What is rail transport? Rail transport review

Development History

Greece was the first country to have rail transport, and horse-drawn carts had been running along tracks for at least 2,000 years.

In the 1820s, the Stoughton and Darlington Railway in England became the first successful steam locomotive railway. The subsequent Liverpool and Manchester Railway further demonstrated the huge development potential of railways.

China's first railway, the Wusong Railway, was built in Shanghai by the British, but was later bought back and demolished by local officials of the Qing Dynasty. The first railway and steam locomotive officially used were built by the Kailuan Coal Mine founded by Li Hongzhang.

Railway transport mode of transport

Truckload freight transportation, LTL freight transportation and container freight transportation.

Advantages of rail transport

From the perspective of technical performance, the advantages of railway transportation are:

(1) Fast running speed, generally between 80 and 120 kilometers per hour;

(2) Large transport capacity. Generally, each passenger train can carry about 1,800 passengers, a freight train can carry 2,000 to 3,500 tons of cargo, and a heavy-load train can carry more than 20,000 tons of cargo. The maximum annual cargo transport capacity of a single-line in one direction is 18 million tons, and that of a double-line in one direction is 55 million tons. In countries with better operation organization, the maximum annual cargo transport capacity of a single-line in one direction is 40 million tons, and that of a double-line in one direction is more than 100 million tons.

(3) The railway transportation process is less restricted by natural conditions and has strong continuity, which can ensure year-round operation;

(4) Good general performance, capable of transporting both passengers and various types of cargo;

(5) The arrival and departure times of passenger and freight transport by train are highly accurate;

(6) The train runs relatively smoothly, safely and reliably;

(7) The average transport distance is 25 times that of road transport and 1.15 times that of pipeline transport, but less than half of that of water transport and less than 1/3 of that of civil aviation transport.

From the perspective of economic indicators, the advantages of railway transportation are:

(1) Railway transportation costs are relatively low. In 1981, my country’s railway transportation costs were 1/11 to 1/17 of automobile transportation costs and 1/97 to 1/267 of civil aviation transportation costs;

(2) Energy consumption is relatively low. The standard fuel consumption per thousand ton-kilometer is 1/11 to 1/15 of that of automobile transportation and 1/174 of that of civil aviation transportation. However, both indicators are higher than those of coastal and inland river transportation.

Disadvantages of rail transport

(1) The investment is too high. The cost per kilometer of a single-track railway is between RMB 1 million and RMB 3 million, and the cost of a double-track railway is between RMB 4 million and RMB 5 million.

(2) The construction period is long. It takes 5 to 10 years to build a trunk line. Moreover, it takes up too much land. As the population grows, it will add more burden to society.

(3) Affected by factors such as transportation time, vehicle allocation, train formation, and mid-distance marshaling, it cannot meet the urgent needs of customers, and the cost of short-distance transportation is high. In logistics, railway transportation is often used to complete medium- and long-distance, large-volume cargo transportation tasks.

References

• 1. Advantages and disadvantages of railway transportation: Douding.com [cited on 2018-03-15]