Portal:Trains/Did you know/November 2010

November 2010

 * ...that despite the huge urban areas of Tokyo and Nagoya at either end of the Chūō Main Line in Japan, its central portion is very lightly traveled and the Shiojiri–Nakatsugawa corridor is only served by twice-hourly local and hourly limited express trains?


 * ...that construction on the Chengdu–Dujiangyan High-Speed Railway in Sichuan Province, China, began following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake as part of the reconstruction of the disaster zone and that the new railway line, built to withstand an 8.0-magnitude earthquake, opened on May 12, 2010, the second anniversary of the earthquake?


 * ...that Châtelet–Les Halles station in Paris brings together three of the five RER lines and five Métro lines, and is the central node of the network of transit of the Île-de-France metropolitan area?


 * ...that a portion of the original Chemnitz–Aue–Adorf railway which originally opened in 1875 in Germany, the section from Chemnitz to Aue, was reopened by the DB Erzgebirgsbahn in 2002 and at the Chemnitz end is now used as a location for experiments in tram-train operations?


 * ...that Casey, a sans-serif typeface, was created in 1996 by Dalton Maag under the order of Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation for use on the corporate identity of its railway system?


 * ...that a portion of the proposed CEVA rail connection in Geneva, the Eaux-Vives–Annemasse line, remains an isolated shuttle served by SNCF trains, although the line is legally the 'Geneva State Railway' (Chemin de Fer de l'Etat de Genève)?


 * ...that the Urban and Suburban Transit Association (VEKE) in Hungary is advocating that the Budapest Cog-wheel Railway, which originally opened in 1874, be extended to Normafa and Moszkva tér (Moscow Square) to ease transit between the two locations?


 * ...that the bell chimes preceding the announcements at Brașov railway station in Romania represent a few notes of Ciprian Porumbescu's operetta Crai Nou?


 * ...that the steam locomotive and rolling stock collection of Steamtown, USA, in Vermont, a collection which was later moved to Pennsylvania and became the basis of Steamtown National Historic Site, was originally assembled as the private collection of F. Nelson Blount who was the founder and president of Blount Seafood Corporation?


 * ...that in the late 1880s, the need to serve the busy quarter of Belleville led to the construction of the Belleville funicular tramway, a cable car line that was replaced by Paris Métro Line 11 in 1935, but unlike San Francisco and other American cities where this new system was operating, the width of the Paris roads required a single-track railway with plenty of passing loops along its rather meandering route?


 * ...that after more than half a century of lying largely dormant, with only the occasional proposal to extend to Peckham in the 1970s, the London Underground plans for the Bakerloo line extension to Camberwell were reopened in 2006 when Ken Livingstone, then Mayor of London, announced that within twenty years Camberwell would have a tube station?


 * ...that when they were delivered with a 16-cylinder EMD 710 prime mover producing up to 4,120 hp, the AN Class were the most powerful locomotives in the Australian National fleet and some of the most powerful locomotives in Australia?


 * ...that although Asakusa Station in Tokyo is the most "central" terminal of the Tobu Railway's Isesaki Line, it is connected to the next major terminal, Kita-Senju Station, by a length of track with sharp curves, beginning with the first stretch leaving the station, where trains have to turn 90 degrees to the right at a maximum speed of 15 km/h to cross the Sumida River?


 * ...that from the original plain white tilework and art nouveau entrances, the architecture of the Paris Métro and station decoration has evolved with successive waves of building and renovation, but after experiments with diverse colour schemes, furniture and lighting, since 1999 the programme Renouveau du Métro has seen a reversion to the original design principles of the network?


 * ...that when the 4,087.95 m long Anghel Saligny Bridge connecting Fetești and Cernavodă across the Danube in present day Romania, was built, a railway bridge that was initially named the King Carol I Bridge in 1895, it was the longest bridge in Europe and the third longest in the world?


 * ...that Alashankou railway station in Bortala Mongol Autonomous Prefecture of China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is the last station on the north Xinjiang branch of the Lanxin railway before entering Kazakhstan and it is the only railway port of entry in western China?


 * ...that Central Pacific Railroad 229, a 4-8-0 steam locomotive nicknamed Mastodon, had both an unusually shaped firebox and an unusual valve gear with two valves at each end of each cylinder?


 * ...that when the Ajanta Express passenger train service was introduced in 1975 connecting Secunderabad railway station and Manmad, it was the fastest metre-gauge train in India?


 * ...that the AC Locomotive Group, which was originally formed in 1997 to purchase from Pete Waterman and preserve the sole surviving examples of British Rail locomotive classes 81, 82, 83 and 85, is now the only dedicated AC electric locomotive preservation society in the United Kingdom?


 * ...that 3801 Limited was originally set up in New South Wales, Australia, in the mid 1980s as a non-profit railway heritage consortium to restore and operate steam locomotive 3801 in excursion service, but since 2006 the company has operated excursions with a wide range of other heritage equipment?


 * ...that because the 2200 series EMU cars on the Chicago "L" system were built in 1969 and 1970 with narrow doorways that cannot admit a bicycle or wheelchair, the cars are not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 so they can no longer operate alone in revenue service and are always coupled with at least one pair of cars with sliding doors?


 * ...that the 105.7 km long Ōfunato Line, operated by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), is nicknamed "Dragon Rail" because the spur line is thought to resemble the thin tail of a Chinese dragon and as a statement of the speed of the train over the considerable distance?


 * ...that ČSD Class ES 499.1 electric locomotives used primarily for passenger trains in Czechoslovakia, and subsequently transferred to České dráhy, can operate on either 3,000 V DC or 25 kV 50Hz AC electric systems?


 * ...that three Class 411 units from the first batch of 32 originally ordered by Deutsche Bahn have been sold to Austria's ÖBB as class 4011, and among the modifications for service in Austria were the conversion to LED matrix headlights and the addition of clamps for ski transportation?


 * ...that when the Hemtunnel under the North Sea Canal in Amsterdam opened in 1983, Zaandam railway station, which had originally opened in 1869, was completely rebuilt and a distinctive red roof was added to form a train shed?


 * ...that in 1851, David Levy Yulee became the first businessman from the Southern United States to utilize federal grants by drawing up an "Internal Improvement Act" and subsequently chartering and building the Florida Railroad to connect the Atlantic Ocean port of Fernandina across the Florida peninsula with the Gulf of Mexico port of Cedar Key?


 * ...that the York old railway station, originally opened in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway, served as the main terminal in York, England, until it was replaced with a through station in 1877 (the present York railway station), and now the City of York Council hopes to make the Grade II* listed old station building its new headquarters office building?


 * ...that although it was originally built in 1907 as a freight station to transport firewood and charcoal from the Tanzawa Mountains, Yaga Station, in Yamakita, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, now serves only passenger traffic to near by Lake Tanzawa and the Nakagawa onsen resorts?


 * ...that the dedicated platforms at Arlanda and Stockholm Central stations for the Arlanda Express trains using X3 trains are higher than at other stations in Sweden, allowing step-free access to the trains without the use of low floors?