The station is as big as sixty football pitches. They have just three hours a night to make it sparkle. World’s Busiest Train Station: Shinjuku, Channel 5 2013
The world’s biggest crowds. ibid.
It’s attention to detail as an extreme sport. ibid.
Every two minutes a train arrives at every platform. ibid.
They have to provide women-only carriages. ibid.
The desperate attempt to stay on time had led to one of Japan’s worst rail disasters. ibid.
Metro lines … carry eight million people every day. ibid.
At the heart of this extraordinary transformation is one man, Isambard Kingdom Brunel ... The Clifton Suspension Bridge ... the Great Western Railway … the Bristol & Exeter Railway … Taft Vale … South Devon … Cornwell … the Bristol & Gloucester ... Brunel built modern Britain. Jeremy Clarkson, Great Britons: Brunel, BBC 2002
The theory is to use the Arab mobility in the desert to mount attacks on the Railway all across Arabia. Mystery Files: Lawrence of Arabia, National Geogrpahic 2011
The telegraph solved the single track problem at a stroke. Now trains knew they didn’t have to wait around. So they ran more trains. So the price of freight went down. So the American economy went up. The telegraph got the railroad people so well organised everybody in business started copying their methods. James Burke, Connections s2e20: Flexible Response, BBC 1994
Riding a short stretch of one of the longest railways in Africa: the Tazara Railway was built by thousands of Chinese labourers back in the 1970s. Justin Rowlatt, The Chinese Are Coming, BBC 2011
I have crossed the Atlantic to ride the railroads of America with a new travelling companion: Appleton’s General Guide to the United States and Canada … Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys I: Manhattan, BBC 2016
Starting in New York City I’ll continue up the Hudson to Poughkeepsie and the New York State capital of Albany. Here I’ll turn left to the Great Lakes … ibid.
Grand Central was the gateway to the nation. ibid.
I’ll find out about the hardships faced by tenement dwellers in the Lower East Side … Thousands of immigrants crowded into insanitary buildings in Lower Manhattan. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys II
Trains used to run alone here at street level. ibid.
The Long Island railroad daily ferries its commuters to the city, and at weekend carries the city’s holiday-makers to the city. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys III
Manhattan: Appleton’s promises me some of the most picturesque scenery in America. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys IV
Every day Amtrak’s Penn Station serves over half a million people. ibid.
Garrison, New York – from where I’ll hug the banks of the river north to Poughkeepsie. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys V
Out of the Hudson’s waters and hills there grew patriotist, national consciousness and self-assurance. ibid.
America’s gilded age when powerful tycoons launched a railway boom that tied the nation together and carved out its future as a superpower. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys VI
I began on Manhattan Island … I’ll continue left to Buffalo then turn left to the spectacular Niagara Falls. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys VII
In Philadelphia where my journey begins, American revolutionaries declared independence … I continue through the American Civil War battlefield of Gettysburg before turning south to Baltimore in Maryland. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys VIII: Philadelphia to Atlantic City
Philadelphia is also known as the city of neighbourhoods. ibid.
I’m passing through ‘one of the richest agricultural districts in America’ … Gettysburg: it was a field of battle not of crops. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys IX: Lancaster to Gettysburg
The Mason-Dixon line … the frontier between the Slave states and the Free states. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys X: Wilmington & Havre de Grace
I’m exploring Baltimore via the city’s rail networks starting with the first passenger railroad in the United States. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys XI
My journey continues south to Washington DC … Founded on a compromise, built on a green-field site. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys XII: Washington DC
Half of DC’s population is black. It’s time to consider that community’s history and its contribution to American culture. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys XIII: Georgetown to Mount Vernon
I’m heading for Manassas. My guidebook tells me it was the scene of the first great battle of the Civil War fought July 21 1861 … another battle 1862. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys XIV: Manassas to Richmond
My next stop is Petersburg which Appleton’s tells me is a well-built city at the head of navigation. Michael Portillo, Great American Railroad Journeys XV: Petersburg to Jamestown
The oldest surviving branch line in the world – it’s unthinkable … Our railway must be kept running. The Titfield Thunderbolt 1953 starring Stanley Holloway & George Relph & Naunton Wayne & John Gregson & Godfrey Tearle & Hugh Griffith & Gabrielle Brune et al, director Charles Chrighton
What a very big responsibility it would be. ibid. public enquiry
I say, is this a normal hazard of railway travel? ibid. drinker on board after small bump
The world’s largest railway terminal – Grand Central. New York: America's Busiest City, BBC 2016
Tube: It carries as many passengers as the rail network … This is a flagship policy … People don’t want the Tube to be privatised. Mark Thomas Comedy Product s5e6, Channel 4 2001
When you privatise the rail network … you fragment it. ibid.
Enhanced PPP. Son of PPP. George W PPP. ibid.
They’ve already split the Tube up into four distinct companies … It’s called shadow running. ibid.
They’re going on strike for safety … This is our underground system. They’re your drivers. ibid.
It was the invention of the railways that made Britain great. The Railways that Built Britain with Chris Tarrant, Channel 4 2017
The train brought about the biggest revolution this country had ever seen. ibid.
Manchester’s steam-powered mills: they needed a revolution and fast. ibid.
Rocket could produce far more steam than any of its rivals. ibid.
The era of railways mania was beginning … A network of over 8,000 miles of track, two-thirds of which is still is use today.
A new army of workers who would undertake the greatest infrastructure project this country had ever seen. ibid.
They were a true mass transport system. ibid.
Just 60 years later Britain had almost 6,000 miles of railway lines. It was the hi-tech industry of the age employing over 600,000 people in the UK alone. The Railways that Built Britain with Chris Tarrant II
A trip to the continent was a real possibility. ibid.
The use of railways to mobilise the armies of Europe was done so rapidly it left no time for diplomacy. ibid.
One of the first industries to allow women to take an active role were the railways. ibid.
Throughout the early ’50s British Railways stuck with steam … The peak of the age of steam. The Railways that Built Britain with Chris Tarrant III
The Trainspotters Club had around 150,000 numbers. ibid.
Within just thirteen years every single one of those 20,000 steam locomotives were scrapped. ibid.
Lots of those prototypes were not up to scratch. Many of the early diesels were a disaster. ibid.