Steel Road

Xallalbatan ⵅⴰⵍⵍⴰⵍⴱⴰⵜⴰⵏ
A freight train on the Xallalbatan
Overview
Type	Combined freight and passenger line
Status	Operational
Locale	Charnea Ninva desert
Termini	Hamath (East terminus) Ekelhoc (West terminus)
Stations	247
Operation
Opened	1930
Character	At-grade
Technical
Track length	3,245 km
Track gauge	1,500 mm (4 ft 11 in)

The Xallalbatan (Tamashek: ⵅⴰⵍⵍⴰⵍⴱⴰⵜⴰⵏ, tr. "Backbone", reporting mark XB), also known as the Ninvite Railroad, is a freight and passenger rail line which serves as the central axis of the transportation network in Charnea. It is comparable in its geographic extent to the main lines of the West Scipian Railway while being entirely contained within one nation. The eastern and western termini of the Xallalbatan in the cities of Hamath and Ekelhoc respectively are approximately 1,300 kilometers apart, although the actual length of the railroad exceeds 3,200 kilometers traversing most of the Ninva as well as the Adjer and Arwa mountain ranges. The Xallalbatan serves to link up the small, densely inhabited productive regions of Charnea, each of which is centered on one of the six major cities of the country: Hamath, Perset, Azut, Agnannet, Tanitnet, and Ekelhoc (ordered from east to west). The line earns its name from its status as the backbone of the Charnean logistical web from which all spurs and international lines branch off, serving as the main logistical link through which goods and people flow between all six strategic regions of Charnea and the rest of the world. The Xallalbatan is organized as a holding company, in which the Charnean state owns a controlling interest. Its headquarters is located in the town of Azemmaz, a railroad town between Agnannet and Azut which is generally considered to be the exact midpoint of the Xallalbatan.

History

The early XB steam locomotives were operated with the help of many experienced foreign engineers.

By the turn of the 20th century, Charnea had fallen well behind the rest of the world in terms of its technological and economic sophistication. Much of the nation still relied on traditional nomadic pastoralism, while the political cohesion within the Imperial government of the time had degraded to the point of the eastern regions of Deshret and Hatheria becoming de facto independent. Modernists in Agnannet worried that the dissolution of their Empire would be inevitable unless radical changes were implemented to create a modern centralized state backed by an industrial economy which would be capable of competing with Charnea's many neighbors, which they viewed as the only way for the people of the Ninva to retain their independence. The ambitions of the Imperial Reform manifested themselves in the Eastern Railroad, a project championed by the Modernists which aimed to build a railway from the majority Tenerian city of Azut into neighboring Alanahr, which was already well underway in its industrialization efforts in that era. The Eastern Railroad would pass through Perset and Hamath, the capitals of Deshret and Hatheria respectively, linking the two regions both to the loyal city of Azut through which the diktats of Agnannet could flow more easily, as well as to the important export markets of Happara, Alanahr, and the rest of the East Scipian-Periclean-Northern Ozeros region.

The Eastern Railroad was completed in 1923 after three long years of construction fraught with difficulties, not least of which was the military expedition by the newly reformed and modernized Charnean Army to re-assert Agnannet's control over its rebellious eastern territories through which the railroad was to run. Once in operation, the rail line was a modest but not overwhelming success in terms of the commerce and added export value it enabled. The railroad's main success, however, was political in nature. Within just a few short years, the Eastern Railroad allowed Agnannet to fully integrate Perset, Hamath, and the economies which surrounded those hubs, something which past governments had struggled to accomplish for centuries. This was a huge victory for the Modernists, who now had proof that their proposal of a modernized and industrial Charnea could function as a nation far more unified than was thought possible by older generations of Charnean political thinkers. More specifically, it proved the efficacy of the railroad in linking the far flung corners of Charnea and in so doing enabling their integration into a much more homogenous economic and political system. The Modernists soon pushed for the creation of new rail lines all across Charnea to imitate the success of the Eastern Railroad, and complete the infrastructural integration of the country. This was the birth of the Xallalbatan.

Using the Eastern Railroad as a starting base, the Xallalbatan as it is known today would be built over the course of five years, reaching Agnannet in 1929 and its final terminus in Ekelhoc the following year. Construction was undertaken by a government initiative involving two Charnean companies and one Anahri, including the then-newly formed Mamala Combine. Upon its completion, the Xallalbatan (including the Eastern Railroad) was officially established. In exchange for generous compensation and a series of rail subsidies, the private firms involved agreed to cede to the Charnean state a 60% stake in the Xallalbatan railroad.

