Transportation in Kien-k'ang

History

Transport, other than the maintenance of roads, was recognized as an area of government around the 1850s in Themiclesia, when railways became lengthier and traversed administrative borders. It being evident that inter-regional transport was crucial to the more efficient use of resources in the country, the Ministry of Transport was created from the Ministry of Appropriations in 1857. In Kien-k'ang, the capital city of Themiclesia, transport saw early attention and development in the form of planned roads and communities between them. Laid out in a grid-pattern, it was clear that the city's planners had several arterial roads crossing at right angles in mind, making them wide and flat. While the current city of Kien-k'ang was built in 318, several superimposed layers were found beneath it, all of which showed some signs of urban planning, and roads were evidently taken into consideration well before the current city was built.

In the more recent past, the County of Kien-k'ang had observed the effects of rapid industrialization of the coastal cities and the rise of slums around their peripheries; existing administrative boundaries were blurred, streets blocked, and alleys dug in every convenient direction. Fearing that the same would one day occur to Kien-k'ang, the authorities maintained infrastructure with great vigour and cleared the roads of encroachments, restoring them to their former width and planarity, many of which were astonishingly wide indeed. The Imperial Highway, for example, had a width of over 100 meters, and most major roads were at least 20 meters in width. These decisive actions have prevented what could have been a travesty on its cityscape, and Kien-k'ang today is still renowned for its spacious and straight streets.

After the population of Kien-k'ang broke the two-million mark in 1900, the mayorship ordered a white paper drafted to plan for its residents' convenience and safety. The rampant immigration to the city between 1860 and 1900 had the city's population almost quadrupled, who settled the entirety of Kien-k'ang's walled area for the very first time; formerly, large parts of the city particularly to its west, was farmland and parks, even though they were technically part of the city. The railway station, at the city's extreme south and a major transport hub, transformed its vicinity from agricultural land to a bustling commercial centre by 1900. It thus became the centre of attention to the city's government, whose plan was to distribute its commercial activity across the city by means of enhancing transportation. An underground railway was quickly dug with foreign technological advice, linking the station with the South Market, the premier marketplace of the city; part of the reason why it was built underground was the suspicion that some less open-minded citizens had towards noisy, moving machines with smoke towering from it driving through the city. Named the "Century Line", it opened for service in 1905, stopping at 17 stations along the 9km route. The Chrio-tsiak-muehn Station was also extended to included a much wider and larger concourse and several new platforms, which were covered with a roof spanning 75 meters, permitting six platforms and 14 tracks.

Two more underground railway lines were completed before the outbreak of the PSW in 1926. On the wide boulevards, trams were also installed as a substitute for a subway line, which were much more costly and slow to construct. The city also acquired its first regular bus service (Metropolitan Omnibus) during this period, though that was only possible after motor vehicles were permitted into the city in 1922. As a measure against speeding, private cars were to be driven between the unenclosed ditches and the roadside trees that were planted along the city's main roads, while pedestrians and animal-drawn vehicles were supposed to move in the middle of the street. As this made turning immensely difficult for motor cars and driving at night perilously unsafe, a large number of car-accidents resulted until the rule was reversed in 1927. However, it would take until the end of the 1940s for cars to become an accepted part of urban life in Kien-k'ang; before then, sedan-chairs and ox-drawn carriages were most common for passenger transport, and horse-drawn carts and canal barges for goods. The most important addition to the pre-PSW transport of Kien-k'ang is the coverage of the Kien-k'ang station's yard. Multiple roads had viaducts built on top of the yard, since it was over a mile wide and level crossings could not traverse the wide expanse of tracks in the yard. Indeed, so many viaducts, viaducts connecting viaducts, and viaducts intersecting with viaducts, that it was decided to cover the entire yard with a massive concrete roof so all traffic could pass over the station's tracks easily. This project took nine years (1931~1940) to complete, but it eliminated one of the most prolific causes of traffic congestion at the cost of almost $100 million in 2017 OSD.

The post-war boom saw at least another 2 million people flood to Kien-k'ang, but by this time transport infrastructure and settlement were well-planned, with developement encouraged beyond the city walls to solve the issue of their preventing easy ingress and egress, though 32 gates were already present in 1950 to facilitate them. The seventh subway line opened in 1959, and planning for the high-speed rail was underway. The width of most major streets in Kien-k'ang made cut-and-cover construction easy, since the roads could still used during construction work. With the opening of two HSR lines in 1967 and 1971, that of the Tan-ghjiang Regional Rail in 1968, the Light Rail system in 1975, and the Airport Rail in 1980 on the railway side, the completion of the DA10 and DA20 (dual-carriageway highway) on the roadway side, almost all of the modern transport infrastructure of Kien-k'ang has taken shape. Today, Kien-k'ang is renowned for its sprawling, omnipresent public transit system, which has been accredited, along with its street width, for the ease of movement in the city.

