Rail Transport in Maanenland

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The Maanenland rail transport is one of the earliest railtrack systems in the world.

Historical Overview

The very first railtrack line was built in 1835 connecting the cities of Stretford and Mounthatten Ridge by the tycoon Augustus Buffay after successful trials in connecting various parts of the city of Stretford.

The early origins of the railtrack was primarilly two settlements being connected by one line with little or no connectivity to services elsewhere in the region or nation. By 1887 there were over seven thousand indivdual corporations providing a wide range of goods and passenger transports across the nation. It was in this year that connectivity was an issue , many smaller stations merged with larger ones in station sharing schemes. This new stations were a new business enterprise creating hundereds more railtrack corporations.

In 1904 the rail network stretched to every corner of the nation, often with spectacular feats of engineering such as the Phoen Pass. Realising that the market was becoming saturated many of the smaller corporations began to merge and swallow up their rivals. By 1914 the number of railway companies had shrunk down to 24 integrated transport corporations all connected. At this time the power of the railtrack had got to the attention of the government which had so far not resisted calls for regulation of the industry. To allay fears of monopolies and concerns over safety and a lack of co-ordination between the companies spurred the government into creating the Grand Duchy of Maanenland Railway Company. This for-profit organisation bought vast swathes of shares in the still private corporations and served as the regulator for the business.

By the 1950s automobile ownership shot up in Maanenland and many passengers began moving from the railtrack to road based transport , helped in part by the massive motorway building project that occured at the time. The fall in revenue because of this hit most companies hard and although there were no line closures , standards and services started to slip accelerating the drive away from the railtrack. The government was forced to step in as many services were suspended , especially in rural areas. They responded by beginning the subsidisation of rail services, however rather than being paid to the indivudal companies subsidies were given to a new division of GMRC called MaanenRail which then began running services according to the needs of the local authority.

In 1967 the number of subsidised lines had skyrocketed and up to 45% of services were being paid for by the taxpayer, this acquisations were also dragging GMRC into bankruptcy. So in 1968 the government bought majority shares in all loss making railway companies as well as many profitable services to pay for it. MaanenRail overnight became one of the largest rail corporations in the region , the Transport Commmission Act ordered that the corporation be kept at arms length and run as a business as far as possible. The government in the budget gave the corporation 165 billlion Maanen Pounds (over half the annual national budget) to invest in a diverse new combined infrastructure unified package of railways , aircraft , road haulage and shipping in an effort to modernise the system. The remaining transport companies unaffected by the nationalisations were forced to sell 1/3rd of their shares to MaanenRail so that the government had control over the industry. They were also forced to join the Maanenland Transport Committee to help with the program.

To speed up reform the business was split into key areas:

  • InterCity - Concentrating on high speed intercity rail links
  • Goldlink' - Convering services between Cliffton Duchy and [[[Greater Stretford]]]
  • Peaklines - Calder , Western Peak Districts and Mountain Districts rail services
  • Southern Counties - Kingsborough , Chatham regional services
  • Central Lines - Dycan regional services
  • Provincial - Plains County , Oakham , Hollings Valley regional services
  • Industrial and City - Freight transport

In the 1970s the future looked good for rail transport in Maanenland , vast electrifications , new highspeed stock and investment in new lines and stations gave the impression of an affluent system. Despite investement however the losses of MaanenRail began to mushroom despite heavy subsidisation and a through modernisation and track reallignment. The helping hand came from a strike by workers on Maanenland's private owned oil rigs who were protesting at the withdrawl of Strategic Protection Vessels of the Maanenic Navy to another region to defend imports of oil. This led to a huge shortage of diesel and oil and thus the stopping of the majority of the nations private automobile fleet forcing them onto MaanenRail's extensive public transport network which was supplied by an independant state owned emergancy reserve. The move opened peoples eyes to the changing system , most of the public had resisted so much money going into the rail system but they saw where it was going to and liked it so when the oil finally resumed passenger numbers remained triple what they were post-strike.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the continued expansion of the rail network and MaanenRail becoming one of the most profitable transit systems.

Geography and Infrastructure

The two main hubs of the rail network are the two conurbations of Cliffton and Stretford. Stretford however is at the strategic crossroads for all national services. Because of the terrain of the Western Peak Districts passenger and freight services from the megalopolis of Ternpool and Newport and the ports of Portland all must pass through the area to get to the nation. Thus most lines tend to radiate from Stretford City itself.

The "backbone" of all services is the Newport-Cliffton mainline where most goods and passengers are transported.

The low population densities and low industrialsation of the south-west and eastern areas means that most rail services are sporadic or centred around the Southern Mainline.

Passenger Services

Passenger services across Maanenland are co-ordinated by the MaanenRail corporation and ran by a consortium of train operating companies. Most of the intercity trackwork is owned by MaanenRail.

Independant rail line services usually share terminal facilities and large amounts of urban trackwork. Booking tickets for rail services in Maanenland can be done either by the operator on individual services ; usually shortened to BOB (Booking On Board). The vast majority of customers however book on the Centrally Linked Independant National Transport (CLINT) which allows transit on most major rail operators.

Average age of the rolling stock is an impressive 3 years thanks to recent upgrades to the network. Although costs have increased the ticket price has decreased in recent years due to high uptake.

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Maanen Intercity
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The service structure is so that all terminuses and hubs have at least one service a day regardless of of location. For instance Bouldershot in Calder is a village in the territory with a population of 320. Because it as at the end of a line however it gets direct services to Newport , [[Hollysborough] as well as to Cliffton and over 40 other cities once a day To be profitable whilst at the furtherest desolate reaches of the nation the services become local stopping services after a point. Also services are co-ordinated so that along the trunk routes there is a frequent service. Regional services however suffer.

Freight Services

Freight services in Maanenland remain largely out of the influence of MaanenRail. By far the biggest freight company is Westport Petroleum which owns lines to service depots across the nation and is by far the largest suppliers to oil depots etc, they are also responsible for carrying a large percentage of petroleum byproducts across the country (ie. plastics).

87% of all freight carried in Maanenland is by rail (not including freight trips from rail heads to consumers). This has created a huge freight empire with many local corporations operating large fleets.

Agricultural products dominate the freight of the eastern and southern counties from where they are transported across the nation.

The busiest corridor for freight traffic is between the Automobile and shipping heartland of Portland through the steel capital of Ternpool to the consumer in Stretford. A large bulk of the freight network is connected directly to this corridor. In 1995 a coal train was delibertly derailed along this route killing the driver near Batten Woods.

Major Stations and Junctions

Stations listed by passenger volume

Junctions by tonnage per year

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