World's Biggest, Longest Trains | Ultimate Vehicles | S01 E05 | Free Documentary

they are the fastest the largest and the most dangerous in the world they conquer every terrain and they overcome borders this is a very challenging thing to bring our new ship like this but it is much more than a challenge it's absolutely a privilege to be here and do this the design goes beyond the scope of what is technologically possible setting new standards these vehicles are milestones of Engineering and this is the father of air travel on land on water and in the air all of them are ultimate vehicles [Music] in this episode reaching record speeds on giant wheels the fastest steam locomotive in the world of all conventional high-speed trains it has the most modern drive system the IC e form also a luxury hotel on Rails the Japanese cheeky Shima who brings exclusivity to a new level the mountain climber of trains this cog railway tackles the world's steepest route and the longest train in the world for kilometres of cars cars and more cars this ultimate vehicle is a steel monster the D r18 201 built for high speed tests it is by far the fastest steam locomotive in the world the Express locomotive undertook its first journey on May 31st 1961 despite its service weight of 172 tons including tender it can reach speeds of 180 kilometers an hour Germany Saxon and halt the former devil in Luther stat Wittenberg today a railroad museum and the home of the dr 18 201 it is over 25 metres long its wheels have a diameter of two point three meters making them the biggest on german rails one wheel set alone weighs five and a half tonnes tomorrow the 8201 will undertake a special journey to poland in preparation engineer Matthias Gerhart must heat up the engine now a complicated procedure opposed to other steam locomotives which are fired with cold ours is fired with heavy oil to make this work I always need steam from another locomotive or a steam generator to get the engine going to preheat the boiler heat up the oil and finally ignite it in let them define the fitting opening for this he uses a so-called steam coupler this connection brings the steam at a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius from the active engine to the cold 18 201 while the engine heats up the engineer checks the lubricant containers for the wheels and coupling rods a total of 30 litres of oil is necessary to keep all the chasis bearings and movable parts running smoothly now the old lady has been sufficiently preheated Martinez Gerhardt is ready to put the engine into operation for the first time since its last trip several weeks ago everything needs to work but after the locomotive has stood still for a while sometimes things break now is the time when you see if everything is working on art Martinez Gerhardt starts the fire in the so called firebox it is fitted out with special stones as heavy oil burns at temperatures of around 1,600 degrees Celsius the petroleum soaked rag is meant to help start the fire like using newspaper to light a grill [Music] now the moment of suspense will Mateus Gerhardt get the locomotive started now I'll move my slide bow to to borrow pressure then I check everything again and now we'll see what happens as soon as the engineer moves the slide valve the heavy oil is sprayed as a vapor into the firebox and ignited Matea heart looks visibly relieved it's working the fire heats the water in the boiler under pressure to almost 200 degrees only then is the steam produced to power the engine the 18-200 one's boiler has a diameter of about 2 meters and is easily accessible from the front now I'll check the smoke box it's obligatory every time after the engine is heated up this is where combustion gases and exhaust steam from the cylinders accumulate both are discharged through the smokestack this creates a vacuum that keeps the fire going assuming everything is airtight as we can see everything's airtight nothing will hold up the journey now now but 15,000 liters of water in the boiler have to heat completely and then the locomotive can drive 5 a.m. the next morning today 280 passengers plan to travel the 500 kilometers from Leipzig to Poznan Poland on the fastest steam locomotive in the world together with engineer Peter Vice hon Matias Gerhardt will drive the locomotive I've fallen the 18 201 begins moving effortlessly despite the 500 tons of cars it must Paul in addition to his normal duties driving the Train matías Gerhardt must monitor the boiler pressure and keep the fire going i regulate the oil supply based on the color of the smoke in order to get the best performance a light to medium gray vapor means the fire is burning as it soon meanwhile the 18-200 one has left the train station and can build up speed right at 120 km/h Mattias Gerhardt and Peter vison drive the locomotive toward Berlin it's a master stroke of engineering considering that the driving mechanism the wheels and axles are from 1939 is just incredible with every complete turn of its giant wheels the locomotive advances 7.22 meters a great deal of energy is needed to drive the wheels thus the 18 201 is designed as a so-called hot steam locomotive this means that the steam is heated a second time before it goes into the cylinders thus increasing its energy value the steam passes through pipes inside the fire tube there the heat of the combustion gases doubles the temperature of the steam to about 400 degrees Celsius only now is it fed into the three cylinders that drive the steam locomotives wheels [Music] while the 18-200 one approaches its first stop Berlin at a speed of 120 kilometres an hour the passengers enjoy the journey in old GDR train cars after two and a