From Rocket to Bullet - The amazing world of trains

Lionel Wijesiri

RAILWAYS: In 1803, an Englishman named Samuel Homfray decided to fund the development of a steam-powered vehicle to run on wagonways. (Roads of rails called wagonways were being used in Germany as early as 1550. These primitive railed roads consisted of wooden rails over which horse-drawn wagons moved with greater ease than over dirt roads.)

Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) built that vehicle, the first steam engine tramway locomotive. On February 22, 1804, the locomotive hauled a load of 10 tons of iron, 70 men and five extra wagons the nine miles which took about two hours.

In 1829 another company - Liverpool and Manchester Railway - decided to build a new line between Liverpool and Manchester. A competition was held to test locomotives for the new line. The 500 pounds prize was collected by George Stephenson, whose Rocket travelled the distance of 113 kilometres at an average speed of 24 kmph.

Its highest speed was 46 kmph. It was opened by the Duke of Wellington in September 1830, and proved to be a great success.

With that the Railway fever had begun.

Things have changed in the past 175 years. Today we talk of special kinds of trains running on corresponding special 'railways' such as atmospheric railways, monorails, high-speed railways, Dinky Trains, maglev, rubber-tired underground, funicular and cog railways.

From the 1920s onwards the transformation began to speed up. Steam engines began to be replaced by less labour intensive and cleaner diesel locomotives and electric locomotives, while at about the same time self-propelled multiple unit vehicles of either power system became much more common in passenger services.

Most countries had replaced steam locomotives for day-to-day use by the 1970s. A few countries still use steam locomotives, but this is being gradually phased out.

Historic steam trains still run in many other countries for the leisure and enthusiast market.

During this revolution a number of trains introduced have come to be considered "legendary". We talk about five of them.

The Orient Express

The Orient Express first ran on October 1883, from Paris to Giurgiu in Romania via Munich and Vienna. The 1930s saw the zenith of the Orient Express services, with three parallel services running.

During this time, the Orient Express acquired its reputation for comfort and luxury, carrying sleeping-cars with permanent service and restaurant cars known for the quality of their cuisine. Royalty, nobles, diplomats, business people and the bourgeoisie in general patronized it.

The Super Chief

Super Chief was often referred to as "The Train of the Stars" because of the many celebrities who traveled on the streamliner between Chicago, Illinois and Los Angeles, California. It was the first diesel-powered, all-Pullman sleeping car train in America.

It commenced its maiden run on May 12, 1936. Just over a year later, on May 18, 1937 the much-improved Super Chief-2 traversed 3,584.5 kilometers from Los Angeles over upgraded tracks in just 39 hours and 49 minutes, often exceeding 100 miles-per-hour in the process.

Shinkansen

The Shinkansen is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan operated by Japan Railways started in October 1964. The network has expanded to link most major cities on the islands with running speeds of up to 300 km/h, in an earthquake and typhoon prone environment.

Test run speeds have been in excess of 400 km/h for conventional rail, and up to 580 km/h for maglev train sets. The popular English name bullet train is a Western translation of the Japanese term.

The Indian Pacific

The Indian Pacific is a passenger rail service running between Perth and Sydney, Australia. It was started in 1970 after the railway line between Sydney and Perth had all been converted to standard gauge. It covers 4352 kilometres, passes through three states and travels along the world's longest straight stretch of railway track. The service between Perth and Sydney takes about four days.

Eurostar

Eurostar connects London with Paris and Brussels. Trains cross the English Channel via the Channel Tunnel. The first Eurostar trains ran in November 1994.

This service has established a dominant share of the market on the routes it serves - 68 percent for London-Paris and 63 percent for London-Brussels, as of November 2004. The trains are 400 metres long, weigh 800 tons and carry 750 passengers in 18 carriages - achieving a maximum in-service speed of 300 km/h.

From Rocket to the Bullet: from 24 Km/h to 300 Km/h. That is today. The future of railway technology will be an exciting one. Its beginnings are becoming manifest in major cities in the world. Great inventions and ideas are taking shape. Updates on the trials will continue to come.

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