Chapter 703 Trams and East African Power Development Opportunities
As the first "powerful country" in Africa, the specific manifestation is naturally the state of social development. Although the social system in East Africa seems to be a "mess", the overall social outlook is basically in sync with the entire era.
Dar es Salaam city.
Dar es Salaam has long been ranked first in East Africa's economy. It is also the largest comprehensive city in East Africa, with many data ranking among the best, so many new things will appear in Dar es Salaam.
In 1887, the first tram in East Africa was officially put into operation in Dar es Salaam, attracting the attention of the citizens of Dar es Salaam.
As early as 1881, German engineer Werner von Siemens laid the first tram track in the suburbs of Berlin, establishing the prototype of the world's first tram.
In fact, Siemens started researching trams in 1870, and had a prototype at the Berlin World Expo in 1879. As a competitor, the Berlin Electric Company naturally did not want to lag behind, and in 1875 it joined hands with the Hechingen Energie-Power Company to start designing trams.
In 1883, it successfully launched its own model, and in 1885 the East African government planned to build tram lines in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa.
It was not until 1887 that the first tram in East Africa finally started operating in Dar es Salaam. At the same time, Dar es Salaam converted its horse-drawn carriage line into an electrified tram line, becoming the world's first commercially operated tram system (the original history was in the United States in 1888).
Of course, before this, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already trial-operated the first tram line in Sarajevo, but due to technical shortcomings, the tram in Sarajevo still needed horses to provide part of the power, so it was not a truly successful tram.
In contrast, Siemens did not have such a smooth journey in Germany. Back in 1880, Siemens, which was ready to do something big, planned to build an elevated electric urban rail in Berlin. However, this move was strongly opposed by local residents because they believed that building an elevated railway would depreciate real estate.
East Africa does not have this problem. First of all, the East African government has greater say, which provides a solid foundation for the popularization of trams. At the same time, East African roads have long reserved space for tram operations, so the transformation will not cause too much trouble to East African road traffic. Besides, East Africa has no idea of building an elevated road.
"In 1807, the world's first horse-drawn passenger rail bus appeared in the UK, and it was promoted in many European cities. Trams are a new type of rail transit vehicle developed on this basis using electric motors as a power source. They are part of urban public transportation."
"To ensure the traffic in London, thousands of horses are working every day, which also brings huge pressure to the sanitation of London. Of course, this is also a common problem in many cities, such as Dar es Salaam. A large amount of feces and urine is a nightmare for cleaners, so more environmentally friendly trams will play a huge role in improving the urban living environment."
At present, the mainstream public transportation in cities is still horse-drawn carriages, but there is no doubt that trams will replace horse-drawn carriages and become the new favorite of urban rail transportation. The craziest people in this regard are the Americans in the past, who built more than 70,000 kilometers of tram lines, which is longer than the railways in many countries.
As a country that has invested heavily in the electricity sector, East Africa naturally attaches great importance to important new products of the electricity and transportation industries such as trams.
Currently, the Dar es Salaam tram factory has been put into production, and the tram lines in the entire city have been completely renovated to cover the two main urban areas.
"Before, I thought the tracks of this tram were the tracks of urban railways. I didn't expect this thing to run on it. But can this tram really run?" asked a citizen.
Intra-city railways were not uncommon in this era. For example, many train stations in London and New York were built within the city. This was done from an economic perspective, just as stations in East Africa were generally built in the suburbs.
For the citizens of Dar es Salaam who are used to seeing new things, trams are still beyond their imagination. According to official statements, trams are powered by cables hanging from the sky.
For this purpose, electric poles were erected in the green belt of the central road in Dar es Salaam to provide power.
"You can't afford a car, but the tram ticket is extremely cheap, so you can definitely give it a try. Many people have never taken a train, so they can use it as a substitute for the experience!"
Many new railways have been built in East Africa, but very few people have ever ridden on them. Trams can make up for this shortcoming to a certain extent, and their prices are very affordable. According to the salary level in Dar es Salaam, it is completely affordable.
In the era before buses and taxis, trams were the best choice. Even in the 21st century, trams are a regular urban transportation mode between buses and light rail.
In Ernst's opinion, the development potential of trams is huge, and they will not appear outdated even in the future.
There are two main reasons why various countries eliminated trams in large numbers in the mid-20th century. One is the emergence of cars. There was no so-called energy crisis in the early stages of car development, so according to people's thinking at the time, trams were not as convenient as cars. The other reason was that in the 1930s and 1940s, the world war turned the whole of Europe into a scorched earth, and rail transit maintenance was more troublesome.
Later, with the energy crisis, environmental protection concepts and the general trend of urban transportation development, trams revived in Europe and the Far East.
Trams should actually be classified as a type of "light rail" and can even be related to high-speed rail, so the development of trams will definitely have more advantages than disadvantages in terms of technological accumulation.
East Africa is a country with relatively "scarce" energy, mainly oil resources, so for East Africa, it is necessary to replace part of the fossil energy with electricity.
Currently, East Africa is developing in a multi-polar way in terms of electricity supply. Except for the high threshold of nuclear energy, thermal power, wind power, hydropower, and even solar energy and tidal energy are all key projects that East Africa is focusing on.
This is also Ernst's guidance for the development of the power sector in East Africa. At the same time, Tesla's AC power is also being trial-operated in East Africa, especially long-distance transmission projects, which are paving the way for the electrification development of East Africa.
Thermal power is supported by coal mines in the south and is also the current mainstream power generation mode, while hydropower is a key research project. East Africa's hydropower resources are among the best in the world and are the most important breakthrough point in the direction of power supply.
Especially in the western Congo Basin area, there is a large amount of water, a large drop in elevation, and a stable flow throughout the year (second only to the Sahara Desert). If it can be developed, it can basically solve most of the electricity supply problems in East Africa in the future.
As for other energy sources, East Africa is a region with relatively abundant wind power and very high solar energy potential. It is the second region with the most solar radiation. In addition to tropical deserts, the vast plateau provides huge potential for East Africa.
Finally, there is nuclear energy. East Africa is very rich in uranium deposits. Unfortunately, this cutting-edge technology is not yet available to East Africa.
(End of this chapter)
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