Branches

As the central axis of the Charnean rail network, the Xallabatan has hundreds of spurs and branch lines which connect to various sites and towns for which the path of the Xallalbatan could not be diverted during its planning and construction, either because of difficult terrain, distance, or simply because the town or industrial site had not been established yet at the time of its construction. The most important branches, however, are long distance international routes which split from the entirely Charnean extent of the Xallalbatan in order to connect it to the railway networks of neighboring countries. Five such branches exist, subdivided into two eastern, two western, and one southern branch line.

The two eastern branches consist of an Anahri spur and a Happaran-Fahrani spur. The first and most economically relevant of these is a Perset-Kahrash-Ashalaph railroad, most of which is internal to the Anahri rail system. This line splits from the Xallalbatan at Perset, its second major node from east to west, and proceeds north through the desert which dominates southern Alanahr, passing through the Anahri capital of Kahrash before terminating in Ashalaph, an Anahri port which serves as a major logistics hub on the Periclean sea. The majority of Charnea's mineral exports, which are geographically distributed in the eastern half of the country, flow through this branch to reach the maritime trade routes of the Periclean. The Happaran-Fahrani spur, which runs from Hamath into Fahran by way of Happara, is older and was once the more favored of the two eastern branches. However, it fell into disuse thanks to deteriorating relations between Charnea and Fahran which culminated in the Ninvite War, a conflict which completely barred all civilian traffic from that line and resulted in the diversion of most export traffic from east Charnea to the Anahri branch which would prove permanent.

The western branches are of a decidedly more industrial charachter than their eastern cousins, carrying the manufactured goods (primarily metal and plastic products) from the main industrial centers in central and western Charnea to the Periclean market by way of the Rubric Coast nations. The most well-trafficked of these is the Awakar Route connecting Agnannet to the port of New Tyria, the Tyreseian capital city. The Taɣlamt, a high-speed rail passenger service, runs along this route. The second of the western branches is the Ekelhoc-Maktarim line, which follows the path of the old Azaley caravan route between the ancient heart of the Amazigh world and its later coastal epicenter.

The southern branch is the newest of the five, connecting Charnea with both West Itayana and M'biruna by way of East Itayana. Of the five major branches, it carries the least passenger or freight traffic, mainly consisting of agricultural imports from the fertile Karana basin into Charnea. It was originally conceived as a bypass route which could access ports on the Ozeros sea in M'biruna by passing through the pro-Charnean East Itayanan territories, serving to provide a vital backup to the embattled Happaran-Fahrani spur which previously served as the only land route linking Charnea with the Ozeros. It is, however, the most geopolitically relevant of the five Xallalbatan branches by allowing Agnannet to directly interface with the economy of East Itayana and in so doing exert influence in the embattled eastern governorates.

Rolling stock

The Xallalbatan reports using 1,421 locomotives which are either owned or leased by the railroad for its operations. These are primarily diesel electric and gas turbine systems in which a combustion engine powers an electric generator which is then used to transmit power to the traction motors which drive the wheels, as well as to other important components of the system. The majority of the XB locomotives, particularly the older units in the fleet, are of various gas turbine types chosen because they were more cost effective as they run on numerous fuel oils deemed to be less desirable byproducts of the Charnean petroleum industry, allowing them to use exceptionally cheap fuels to operate. Over time, however, it was found that the use of such low-grade fuels would commonly incur added maintenance expenses to the railroad as fouling would become a serious problem with many engines. As a result, the newer models of locomotive in service on the Xallalbatan are of the cleaner diesel electric type. Despite the large amounts of traffic on the line, the cost to electrify the extreme length of the Xallalbatan has been considered too prohibitive to proceed with any such project. As a result, the Xallalbatan operates no purely electric locomotives, although some can be found along short and high-traffic spurs branching off the main line.

Colors

XB locomotives bear a blue and yellow color scheme, meant to symbolize water and gold which in turn represent the economic vitality of the desert. This color scheme was introduced in 1939 to standardize what was then a multicolored fleet of primarily leased locomotives, communicating a more uniform organization of the railroad. The most common alternative color scheme, in which the front 3/4 of the locomotive is red and the last quarter is black, was used between 1961 and 1974 by XB locomotives which are under military service as logistics trains. The practice was abandoned during a period of intensifying conflict in eastern Charnea from the 1970s onward, which saw enemies of the state selectively target trains with the red locomotives. Today, most of the old military locomotives have been repainted in the blue and yellow standard colors of the Xallalbatan, although they remain under military control for their vital role in logistics and sustainment.