Train Station (Typology)
Introduction
The railway (from Latin: ferre,[1]'iron', and rail) or rail transport is a system of transporting people and goods on a railway track.
It is usually understood that the rails are made of steel or iron, and that they form the road or railway track on which the trains circulate. But this classification also includes means of transport that use other types of guidance, such as magnetic levitation trains.
It is a transport with comparative advantages in certain aspects, such as fuel consumption per ton/kilometer transported, the magnitude of the environmental impact it causes or the possibility of mass transport, which make its use relevant in modern times.
History
Lines on rails
The first record of a rail transportation system was a three-kilometer line following the Diolkos Road, which was used to transport boats on platforms along the Isthmus of Corinth during the century BC. C. The platforms were pushed by slaves and were guided through grooves excavated in the stone. The line remained in operation for 600 years.[2].
Rail transport began to reappear in Europe after the Early Middle Ages. The first record of a transport of this type on the European continent in this period appears in a stained glass window in the cathedral of Freiburg im Breisgau around 1350. In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang described a funicular in Hohensalzburg Castle (Austria) called "Reisszug". The line used wooden rails and was powered by a hemp rope moved by human or animal power. The line continues to operate today, although completely replaced by modern material, being one of the oldest lines still in service.[4][5].
Starting in 1550, narrow gauge lines with wooden rails began to become widespread in European mines.[6] During the century, wooden wagons transported the mineral from inside the mines to a canal, where the load was transferred to river transport, or transported along the road network using carts. The evolution of these systems led to the appearance of the first permanent streetcar in 1810, the "Leiper Railroad" in Pennsylvania.[7].
The first railway itself (that is, with iron rails) had rails made up of a wooden body covered by a sheet, and was manufactured in 1768.[8] This allowed the development of more complex track devices. At first there were only end-of-line loops to reverse the compositions, but "Detour (railway)" point changes soon appeared.[9] From 1790, the first all-steel rails were used in the United Kingdom.[10] In 1803, William Jessop inaugurated the "Surrey Iron Railway" line south of London, being the first public blood traction (horse-drawn) railway.[11] The invention of wrought iron in 1820 made it possible to overcome the problems of the first iron rails, which were fragile and short, increasing their length to 15 meters.[12] In 1857, steel rails began to be manufactured definitively.[10].