Draft - The Rail Gauge Mandate

[Eraplevok]

General Assembly
Free Trade

This piece of legislation is meant to reduce barriers between nations and encourage free trade and economic growth by standarizing railroad gauges, signalling and electrical systems.

Defines a rail gauge as the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing parallel rails that make up a single railway line.

Recognizes that not all nations have the same rail gauge, making it a man-made barrier between natons

Concerned that since there is no standardization of rail gauges, it hinders the transportation of goods and people between nations.

Concerned when a railway line of one gauge meets a line of another gauge there is a break of gauge. A break of gauge adds cost and inconvenience to traffic that passes from one system to another.

Hereby establishes the IRC (International Railroad Committee). The purpose of IRC is to promulgate rail safety regulations, administer railroad assistance programs, conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and international rail transportation policy and consolidate WA support of rail transportation activities.

Mandates that the standard rail gauge be 5 ft (1524 mm) for a maximum speed of 60 mph (96.6 km/h).

Historically, the choice of gauge was partly arbitrary and partly a response to local conditions. Narrow-gauge railways are cheaper to build and can negotiate sharper curves but broad-gauge railways give greater stability and permit higher speeds. This Standard gauge is a compromise between the narrow and broad gauges. The standard gauge is also essential due to an increase in international communication and a smaller world.

Nations that comply will see a greater flux of goods and people due to the ease of transportation. Those that comply will also see the expansion of their markets.
--
Theres the draft, tell me how to fix it

[East Ying]

'The Delegation is excited about this revolution in transportation regulation, however, the Delegation is also fairly depressed due to the lack of international railroads connecting to the island of East Ying. Despite our personal quarrels with the advent of railroad and it's slight absence on our island, we approve of this legislation, and will devote ourselves to helping the honourable author in revising his draft and bringing it up to General Assembly standards. The Delegation rests'

[East Ying]

DEFINES a rail gauge as the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing parallel rails that make up a single railway line.

RECOGNIZES that not all nations have the same size rail gauge, making this a barrier between international railroad transportation.

CONCERNED that since there is no standard rail gauge size, it hinders the transportation of goods and people between nations.
CONCERNED that when a railway line of one gauge meets a line of another gauge there is a break of gauge.

ASSERTS that a break of gauge adds cost and inconvenience to traffic that passes from one system to another.

RESOLVED the IRC (International Railroad Committee) shall be established.

RESOLVED the IRC shall promulgate rail safety regulations, administer railroad assistance programs, conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and international rail transportation policy and consolidate WA support of rail transportation activities.

NOTES that the IRC shall draw funds from the WA Central Fund

MANDATESthat the standard rail gauge be 5 ft (1524 mm) for a maximum speed of 60 mph (96.6 km/h).

DEFINES a standard gauge as a gauge that is a compromise between the narrow and broad gauges. The standard gauge is essential due to an increase in international communication and a smaller world.

RESOLVED member states will see a greater flux of goods and people due to the ease of transportation. Those that comply will also see the expansion of their markets.

'The Delegation has forwarded it's request to coauthor this piece of legislation, and thereby presents this revised piece of legislation for the author's pleasure.'

[Charlotte Ryberg]

The honoured ambassador from Charlotte Ryberg thinks that it should be 1435mm (4 ft 8.5 in) for all new and refurbished rail lines. It's common sense and something many are used to.

[East Ying]

'The Delegation from East Ying echos it's Charlotte Rybergian counterpart'

[Sionis Prioratus]

The honoured ambassador from Charlotte Ryberg thinks that it should be 1435mm (4 ft 8.5 in) for all new and refurbished rail lines. It's common sense and something many are used to.

How much is this in IMI units?

Yours,

[Mikedor]

for a maximum speed of 60 mph (96.6 km/h).

Thereby taking rail travel back to the 1880's...

[Eraplevok]

for a maximum speed of 60 mph (96.6 km/h).

Thereby taking rail travel back to the 1880's...

