Editing Rail transport (section)

===Social and economic impact===

====Modernization====
Historically, railways have been considered central to modernity and ideas of progress.<ref>Schivelbusch, G. (1986) The Railway Journey: Industrialization and Perception of Time and Space in the 19th Century. Oxford: Berg.</ref> The process of modernization in the 19th century involved a transition from a spatially oriented world to a time-oriented world. Timekeeping became of heightened importance, resulting in clock towers for railway stations, clocks in public places, and pocket watches for railway workers and travellers. Trains followed exact schedules and never left early, whereas in the premodern era, passenger ships left whenever the captain had enough passengers. In the premodern era, local time was set at noon, when the sun was at its highest; this changed with the introduction of standard [[time zone]]s. Printed timetables were a convenience for travellers, but more elaborate timetables, called [[Train order operation|train orders]], were essential for train crews, the maintenance workers, the station personnel, and for the repair and maintenance crews. The structure of railway timetables were later adapted for different uses, such as schedules for buses, ferries, and airplanes, for radio and television programmes, for school schedules, and for factory time clocks.<ref>Tony Judt, ''When the Facts Change: Essays 1995–2010'' (2015) pp. 287–288.</ref>

The invention of the [[electrical telegraph]] in the early 19th century also was crucial for the development and operation of railroad networks. If bad weather disrupted the system, telegraphers relayed immediate corrections and updates throughout the system. Additionally, most railroads were single-track, with [[passing loop|sidings]] and signals to allow lower priority trains to be sidetracked and have scheduled meets.

====Nation-building====
Scholars have linked railroads to successful nation-building efforts by states.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Cermeño|first1=Alexandra L.|last2=Enflo|first2=Kerstin|last3=Lindvall|first3=Johannes|date=2021|title=Railroads and Reform: How Trains Strengthened the Nation State|journal=British Journal of Political Science|volume=52 |issue=2 |pages=715–735|language=en|doi=10.1017/S0007123420000654|issn=0007-1234|doi-access=free}}</ref>

====Model of corporate management====
According to historian [[Henry Adams]], a railroad network needed:
:the energies of a generation, for it required all the new machinery to be created{{Snd}} capital, banks, mines, furnaces, shops, power-houses, technical knowledge, mechanical population, together with a steady remodelling of social and political habits, ideas, and institutions to fit the new scale and suit the new conditions. The generation between 1865 and 1895 was already mortgaged to the railways, and no one knew it better than the generation itself.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adams |first=Henry |chapter-url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/hadams/eha16.html |title=The Education of Henry Adams |year=1918 |page=240 |chapter=The Press (1868) |access-date=11 May 2017 |archive-date=18 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318035849/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/hadams/eha16.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
The impact can be examined through five aspects: shipping, finance, management, careers, and popular reaction.

=====Shipping freight and passengers=====
Railroads form an efficient network for shipping freight and passengers across a large national market; their development thus was beneficial to many aspects of a nation's economy, including manufacturing, retail and wholesale, agriculture, and finance. By the 1940s, the United States had an integrated national market comparable in size to that of Europe, but free of internal barriers or tariffs, and supported by a common language, financial system, and legal system.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2113700|title = Railroads as an Economic Force in American Development|journal = The Journal of Economic History|volume = 4|issue = 1|pages = 1–20|last1 = Jenks|first1 = Leland H.|year = 1944|doi = 10.1017/S002205070008400X| s2cid=154883188 }}</ref>

=====Financial system=====
Financing of railroads provided the basis for a dramatic expansion of the private (non-governmental) [[financial system]]. Construction of railroads was far more expensive than factories: in 1860, the combined total of railroad stocks and bonds was $1.8&nbsp;billion; in 1897, it reached $10.6&nbsp;billion (compared to a total national debt of $1.2&nbsp;billion).<ref>Edward C. Kirkland, ''Industry comes of age: Business, labor, and public policy, 1860–1897'' (1961) pp. 52, 68–74.</ref>

