Railways- A historic mode of travel with a very bright future

In a future where 75% of people live in cities, the world’s population will stand at 9.5 billion and there will be advances in technology that can only be dreamed about today, the Future of Rail 2050 takes a user's perspective and explores how rail travel might change for passengers and freight.

Railways has been the primary mode of transportation for major portion of the earth's population since early 1900s. Over the years they have gone through some major changes in the way they operate. In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug, a funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a tread-wheel. The line still exists and remains operational, although in updated form. It may be the oldest operational railway.

In last 500 years railway has come a long way; from being pulled by humans and animals to being operated by steam power to Diesel to electric and then to hydrogen powered trains in last few years. Along with the changes in their function it has changed its looks to a great extent.

Steam Locomotives

The introduction of steam engines for powering blast air to blast furnaces led to a large increase in British iron production after the mid 1750s. In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of wooden rails, which increased their durability and load-bearing ability. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning wagons, but later, movable points were introduced that allowed passing loops to be created.

The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick, a British engineer born in Cornwall. This used high-pressure steam to drive the engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren Ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales.

During the 1800s these types of locomotives seemed to be unstoppable but with the passage of times they became obsolete and were unable to compete with the technological advancements being made during the industrial revolution all around Europe.

Electric Engines

The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery electric locomotive. Davidson later built a larger locomotive named Galvani, exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors, with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators. It hauled a load of six tons at 6 kilometres/hour for a distance of 2.4 kilometres. It was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. Werner Von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway, opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin, Germany, in 1881. It was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 Volt DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station. The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton, England.

Though they date back to late 1800s, the developments made in the field of electric locomotive has been unparalleled; they have reached unbelievable heights both in passenger transportation as well as freight/cargo transportation from one state to another. Alstom recently build the world's most powerful 12000HP locomotive ever for passenger trains and freight trains in India. A single locomotive freight train can easily have over 100 boggies behind it and can travel at speeds of over 150kmph. Not only that this engine was recently inducted in one of India's most visionary railway projects of all times where for the first time a double decker freight train of 1.5km length was pulled by a single Alstom engine from Gujarat’s Palanpur and Botad railway stations at a speed of over 100kmpl. As per a survey by Euro Rail from 2019, around 50% of the total world railway has been electrified and most of the countries around the world are turning towards 100% electrification or electrification of most of their railway system.

Diesel Powered Trains

Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman, which was examined by Sir William Thomson in 1888 who described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes.". In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h. Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through the mid-1920s. Though these type of trains saw changes over the years but with more focus being given to electric trains these have been facing tough times due to their polluting nature and being much more costly to operate as compared to electric trains.

High Speed Rail

The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen (series 0) was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up and above 300 km/h, has been built in Japan, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Taiwan(Republic of China), the People's Republic of China, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. 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. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service.

Though high speed rail was initially limited to only few countries of the world but now nations like India and USA have also started projects with the help of Japanese counterparts on developing high speed rail network to reduce the load on the normal rail travel and airlines which are already overcrowded and might sometimes take upto 8-10 hours to reach a small distance of just 500-600km.

Maglev

To achieve much faster operation over 500 km/h (310 mph), innovative Maglev technology has been researched since the early 20th century. The technology uses magnets to levitate the train above the track, reducing friction and allowing higher speeds. An early prototype was demonstrated in 1913. The first commercial Maglev train was an airport shuttle introduced in 1984 at Birmingham Airport in England.

The Shanghai Maglev Train, opened in 2003, is the fastest commercial train service of any kind, operating at speeds of up to 430 km/h (270 mph). Maglev has not yet been used for inter-city mass transit routes.

Though it is still to be a norm for most of the countries of the world, Maglav seems to be the forth-runner when it comes to the technology that could replace intercity flights and maybe bullet trains in the near future.