Most mainline track (2010), especially those owned by major railroads is class 4 track. fastest and safest speed on class 4 track is 60 mph for freight trains and 80 mph for passenger trains. There are 9 classes of track. Class 5 is very uncommon where freight trains can travel 80 mph. Class 6 for 110 mph. Class 7 for 125 mph. Class 8 for 160 mph. There are currently no class 9 tracks. For the class 8 tracks, they arent even whole rail tracks, rather portions of that track. Class 6 and 7 is rare due to cost of laying the track and maintenance. So I am basing this resolution off of a current class system, so I naturally picked class 4. I will specify the speed and class in this proposal. Thanks for making me aware.

[Grays Harbor]

The honoured ambassador from Charlotte Ryberg thinks that it should be 1435mm (4 ft 8.5 in) for all new and refurbished rail lines. It's common sense and something many are used to.

We would like to add to this that this gauge is used by over 60% of all railroads, whereas this 5 ft (broad) gauge is currently used by 4/10ths of 1%. A further 17% currently use a similar broad gauge of 4' 11 5/16".

Why should the majority of railroads, which are mainly domestic, convert all their rail, rolling stock and motive power to conform with a minority? Why do we need to conform to a single standar gauge at all? The overwhelming majority of railroads are purely domestic. Where there are international rail junctions, for the vast majority of them these neighboring nations already conform to a single agreed upon gauge.

The Kingdom relies heavily on our rail system for both freight and passenger traffic, so this is an issue important to us. We fail to see the utility to mandate that all railroads conform to a single gauge particularly as most, if not all, of those of differing gauges do not border on one another and rarely, if ever, share traffic. The use of intermodal containers would be sufficient to allow far disopersed nations to interact via rail, especially considering that there are container ships moving the goods between these countries anyhow.

Another objection we have is to the mandated arbitrary speed limit. Should the rails, roadbeds and equipment be capable of higher safe speeds, then they should have no impediment to their going faster. A case is point is high speed passenger trains, or priority intermodal traffic. There is no need to have a WA mandated arbitrary maximum speed of 60mph.

[Grays Harbor]

for a maximum speed of 60 mph (96.6 km/h).

Thereby taking rail travel back to the 1880's...

Most mainline track (2010), especially those owned by major railroads is class 4 track. fastest and safest speed on class 4 track is 60 mph for freight trains and 80 mph for passenger trains. There are 9 classes of track. Class 5 is very uncommon where freight trains can travel 80 mph. Class 6 for 110 mph. Class 7 for 125 mph. Class 8 for 160 mph. There are currently no class 9 tracks. For the class 8 tracks, they arent even whole rail tracks, rather portions of that track. Class 6 and 7 is rare due to cost of laying the track and maintenance. So I am basing this resolution off of a current class system, so I naturally picked class 4. I will specify the speed and class in this proposal. Thanks for making me aware.

Our objection to this is that by arbitrarily picking Class 4 as the standard for everybody, you are placing artificial limits on the development and introduction of better and faster equipment and rail to no good purpose.

[Greenlandic People]

Unfortunately, this resolution strikes me as being little more than pork-barrel spending, with no clear utility presenting itself.

I understand the intention of course, and I do support efforts to make commerce easier and hassle-free. However we must stop and ask ourselves: how much international commerce is actually conducted by rail? I know that my own nation conducts it's international trade almost entirely through nautical shipping, and none at all by rail line. Whilst rail standardization may be beneficial to commerce and trade conducted within a nation, the issue of adopting a nationwide standard for rail gauge measurements is not a matter worthy of the World Assembly's attention.

-Sigismund Ibsen
Greenlandic Ambassador to the World Assembly

[Eraplevok]

The honoured ambassador from Charlotte Ryberg thinks that it should be 1435mm (4 ft 8.5 in) for all new and refurbished rail lines. It's common sense and something many are used to.

We would like to add to this that this gauge is used by over 60% of all railroads, whereas this 5 ft (broad) gauge is currently used by 4/10ths of 1%. A further 17% currently use a similar broad gauge of 4' 11 5/16".

Why should the majority of railroads, which are mainly domestic, convert all their rail, rolling stock and motive power to conform with a minority? Why do we need to conform to a single standar gauge at all? The overwhelming majority of railroads are purely domestic. Where there are international rail junctions, for the vast majority of them these neighboring nations already conform to a single agreed upon gauge.

