Portal:Trains/Did you know/May 2010

May 2010

 * ...that most of the 382 United States Army Transportation Corps (USATC) S100 Class built in 1942 by Davenport Locomotive Works, H. K. Porter, Inc, and Vulcan Iron Works were later used on railroads in Austria, Great Britain, France, Greece, Italy, Yugoslavia, Palestine, Iraq, Iran, Israel and China?


 * ...that while the Chords Bridge, designed by Santiago Calatrava for the newly built Jerusalem Light Rail system in Israel, is Calatrava's 40th bridge, it is the first he has designed to carry both train and pedestrian traffic?


 * ...that the proposal for a Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel, under discussion since 1917, was followed with more concrete planning during the early 1940s then came under renewed discussions in 2008 by ten senior Japanese lawmakers who established a new committee to pursue it?


 * ...that unlike other train types on the Finnish railway network, the Sm5 class of electric multiple unit train is owned by Junakalusto Oy, a subsidiary of the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen and the VR Group, but due to VR Group's monopoly VR operates the trains?


 * ...that all but two of the stations along the route of Hong Kong MTR's Island Line have their station names written in Chinese calligraphy as part of the stations' livery written in large fonts to alleviate the psychological effect caused by the narrow platforms and the curvature of the walls as well as to serve as an indication of the current station's name?


 * ...that the injector, which uses the Venturi effect for injecting or pumping the boiler feedwater into the boiler on a steam locomotive, was invented by a Frenchman, Henri Giffard, in 1858 and patented in the United Kingdom by Messrs Sharp Stewart & Co. of Glasgow?


 * ...that at an altitude of 636 m located near Ikawa Dam, Ikawa Station, the terminal station for the Ōigawa Railway's Ikawa Line, is the highest railway station in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan?


 * ...that the ICE TD high-speed diesel multiple unit train used by Deutsche Bahn was fitted with an electro-mechanic tilting actuator system developed by Siemens, rather than the Fiat (Alstom) Pendolino hydraulic system used in the ICE T?


 * ...that Huangsha Station, which opened as the terminus of Guangzhou Metro's Line 1 in 1997, was the first Line 1 station in which platform screen doors were installed?


 * ...that the current Hoofddorp railway station, opened in 1981 in the Netherlands, is actually the second station in Hoofddorp; the original station which is now in residential use opened in 1912 and closed in 1935?


 * ...that at the time of its privatization in 1987, Hokkaido Railway Company (also known as JR Hokkaidō) operated 21 railway lines totaling 3176.6 km of track, as well as a ferry service to Aomori, but since then that number has dwindled to just below 2500 km as unprofitable lines have been shut down or spun off?


 * ...that in the history of GO Transit, a system that now serves a 10000 km2 area radiating in places more than 125 km from downtown Toronto, began operation as a three-year experiment running single-deck diesel multiple units on a single rail line along Lake Ontario's shoreline?


 * ...that Hindley railway station in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, England, was formerly called Hindley North to differentiate it from Hindley South station (closed in November 1964) on the line from Wigan Central to Glazebrook?


 * ...that unlike conventional railgrinders that are operated at 1 to 10 km/h, High Speed Grinding vehicles recently developed in Germany can operate at up to 100 km/h?


 * ...that the current gauge Hidaka Main Line operated by Hokkaido Railway Company (JR Hokkaidō) in Japan was originally built as two separate  gauge railways, the Tomakomai Light Railway, opened in 1913, and the Hidaka Takushoku Railway, opened in 1924?


 * ...that after Heemstede-Aerdenhout railway station originally opened in 1891 on the site of the old toll house for the Leidsevaart canal, which still flows next to the station from Haarlem to Leiden in the Netherlands, soon became the favored method of travel and the canal has gone out of use since the end of World War II?


 * ...that Havre – Caumartin station of the Paris Métro, serving both lines 3 and 9, takes the last half of its name from the Marquis de Saint-Ange, François Le Fèvre de Caumartin, who was a forerunner of the merchants of Paris during the 18th century?


 * ...that Harcourt Street railway station in Dublin served as the terminus of the line from Dublin to the town of Bray in County Wicklow, although it opened in 1859 after the initial opening of the railway line itself?


 * ...that the Haparanda station building, constructed in 1918 as the terminus of the newly completed Haparandabanan, is one of Sweden's largest station buildings although the regular passenger service at the station ended in 1992?


 * ...that serving as a terminus for the Sanyō Shinkansen from Osaka as well as many other services to other cities in Kyūshū for travelers from Honshū, Hakata Station in Japan is the largest and busiest station on Kyūshū?


 * ...that although construction was completed in 2007 on HSL 3, a Belgian high-speed rail line which includes the 6505 m long tunnel at Soumagne, the longest railway tunnel in Belgium, regular service on the line did not begin operation until June 14, 2009?


 * ...that Greenwood Subway Yard, on the Bloor-Danforth line of the Toronto subway system, was built in the 1960s on the former site of Harper's Dump, the city of Toronto's main landfill in the 1930s?


 * ...that the German streetcar and rolling stock manufacturing company Gothaer Waggonfabrik expanded into producing aircraft including a highly successful series of bombers during World War I and the Gotha Go 145 trainer during World War II?


 * ...that the Godavari Bridge across the Godavari River in Rajahmundry, India, was designed for 250 km/h rail services and carries a road deck over the single track rail deck?


 * ...that the Georgetown Steam Plant in Seattle, built in 1906 as one of the first reinforced concrete structures on the U.S. West Coast, provided both direct current for Seattle's streetcars and alternating current for Georgetown, then an independent city?


 * ...that Gare de Bercy in Paris, France, occupies the site of a large former goods station once famous as the main arrival point and distribution centre for wine in Paris, but now the station specialises in auto-trains, which transport travelers' vehicles to another station which also specialises in auto-trains?


 * ...that the Great Central Railway's class 8K 2-8-0 steam locomotive was introduced in 1911 in anticipation of increased traffic from the GCR's vast new docks complex at Immingham in North East Lincolnshire and by June 1914 there were 126 in traffic?


 * ...that of the railroads that make up the Mountain railways of India, three of them – the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway, Nilgiri Mountain Railway and Kalka-Shimla Railway – are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List?


 * ...that although Amagasaki is the official southeastern terminus of the Fukuchiyama Line in Japan, a line that is also called the JR Takarazuka Line, all trains continue east to Osaka and beyond on the JR Kōbe Line, or to the Gakkentoshi Line via the JR Tōzai Line?


 * ...that construction work is underway to expand the Fredericksburg Line between Washington, D.C., and Fredericksburg, Virginia, to install a third track that will enable Virginia Railway Express and Amtrak trains to bypass slow freight trains over Franconia Hill?