Transcontinental railroad

A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous

Africa

East-west

• There are several ways to cross
  Luderitz to the South African rail system that, in turn, links to ports on the Indian Ocean ( i.e. Durban, Maputo
  ).
• A 1015 km gap in the east–west line between Kinshasa and Ilebo filled by riverboats could be plugged with a new railway.^[2]
• There are two proposals for a line from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Guinea, including TransAfricaRail.
• In 2010 a proposal sought to link Dakar to Port Sudan. Thirteen countries would be on the main route; another six would be served by branches.

North-south

• A north-south transcontinental railway had been proposed by
  Fashoda incident
  . This line would have had four gauge islands in three gauges.
• An extension of Namibian Railways is being built in 2006 with the possible connection to Angolan Railways.
• Libya has proposed a Trans-Saharan Railway connecting possibly to Nigeria which would connect with the proposed AfricaRail network.

African Union of Railways

• The African Union of Railways has plans to connect the various railways of Africa including the Dakar-Port Sudan Railway.

Australia

East-west

• federal government as a federation commitment, filled the last gap in the lines between the mainland state capitals of Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. Passengers and freight alike suffered from time-consuming breaks of gauge
  : a Perth–Brisbane journey at that time involved two standard gauge 1435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) lines, a broad gauge 1600 mm (5 ft 3 in) line, and three of 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge.
• In the 1940s and 1960s, steps were taken to progressively reduce the huge inefficiencies caused by the numerous historically imposed breaks of gauge by linking the mainland capital cities with lines all of standard gauge.
• In 1970, the route across the continent was completed to standard gauge and a new, all-through passenger train, the Indian Pacific was inaugurated.
• An east–west transcontinental line across
  Sydney-Perth rail corridor – was proposed in 2006 by Project Iron Boomerang to connect iron ore mining in the Pilbara and coal mining in the Bowen Basin in Queensland, with steel manufacturing plants at both ends.^[3]

• Australia's
  north–south transcontinental rail corridor was built in stages during the 20th century, leaving a 1420-kilometre (880-mile) gap to be finished after the 828 kilometres (514 miles) Tarcoola to Alice Springs section was completed in 1980.^[4] That final section, from Alice Springs to Darwin, was opened in 2004. The total length of the corridor, from Adelaide to Darwin, is 2975 kilometres (1849 miles). Completion of the corridor ended 126 years of freight and passengers alike having to be transferred between trains on tracks of different gauges: the corridor is now entirely 1435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) standard gauge. The corridor is an important route for freight. An upmarket experiential tourism passenger train, The Ghan, operated by Journey Beyond, makes the journey once a week in each direction from Adelaide to Darwin,^[5] and the company's east–west Indian Pacific runs on the southernmost 727 kilometres (452 miles) before heading west to Perth.^[6]
  There is no intermediate passenger traffic on the line.
• In 2018, the
  Inland Railway. As of June 2022^[update], completion was anticipated in 2027.^[7]

• The first transcontinental railroad in Europe, that connected the North Sea or the English Channel with the Mediterranean Sea, was a series of lines that included the Paris–Marseille railway, in service 1856. Multiple railways north of Paris were in operation at that time, such as Paris–Lille railway and Paris–Le Havre railway.
• The second connection between the seas of Northern Europe and the Mediterranean Sea, was a series of lines finalized in 1857 with the
  Wroclaw–Vienna (including Berlin–Hamburg Railway, Berlin–Wrocław railway, Upper Silesian Railway and Emperor Ferdinand Northern Railway). The Baltic Sea was also connected through the Lübeck–Lüneburg railway
  .
• The Trans-Siberian Railway, completed in 1905, was the first network of railways connecting Europe and Asia. It connects Western Russia to the Russian Far East,^[8] and is the longest railway line in the world,^[9] with a length of over 9,289 kilometres (5,772 miles). The railway starts from Russia's capital Moscow, which is the largest city in Europe, and ends at Vladivostok, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. Expansion of the railway system continues as of 2021^[update],^[10] with connecting rails going into Asia, namely Mongolia, China and North Korea.^[11] There are also plans to connect Tokyo, the capital of Japan, to the railway.^[11]
• A second rail line connects Istanbul in Turkey with
  Kazakhstan. A decision to make the internal railways of Afghanistan 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) gauge potentially opens up a new standard gauge route to China, since China abuts this country.^[12]
• The
  variable gauge axle systems such as the SUW 2000
  .
• The TransKazakhstan Trunk Railways project by
  Kazakhstan Temir Zholy will connect China and Europe with standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in). Construction is set to start in 2006. Initially the line will go to western Kazakhstan, south through Turkmenistan to Iran, then to Turkey and Europe. A shorter to-be-constructed 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) link from Kazakhstan is considered going through Russia and either Belarus or Ukraine
  .
• The
  Baghdad Railway connects Istanbul with Baghdad and finally Basra, a sea port at the Persian Gulf. When its construction started in the 1880s it was in those times a Transcontinental Railroad.^{[citation needed] [clarification needed}
  ]

A transcontinental railroad in the United States is any continuous rail line connecting a location on the U.S. Pacific coast with one or more of the railroads of the nation's eastern trunk line rail systems operating between the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers and the U.S. Atlantic coast. The first concrete plan for a transcontinental railroad in the United States was presented to Congress by Asa Whitney in 1845.^[13]

A series of transcontinental railroads built over the last third of the 19th century created a nationwide transportation network that united the country by rail. The first of these, the 3,103 km (1,928 mi)

