Future
Further standardisation of rail gauges seems likely, as individual countries seek to build inter-operable national networks, and international organisations seek to build macro-regional and continental networks. National projects include the Australian and Indian efforts mentioned above to create a uniform gauge in their national networks. The European Union has set out to develop inter-operable freight and passenger rail networks across the EU area, and is seeking to standardise track gauge, signalling and electrical power systems. EU funds have been dedicated to assist Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in the construction of some key railway lines (Rail Baltica) in the standard gauge instead of their 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 5⁄6 in) gauge, and to assist Spain and Portugal in the construction of high-speed rail lines to connect Iberian cities to one another and to the French high-speed lines. The EU has developed plans for improved freight rail links between Spain, Portugal, and the rest of Europe. The problem within the EU is not only rail gauge but also loading gauge, especially for the United Kingdom, which has standard rail gauge, but generally one of the smallest loading gauges in the world (relative to rail gauge).
Read more about this topic: Track Gauge
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“To believe in something not yet proved and to underwrite it with our lives: it is the only way we can leave the future open. Man, surrounded by facts, permitting himself no surmise, no intuitive flash, no great hypothesis, no risk, is in a locked cell. Ignorance cannot seal the mind and imagination more surely.”
—Lillian Smith (18971966)
“The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal. It expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values.... Because myth anchors the present in the past it is a sociological charter for a future society which is an exact replica of the present one.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)
“My future just passed.”
—George Marion, Jr. (18991968)