Canals

Kien-k'ang is crossed by two rivers that converge just beyond its northwestern limits; the northern river, the Ghruan-mu, empties into a lake of the same name, in the north of the city, and then flows from it due west, by the north side of the Rock Mt. until it converges with the Drin-ghuads. Two canals, from the Drin-ghuads, discharge into the lake. The Drin-ghuads flows in the same direction, but enters the city from th east side and takes a sharp turn south then west again; it makes a slight detour beyond the city's southern walls and returns westwards, then flowing due north along an artificial course dug in the 9th Century. It then turns northwest at the foot of the Rock Mt., to converge with the Ghruan-mu to the west of that mountain, about 1km from the city. Two canals are led from the river, the first one beginning in the southeast, whence it flows northwest, until it is used as a moat for the citadel, running directly north, and empties into the Ghruan-mu Lake. The second canal originates close to the southern main gate, the Chrio-tsiak-muehn, and runs due north, until it reaches the citadel, where it was also formerly a moat along its west wall, after which it splits; the eastern branch discharges into the Lake, and the west rejoins its mother river at the southeastern edge of Rock Mt.

All canals are generally called 運瀆 in Shinasthana, a term most proximately rendered as "shipping river", referring to their function as transport highways that once bore the majority of goods moving through the city. Due to the introduction of motor and rail traffic into the city, the canals have been reduced in utilization, and many sections have been bridged to further convenience road voyage; however, they remain open for all use, and the city dredges them from time to time to ensure that water levels remain under its embankment and the flow uninterrupted, lest it become too still and support the growth of disease-bearing insects. Currently, there are few reasons to continue using the canals, but fish caught in the nearby Gha River are usually still shipped upstream via the canals to be sold at traditional markets. Tourism on the canals has seen recent development.

Railways

Railways were first installed in Themiclesia in the 1830s (precise date not known) to move heavier freight along the docks. While railways explosively extended on the coastlines, which were dotted with small-scale industries serving mainly the export market, railways did not make their way inland until the 1850s. It reached Kien-k'ang in 1859, following the southern bank of the Gha. The construction of a second railway, linking the inland cities, was soon under way. To date, the railway system present in Kien-k'ang is the result of not only the extension of lines, but also the specialization of railway services to distinct clienteles with divergent requirements. There are both high-speed and conventional lines, inter-city services, regional services, and metropolitan services, as well as specific services to the Myo-sek Airport. Most railways, except the Light Rail system, run on the standard 4' 8½" gauge. Efforts have been expended, as early as the 19th Century, to construct railways underground to alleviate level crossings, which were a major safety issue given the width of many of Kien-k'ang's streets.

National Rail

The origins of the National Railway Company is traced to government oversight of railway companies established in 1883, which was installed due to collusory construction contracts handled by private companies. The NRC itself did not exist until 1893, though the government had sought, for a long time, to bring existing railways under its administration to facilitate better co-ordination of the movement of population and goods throughout the country; at its establishment, it was the sole legal operator of all railways longer than 3km from end to end. Existing railways were bought with a combination of cash, stocks, and bonds on future railway income at a considerable interest rate. The first task of the NRC in Kien-k'ang was to unify the two stations that existed in the city: one served the Kien-k'ang–Ghuap-bo route, later renamed the Traverse Main Line, and the other was an stop on the Driang-an–Kuang-tu route, later the Inland Main Line. A new station was opened at Chrio-tsiak-muehn, between the two existing railways, so trains could run through the two lines.

Today, the two main lines intersect in underground triangular junction at the city's southwestern corner, which, amongst other uses, enables trains to make a three-point-turn and be turned around completely, which is an important functionality when direction-sensitive carriages, such as observation cars, are joined to trains. On the two main lines, a total of nine railway stations serve the city, distributed mostly along its city walls, which was where real estate was the most affordable, as the railways were constructed by private companies with limited funds. This peculiar preference of railway routes resulted in early demand for urban transport, to and from railway stations, to serve its population, most concentrated around the centre-north districts. Chrio-tsiak-muehn is widely considered the station par excellence due to its daily traffic and scale of its station infrastructure, though authorities have striven to redirect traffic to other, less crowded stations. Two major stations are found close to the city's original gates, where highway traffic entering and exiting the city were funnelled; these are the Seei-mriaeng-muehn and Kien-chr'iuen-muehn stations. Smaller stations are found between them.

