102-707: Hitachi Newton Aycliffe (also known as Newton Aycliffe Manufacturing Facility ) is a railway rolling stock assembly plant owned by Hitachi Rail Europe , situated in Newton Aycliffe , County Durham , in the North East of England. The Newton Aycliffe facility was created as a result of the Agility Trains consortium being selected to produce high speed trains for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) in 2009. During 2011, Hitachi announced its selection of
204-697: A UK vote to leave the European Union would result in a scaling back of investment in Newton Aycliffe, a comment which was echoed by local Labour politician and backer of Britain Stronger in Europe , Phil Wilson . In March 2019, Lumo ordered five AT300 trains for its services on the East Coast Main Line . The five units were built at Newton Aycliffe and would be maintained by Hitachi for ten years as part of
306-408: A crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons, although many are preserved in working order by heritage railways . Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via an overhead wire or third rail . Some also or instead use a battery . In locomotives that are powered by high-voltage alternating current ,
408-586: A dining car . Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars . Some long-haul trains have been given a specific name . Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service, making more stops and having lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centres to airports . High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways,
510-710: A fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway , now part of the London Underground Northern line . This was the first major railway to use electric traction . The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London , under the River Thames , to Stockwell in south London. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown , then working for Oerlikon , Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC , between
612-527: A funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. Wagonways (or tramways ) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate
714-488: A hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km (170 mi). Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam–electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator , were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than
816-431: A steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal , petroleum , or wood is burned in a firebox , boiling water in the boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney or smoke stack. In the process, it powers a piston that transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to
918-469: A transformer in the locomotive converts the high-voltage low-current power to low-voltage high current used in the traction motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives may use three-phase AC induction motors or direct current motors. Under certain conditions, electric locomotives are the most powerful traction. They are also the cheapest to run and provide less noise and no local air pollution. However, they require high capital investments both for
1020-634: A Lord Commissioner in 1996. After the Conservative Party's defeat at the 1997 general election , he remained in the whips' office in opposition, becoming the Deputy Chief Whip in 1998. He was then promoted to Chief Whip by David Cameron in 2005. McLoughlin has also served on many select committees. As Opposition Chief Whip, he was sworn of the Privy Council in June 2005. Following boundary changes ,
1122-544: A diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through
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#17328552982411224-468: A double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London. William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan , Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge rails. Jessop became a partner in
1326-537: A joint venture between Hitachi and Alstom had won the contract to build 54 trains for the High Speed 2 programme. The rolling stock would be constructed at Newton Aycliffe and Alstom plants in Crewe and Derby. However, questions over the future of this order have been raised. During December 2023, Hitachi opted to write down the value of the Newton Aycliffe plant by £64.8m, raising concerns over its future, as well as that of
1428-437: A large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains. A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along
1530-488: A larger locomotive named Galvani , exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors , with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators . It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of one and a half miles (2.4 kilometres). It
1632-423: A locomotive. This involves one or more powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, providing sufficient tractive force to haul the weight of the full train. This arrangement remains dominant for freight trains and is often used for passenger trains. A push–pull train has the end passenger car equipped with a driver's cab so that the engine driver can remotely control the locomotive. This allows one of
1734-501: A modern 21st century transport system." McLoughlin's efforts to meet and pacify Cumbrian residents of Pooley Bridge and Soulsby following the 2015 floods were ridiculed in The Independent when the ministerial party arrived on the wrong side of the collapsed bridge. The paper compared the event to a scene from the BBC comedy The Thick of It . McLoughlin oversaw the beginning of
1836-477: A number of trains per hour (tph). Passenger trains can usually be into two types of operation, intercity railway and intracity transit. Whereas intercity railway involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled), intracity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency (especially during peak hours). Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as
1938-650: A piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury , London, the Catch Me Who Can , but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive
2040-460: A pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive Blücher , also a successful flanged -wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the northeast of England, which became the first public steam railway in
2142-439: A revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO 2 emissions . Smooth, durable road surfaces have been made for wheeled vehicles since prehistoric times. In some cases, they were narrow and in pairs to support only the wheels. That is, they were wagonways or tracks. Some had grooves or flanges or other mechanical means to keep
