The next morning.
As the rumbling train arrived, Xiangyang West Station was already bustling with people.
Su Xun's family of five stayed in Xiangyang for one night yesterday to relieve the fatigue of the boat journey in recent days. They will set off for Bianliang by train this morning.
Just after the hour of Mao, they arrived at Xiangyang West Station.
Su Xun first went to the stationmaster's office to get a note to confirm that he was going to Bianliang on business, and then he was allowed to buy a ticket and board the train.
Because the only train line currently in operation in the Song Dynasty is the Jingxiang Railway, the rest of the Changcheng Railway from Chang'an to Chengdu, the Jingguang Railway from Xiangyang to Guangzhou, and the Jingbei Railway from Bianliang to Yanyun are all under construction.
The Changcheng Railway was also planned during the Qingli Five-Year Plan, and construction began in the sixth year of the Qingli Period. However, the Jingxiang Railway has been in operation for four years, while the Changcheng Railway will not be open to traffic until next year due to the terrain.
The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway was planned in the ninth year of the Qingli reign, so it will probably be completed in the next two years. Only the Beijing-Beijing Railway will be slightly later, but the construction speed in the plain area will be very fast.
However, even though Zhao Jun has already made a 30-year railway plan for the Song Dynasty, it is expected that within the next 30 years, the Song Dynasty's railways will connect all the road administrations, prefectures, and county towns in the country, making trains the main means of transportation in the Song Dynasty.
But at least there is still only one now.
Moreover, the main transportation on the Beijing-Xiangyang Railway is cargo, and most of the trains are freight trains. For example, freight trains usually run every three hours, while passenger trains run every six hours, so delays are common.
Therefore, the current trains are still not affordable for ordinary people, and ordinary people are temporarily not allowed to buy tickets to travel between Beijing and Xiangyang by train.
Currently, it serves only a few people. One of them is big business owners, such as tea merchants, grain merchants, salt merchants, etc., who spend a lot of money to hire trains to transport goods. Naturally, the bosses and their entourage can also enjoy the convenience of taking the train.
The second group is officials on official business who have clear proof of being on official business. For example, Su Xun was going to Bianliang this time. He first reported to the Ministry of Personnel, then went to the Court of Examination for examination and selection, and then waited for notification from the Ministry of Personnel, and naturally he could take the train.
The third group includes people in special circumstances, such as extremely wealthy officials and dignitaries, or clerks delivering urgent reports to the court, as well as troops ordered to travel between two places for rotation or garrison.
This means that trains cannot be considered a convenient means of transportation for the common people.
But this is normal.
Just like many new technologies in later generations, they are often used in the military first. Since these things have not yet been popularized, they naturally cannot benefit the general public. Once the national railway network is rolled out, it will become normal for ordinary people to take the train.
Although Su Shi's family were officials on official business, they still had to buy tickets. The high ticket prices were painful even for the Su family, a wealthy local family in Meizhou.
After buying tickets from the ticket office, the family of five went to the waiting hall.
The train station is quite simple, surrounded by iron fences on the outside, and a factory-like bungalow made of concrete inside.
This bungalow is the waiting room, but it is very spacious. The first floor is the waiting hall and the second floor is the office. The overall look is a bit like a county bus station in later generations, but it was already very luxurious in the Song Dynasty.
The waiting hall was quite quiet at this moment. Those coming and going were either big businessmen and big bosses, or officials and dignitaries. Naturally, it was not as noisy and bustling as the train stations and bus stations of later generations.
It's very chaotic outside.
Because of freight transportation, a large number of workers are needed outside to move and unload goods. After the train arrives at the station, it often needs to change tracks through switches, turn around first, then stop outside to unload and load goods, and finally set off to Bianliang.
Freight trucks have a higher priority than passenger buses, so sometimes unloading and loading are completed earlier or later, which takes up the departure time of passenger buses and causes delays.
Su Shi and Su Zhe looked around like two curious babies. They saw a huge open space to the south of the bungalow where a large number of horse-drawn carriages were unloading goods. In the farther direction, there was a train parked there, obviously loading goods.
Compared to Su Zhe, the 16-year-old Su Shi quickly thought of a question. He said to Su Xun: "Father, the train runs every hour and a half, right?"
"Um."
Su Xun thought Su Shi was asking about the departure time and said, "I asked Stationmaster Liu before, and he said that our trip should be able to leave in another half an hour."
Su Shi shook his head and said, "That's not what I want to ask. I want to know, if a train breaks down and stops on the way, then if it's not repaired within an hour and a half, will the train behind it hit the train in front?"
"this"
Su Xun was suddenly speechless, as this question touched upon his blind spot in knowledge.
Su Che was clever and said, "It's impossible that the Ministry of Railways didn't think of this. Besides, the Beijing-Xiang Railway has been running for many years without any accidents. There must be some way to communicate."
"This young man is right."
A businessman sitting across from the family smiled and pointed to the platform outside the station and said, "Look what that is?"
They all looked over and saw that there were telephone poles with wires hanging on them near the platform where they boarded the train outside.
It’s just that electric wires are not yet widely available. Currently, only some have been installed in Chengdu, and they use steam engines instead of hydropower, so they don’t know what they are.
Seeing their puzzled expressions, the businessman smiled and said, "That's an electric wire."
"electric wire?"
"Yes, the imperial court has laid wires along the entire route. Every station has a telegraph station, and there's a telegraph booth every ten miles."
"What's the use of it?"
"The wires can be used to send telegraph messages to inform the platform. If a train stops due to a breakdown, the line between the train line and the telegraph booth can be used to report to the platform."
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