Ferrology

Ferrology is study of mass transportation systems, with special focus on railways, which seeks to find theories that link statistics and social sciences through which the outcome of transit systems can be optimized.

Advances in ferrology often enable advances in new transportation technologies. For example, advances in the understanding of population densities, interstation spacing, and vehicle design led directly to the development of new theories and applications that have dramatically transformed the way railways are built in Riamo, such as inner-outer city rail differentiation, tramways, and electric trenchways; advances in stations design led to the development of standardization associations (such as the Standard Eastern Rail;

Etymology

The word is a Riamese term first introduced by Marcus Thorn to describe the group of schools of thought clashing around the expansion of Riamese railways in the 19th century. These schools of thought, which had their origins in political views and economical beliefs, would eventually become fully-fleshed theories by the 20th century, and would come together to encompass what he considered a mathematical science with phylosophical aspects.

The word itself comes from ferrus ("iron"), a romance word introduced via Gavrilia from Canteria, referring to the irons, a popular nickname of rail trakc sin Riamo.

Schools of thought

Tram-Train Theory

Ashbury Metrolink train of the 3000 series

The school defends the usage of a train-tram hybrid as main and only auxiliary transport method to buses. It would operate on normal gauge rails alongside normal trains, while also passing through the deep urban center in a tram-like way. The 3T was sparkled by the need of good regional rail to connect the long metropolitan area along the Leight river, and demonstrated the need of good regional rail to evade depopulation of the countryside.

The 3T school has been characterized for being profound defenders of the bottom-up budget scheme, by which the base of any transportation system is to be fund more at the lower levels, prioritizing them in order the following order: cycles - buses - tram-rains - national rail.

The school's scheme of lines is notorious for the usage of branches and vast amounts of shared track, all to be coordinated by a centralized system.

A variant of the theory, the so-called Train-tram + Tram Theory (also known as 4T) defends the usage of both regular trams and train-trams. The first ones, smaller and slower, would operate in city centers and have smaller distances between stations, working more as streetcars than trams. The latter would operate between the urban core and the periphery, with less stops in the city center, dedicated right of way, good connectivity with tram lines, and possibly operating underground in some sections where land is dense in infrastructure or roadways.

Portish

Official 2021 map of the Portington Trenchway system

Also known as the Simplistic approach or Portington's Way, the Portish system would define Portington's approach at making a trenchway system. Its golden rule, described by famous author and defender Aurthur D.Pattingson is that of "mantaining the highest possible simplicity achievable with local conditions".

Notorious elements of the simplistic approach include the idea of mantaining lineal lines with no branches, keeping at a minimum terminus stations without connection to other lines, reduced usage of tramways, and usage of grid-like patterns when possible because, as Pattingson mentions it in his book Our transit, "grids are the most powerful tool available to trenchway systems to improve connectivity and ease of use, for as long as their usage does not interfere with quality of the system".