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#17328552982412244-724: A single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen ( Royal Saxon State Railways ) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG . They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 ( de.wiki ). The first regular used diesel–electric locomotives were switcher (shunter) locomotives . General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in
2346-590: A speech praising the impact of the privatisation of British Rail , saying that "Privatisation sparked a railway renaissance. Since 1993, passenger journeys have doubled in the UK to a level not seen since the 1920s. On a network roughly the same size as 15 years ago, today our railway is running 4,000 more services a day. And rail freight has grown by 60%. Revenue is up more than £3 billion since privatisation, almost all of it due to higher passenger numbers rather than fare rises. Safety levels are at an all time high. Punctuality
2448-407: A standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world. Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman . Sir William Thomson examined it in 1888 and described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which
2550-620: A terminus about one-half mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway , completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont , has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham . The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which
2652-408: A wheel. This was a large stationary engine , powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump . Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising
2754-531: 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 . Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains . Power
2856-410: Is a single, self-powered car, and may be electrically propelled or powered by a diesel engine . Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and other engines small enough to fit under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains. Steam locomotives are locomotives with
2958-404: Is at near record levels. And passenger satisfaction is up by 10% over the past decade." However, a number of academics and journalists disputed this and subsequently argued that the evidence suggested the privatisation had largely failed, creating new inefficiencies, failing to create genuine competition and seeing steep rises in costs to passengers. In December 2015, he announced the winners of
3060-399: Is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel–electric on unelectrified sections and as electric locomotives on electrified sections. Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation , horse-drawn, cable , gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine . A passenger train stops at stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is
3162-506: Is for 13 five-car bi-mode units, and 10 seven-car electric trains, later named the Classes 805 and 807 respectively. By 2020, the plant reportedly employed around 700 people, and was engaged in assembling/building the Classes 803, 805, 807 and 810. These train orders was to see the factory in business until 2023, when the final unit is due to be delivered. In December 2021, it was announced that
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3264-560: Is to people and business." McLoughlin was nominated for a life peerage in the 2019 Dissolution Honours . He was created Baron McLoughlin , of Cannock Chase in the County of Staffordshire on 8 September 2020. Lord McLoughlin made his maiden speech on 11 November 2020, remembering his time as a whip, meeting Lord Cormack and being a member of the cabinet in the Cameron/Clegg Years. He is married to Lynn McLoughlin, whom he employed as
3366-408: Is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with the invention of the steam locomotive in
3468-550: Is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes." In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks . In 1906, Rudolf Diesel , Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered
3570-464: The 1986 by-election . The constituency became the Derbyshire Dales for the 2010 general election ; McLoughlin remained the seat's MP until 2019. As a former miner , he is one of the few Conservative parliamentarians to have been a manual worker before being elected to Parliament. On 4 September 2012, he was appointed Secretary of State for Transport . On 14 July 2016, he became Chairman of
3672-521: The 2017 general election and various issues with the most recent party conference. McLoughlin was appointed Chairman of Visit Britain. He served until 2023. In January 2022, McLoughlin was appointed as Chair of Transport for the North . At the time of the appointment, he said: "I believe firmly in the potential of the North of England and know from my personal experience and professional career just how vital reliable, cost-effective and sustainable transport
3774-447: The Class 803 . In July 2019, it was confirmed that Hitachi would build a fleet of 33 five-car bi-mode units for East Midlands Railway . The project was listed as being worth £400 million. In late 2019, it was announced that Avanti West Coast had ordered 23 A-Train units to replace the 20 strong fleet of Class 221 Super Voyagers . Nominally worth over £350 million, the order
3876-620: The House of Commons to pursue a media career and McLoughlin was chosen to contest the 1986 by-election . He held the seat, albeit very narrowly, with a 100 majority. In Parliament, McLoughlin served as the Parliamentary Private Secretary , initially to Angela Rumbold ( Minister of State at the Department for Education and Science (1987–88) and then to David Young , Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1988–89). McLoughlin
3978-491: The Northern and TransPennine Express franchises which include new trains, services and free wifi, saying "Arriva Rail North and First TransPennine Express went far beyond our requirements with exciting, ambitious plans that will make a real difference to customers, and – coupled with our commitment to push ahead with electrifying the vital TransPennine route – will help the region realise its full economic potential, ensuring it has
4080-671: The United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825. The quick spread of railways throughout Europe and North America, following the 1830 opening of the first intercity connection in England, was a key component of the Industrial Revolution . The adoption of rail transport lowered shipping costs compared to water transport, leading to "national markets" in which prices varied less from city to city. In
