Trains: past, present and future
火車：前世、今世與來世

by John Russell
約翰·拉塞爾

Railways are not a modern invention as most of us think. The idea of transporting things and people on rails has been around for a long time. Rails were made of wood, and wagons were pulled by horses.
大部分人都會認(rèn)為鐵路其實(shí)并非現(xiàn)代世界的產(chǎn)物。利用工具來運(yùn)輸物品和乘客的想法由來已久。軌道以前是由木頭等鑄造，而車廂則是用馬力進(jìn)行拉動。

Why did railways develop?
鐵路發(fā)展究為何？

Railways are not a modern invention as most of us think. The idea of transporting things and people on rails has been around for a long time. Rails were made of wood, stone or metal, and railway wagons were pulled by horses, some were even wind powered and had sails. At the start of the Industrial Revolution in Britain, people needed to transport raw materials such as coal, so created a network of canals and rail links between towns. But canals and horsepower were a very slow way to move things around the country, so the speed of railway wagons needed to be increased.
大部分人都會認(rèn)為鐵路其實(shí)并非現(xiàn)代世界的產(chǎn)物。利用工具來運(yùn)輸物品和乘客的概念由來已久。路軌以前是由木頭、石頭以及金屬鑄造，而車廂則用馬力來拉動，更有些地方還會給車廂裝上帆，利用風(fēng)力來帶動。當(dāng)工業(yè)革命剛剛在英國興起的時候，人們需要將像煤炭這樣的原材料運(yùn)往各地，因此搭建各個城鎮(zhèn)之間的運(yùn)河和軌道網(wǎng)絡(luò)成了當(dāng)務(wù)之急。然而船運(yùn)以及馬車運(yùn)輸對于全國范圍的交通運(yùn)輸而言，速度顯得非常緩慢，所以提升軌道貨運(yùn)的速度是非常必要的。

How did steam engines help?
蒸汽機(jī)顯奇功

By 1800 many industries were using steam engines, designed by James Watt (from where we get the electrical measurement - Watt). Richard Trevithick, a Cornish engineer, refined Watts’ invention and after failing to build a steam powered road vehicle, he designed the first locomotive for an Iron Works in Wales. He called it a 'puffer' because of the noise it made, and on its first journey it travelled at almost 8 km/h an hour! Unfortunately, it was so heavy that it broke the rails - it only made three journeys. But it had shown that steam engines could be used to move trains, and speeds began to increase.
到了1800年，很多工業(yè)領(lǐng)域開始使用了詹姆斯?瓦特（電力功率單位“瓦特”正是以他的名字命名）發(fā)明的蒸汽機(jī)。一個名叫理查德?特雷威斯克的康沃爾郡工程師將瓦特的發(fā)明進(jìn)行了改良。他原想設(shè)計(jì)出一個利用蒸汽動力運(yùn)作的蒸汽公車，但無奈實(shí)驗(yàn)失敗了，但他也因此為威爾士的一個鐵工廠設(shè)計(jì)出了第一款火車頭。他將這個火車頭命名為“吹牛人”，因?yàn)槊慨?dāng)這個火車頭行駛運(yùn)作就會發(fā)出巨大的轟鳴之聲?！按蹬Ｈ恕钡牡谝淮温眯芯鸵悦啃r8千米的速度足足開了一個鐘！但是不幸的是因?yàn)樗^于沉重會壓壞軌道，所以它這一輩子也就上了三次路。但是“吹牛人”的成功向人們展示出了蒸汽機(jī)可以帶動火車，運(yùn)輸?shù)乃俣乳_始有了提升。

When was the first accident? /en]
史上第一起火車事故

[en]By 1829 locomotives were travelling at speeds of over 45km/h and the first public railway had been opened, the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The most famous early locomotive was The Rocket. In 1833 it won a competition organised by the owners of the Manchester and Liverpool railway, to find the best locomotive for their new line. Unfortunately, during the competition, a Member of Parliament wasn't careful as he crossed the tracks and The Rocket knocked him down. He died later. This was one of the first train accidents in history.

到了1829年火車的時速已經(jīng)上升到了45千米每小時，而史上第一條公共鐵路（斯托克頓-達(dá)靈頓鐵路）也已經(jīng)正式開放。在火車史早期，最為出名的火車當(dāng)屬“羅克特”了。在1833年的時候曼徹斯特和利物浦鐵路曾經(jīng)聯(lián)合組織了一場比賽，比賽目的是為了給他們新開的鐵路找到最佳的火車，而羅克特火車正是那場比賽的狀元。但是不幸的是在那場比賽期間，一個下議院的議員因?yàn)樽约簷M穿鐵軌時不夠小心而被羅克特撞到而死。這正是火車史上的第一起事故。