The Kingdom relies heavily on our rail system for both freight and passenger traffic, so this is an issue important to us. We fail to see the utility to mandate that all railroads conform to a single gauge particularly as most, if not all, of those of differing gauges do not border on one another and rarely, if ever, share traffic. The use of intermodal containers would be sufficient to allow far disopersed nations to interact via rail, especially considering that there are container ships moving the goods between these countries anyhow.

Another objection we have is to the mandated arbitrary speed limit. Should the rails, roadbeds and equipment be capable of higher safe speeds, then they should have no impediment to their going faster. A case is point is high speed passenger trains, or priority intermodal traffic. There is no need to have a WA mandated arbitrary maximum speed of 60mph.

Frankly, I can't tell when its ok to use real world stuff or roleplaying stuff, I just picked 5ft because its a nice even number, it can easily change to what the majority of the real world has, its just a draft. Then 60% of the world has it at 4ft 8.5 inches, which means thare had to be a standard in place. The standard improved transportation and expand the market and just made it easier. I want to apply that to the international community.

This standard rail gauge will make it simplistic when laying track because all contractors will know how to make it. It was like Eli Whitney's idea to have replaceable parts with muskets - more cost efficient and easier to maintain. The idea worked so well that more businesses adopted it. This piece of legislation recognizes this and will make laying track and maintaining it easier. All businesses involved with manufacturing railroard lines will know how to make it because of the standard, all contractors will know how to lay it and maintain it because of the standard. It will benefit domestically and internationally.

Real life - european countries are so close that there must be a standard and they do. If they all had differing gauges, to get from Spain to Slovakia would be incredibly time consuming and an unnecessary burden to keep changing all the bogies. This is an international issue if these countries must do it anyway.

A standard gauge would encourage free trade between nations and make the cost of manufacturing, laying, and maintaining track cheaper.

I don't have a response to the container ships cause this is about railroads, then you still have to put a intermodal container on the train car, and the train car would be more easily manufactured if there is a standard.

Sure. we can do away with the mandated speed limit. I do not think it would hinder the advancement of railroad track though or train engines, just like speed limits on highways dont hinder the advancement of cars or roads.

[Eraplevok]

Unfortunately, this resolution strikes me as being little more than pork-barrel spending, with no clear utility presenting itself.

I understand the intention of course, and I do support efforts to make commerce easier and hassle-free. However we must stop and ask ourselves: how much international commerce is actually conducted by rail? I know that my own nation conducts it's international trade almost entirely through nautical shipping, and none at all by rail line. Whilst rail standardization may be beneficial to commerce and trade conducted within a nation, the issue of adopting a nationwide standard for rail gauge measurements is not a matter worthy of the World Assembly's attention.

-Sigismund Ibsen
Greenlandic Ambassador to the World Assembly

So, your nation has no railroad connecting in other nations?

Why do your businesses use only nautical shipping to trade?

Would this piece of legislation harm your industries?

[Greenlandic People]

Unfortunately, this resolution strikes me as being little more than pork-barrel spending, with no clear utility presenting itself.

I understand the intention of course, and I do support efforts to make commerce easier and hassle-free. However we must stop and ask ourselves: how much international commerce is actually conducted by rail? I know that my own nation conducts it's international trade almost entirely through nautical shipping, and none at all by rail line. Whilst rail standardization may be beneficial to commerce and trade conducted within a nation, the issue of adopting a nationwide standard for rail gauge measurements is not a matter worthy of the World Assembly's attention.

-Sigismund Ibsen
Greenlandic Ambassador to the World Assembly

So, your nation has no railroad connecting in other nations?

Why do your businesses use only nautical shipping to trade?

Would this piece of legislation harm your industries?

We are an island nation, and therefore it is impossible for us to have any land connection to any other country, barring the construction of some sort of underwater tunnel

Nautical shipping is the cheapest and most efficient way to move goods in the modern world- air travel is faster but too costly to be used en masse. Railroads, unless expertly built and maintained, cannot move goods at the same speeds or in the same quantities as a sea lanes can. Ultimately, I feel that only landlocked countries stand to benefit from making railway shipping their primary mode of international commerce. Any other country that has a port can ship their goods faster and in larger numbers by means of the sea.