4182-609: The United Kingdom , South Korea , Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates
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4284-414: The overhead lines and the supporting infrastructure, as well as the generating station that is needed to produce electricity. Accordingly, electric traction is used on urban systems, lines with high traffic and for high-speed rail. Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine as the prime mover . The energy transmission may be either diesel–electric , diesel-mechanical or diesel–hydraulic but diesel–electric
4386-458: The puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process , which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron
4488-418: The rotary phase converter , enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high-voltage national networks. An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as
4590-483: The 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting in the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . The first high-speed railway system was introduced in Japan in 1964, and high-speed rail lines now connect many cities in Europe , East Asia , and the eastern United States . Following some decline due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had
4692-510: The 1930s (the famous " 44-tonner " switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929. In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse. Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph) were started before
4794-500: The 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful. The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h (190 mph), has been built in Japan, Spain, France , Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China),
4896-513: The 1984 Conservative Party Conference to announce that he was a working miner. He moved from underground belt attendant to Area Marketing representative in September 1985, five months after the end of the strike. McLoughlin unsuccessfully contested Wolverhampton South East at the 1983 general election , losing to the sitting Labour MP Robert Edwards by 5,000 votes. Matthew Parris , then Conservative MP for West Derbyshire , had resigned from
4998-460: The 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line , Switzerland. Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed
5100-625: The British investment firm Barclays Private Equity , created the Agility Trains consortium for the purpose of jointly bidding for the contract to design, manufacture, and maintain a fleet of long-distance trains for the IEP. On 12 February 2009, the Government announced that Agility Trains had been selected as the preferred bidder for the contract, with the Siemens-Bombardier consortia as reserve bidders –
5202-522: The Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers. These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became
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#17328552982415304-409: The Classes 803, 805, 807 and 810 trainsets. In December 2021, it was announced that the rolling stock for HS2 would be produced as a joint venture between Hitachi and Alstom , and that part of the manufacturing for this order would take place at Newtown Aycliffe. During the mid-2020s, there has been increasingly speculation that, without further orders, the factory will be permanently closed before
5406-503: The Conservative Party and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster , under the new administration of Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May . He resigned as chairman on 8 January 2018 and was succeeded by Brandon Lewis . In January 2022, he was announced as the new chair of Transport for the North . McLoughlin was born in Stafford on 30 November 1957, the son and grandson of coal miners . He
5508-399: The Conservative Party on 8 January 2018, saying that he had had "a very good run" and was replaced by Brandon Lewis . He also resigned as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster , with David Lidington being his successor. Prior to his resignation, McLoughlin had come under increasing pressure to resign from colleagues in the Conservative Party over the disappointing performance of the party in
5610-539: The Conservative Party, for political and public service. In a 24 July 2016 interview on the Andrew Marr Show , Patrick McLoughlin said " Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty will be triggered before the next general election. It's very clear that Brexit means Brexit. Brexit means that we're coming out of the European Union. We want to see our own borders under our own control." McLoughlin stepped down as Chairman of
5712-511: The DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies : they could only be carried within locomotive bodies. In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. In 1896, Oerlikon installed
5814-604: The West Derbyshire constituency was abolished at the 2010 general election , and McLoughlin was elected to the successor seat of Derbyshire Dales , achieving exactly the same number of votes. Prime Minister David Cameron appointed McLoughlin as the government's Chief Whip and Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury in the Conservative- Liberal Democrat coalition government . During his tenure as Chief Whip, he
5916-430: The duty of a guard/train manager/conductor . Passenger trains are part of public transport and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains provide long-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit services, operating with a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way requirements, and service frequency. Service frequencies are often expressed as
6018-402: The end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets. In 1784 James Watt , a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive . Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen , hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering
6120-467: The end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways. The first passenger horsecar or tram , Swansea and Mumbles Railway , was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until
6222-686: The end of the decade. In 2005, the UK Department for Transport (DfT) decided to procure new trains to replace the InterCity 125 fleet on both the Great Western Main Line and East Coast Main Line , launching the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) to this end. During June 2008, three companies, the British infrastructure specialist John Laing Group , the Japanese rolling stock manufacturer Hitachi and
