Rail transport

**Rail transport** is the mean or means of transport involving the use of rails to guide the movement.

## History

### Early rails

The earliest incarnation of rail transport consisted of the usage of rails made of wooden poles, which provided a more stable surface for carriages to move on and allowed for faster transport.

Gaia developed an extensive network of these railroads as their economy was particularly reliant on land transport. The preexistence of an efficient road network helped Gaia gain an edge in incorporating railroads to its transport network.

At this time, the width of a carriage was standardized as 8 standard hooves or 6 royal hooves to ensure compatibility and allow carriages to be used in different roads than the ones they were originally commissioned for.

The Gaian Ministry of Roads, Tunnels and Bridges, later Ministry of Transport, issued 8 hoof reference axles to registered wainwrights to ensure that the standards are met.

### Modern railways

The 10th century saw a transformation of the rail industry. More resilient iron and then steel rails were adopted, and new methods of propulsion were developed, such as cables and steam engines.

The first steam carriages came into usage near the start of the century, which proved faster but more expensive than Pony-drawn ones. As the technology was improved, speeds increased and maintenance prices decreased.

Interest began growing into expanding the rail network, which was small and undeveloped outside of Gaia. New steel railways were created across Icaria and Ceria, connecting some of the major Equestrian cities.

### Red bandanas

As the network further expanded across more Equestrian provinces, especially on western Equestria (Ponicia and Hetra), railway construction companies found themselves short on labor. This lead to an influx of immigration of Zebras and Donkeys from nearby Farasi and Colthage who aided in the construction and maintenance of new railways. This has lead to the association of Zebras with railroad workers in modern Equestria.

The poor working conditions and low salaries oversaw the growth of collectivist ideas. Zebras and Donkeys who worked in the railroads began making alliances with Earth Ponies who worked in the mining industry, united by the desire of better working conditions. Their alliances, known as the Red Bandanas, became known for organizing protests and strikes against companies who offered poor or discriminatory working conditions, and denouncing the Equestrian government's imperialism and passive attitude towards discrimination.

Many of the Zebra and Donkey workers returned to their homelands, using their gained experience to help develop their own railway networks.

Back in Equestria, of the non-Pony workers who remained working in the railroads, most were sent to work on cargo trains instead of passenger ones as to keep non-Ponies away from the view of passengers.

### Cable carriages and undergrounds

While the Pony-drawn carriage remained the main vehicular mean of transportation for internal traffic of cities, as cities grew in size and population the possibility of taking advantage of rails for urban transport increasingly entered consideration.

Steam engines are considered too polluting to cross densely populated areas, so in their place, systems of cable carriages where engineered where carriages are pulled over the rails by a cable so the engine system can be moved elsewhere.

Because of the lack of space for many new railways, these cable carriages have increasingly been constructed in underground tunnels to avoid disturbing overground buildings and roads.

## Organization

Train workers have three ranks: brakepony or braker, conductor and machinist.

* Brakeponies or brakers are responsible for activating the brakes on individual cars in trains without through braking, as well as assisting the conductors with opening and closing the doors of each car.
* Conductors are responsible for coupling and decoupling cars and opening and closing the doors of each car.
* Machinists are responsible for the operation and maintenance of the engine.

The term brakepony is commonly used in areas where the population is mostly Ponies, although the species-neutral term braker is preferred in other contexts.