Hydrail

Hydrail is the generic (not capitalized) adjective term describing all forms of rail vehicles, large or small, which use on-board hydrogen fuel as a source of energy to power the traction motors, or the auxiliaries, or both. Hydrail vehicles use the chemical energy of hydrogen for propulsion, either by burning hydrogen in a hydrogen internal combustion engine, or by reacting hydrogen with oxygen in a fuel cell to run electric motors. Widespread use of hydrogen for fueling rail transportation is a basic element of the proposed hydrogen economy. The term is used extensively by research scholars and technicians around the world.

Hydrail vehicles are usually hybrid vehicles with renewable energy storage, such as batteries or super capacitors, for regenerative braking, improving efficiency and lowering the amount of hydrogen storage required. Potential hydrail applications include all types of rail transport: commuter rail, passenger rail, freight rail, light rail, rail rapid transit, mine railways, industrial railway systems, trams, and special rail rides at parks and museums.

Future of Indian Railway

The Indian government is undertaking several initiatives to upgrade its aging railway infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Railway Ministry has announced plans to invest ₹5,000,000 crore (US$700 billion) to upgrade the railways by 2030. Upgrades include 100% electrification of railways, up gradation of existing lines with more facilities and higher speeds, expansion of new lines, up gradation of railway stations, introducing and eventually developing a large high-speed train network interconnecting major cities in different parts of India and development of various dedicated freight corridors to cut down cargo costs within the country.

Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) is undertaking all research, designs and standardization work for modernization, National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) is overlooking the implementation of high-speed train programs across the country, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCI) is the agency undertaking development of freight corridors around the country and Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) is engaged in railway stations' up gradation and development programs.

High-speed rail in India

Feasibility studies for five high-speed rail corridors were conducted between 2009 and 2010. A "Diamond Quadrilateral" has been planned to connect Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai with a high-speed train network. The Indian government conducted joint surveys with a Japanese government team in 2014, finally approving a corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. The new high-speed service will use a Japanese Shinkansen system and rolling stock. The cost of procuring the technology is estimated to be around ₹110,000 crore (US$15 billion). India and Japan signed agreements for the project in December 2015; the Japanese government will fund 81% of the total cost with a soft loan fixed at a nominal interest rate. A special committee has recommended the trains be run on an elevated corridor for an additional cost of ₹10,000 crore (US$1 billion), to avoid the difficulties of acquiring land, building underpasses, and constructing protective fencing. Indian Railways will operate the corridor for a five-year period after its commissioning, and afterwards will be turned over to a private operator.

Construction work of the corridor began in 2017 and will be completed by 2022.

Semi-high-speed rail

A semi-high-speed rail network will be introduced for connecting important routes, including Delhi-Agra, Delhi-Kanpur, Chennai-Hyderabad, Nagpur-Secunderabad, Mumbai-Pune-Solapur-Hydrabad and Mumbai-Goa. Initially, the trains will operate at a maximum speed of 160 km/h, which will be increased to 200 km/h after the rails are strengthened and fenced off. The Gatimaan Express began services on April 5, 2016, after safety clearances were obtained on its first route.

Conversion to high-speed passenger and freight corridors: 2027 target of 10,000 km IR will convert 10,000 km passenger and freight trunk routes into High-speed rail corridors of India over 10 years with total investment of ₹20,000,000 million (equivalent to ₹23 trillion or US$320 billion in 2019) and annual investment of ₹2,000,000 million (equivalent to ₹2.3 trillion or US$32 billion in 2019) from 2017-2027, where half of the money will be spent on converting existing routes into high-speed corridors by leap-frogging the technology and the rest will be used to develop the stations and electronic signaling at the cost of ₹600,000 million (equivalent to ₹680 billion or US$9.5 billion in 2019) to enable automated running of trains at 5–6 minutes frequency. Dedicated freight corridors of 3,300 km length will also be completed thus freeing the dual use high demand trunk routes for running more high-speed passenger trains.

#indianrailway #electrictrains #Alsotom #futureoftrains #maglev #bulletrains #doubledeckertrains #semihighspeedtrains