Bayrail

**Bayrail** (Sometimes stylized *BayRail* or *bayrail*) is the national railway operator in Bayland. It operates most domestic services on the main railway network. Bayrail also has many subsidiaries, such as Bayrail Manufacturing (BRM) and Bayrail Kwitzka (BRK)

## History

### Founding

Bayrail was founded in 1903 as *The State Railway* (SR) and bought out various private railway companies, forming the Bordertown to Eastend via Beachport mainline. The purchases also included some branchlines. SR continued buying private railway companies until 1914. Isolated lines were not bought out, however. SR also built new lines, such as the line from Oldham to Norsham, buying formerly isolated lines when the newly built lines were connected.

### After WW1

Due to the post-WW1 recession, SR was losing record amounts. This was attempted to be mitigated by closing some unprofitable branch lines, but this proved to be a very controversial decision and people living near these branch lines staged many protests.

When the recession ended, SR started expanding rapidly, acquiring more private railways and building more railways. This period of expansion continued until WW2 broke out.

### During and after WW2

Bayland was mostly unaffected by WW2, but some government spending was redirected towards defense, causing a decline in railway spending, and therefore SR's budget. This meant SR had to cut down on many unprofitable branchlines, and halt construction projects.

After WW2, SR reopened many of the previously closed branchlines. However, due to increased car ownership, SR struggled to compete with road transport. This prompted SR to launch the extremely successful marketing campaign *No traffic on the train!* which is still well known by many. This campaign combined with the slow efforts by the Baylandese government to build new roads, caused rail to remain an important mode of transport in Bayland.

### 1970s

The 1973 oil crisis prompted SR to electrify many branch lines, some of which were still using steam locomotives. This crisis also created an economic incentive to build the Eastern Mainline in Kwitzka, and direct trains from Beachport to Nqlät started operating in 1976.

### 1980s and 1990s

In 1984, SR rebranded to Bayrail as a way to improve the deteriorating public image of the company. At the same time, new rolling stock started to arrive. Another large marketing campaign was launched in 1985. in 1990, new high speed trains were delivered to Bayrail, and the Bayrail High Speed and Starexpress brand names were launched. These proved to be hugely successful, and increased ridership on Bayrail significantly, with many advertising campaigns highlighting the speed of the trains.

After a large accident on a high speed train in 1994, which was deemed to be caused by the outdated signalling system, Bayrail started development of a new modern signalling system, allowing for speeds of up to 250km/h, with potential for upgrades to higher speeds. This signalling system became BRIC and was implemented on all high speed lines in Bayland, and also on the Eastern Mainline in Kwitzka.

### 2000s, 2010s, and early 2020s

During the 2000s, BRIC was implemented on all Bayrail-owned railways in Bayland, after railway workers expressed concerns with the existing signalling system. The 2000s also saw the Bordertown-Eastend mainline being upgraded to 225km/h in some sections. Bayrail also announced many new rolling stock orders between 2007 and 2009.
During the 2010s, Bayrail recieved many of the previously ordered trains, but also placed many new orders. Some new railways in Beachport were also built, however the 2010s mostly consisted of low-standard lines being upgraded both for safety reasons and to increase speeds.

The early 2020s saw large investments in Bayrail, mostly in rolling stock and new stations on existing lines.

## Rolling stock

Bayrail operates many types of rolling stock, the oldest passsenger cars to still be in service being night train cars from the 1980s.

### High speed rolling stock

Bayrail operates 2 types of high speed rolling stock, the fastest being the Siemens Velaro. The other high speed train operated by Bayrail is the Starexpress Pendolino units.

### Intercity rolling stock

Intercity trains use many different types of rolling stock, both locomotive-hauled trains and multiple unit trains are used. The most common intercity rolling stock is the Stadler KISS ER2 train sets, and locomotive-hauled cars.

### Regional rolling stock

Bayrail operates many types of rolling stock on regional services, however they are mainly multiple unit trains.

## Services

Bayrail operates many services with varying degrees of comfort, speed, and frequency. Below is a list of most types of Bayrail services.

### Bayrail High Speed

High speed trains are operated by Bayrail on key arteries between large cities. Almost all high speed services pass through Beachport.

#### Starexpress

Starexpress is Bayrail's international high speed train brand, operating high speed rail service to Lustar and Kwitzka.

### Intercity

Intercity trains are the second fastest on Bayrail's network, and usually have similar levels of comfort as high speed trains, but they operate at slower speeds. Many intercity routes pass through Beachport, but many operate exclusively in one part of the country.

### Regional

Regional trains operate on mainlines and busy branch lines, offering a cheaper and slower alternative to the intercity trains, these trains stop more often than intercity trains, but skip smaller stations.

### Local

Local trains operate on some mainlines and rural branch lines, offering a cheap but slow and relatively uncomfortable way to travel. Local trains stop at all stations (with very few exceptions) and are usually the slowest type of train availible.

### Commuter

Bayrail commuter trains operate in and around large cities, mainly Beachport. These are usually included in city public transport fares, or a small extra charge on top of public transport fares. These trains are an integrated and important part of the public transport network and run very frequently. The most frequent commuter rail lines have trains every 4 minutes at peak times.

### Bayrail Night Train

Bayrail operates night trains on a route from Eastend to Nqlät in Kwitzka. These night trains are quite popular with border shoppers, who arrive in Nqlät in the morning, shop during the day, and leave Nqlät again in the evening.