The widening of the IML and the TML in the 1920s created a wide belt of railways that partitioned the city, inconveniencing vehicular traffic and making level crossings potentially more dangerous due to the number of tracks to be crossed. A project to bring the city's railways underground began in 1936 but paused in 1941 due to the approaching enemy positions, resuming in 1946 and completed in 1949. Initially built without adequate ventilation, the issue was not addressed until several workers fainted in the tunnels, which were not lit and constantly polluted by smoke emerging from steam engines. The covering of the railway yard of the Chrio-tsiak-muehn Station was part of this scheme.

High Speed Rail

For more information, see: Themiclesian High Speed Rail

High speed railways were first considered in the late 1950s, after conventional railway technology (then based on steam and early diesel engines) was judged exhausted for the provision of higher transit speeds between major cities. Turning to the emerging electric multiple unit concept, which had shown promise in preliminary tests, a completely new railway was constructed between 1959 and 1967 to relieve the burden on the Inland Main Line; powered by high-voltage current delivered by suspended cables, trains initially ran at 135 MPH but were later hastened to 195 MPH, with the improvement of motor technology and infrastructure. All HSR lines are underground in Kien-k'ang, tunnels dug by TBM that were imported and later domestically designed. They were sunk to a depth of 30–32m to eliminate structural concerns when it ran under other railways. Despite officially junction-free with other railways, HSR actually possesses several evacuation tunnels through which a train could be led into the conventional railway network—these are used only during emergencies and never as part of routine operation.

HSR in Kien-k'ang serves the same three major stations as National Rail: Seei-mriaeng-muehn, Chrio-tsiak-muehn, and Kien-chr'iuehn-muehn.

Metropolitan Rail

For more information, see: Kien-k'ang Metro

The route of intercity railways in Kien-k'ang, with stations centred around the city's perimeter, created a demand for urban transit to and from cities. The expansion of the urban populace, often resulting from demands for migratory labour, led to a similar demand for mass transit that could not be satisfied by roadside carriages and litters. With experience from several Casaterran cities' underground railways, Kien-k'ang Metro was, from its outset, an underground system. Both the cut-and-cover and deep tube methods were used, depending on the geological and demographic conditions of the area the route crosses. The first Metro line opened in 1893 and ran from Siuhen-yiang-muehn gate (on the southeast corner of the citadel) under the main road commencing there and terminating at the Chrio-tsiak-muehn. As the road was fairly wide, construction was by the cut-and-cover method. Initial fears for collapse were soon overcome as unfounded, leading to the construction of other routes soon commencing. The second line finished in 1901, ran from the prosperous east-side wards southwards and then westwards to Seei-mriaeng-muehn, in its course intersecting with the first line. The third route crossed the mid-latitutdes of the city and ran east-west just south of the citadel; this route is most used by traders, as it connected two main marketplaces and important government agencies on the route. These routes initially were all privately owned and operated, with the sole provision that transit must be provided at natural intersections, suggesting that the government had an organized plan in mind when granting permits to private railway development.

The next peak of Metro construction began under the auspices of the government, in the 1950s, during the reconstruction wave. During the war, artillery bombardment had rendered some sections of the Metro unusuable, leading to the collapse of two of the three companies that operated the four lines present at the time; the government bought their assets for a nominal price on the agreement that their debts to creditors would be fulfilled. Newer Metro lines were all constructed by the tubing method, with structural shields inserted and reinforced by concrete immediately after tunnels have been dug. This process was initially reliant on imported TBM, but a domestic substitute was soon under development, again with government support, after it was realized that several other cities would also be interested in constructing a similar rapid transportation system. By 1960, a staggering five lines were added to the original four, and daily patronage surpassed the one-million trip per diem milestone in 1957. The oldest routes, also incidentally the busiest, were expanded with "express" services by means of dedicated tracks, which in reality were dug under the subsurface lines by TBM. The centrepiece of underground railway achievement is the completion of the Gheuen-miuo Viaduct, which has a 4km section under the Gheuen-miuo Lake; it descends to 123m underground and is designed to remain structurally integral in the presence of underground water, which may seep through the lake's porous foundation. This line bridged the two northern wards of the city, formerly separate from each other by a lake and the imperial palace directly south of the lake, both of which may not be crossed ordinarily and en masse.