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#17328552982416324-515: The engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales . Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon
6426-470: The era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near
6528-478: The facilities may commence as soon as June. The factory covers over 31.5 acres of land with a building footprint of 475,000 sq ft (44,000 m). It can assemble a maximum of 35 vehicles a month. The site is situated close to where George Stephenson assembled Locomotion No. 1 , the first locomotive to carry passengers on a public rail line. The following classes have been assembled at the plant; Rail transport Rail transport (also known as train transport )
6630-549: The facility in July 2012, after financial closure was achieved for the part of the train order that concerned the GWML. This would be the first factory that Hitachi had built in Europe. On 1 November 2013, contract for the construction of the £82M 43,000 m (460,000 sq ft) factory was awarded to Shepherd Group on 1 November 2013. Construction of the factory was scheduled to start in 2013, with train production beginning in 2015, and
6732-453: The factory assembled the Class 800 and Class 802 trainsets for the IEP. However, Hitachi subsequently secured further orders, such as to produce Class 385 EMUs for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme , Class 802s for TransPennine Express , and a fleet of 165 vehicles for East Midlands Railway . By 2020, the plant reportedly employed around 700 people, and was engaged in building
6834-515: The first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway . Each 30-tonne locomotive had two 110 kW (150 hp) motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at a constant speed and provide regenerative braking , and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri ) in 1899 on
6936-620: The highest possible radius. All these features are dramatically different from freight operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically feasible. Patrick McLoughlin Patrick Allen McLoughlin, Baron McLoughlin , CH , PC (born 30 November 1957 ) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party , he first became the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Derbyshire following
7038-1218: The limit being regarded at 200 to 350 kilometres per hour (120 to 220 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai maglev train use under-riding magnets which attract themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway and this line has achieved somewhat higher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than conventional high-speed railways, although only over short distances. Due to their heightened speeds, route alignments for high-speed rail tend to have broader curves than conventional railways, but may have steeper grades that are more easily climbed by trains with large kinetic energy. High kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20 horsepower per short ton or 16 kilowatts per tonne); this allows trains to accelerate and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut and fill and tunnelling requirements). Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures are designed with
7140-429: The locomotive-hauled train's drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the front of the train each time the train changes direction. A railroad car is a vehicle used for the haulage of either passengers or freight. A multiple unit has powered wheels throughout the whole train. These are used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar
7242-496: The long-distance capacity to the North of England" as well as freeing up the West Coast Main Line for freight and commuter trains. In 2015, McLoughlin said "So the argument has been won. HS2 will be built, the full ‘Y’ network, from London to Birmingham and Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. HS2 will change the transport architecture of the north. But it will also change the economic architecture." In November 2013, he made
7344-560: The main portion of the B&;O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified. The London Underground , the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using
7446-433: The mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2 ) proved technically viable. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp , a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used
7548-412: The noise they made on the tracks. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck , Cumbria , England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot , near Liverpool , sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to
7650-625: The plant reaching full production capacity in 2016. Erection of the frame of the factory was complete by June 2014, with an official topping out ceremony held in October 2014. On 3 September 2015, the factory was officially opened in the presence of Hiroaki Nakanishi (Hitachi), Patrick McLoughlin (MP), Claire Perry (MP), George Osborne (MP), David Cameron ( Prime Minister of the United Kingdom ) and 500 guests. The facility created 420 jobs, and aimed to employ more than 700 at maximum capacity. It
7752-456: The possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick , a British engineer born in Cornwall . This used high-pressure steam to drive
7854-481: The site and construction work commenced two years later. The 43,000 m (460,000 sq ft) factory, which was officially opened on 3 September 2015, was completed at a cost of £82 million. Initially, the facility only performed assembly, using components that were produced elsewhere to complete trains, and no actual manufacturing operations took place. However, some manufacturing activities have been performed at Newton Aycliffe for later-built trains. Originally,
7956-441: The standard for railways. Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron, usually simply referred to as "iron", was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented
8058-470: The time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway , built in 1830. Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery-electric locomotive. Davidson later built
8160-536: The track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control. Traditionally, trains are pulled using
8262-466: The transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica . This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from
