Why we Should Save our Railway Infra-structure

If the vanguard of ninetieth century progress was the development and expansion of the railways,

then surely the paradox is that the twenty-first century sees all that was great in rail technology now in decline. Despite rising oil prices and increasing uncertainty of the continued supply of crude oil the amount of general goods traffic diverted to rail continues to fall. Of all the bustling and vital sidings, goods and marshalling yards that survive most are now deserted and decayed by decades of neglect. Many have been sold and developed, the land and its use lost forever, buried by an unquenchable thirst for housing & commercial development sites.

As have the great railway workshops like Cardiff, Clyde, Chullora, Enfield, and Eveleigh that built not only locomotives but also carriages wagons, signals, bridges and permantways. None of these survive in anything like their former glory. Vast institutions employing thousands that manufactured entire locomotives, from the smallest bolt to the largest boiler, a conductors cap badge to a wheelbarrow. Where a boy could be taken on at fifteen and retire a foreman at 65.

How ironic then that for all the technological advances of the day and the strategic role in state development that the railways played, so little has been saved. Most of the opportunities for sustainable development of a transport system that links our cities to our centers of food production will soon vanish forever. When the semi trailers can no longer afford or access reliable supplies of fuel [and this could be within twelve years] how will we feed and supply millions of city dwellers.

It is imperative that all Rail infrastructure be Nationally listed as significant and ardent means found to upgrade, maintain and preserve the collection of steam locomotives held in State and private ownership. Most importantly the retention of sidings and goods yards in urban settings.

The logistics of rail freight handling demand large areas of space to load and unload wagons and carriages. The coal fired locomotives will be powered by some yet unknown clean renewable resource. The inherent efficiency of rail over road transport demands that for future sustainability that this must be taken on board by Governments.

http://www.lafn.org/~dave/trans/rail/rail_modernize.html#toc7

Keeping our sidings is important, with the access energy required for loading and unloading trains the more yards there are closer to market the greater the efficiency and fuel saving.

Much will be made of electric cars, but an important consideration is that reserves of copper will not be sufficient to supply the worlds need for transmission lines and windings of electric motors.  Recent advances in thin film solar technology are very impressive and quoted figures of $1/watt are lower than the needed breakeven point to compete with power from coal fired stations, but again the elements required are scarce.

In the future there will be combinations of power generating and infrastructure systems but utilizing the embodied energy of existing railway infrastructure makes good sense as it already exists.