The U.S.'s first transcontinental railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa, with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay. Its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century. Known as the "Pacific Railroad" when it opened, it served as a vital link for trade, commerce, and travel and opened up vast regions of the North American heartland for settlement. Much of the original route, especially on the Sierra grade west of Reno, Nevada, is currently used by Amtrak's California Zephyr, although many parts have been rerouted.^[14]

The resulting coast-to-coast railroad connection revolutionized the settlement and economy of the

The Union Pacific recruited laborers from Army veterans and Irish immigrants, while most of the engineers were ex-Army men who had learned their trade keeping the trains running during the American Civil War.^[19]

The Central Pacific Railroad faced a labor shortage in the more sparsely settled West. It recruited

• One motive for the
  Southern Pacific Railroad
  was completed in 1881.
• The
  telegraph line from the Missouri river to the Pacific ocean".^[22]
• The rails of the "
  Council Bluffs & Nebraska Ferry Company.^[26][27]
  )
• The first permanent, continuous line of railroad track from coast to coast was completed 15 months later on August 15, 1870, by the Kansas Pacific Railroad near its crossing of Comanche Creek at Strasburg, Colorado. This route connected to the eastern rail network via the Hannibal Bridge across the Missouri River at Kansas City completed June 30, 1869, passed through Denver, Colorado, and north to the Union Pacific Railroad at Cheyenne, Wyoming, making it theoretically possible for the first time to board a train at Jersey City, New Jersey, travel entirely by rail, and step down at the Alameda Wharf on San Francisco Bay in Oakland. This singularity existed until March 25, 1873 when the Union Pacific constructed the Missouri River Bridge in Omaha.^[28][29]

Subsequent transcontinental routes

• Almost 12 years after
  Southern Pacific Railroad (SP) constructed the second transcontinental railroad, building eastwards through the Gadsden Purchase
  , which had been acquired from Mexico in 1854 largely with the intention of providing a route for a railroad connecting California with the Southern states. This line was completed with milestones and ceremonies in 1881 and 1883:
  • March 8, 1881: the SP met the Rio Grande, Mexico and Pacific Railroad (a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway) with a "silver spike" ceremony at Deming, New Mexico, connecting Atchison, Kansas, to Los Angeles.^[30]
  • December 15, 1881: the SP met the
    Los Angeles
    .
  • January 12, 1883: the SP completed its own southern section, meeting its subsidiary
    New Orleans
    to Los Angeles.
• In
  standard gauge railroads at both ends of this bridge line impossible for several years. The D&RG in 1887 began rebuilding its mainline in standard gauge, including a new route and tunnel at Tennessee Pass. The first D&RGW was reincorporated as the Rio Grande Western (RGW) in June 1889 and immediately began the conversion of track gauge. Standard gauge operations linking Ogden and Denver were completed on November 15, 1890.^[31]
• The
  BNSF's Southern Transcon
  .
• The
  U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant
  contributing to driving the Final Spike.
• The California Southern Railroad (chartered January 10, 1882) was completed from National City on San Diego Bay via Temecula Cañon to Colton and San Bernardino in September, 1883, and extended through the Cajon Pass to Barstow, a junction of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, in November, 1885. In September, 1885, the line of the Southern Pacific from Colton to Los Angeles, a distance of 93 km (58 mi), had been leased by the California Central with equal rights and privileges thus allowing the Santa Fe's Transcontinental route to be completed by the connection with the California Southern and A&PRR. The SP grade was used until the completion of the California Central's own line between San Bernardino and Los Angeles in June, 1887, a distance of 101.13 km (62.84 mi), which was part of the old Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad, which had been acquired by purchase. In August, 1888, the California Central completed its Coast Division south from Los Angeles to a junction with the California Southern Railroad near Oceanside, a distance of 130.20 km (80.90 mi), and these two divisions comprised the main line of the California Central, forming, in connection with the California Southern, a direct line between Southern California and the East by way of the Atlantic and Pacific and Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railroads.^[32]
• The
  Seattle
  .
• The
  Golden State Limited
  (Chicago—Kansas City—Tucumcari—El Paso—Los Angeles) jointly operated by the Rock Island and the Southern Pacific (EP&NE's successor) from 1902 to 1968.
• The
  San Pedro, Los Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad completed its line connecting Los Angeles through Las Vegas to Salt Lake City on May 1, 1905. Through passenger service from Chicago to Los Angeles was provided by Union Pacific's Los Angeles Limited from 1905 to 1954, and the City of Los Angeles
  from 1936 to 1971.
• The
  Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
  .
• In 1909, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul (or
  federal land grant
  act, so it cannot be said to have been built without federal aid.
• San Diego, California and the Eastern United States. The railroad stretched 238 km (148 mi) from San Diego to Calexico, California, of which 71 km (44 mi) were south of the border in Mexico
  .
• In 1993,
  Miami, Florida, later rerouted to Orlando, making it the first regularly scheduled transcontinental passenger train route in the United States to be operated by a single company. Hurricane Katrina cut this rail route in Louisiana
  in 2005. The train now runs from Los Angeles to New Orleans.

Another longer Transcontinental freight-only railroad linking Lima, Peru, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is under development.

Panama

The first railroad to directly connect two oceans (although not by crossing a broad "continental" land mass

A second Central American inter-oceanic railroad began operation in 1908 as a connection between Puerto San José and Puerto Barrios in Guatemala, but ceased passenger service to Puerto San José in 1989.

Costa Rica

A third Central American inter-oceanic railroad began operation in 1910 as a connection between Puntarenas and Limón in 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge. It currently (2019) sees no passenger service.

See also

• Cosmopolitan Railway
• Transmountain railroad
• Intercontinental and transoceanic fixed links
• B & O Railroad

Notes

References