8364-512: The value of the contract was then estimated at £7.5bn, including replacements for both Intercity 125 and 225 trains. In 2011, Hitachi chose the site of its British factory at developer Merchant Place Developments' Amazon Park (later renamed Merchant Park mid 2013) site in Newton Aycliffe , County Durham, close to Heighington railway station and adjacent to the Tees Valley Line . Hitachi announced its intention to proceed with construction of
8466-630: The wake of increasing passenger numbers in the years following rail privatisation . From 2014 to 2019, £38 billion of improvement works were planned, including Crossrail , the Thameslink Programme , electrification of the Great Western Main Line and the Northern Powerhouse scheme to boost transport links in the North of England. In 2017, construction began on HS2 , a high-speed link between major cities that will "triple
8568-609: The wheels on track. For example, evidence indicates that a 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos paved trackway transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt . In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug ,
8670-436: The wider British rail manufacturing sector; the company publicly emphasized that this decision did not directly threaten the future of the plant and that its production capability remained available for further rolling stock orders if they are placed. In April 2024, a company spokesperson remarked that closure would be inevitable if new orders were not forthcoming to keep the site active; it was also reported that redundancies at
8772-601: The world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive Rocket , which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all
8874-584: The £100 million deal. When this order was announced, Hitachi stated that the plant needed new orders especially after it had lost out on London Underground 's New Tube for London contract to rival firm Siemens . The company said that it would be bidding for a proposed bi-mode fleet for the East Midlands franchise and the replacement trains for the Nexus contract on the Tyne and Wear Metro . The units were designated as
8976-413: The £15 billion road upgrade package to improve routes and add lanes. After the resignation of David Cameron as Prime Minister following the UK's vote to leave the European Union on 23 June 2016, McLoughlin was made Conservative Party chairman by new Prime Minister Theresa May on 14 July 2016. He was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 2016 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours , by his colleague in
9078-507: Was a soft material that contained slag or dross . The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to the replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails. The introduction of the Bessemer process , enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to
9180-585: Was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814, George Stephenson , inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played
9282-526: Was announced that Hitachi's successful tender for the Edinburgh to Glasgow Improvement Programme consisting of new Class 385s would be primarily assembled at Newton Aycliffe, and as part of FirstGroup 's successful tender for the TransPennine Express franchise, it was announced in March 2016 that new Class 802 rolling stock would be assembled at Newton Aycliffe. It was stated by Hiroaki Nakanishi that
9384-509: Was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton , England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It
9486-687: Was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York . In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching. A system
9588-816: Was educated at the Cardinal Griffin Roman Catholic School in Cannock , Staffordshire, and Staffordshire College of Agriculture at Rodbaston College . From 1974, he worked for five years as a farm worker and, after 1979, worked underground at the Littleton Colliery in Cannock. He was a member of the National Union of Mineworkers , and became an industrial representative for the National Coal Board 's Western Area Marketing Department. McLoughlin
9690-668: Was elected as a councillor on Cannock Chase District Council , serving for seven years from 1980, and was a councillor on Staffordshire County Council from 1981 to 1987. In 1982, McLoughlin served as the Chairman of the National Young Conservatives . Coal miners in Staffordshire were split in support of the NUM miners' strike in 1984–85 . McLoughlin did not support the strike, and later came to national attention when he stood up at
9792-535: Was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates, which came to be known as plateways . John Curr , a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks . In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway ,
9894-479: Was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway . This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This
9996-412: Was made a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1989, and served in the Department for Transport until 1992, when he was moved by Prime Minister John Major to serve in the same position at the Department of Employment . A year later, McLoughlin was moved to the Department of Trade and Industry . He joined the government as Assistant Whip in 1995, becoming
10098-487: Was reported that it received over 16,000 job applications, in an area where the Teesside Steelworks recently closed down with a loss of 3,000 jobs. Upon its opening, no actual manufacturing operations took place at the facility; it instead assembled components that had been built elsewhere into completed trains. Within two years of opening, in excess of 1,000 employees were working at the site. During January 2016, it
10200-622: Was reprimanded by the Speaker John Bercow for inappropriate behaviour within the House of Commons. In a government reshuffle in September 2012, McLoughlin was appointed Secretary of State for Transport . Soon after his appointment he had to cancel the award of the InterCity West Coast franchise due to major technical flaws in the bidding process. As Transport Secretary, McLoughlin oversaw large-scale government investment in rail in
10302-639: Was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. By the middle of the nineteenth century most european countries had military uses for railways. Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway , opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin , Germany, in 1881. It
10404-609: Was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway , using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague . The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting
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