The Kien-k'ang Metro, as of 2017, operates 12 lines, totalling 191 miles and 252 stations.

Tan-ghjiang Regional Rail and Light Rail

For more information, see: Tan-ghiang Regional Rail

The Tan-ghiang Regional Railway originated with several branch lines serving satellite cities that surrounded Kien-k'ang, most of which were transformed demographically and economically as manufacturing centres by the early 20th Century. Provision of dependable freight and passenger service, in the general absence of highways with good capacity, so that goods there manufactured could be collected/finished in Kien-k'ang and from there dispatched to other cities for foreign or domestic consumption, was accomplished by a number of branch lines radiating out from the IML and TML; as such, they served suburban and peripheral areas not already covered by the existing railway network. After the PSW, intensive manufacturing around the Kien-k'ang area receded, and the branch lines were operated at a loss for the NRC. At the same time, the Tan-ghiang Provincial Government expressed interest in this network of railways, which it deemed could play a transformative role in turning the entire province into a day-commute zone, so that those in less developed communities could seek employment farther from their homes but where their labour was in demand. Eventually, it also permitted workers in Kien-k'ang to seek a home in remoter places, where real estate was available at less of a premium.

The transfer was completed in the 1970s, and connections were added between the radial lines, so that trains could run in the countryside, without entering Kien-k'ang; this was touted by the Province as a measure promoting balance between the metropolis and the countryside. Average station distances are much longer than those found on Metro lines and more on par with the NRC's main lines. It also shares much of its rolling stock with the NRC, with carriages pulled by diesel locomotives in the most part, as total electrification was uneconomical at the relatively small income derived from the Tan-ghiang Regional Rail in its early years; nevertheless, ridership has increased steadily.

The conceptual place of light rail was originally as a supplementary service offered at the ends of the Tan-ghiang Regional Railway where full railway infrastructure would be uneconomical, whether due to lack of population density to support ridership or difficulties in route planning. All light rail lines would be surface lines, laid mostly parallel or on existing roads, only deviating from them where absolutely necessary. In actual practice, most light rail routes were laid in cities that the TGRR crossed, including Kien-k'ang, where its modern function is described as an enhanced tramway system, alongside the existing tramways. Like the Metro Railway and unlike a tram, light rail has preferred right-of-way and operate on a fixed timetable; hoewver, like a tram, light rail requires a driver onboard to judge stopping distances, as there is reduced signalling and digital infrastructure that guide conventional railway traffic and less elaborate segregation measures preventing pedestrians and vehicular traffic from intruding into light rail tracks. In the modern day, light rail also also been expanded to take advantage of the copious amount of green space previously devoted to median gardens and run parallel to street traffic; in such cases, signal lights are synchronized with the passing of light rail carriages, minimalizing its impact on road-users. The diversity of the light rail system in Kien-k'ang has led to the generalized use of the term "light rail" to refer to any track-based mode of transport that is above ground (including elevated) and does not offer intercity services, even though some of these may be termed "light rapid regional transit" trains instead, with exclusive rights of way on certain lines. There are currently 32 light rail lines in Kien-k'ang and its immediate vicinity, and it is now an integral part of the city's transportation infrastructure, far removed from its initial place as a supplementary one.

Airport Rail

The Airport Railway covers the 45km distance form Chrio-tsiak-muehn Station to the Miuo-seek International Airport, which is where most airplanes with passengers bound for Kien-k'ang land. Its remote location is explained by its original status as a test-flight field used by the Air Force, which was shared with civilian air traffic after the original civilian airport located to the city's eastern vicinity was irrepairably razed during the PSW. Civilian demand for runway time soon forced the Air Force to transfer the field to the government permanently, when it was expanded as a full-scale, permanent air terminal in 1948. However, there was no link line between that airport and the city, and the NRC's resources were employed in repairing its railway network, with little funding available for the construction of a new line. This route was covered by omnibuses for most of the twosubsequent decades and became a major bottleneck in transit to and from the airport. The current railway came into planning during the 1960s and was completed in 1973 much to the alleviation of negative public dissatisfaction on the desperate situation.

Airport Rail currently operates semi-hourly services from both ends of the airport, stopping only at four stations along the entire journey; this is intended to boost punctuality by elimiating possible unscheduled delays.