Funding came from financiers in the [[Northeastern United States]] and from Europe, especially Britain.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 3111573|title = Patterns of American Railroad Finance, 1830–50|journal = The Business History Review|volume = 28|issue = 3|pages = 248–263|last1 = Chandler|first1 = Alfred D.|year = 1954|doi = 10.2307/3111573| s2cid=154702721 }}</ref> About 10 percent of the funding came from the government, particularly in the form of land grants that were realized upon completion of a certain amount of trackage.<ref>Kirkland, ''Industry comes of age'' (1961) pp. 57–68.</ref> The emerging American financial system was based on railroad bonds, and by 1860, New York was the dominant financial market. The British invested heavily in railroads around the world, but nowhere more than in the United States; the total bond value reached about $3&nbsp;billion by 1914. However, in 1914–1917, the British liquidated their American assets to pay for war supplies.<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 2113694|title = Capital Movement and Transportation: Britain and American Railway Development|journal = The Journal of Economic History|volume = 11|issue = 4|pages = 375–388|last1 = Jenks|first1 = Leland H.|year = 1951|doi = 10.1017/S0022050700085119| s2cid=153714837 }}</ref><ref>Saul Engelbourg, ''The man who found the money: John Stewart Kennedy and the financing of the western railroads'' (1996).</ref>

=====Modern management=====
Railroad management designed complex systems that could handle far more complicated simultaneous relationships than those common in other industries at the time. Civil engineers became the senior management of railroads. The leading American innovators were the [[Western Railroad of Massachusetts]] and the [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] in the 1840s, the [[Erie Railroad]] in the 1850s, and the [[Pennsylvania Railroad]] in the 1860s.<ref>Alfred D. Chandler and Stephen Salsbury. "The railroads: Innovators in modern business administration." in Bruce Mazlish, ed., ''The Railroad and the Space Program'' (MIT Press, 1965) pp. 127–162</ref>

=====Career paths=====
The development of railroads led to the emergence of private-sector careers for both blue-collar workers and white-collar workers. Railroading became a lifetime career for young men; women were almost never hired. A typical career path would see a young man hired at age 18 as a shop labourer, be promoted to skilled mechanic at age 24, brakemen at 25, freight conductor at 27, and passenger conductor at age 57. White-collar career paths likewise were delineated: educated young men started in clerical or statistical work and moved up to station agents or bureaucrats at the divisional or central headquarters, acquiring additional knowledge, experience, and [[human capital]] at each level. Being very hard to replace, they were virtually guaranteed permanent jobs and provided with insurance and medical care. 

Hiring, firing, and wage rates were set not by foremen, but by central administrators, to minimize favouritism and personality conflicts. Everything was done by the book, whereby an increasingly complex set of rules dictated to everyone exactly what should be done in every circumstance, and exactly what their rank and pay would be. By the 1880s, career railroaders began retiring, and pension systems were invented for them.<ref name="Walter Licht 1983 pp 262-63">{{cite book |first=Walter |last=Licht |title=Working for the Railroad: The Organization of Work in the Nineteenth Century |url=https://archive.org/details/workingforrailro0000lich |url-access=registration |year=1983 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/workingforrailro0000lich/page/262 262]–263, 289 |publisher=Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691047003 }}</ref>

====Transportation====
Railways contribute to social vibrancy and economic competitiveness by transporting multitudes of customers and workers to [[city centre]]s and [[inner suburbs]]. [[Hong Kong]] has recognized rail as "the backbone of the [[public transit system]]" and as such developed their franchised bus system and road infrastructure in comprehensive alignment with their rail services.<ref>Hong Kong Information Services Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government. Hong Kong 2009</ref> China's large cities such as [[Beijing]], [[Shanghai]], and [[Guangzhou]] recognize rail transit lines as the framework and bus lines as the main body to their metropolitan transportation systems.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1109/ITSC.2010.5625187 |chapter=Effect of integrated multi-modal transit information on modal shift |title=13th International IEEE Conference on Intelligent Transportation Systems |year=2010 |last1=Hu |first1=Hua |last2=Gao |first2=Yun-Feng |last3=Liu |first3=Zhi-Gang |last4=Yang |first4=Xiao-Guang |pages=1753–1757 |isbn=978-1-4244-7657-2 |s2cid=38806085 }}</ref> The Japanese [[Shinkansen]] was built to meet the growing traffic demand in the "heart of Japan's industry and economy" situated on the [[Tokyo]]-[[Kobe]] line.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Straszak |first1=A. |title=The Shinkansen High-Speed Rail Network of Japan: Proceedings of an IIASA Conference, June 27–30, 1977 |date=1977 |publisher=Elsevier |isbn=978-1-4831-8916-1 }}{{page needed|date=October 2020}}</ref>