Therefore I think that it would be foolish for the World Assembly to demand an overhaul of the existing railroad networks of member states. Even if the World Assembly somehow manages to cover the entire cost (and the cost will be staggering), the hours of operation lost due to the required construction and maintenance of new rail gauges would be catastrophic to the very industry that you are trying to support.

-Sigismund Ibsen
Greenlandic Ambassador to the World Assembly

[Eraplevok]

good point, scrap this legislation. We are an island nation too, so we won't benfit. Is anyone else an island nation? I guess the issue is a domestic one so everyone can have their own different rail gauge. Locomotives are on the way out due to more efficient container ships. Then the cost of it all is incalculable. It makes me wonder how there are even domestic standards in the first place. It also makes me wonder how much money the WA has and how it manages to operate all its other committee's and such. The current system is fine, and let the market run its course. This proposal is a waste of everybody's time. Its gone.

[Greenlandic People]

I do hope that this delegation has not discouraged the ambassador from Eraplevok, or dampened his enthusiasm with our comments. It is simply our steadfast duty to provide honest critique and criticism of the drafts that pass through these halls.

I hope that I may see more legislative efforts from your nation in the future.

-Sigismund Ibsen
Greenlandic Ambassador to the World Assembly

[Novus Niciae]

General Assembly
Free Trade

This piece of legislation is meant to reduce barriers between nations and encourage free trade and economic growth by standarizing railroad gauges, signalling and electrical systems.

Defines a rail gauge as the distance between the inner sides of the heads of the two load bearing parallel rails that make up a single railway line.

Recognizes that not all nations have the same rail gauge, making it a man-made barrier between natons

Concerned that since there is no standardization of rail gauges, it hinders the transportation of goods and people between nations.

Concerned when a railway line of one gauge meets a line of another gauge there is a break of gauge. A break of gauge adds cost and inconvenience to traffic that passes from one system to another.

Hereby establishes the IRC (International Railroad Committee). The purpose of IRC is to promulgate rail safety regulations, administer railroad assistance programs, conduct research and development in support of improved railroad safety and international rail transportation policy and consolidate WA support of rail transportation activities.

Mandates that the standard rail gauge be 5 ft (1524 mm) for a maximum speed of 60 mph (96.6 km/h).

Historically, the choice of gauge was partly arbitrary and partly a response to local conditions. Narrow-gauge railways are cheaper to build and can negotiate sharper curves but broad-gauge railways give greater stability and permit higher speeds. This Standard gauge is a compromise between the narrow and broad gauges. The standard gauge is also essential due to an increase in international communication and a smaller world.

Nations that comply will see a greater flux of goods and people due to the ease of transportation. Those that comply will also see the expansion of their markets.
--
Theres the draft, tell me how to fix it

This would completely destroy my high-speed maglev rail system and I would be forced to adopt an antiquated slow system and have to tear up and replace many thousands of miles of maglev track and replace it with the new standard system (at great expense) and I do not even have a land border with another WA nation so I could benefit from free trade.

Our trains can manage 500kph on straight sections and are very efficient at transporting goods from one end my nation to the other and this legislation would increase transit times by over 500% making the resulting new system not financially viable and require constant subsidies to stay in business at great expense to the taxpayers of my nation.

So I oppose this since it would be all cost and no benefit for my nation.

This could be improved by just putting in two provisions.

1: Mandate standardized container sizes and have nations that have an incompatible system to their WA neighbors build transfer stations so that these standard containers can be moved onto the rolling stock of that nation with greater ease.

2: Exempt nations that have no land borders with other WA nations from this legislation. Since it would serve no beneficial purpose for these nations to change their system.

[Bears Armed Mission]

"What works as a standard gauge for some human nations wouldn't really be wide enough to be safe for us... and what about the situations in which some nations' railway systems currently operate routes that have narrower gauges than whatever existing 'standards' they might have, possibly due to terrain or to industrial requirements? What about any cases in which specific industries might operate their own systems, on a 'local' basis, that actually have wider gauges than the 'standards' due to those industries' own requirements? Indeed, if a company is operating trains only on its own lines and those routes are not even connected to a wider national network -- let alone to an international one -- why should it be considered necessary for them to adopt anybody else's 'standard' gauge at all?"


Artorrios o SouthWoods,
Chairbear, Bears Armed Mission at the World Assembly.