Rail network
Contents
Rail network
A rail network is the necessary infrastructure for trains, metro or tram.
Description
A rail network is the necessary infrastructure for trains, metro or tram. The track consists of two parallel steel rails, anchored perpendicular to members called ties (sleepers) of timber, concrete, steel, or plastic to maintain a consistent distance apart, or rail gauge [ref wikipedia]. Turnouts, also known as points and switches, are the means of directing a train onto a diverging section of track [1]. Signalling is used to control the direction of the switch and to prevent collisions.
The rail network can be used both for passenger and freight transport.
Vulnerable or unsafe parts of a railway network are level crossings with other infrastructure, switches, steep curves (risk of run off the rails) and stations.
Functions
Social
Economic
By connecting geographic locations, rail networks facilitate the transport and movement of people, goods, and services, creating economic impact (i.e. jobs and income). In many countries, rail transport is the preferred transport mode for bulk goods (some of it dangerous), especially on long-distances. Due to the increasing expansion of cities and urban centres, the demand for large-scale passenger and freight transport has steadily grown world-wide. Historically, in many regions and countries this increased demand has been met by expanding the road networks, but rail networks provide many (indirect) economic benefits over road networks. According to a study by Deloitte Access Economics (2011)[1] some of the benefits of rail networks are:
- “Improved land use and urban densification;
- Lower carbon emissions
- Reduced congestion
- Fewer accidents
- Removing barriers to social inclusion
- Improving land values; and
- Enhanced energy security."
Threats to rail networks are mostly limited to crime (theft of valuable materials such as copper and metal) and vandalism. There is, however, also a looming chance for terrorist assaults like in Madrid in 2004:
“The attacks of March 11, apart from the loss of human lives, caused serious damages in the suburban railway infrastructure of Madrid, as well as in some houses near the place of the attack. In the first case, the damage caused both the partial destruction of the trains where the bombs went off —which meant the loss of three locomotives and five coaches in three model 446 trains, and of another two coaches in model 450 train— and the damages caused to the railway installations and the stations." (Buesa et al (2006)[2]
Mobility
Safety
Vulnerable or unsafe parts of a railway network are level crossings with other infrastructure, switches, steep curves (risk of run off the rails) and stations.
Security Issues
Measures
Footnotes and references
MAP
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