====Military role====
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1994-022-19A, Mobilmachung, Truppentransport mit der Bahn.jpg|thumb|right|German soldiers in a railway [[Passenger car (rail)|car]] on the way to the front in August 1914. The message on the car reads {{Lang|de|Von München über Metz nach Paris}} ("From Munich via Metz to Paris").]] 
Rail transport can be important for military activity. During the 1860s, railways provided a means for rapid movement of troops and supplies during the [[American Civil War]],<ref>Christopher R. Gabel, "Railroad Generalship: Foundations of Civil War Strategy" (Army Command And General Staff College, Combat Studies Inst, 1997) [https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a445773.pdf online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807180009/https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a445773.pdf |date=7 August 2019 }}.</ref> as well as in the [[Austro-Prussian War|Austro-Prussian]] and [[Franco-Prussian War|Franco-Prussian Wars]]<ref>Dennis E. Showalter, ''Railroads and Rifles: soldiers, technology, and the unification of Germany'' (1975).</ref> Throughout the 20th century, rail was a key element of war plans for rapid military [[mobilization]], allowing for the quick and efficient transport of large numbers of reservists to their mustering-points, and infantry soldiers to the front lines.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stevenson |first1=D. |title=War by Timetable? The Railway Race Before 1914 |journal=Past & Present |date=1 February 1999 |issue=162 |pages=163–194 |doi=10.1093/past/162.1.163 }}</ref> So-called [[Strategic railway|strategic railways]] were or are constructed for a primarily military purpose. The Western Front in France during [[World War I]] required many trainloads of munitions a day.<ref>Denis Bishop and W. J. K. Davies, ''Railways and War Before 1918'' (London: Blandford Press, 1972); Bishop and Davies, ''Railways and War Since 1917'' (1974).</ref> Conversely, owing to their strategic value, rail yards and bridges in Germany and occupied France were major targets of Allied air raids during World War II.<ref>{{cite journal |id={{ProQuest|1296644342}} |last1=Lytton |first1=Henry D |title=Bombing Policy in the Rome and Pre-Normandy Invasion Aerial Campaigns of World War II: Bridge-Bombing Strategy Vindicated – and Railyard-Bombing Strategy Invalidated |journal=Military Affairs |location=Lexington |volume=47 |issue=2 |date=1 April 1983 |pages=53–58 |doi=10.2307/1988491 |jstor=1988491 }}</ref> Rail transport and infrastructure continues to play an important role in present-day conflicts like the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine]], where [[Rail war in Belarus (2022–present)|sabotage of railways in Belarus]] and [[Rail war in Russia (2022–present)|in Russia]] also influenced the course of the war.

====Positive impacts====
Railways channel growth towards dense city [[agglomerations]] and along their arteries.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} This contrasts with [[highway]] expansion, indicative of the U.S. transportation policy post-World War II, which instead encourages development of [[suburbs]] at the periphery of metropolitan areas, contributing to increased [[vehicle miles traveled|vehicle miles travelled]], [[carbon emissions]], development of [[greenfield land|greenfield]] spaces, and depletion of [[natural reserve]]s.{{dubious|date=November 2020}}{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} These arrangements revalue city spaces, local [[taxes]],<ref name="lewandIJEIT" >{{Cite journal |first=Krzysztof |last=Lewandowski |title=New coefficients of rail transport usage |journal=International Journal of Engineering and Innovative Technology |volume=5 |issue=6 |date=December 2015 |pages=89–91 |url=https://www.ijeit.com/Vol%205/Issue%206/IJEIT1412201512_16.pdf |access-date=27 October 2020 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031011553/https://www.ijeit.com/Vol%205/Issue%206/IJEIT1412201512_16.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[house|housing]] values, and promotion of [[mixed use development]].<ref>Squires, G. Ed. (2002) Urban Sprawl: Causes, Consequences, & Policy Responses. The Urban Institute Press.</ref><ref>Puentes, R. (2008). A Bridge to Somewhere: Rethinking American Transportation for the 21st Century. Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Report: Blueprint for American Prosperity series report.</ref>

====Negative impacts====
There has also been some opposition to the development of railway networks. For instance, the arrival of railways and [[steam locomotives]] to Austria during the 1840s angered locals because of the noise, smell, and pollution caused by the trains and the damage to homes and the surrounding land caused by the engine's soot and fiery embers; and since most travel did not occur over long distances, few people utilized the new line.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bryant |first1=Chad |title=Into an Uncertain Future: Railroads and Vormärz Liberalism in Brno, Vienna, and Prague |journal=Austrian History Yearbook |date=April 2009 |volume=40 |pages=183–201 |doi=10.1017/S0067237809000150 }}</ref>