Vlud Sdadbaan
| File:Sdadbaan vlud logo.png | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Owner | Vlud City Council Province of Vlud |
| Locale | City of Vlud, Province of Vlud, Plains, Wik, Brudon, Wesel |
| Transit type | Suburban rail |
| Number of lines | 20 lines 48 services |
| Number of stations | 149 |
| Annual ridership | 213 million |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 1989 (as a system) First line opened in 1840 |
The Vlud Sdadbaan (English: Vlud City Railway) is the suburban and commuter rail service for the metropolitan area of Vlud. It serves an area encompassing five provinces and one independent city and containing over four million people. The Sdadbaan forms one of the four main pillars of Vlud's dense transport system, along with buses, the Vlud Metro and the city's tram system. The Sdadbaan network is centred on Vlud's two main central stations, Goydmurt station and Piterkusel station; all trains terminate at one of these stations.
History
Most of the railway lines that today make up the Sdadbaan were opened in the late 1800s and early 1900s during a boom in both rail openings and in prosperity for Vlud. The towns around Vlud started to experience significant population growth, particularly as wealthier Vlud residents moved out of the then-polluted city. This provoked a large amount of speculative railway-building, which was accompanied by further investments by regional railway companies to win access via their own lines to the lucrative passenger market of central Vlud. These developments caused a big yet incoherent network of lines around Vlud to be built, often under different operators and terminating at different stations in the city centre.
All the lines currently in the Sdadbaan system had been built by 1922, when the line from Langdon to Wesge was constructed, connecting the Vlud and Mafiy Railway's main line to Mafiy from Piterkusel with Panneweg station, then a busy terminus in the heart of the city's financial district. With the consolidation of most of these private railway lines into the (still private) Vyvluder Nazonalbaan company, the network that today makes up the Sdadbaan became more integrated. Construction of a loop railway following the old route of the city walls was begun in 1909 with a link between Goydmurt (then the terminus just for trains to the southeast) and Dirgurden (then a terminus for trains from the northeast), and completed after the Vyvlander Civil War with a link between Panneweg and Piterkusel. The tunnel under Goydmurt street (connecting Goydmurt and Piterkusel) took fifteen years to complete but greatly raised connectivity and flexibility for trains in Vlud. By the shutting of the Lyksdal-Sdaamro-Baan's Stirdryvweg station in 1942, all stations in Vlud had become through stations.
Ownership and operation
The Sdadbaan's stations and tracks are owned by Vyvlubaan (Vyvland's national railway company), which also operates the train services. The only exception to this is the Wesenkles Line (service numbers 27 and 67) which is owned by the private Wesenkles Railway Company although is branded as part of the Sdadbaan network.
Funding comes mainly from Vyvlubaan, though Vlud City Council and the Province of Vlud also pay some of the costs of the lines, particularly in subsidies for the less profitable services such as services 25/65 and 32/72. In a complex arrangement, Vlud City Council pays for the subsidies for stations in some municipalities which border the city despite them being in the Province of Vlud; these municipalities have chosen to delegate their powers for transport to Vlud City Council rather than to the provincial government in return for stops on the city's tram and metro systems. Despite not owning any of the lines and many of the network's stations being outside its territorial control, the strategic planning and timetabling for the network is controlled by the provincial government.
Fares
Unlike the metro, buses and trams, the Sdadbaan operates an independent fare system. It has been a longterm commitment of Vlud City Council to integrate the Sdadbaan's fares and ticketing with the trams and metro but due to the funding structure of the Sdadbaan this has been hard to achieve.
Fares are divided into five zones, each of which corresponds to the political boundaries. Zone 0 encompasses the two terminal stations of Piterkusel and Goydmurt; it was introduced in 2007 to try to limit overcrowding at these stations and to get passengers onto the metro and trams before reaching these stations. Zone 1 includes the whole area inside the city limits of Vlud except for Wessunbryk station. Zone 2 includes those municipalities which delegate their transport powers to the city of Vlud, namely Keykre, Repels, Pegrems-en-Vlud, Langdon, Rukroi, Haflig, Greves, Veerveld, Vecanbek and Utec, as well as Wessunbryk station. Zone 3 consists of the remainder of the province of Vlud and the municipality of Noviy. Zone 4 consists of the remainder of the system.
Services
The Sdadbaan operates a complex network of trains, all of which originate at either Goydmurt or Piterkusel stations. Each is assigned a two-digit code from 20 to 99 (lower numbers are reserved for the trams and metro), which are allocated as follows:
| First digit | Meaning | First digit | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Trains to the western side of the River Fule, terminating at Piterkusel | 6 | Trains with second digits parallel to the 2-series of trains, to the western side of the River Fule, terminating at Goydmurt via Piterkusel |
| 3 | Trains to the eastern side of the River Fule (and to Wesge Airport), terminating at Goydmurt | 7 | Trains with second digits parallel to the 3-series of trains, to the eastern side of the River Fule (and to Wesge Airport), terminating at Piterkusel via Goydmurt |
| 4 | Trains to the western side of the River Fule, terminating at Piterkusel. Also two trains directly from Piterkusel to the eastern bank without passing through Goydmurt | 8 | Trains with second digits parallel to the 4-series of trains, to the western side of the River Fule, terminating at Goydmurt via Piterkusel |
| 5 | Trains to the eastern side of the River Fule, terminating at Goydmurt | 9 | Trains with second digits parallel to the 5-series of trains, to the eastern side of the River Fule, terminating at Piterkusel via Goydmurt |
Some of these services, particularly those beginning with 6, 7, 8 and 9, are very infrequent and will only be scheduled on off-peak times and/or at irregular intervals due to capacity limits.