half hours the train reaches the station in Berlin now we'll take on water check the bearings and see how things are the locomotive consumed 25,000 litres of water between Leipzig and Berlin although every station used to have pumps to refill water today it is only possible at a few stations that have a hydrant like this one here in Berlin while the water flows Matthias Gerhardt and his colleagues check the chassis and refilled the oil for more thorough inspections the locomotive must come here the mining and steam locomotive works the biggest maintenance and repair centre for steam locomotives in Europe this is also where the eighteenth year one was built in the early 1960s buddha Stein Vasa is a mechanical engineer and an expert on the eighteen 201 the 18 201 was actually developed in order to have a steam locomotive that could go faster than a hundred and 60 kilometers per hour in order to test high speed changer the engineers assembled the 18 201 largely out of parts from three old steam locomotives they provided the chassis the wheel sets and the outer cylinders only the boiler was a new construction as for the VidCon Fox why was the decision made to use a steam locomotive design very simple because at that time steam locomotives made up over 90 percent of the fleet a diesel locomotive would have required designing something brand-new and that was deemed too expensive I a toy off the 18-200 one must go to mining on every three years for its official inspection it is disassembled entirely and all the parts for example the giant wheels are thoroughly checked because on one of the real challenges lie in finding replacement parts especially spoke wheels and other large elements or for the boiler the 18 201 is a one-of-a-kind and today there are no more spare parts for one-of-a-kind machine of this size thus spare parts for the locomotive must almost always be made according to the oak construction plans in the meantime the 18 201 has crossed the Polish border and is approaching its destination of Poznan even after 10 years engineer Matthias Gerhardt is thrilled every time he drives this locomotive it's like the Mercedes of steam locomotives there are others that drive just as well but as I said I'm fascinated by how smoothly it runs considering it was designed without the use of computers thanks to its good driving performance the locomotive continued to be used for regular rail operations far into the 1970s after a journey of six hours the 18-200 one reaches its destination while the passengers go on a sightseeing tour the engineers will prepare the world's fastest steam locomotive for the return trip to Germany [Music] from a suti steel monster to an elegant design a train later in this episode the most luxurious train in the world for passengers it is like a cruise ship on Rails our next ultimate vehicle is not the fastest of fast trains but it has the most modern drive design the IC e fall with nearly thirteen and a half thousand horsepower it is the most powerful intercity Express of all time with 830 seats this train is meant to be the new backbone of long-distance rail transport in Germany the new IC e4 is almost 350 meters long and has 12 cars when empty it weighs 670 tons its high speed 250 kilometers an hour the home station of this state-of-the-art train Hamburg Germany maintenance and repair take place here in hamburg's idle step district mechanics electronics digital systems everything has been under special observation since trial operations began in October 2016 fitters like andreas Friedrich are specially trained to recognize the smallest problems and malfunctions in the new technology we're checking the suspension system now and have to look for damage visible damage on the exterior like flat spots oily shock absorbers and broken springs this is the air suspension which provides greater comfort than the metal springs used in the ice-1 Marcus Peter works on Dodger barns flagship train in the past his job was called engineer today he refers to himself as a driver his cockpit is a cluster of computers without the most powerful and fastest computing capacity possible nothing works in this giant of the rails this is really special for me I've worked on the railroad for over 25 years my father was also an engineer in 1991 he drove the first I see from the 401 series and now 25 years later I sat here and drove the first IC e4 from the new series all computers have been booted up let them know we're ready to pull out it seems like a spacestation launch when Marcus Peter puts 13 and a half thousand horsepower in motion despite its power and size the ICG form is about 120 tons lighter than the first IC e series it makes you proud when you sit at the controls and perform operations and you understand how the technology works how the tractive force is unleashed to make it up the mountains it's simply awesome design for the IC e 4 contains several independent security mechanisms they are active during the entire journey and Marta continuously the entire control system the systems onboard support the driver they take a lot of pressure off him making it possible for him to take care of other things like keeping an eye on the tracks but in the end it is me the driver who takes action and the Train does what I say the passengers are barely aware of the technology even in second class they have comfortable seats and can store more luggage for the first time bicycles are also allowed in the IC e with a reservation eight spots are available leather in first-class and something special for families in an otherwise no-nonsense environment the true innovation of the ICF all lies underneath the passengers the drive system Misha