What was the Golden Age of Steam?
蒸汽能源黃金時代

The next 130 years can be described as a Golden Age of Steam. Railways were built all over the world, and the size, speed and comfort of trains continued to increase. By 1870 it was possible to cross America by train, and the building of railways in many other countries allowed people and progress to move quickly across the world.
人們把接下來的130年稱之為“蒸汽能源黃金時代”。鐵路在全球各地鋪設(shè)起來，不論是在規(guī)模上、速度上還是舒適度上，鐵路行業(yè)都不斷向上攀升。到了1870年，一位旅客可以乘火車穿越整個美利堅(jiān)大陸，而其他國家的鐵路建設(shè)，也在全球范圍內(nèi)讓人們奔向外面的腳步以及社會的進(jìn)步變得更快。

There were famous trains and famous journeys. The Orient Express started in 1883 and carried people in luxury through more than 13 countries between France and Turkey. The Flying Scotsman travelled non-stop from London to Edinburgh, between 1928 and 1963, and reached speeds of over 130 km/h. The Trans-Siberian railway was finished in 1916, and is still the longest railway line in the world. It goes between St. Petersburg and Vladivostok, is over 9000 km long and even today the journey takes over a week.The fastest steam train in the world was The Mallard. This locomotive travelled up and down the east coast of England between London and York, and in 1938 reached 202 km/h.
那個時代有很多著名的列車和旅途。啟動于1883年的“東方快車”以奢華服務(wù)著稱，它可以帶著人們游覽于法國和土耳其之間的十三個國家。而服役于1928年到1963年間的“急速蘇格蘭”則以超過130千米每小時的時速，永不停歇地穿梭于倫敦和愛丁堡之間。“特朗-西伯利亞”鐵路建于1916年，至今它仍是世界上最長的火車旅線。這條鐵路往返于彼得堡和符拉迪沃斯托克之間，即便在今天，這條長達(dá)9000千米的行程也需要花上一個星期。而世界上最快的蒸汽火車當(dāng)屬“馬德拉號”，在1938年時這般列車奔上跑下于倫敦和約克之間的英格蘭東海岸，速度達(dá)到了202千米每小時。

What replaced steam engines?
蒸汽易位，何者擔(dān)當(dāng)

Although it is still possible to travel on the Trans-Siberian railway, and take the Orient Express from Paris to Vienna, steam trains such as the Mallard or Flying Scotsman, have not travelled regularly for almost 30 years in many countries. Diesel powered locomotives or trains running on electrified lines now run on most railways. Modern trains are cleaner and much faster than steam engines but many people still miss the puffing sound and the romance of steam.
盡管“特朗-西伯利亞”線仍在運(yùn)行，而“東方快車號”也依舊往返于巴黎和維也納之間，但是如“馬德拉號”或“急速蘇格蘭號”蒸汽火車已經(jīng)在各國退出歷史舞臺有三十來年了。柴油能源的機(jī)車和火車如今已經(jīng)代替其位奔馳在電氣化的鐵路軌道之上了?，F(xiàn)代的火車更加節(jié)能也更加迅速，但是還是有大把人會懷念蒸汽火車的鳴笛之聲以及那份屬于蒸汽時代的浪漫情懷。

How fast can trains travel now?
當(dāng)今列車，速度如何？

Quite a few countries now use high speed trains. The famous Bullet Train in Japan and the TGV in France can both carry passengers at speeds of over 300km/h. Journey times are now much shorter, and trains can travel on some unusual routes; up hills, through mountains, even under the sea. Euro-tunnel was opened in 1994 and connects Britain to France through a railway that goes under the sea.
如今極少數(shù)的幾個國家已經(jīng)配上了高速列車，其中最為著名的當(dāng)屬日本的“子彈頭列車”以及法國的“巴黎-里昂高速列車”。這兩班列車都可以載著乘客以300千米每小時的高速飛馳。如今火車旅程花費(fèi)的時間越來越短，火車也可以穿梭于一些不同尋常的路線之上：上山爬坡、穿山而過甚至探入海底都不足為奇。像開設(shè)于1994年的歐洲海底隧道就連接了英法兩國，而火車則可從中行駛。

How can trains further develop?
火車發(fā)展的未來

The future of train travel could be in Maglev trains. These trains are supported by electro-magnets and hover off the ground. Some countries are already using this technology in cities, and others are planning to use it on longer journeys. At the moment they can go more than 500km/h, but some engineers think speeds of over 1000 km/h are possible – some even think they could be used to launch space shuttles! Trains have come a long way since Richard Trevithick’s puffer.
火車未來發(fā)展的趨勢是磁懸浮列車，這種列車運(yùn)用了電磁鐵技術(shù)，可以懸空在地面之上。一些國家已經(jīng)開始在部分城市使用了這種技術(shù)，更有些國家計(jì)劃著運(yùn)用這種技術(shù)開設(shè)長途火車路線。到了那時火車速度可以達(dá)到500千米每小時，還有一些工程師認(rèn)為超過1000千米每小時甚至趕上航天飛機(jī)的速度都不是夢！自理查德?特雷為西斯的“吹牛人”起，火車發(fā)展之路漫漫長矣！