Road Transport

Inter-city Highways

See: Themiclesian Highway System for more information

City Roads

See: Major Roads in Kien-k'ang for more information

Stations and Other Edifices

Chrio-tsiak-muehn

In the decades following, the railway yard (over a mile long), was traversed with a large number of overpasses to connect roads severed by it, because level crossings were impractical to cross the yard that was 40–50 tracks in width. As it happened, overpasses were built between existing overpasses so cars could run parallel to the railway, facilitated by erecting roadways over brick arches grounded in the space between the tracks underneath. By the 1930s, the density of the overpasses had prompted the NRC to cover the entire railway yard with a massive "roof", by means of additional arches connected to the existing supports, to form a conjoined surface over which cars could travel in any direction and small buildings erected. This has made possible a large commercial area around the station itself, built directly over the yard, which is now "underground". Yet due to the fact that the buildings are still mostly over an empty space, there is a height restriction for fear that buildings too heavy could overburden the support structure underneath.

The station currently possesses a single concourse level above ground, where restaurants and newsstands could be found. Ticketing kiosks are found on the mezzanine level, which is now parly underground. Parallel to the mezzanine are the bus, tram, and light rail termini, which have ramps leading from it to access the surface roads on the "ground level" added in 1940. There is also limited, short-term parking space in this area. Under the mezzanine is the NRC track layer, which is notorious for its dark and repressive atmosphere, with no natural light and very low ceilings, barely tall enough for a train to clear. There are a total of seven platforms on this level, each accessible by an escelator/ramp from the mezzanine level; to the west and rear of the passenger platforms is the railway yard attached to the station, used mostly for carriage inspection; shunting engines are used to move trains to the platforms. Under the NRC railway level is the Metro level, with five double-side platforms serving three routes; these platforms are perpendicular to the NRC ones. The Metro system is accessed from the same mezzanine housing the NRC ticketing kiosks, with escelators offset to the north so as not to traverse the NRC platforms. The layer under the Metro lines are also occupied by the Metro system, to allow the tunnels to cross each other when they depart from the station. A fourth Metro route has its platforms located on this level. The fifth level underground is occupied by the HSR and the Tan-Ghjiang Regional Railway; originally, it was thought possible to expand the NRC layer slightly to accommodate more platforms for a railway largely parallel to the NRC lines, but this would compromize structural integrity of the buildings next to the railway and was therefore abandoned. The HSR platforms were laid parallel with the TGRR, as they were in planning contemporaneously; a fairly long parallel sections exists between them, with HSR crossing under the TGRR a few miles beyond the station. Finally, airport rail was added in the 1980s, off to the west side of the station, under the NRC yard; it is accessed by a long underground viaduct that cuts through the yard, made possible by removing two tracks from it.

Chrio-tsiak-muehn Station is now the convergence point of most railway systems in Kien-k'ang, serving NRC, HSR, Metro, TG-Regional Rail, Light Rail, and Airport Rail. Apart from two underground metropolitan rail (Metro) lines that run under the NRC layer, which was once above ground, each additional service required their own underground facilities built around existing infrastructure. The result has been a mass of tunnels and caverns dug under the NRC layer, with each deeper layer having to be better re-inforced than the one above but connected to it via ramps and elavator-shafts to permit access. The station is now widely regarded as maze-like and intimidating, with multiple underground concourses and lobbies, all being blocked by a forest of pillars, due to the history of its piecemeal augmentation. There has been debate to demolish the entire structure and build in its stead a more coherent one, premised on the argument that if every traveller spends 5 minutes inside looking for directions, it would compound to around 500,000 man/hours of wasted productivity time per diem. This plan has not received much support, due to the extreme chaos that would inevitably result if the plan were to proceed.

Issues

Ageing infrastructure

Though fundamentally safe and operationally sound, the visible infrastructure of Kien-k'ang's transport system has aged significantly and come under public attention. The Chrio-tsiak-muehn Station, with all its aforementioned faults, is at the centre of the debate around a comprehensive update to transport infrastructure since the 1990s. The successive additions of different modes of transport to the station's physical structure has resulted in chaotic foot traffic flow, which is further obstructed by the dense placement of pillars and low ceilings that block lines of sight critical for looking for signage. Most of these limitations stem from the use or development of spaces never intended to exist or to accommodate the public. Furthermore, the expansion of the station deeper underground has not helped with guiding traffic flow, which is channeled into different levels, platforms, and pathways by a myriad of escelators, tunnels, and stairwells, often installed in makeshift or remote locations in order not to disturb the structures above it, thus requiring travellers to move unintuitively and inefficiently. The amount of signage therefore requisite to make the station remotely navigable has given the interior an extremely busy appearance, which detracts from what little beauty the station naturally has.