Abram was one of the trains designers one of the cars with seats where we're sitting now is a locomotive that need not necessarily be at the head or the tail of the train but rather somewhere in the middle there are six locomotives hidden in this train there under the floors of the cars and no one notices number six of the IC e falls twelve cars are outfitted with two so called rotary drive frames each each of these six power cars is self-sufficient being outfitted with a full technology of a locomotive on the one hand that means a kind of all-wheel drive on the other these locomotive cars can be added to or removed from the Train at will so trains on routes with large altitude differences get more power cars than trains to travel on flat routes [Music] in addition aluminium is no longer used workers are back to bending and welding steel it's easier to work with nevertheless the body has not become heavier but rather lighter the secret lies in the fabrication of especially rigid mouldings the bogies are also 1/3 lighter than on earlier icees it took 10 years for the new train to hit the tracks you feel a personal sense of achievement when the things you've long considered worked on and discussed in Excel tables and PowerPoint presentations suddenly become tangible something you can touch board and ride to see it every day and have it become normal for travelers to use on a trial run the ICG fall travels from M Berg to Munich and back the first stop is the terminus station Hamburg Altona here driver Marcus Peter must walk from one end of the train to the other in order to continue the journey backwards so to speak this small effort is followed by a reward now he is allowed to go full throttle the icees high speed of 250 kilometers an hour is deliberately lower than that of other high-speed trains to achieve a better energy balance and because it is barely worth it to drive faster in a country as densely populated as Germany still something can always happen but Marcus Peter is not worried the train brakes automatically so if I get sick if I pass out the train would immediately put on an emergency brake it would stay on until the train stopped then the train would stand still while the employees from the back came up to see what was wrong and then they deal with the situation by 2023 119 new nce force should be driving on German tracks the total cost 5.3 billion euros it will only be profitable if millions of future travelers also get onboard this ultimate vehicle later in this episode a train unique code will technology designed to climb the steepest route in the world from a high-speed train that deliberately for girls top speed to a train whose job is no longer to get anywhere fast [Music] the Shiki Shima a five-star hotel in a cramped space the showpiece of the Japanese railway company jay-ar East pure luxury for the guests and hard work for the employees [Music] the chicky Shima completed its first journey on May 1st 2017 it's 17 suites have room for a maximum of 30 for guests this exclusivity has its price tickets cost between two thousand eight hundred and ten thousand US dollars Tokyo Japan's capital the luxury train is waiting to begin its next trip it took six years to build the Train the development costs about eighty million dollars for the general manager Michiko Izawa it is a milestone in the history of train travel [Music] in the past trains were only used to get from one place to another but the novel concept of this train is to enjoy the ride it's not about speed anymore but rather the experience itself like on a cruise ship we also make stops and show the passengers the special features of each region tsukishima means Four Seasons and indeed the luxury trains routes vary by season the goal to always present the most beautiful side of Japan the challenge was to assemble the team the design was developed by Ken Okayama I think great attention was paid to every detail of the interior design for example the wood is a special Japanese wood the whole team worked very hard on board service was also very important we have a first-class chef the railway company hopes the new luxury train will attract above all rich Japanese retirees but also wealthy tourists the Shiki Shima has ten cars six of them have sleeper Suites for the guests there is also a lounge with a bar and a restaurant in which star chefs work their magic a special highlight observation cars on both ends of the train today the Shiki Shima will undertake one of its first test drives the journey begins at the station in hue know a district in central Tokyo before the journey begins the guests can relax in the newly built lounge a total of 12 service personnel take care of the passengers [Music] Kiyo Tamura is one of them this journey counts as a dress rehearsal for [Music] I'm definitely nervous but this is still only a training exercise and I'm really looking forward to working on this train palace immediately as the luxury train pulls in a wave of excitement mounts today's guests consist of high-ranking employees of the railway company journalists and actresses [Music] the chic eeschema is already fully booked until March 2018 a lottery decides who gets a ticket [Music] [Applause] a concierge brings each passenger individually to his or her room a maximum of 34 guests can travel on the luxury train [Music] to curricula cuca the atmosphere on this train can be compared to no other train I was fascinated the moment I came on board for the first time and the service on board is excellent they make you feel at home [Music] the 15 standard double rooms all have their own separate bathroom even including a shower 1140 departure [Music] the driver sits at the head