure.
In many countries, including the Soviet Union, they planned to create such roads, but later abandoned this idea.
Railways in Russia
For the first time in Russia, the predecessors of full-fledged railways were used in Altai in 1755 - these were wooden rails in mines.
In 1788, the first railway was built in Petrozavodsk for factory needs. And for passenger traffic in 1837 the railway St. Petersburg - Tsarskoye Selo appeared. Steam-driven trains traveled along it.
Later, in 1909, the Tsarskoye Selo Railway became part of the Imperial branch, which connected Tsarskoye Selo with all the lines of the St. Petersburg Railway.