Rail transport is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road transport. It is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed.
A train is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives, though some are self-propelled, such as multiple units or railcars. Passengers and cargo are carried in railroad cars, also known as wagons or carriages. Trains are designed to a certain gauge, or distance between rails. Most trains operate on steel tracks with steel wheels, the low friction of which makes them more efficient than other forms of transport. Many countries use rail transport.
In rail transport, distributed power (DP) is a generic term referring to the physical distribution—at intermediate points throughout the length of a train—of separate motive power groups. Such "groups" may be single units or multiple consists, and are remotely controlled from the leading locomotive. The practice allows locomotives to be placed anywhere within the length of a train when standard multiple-unit (MU) operation is impossible or impractical. DP can be achieved by wireless or wired (trainlined) means. Wired systems now provided by various suppliers use the cabling already extant throughout a train equipped with electronically controlled pneumatic brakes (ECP).
Green Cargo AB is a Swedish state-owned logistics company that transports various types of goods by train. It was created on 1 January 2001 out of the logistics division of Swedish State Railways (SJ). While organised as a public limited company, it is wholly owned by the Swedish government. As of 2019, it was responsible for almost 80% of Swedish rail freight transport.
H.K. Porter, Inc. (Porter) manufactured light-duty railroad locomotives in the US, starting in 1866. The company became the largest producer of industrial locomotives, and built almost eight thousand of them. The last locomotive was built in 1950, but the company continues to produce industrial equipment to this day.
A coupling or coupler is a mechanism, typically located at each end of a rail vehicle, that connects them together to form a train. The equipment that connects the couplers to the vehicles is the draft gear or draw gear, which must absorb the stresses of the coupling and the acceleration of the train.
LTG Group, officially Lietuvos geležinkeliai, known as LTG is the national state-owned railway company of Lithuania. It operates most of the railway network in the country. It has several subsidiary companies, but the main ones are: LTG Link which provides passenger services, LTG Cargo which provides freight service, and LTG Infra which is responsible for the maintenance and development of the infrastructure.
The Iarnród Éireann (IÉ) / Northern Ireland Railways 201 Class locomotives are the newest and most powerful diesel locomotives operating in Ireland and were built between 1994 and 1995 by General Motors Diesel. They are model type JT42HCW, fitted with an EMD 12-710G3B engine of 3,200 hp (2,400 kW), weigh 108.862 tonnes and have a maximum speed of 102 mph (164 km/h).
Rail freight transport is the use of railways and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers.
Dieselisation is the process of equipping vehicles with a diesel engine or diesel engines.
The 422 class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering, Granville for the Department of Railways New South Wales in 1969/70.
Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains are moving safely and to stop them when they are not.
The N Class are a class of diesel locomotives built by Clyde Engineering in Somerton for V/Line between 1985 and 1987.
Rail transport is an important means of travel in the landlocked country of Mongolia, which has relatively few paved roads. According to official statistics, rail transport carried 93% of Mongolian freight and 43% of passenger turnover in 2007. The Mongolian rail system employs 12,500 people. The national operator is UBTZ, traditionally also known as Mongolian Railway. This can be a source of confusion, since MTZ is a distinct company established in 2008. The Mongolian Railway College is located in Ulaanbaatar.
The Eurorunner family of locomotives are a series of medium- to high-power diesel–electric locomotives built by Siemens for the European market. Introduced from 2002 onwards, they share design characteristics with the successful Eurosprinter range of electric locomotives, also built by Siemens.
Etihad Rail is the developer and operator of the United Arab Emirates's national railway network. It was established in June 2009 under Federal Law No. 2 to manage the development, construction and operation of the United Arab Emirates' national freight and passenger railway network. Etihad Rail connects the UAE's principal ports and centres of industry, and to link these centres with other railways throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Stadler Eurolight is the brand name for a family of 4-axle Bo'Bo' mainline diesel-electric locomotives with sub-20-tonne axleloads for passenger and freight trains produced by Stadler Rail.
Etihad Rail DB was a heavy-rail Operations & Maintenance (O&M) service provider in the UAE. The company was set up in 2013 as a joint venture between Etihad Rail (51%), the developer of the UAE's national railway network and Deutsche Bahn (DB) (49%), Europe's largest railway operator and infrastructure owner. Etihad Rail DB was responsible for the operations and maintenance of Stage One of the UAE's national railway network for Etihad Rail’s primary customer, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). Etihad Rail DB concluded an Operations & Maintenance (O&M) Agreement with Etihad Rail in August 2013.
The Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, completed in 2017, was built as the first phase of the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway. It is a standard-gauge railway (SGR) in Kenya that connects the large Indian Ocean city of Mombasa with Nairobi, the country's capital and largest city. This SGR runs parallel to the narrow-gauge Uganda Railway that was completed in 1901 under British colonial rule. The East African Railway Master Plan provides for the Mombasa–Nairobi SGR to link with other SGRs being built in the East African Community.
The Transnet Freight Rail Class 23E of 2017 is a South African electric locomotive.