of the Train separated from the passengers only by a pane of glass the Shiki Shima is powered by an electro diesel hybrid system of the first in all of Japan in addition to an electric engine two diesel alternators located in the end cars make it possible to drive on both electrified and non electrified tracks the longest route takes passengers all the way to the northern island of Hokkaido and lasts four days in total three different round trips offered the goal to spread tourism to remote regions while the guests relax steward ko Tamura does an inspection round in the observation car the passengers can watch Japan's landscape pass by that's why the Train only travels at a maximum speed of 100 km/h I was excited the first time I boarded the train it's so luxurious every little detail was carefully chosen every plate designed specially for the Train and everything comes from the regions we drive through that really thrills me it's time to get things ready for dinner a five course meal awaits the passengers in the dining car the challenge of my job is that I not only work as a restaurant professional but I must also be good in every other area like mixing cocktails or making beds if you work in a normal hotel you only have one job but on this train I have to do everything and it's difficult to do everything perfectly a rolling five-star hotel in the kitchen a team of six people sees to the guests gastronomic pleasure the cramped space and the trains constant movements make cooking a true challenge for head chef he was a key atashi the menu was specially tailored to the conditions here onboard the Train moves and said to keep everything from falling off the plate I've made a thick sauce I spread it on the plates and place the food on top the dishes and ingredients come from the regions the Train travels through on each dwarf [Music] feh train hostess kayo Tamura today's journey is only the second time she has worked on the shitty Shima this is my cheat sheet I haven't been doing the job for very long so I wrote down exactly what the dishes are called and what they contain in an emergency she can use a headset to contact her supervisor while the guests wallow in luxury up above kayo Tamara shows us the break room for the service personnel so this panel there's not much space and it's very hot and humid honestly it's not that nice to eat here but we have to do it this way for the customers it's okay though everything for the good of the guests after dinner there is entertainment at the bar in the meantime kayo Tamura takes care of the next task making up one of the two deluxe suites the young steward makes the beds under the watchful eye of a trainer for three nights in this deluxe room guests pay about eight thousand US dollars in addition to a fireplace the amenities evening clean the bathtub made of the finest Cypress wound the customers pay a lot of money to travel on this train so they expect a very high standard of service I feel like I have to do everything perfectly this luxuriousness is outdone only by the next world a trip in the two-level suite costs another $1000 on top I've been working here for three months and I want to do my best by the customers and make them happy by resource type Heidi must not all there I can't imagine doing anything else but I don't I really like this job a lot cigar after 10 hours kayo Tamura shift comes to an end and while the guests sleep at night the luxury train takes them to a new destination the chic eeschema a peerless vehicle just like this iron ore train from South Africa later in this episode the longest train in the world car after car for more than four kilometres like the last one this next ultimate vehicle is known for neither its size nor its speed its speciality ascending a mountain it is the steepest cog railway in the world the Pilatus railway thanks to its unique cogwheel system it handles grades no other train could the railway was built in 1888 over its 4.6 kilometer course it climbs a gradient of up to 48 percent it's high speed is 12 kilometers per hour it's location the Swiss Alps the Pilatus rises to a height of over 2,100 meters the bottom station is in out now at the foot of the mountain Kristian Muller prepares for a test drive in two days the railway is scheduled to reopen after the winter break and the check-in it's stopped we're checking the engines making sure they don't overheat and then the three brake systems continue the so-called power car is sprained and locomotive all in one a locomotive trail by cars would be too heavy to make it up the extreme grade there is room for up to 40 passengers in this special cog train then Christian Muller starts the 210 horsepower electric engine an 18 gear transmission transfers the engines power to the cogwheels the many gears ensure an optimal transmission on the demanding route the rails are original to 1888 before the season opens they are thoroughly inspected an arduous task on the steep slope [Music] the tracks are free we can go Christian moolah almost keeps an eye on the tracks by morph Arden driving up we have to make sure the tracks are free and the overhead wires are clear of branches walk honking like the cars the overhead line is also from 1936 when the railway was electrified little station this is the first 48 percent grade this is the first of three subsections a 48 percent grade almost twice as steep as every other stretch of railway in the world that the Pilatus railway can drive up even this crate safely and without a problem is thanks to its special cog wheel system it consists of two cog wheels that engage the size of a rack running between the rails safety disks under the cot wheels make sure that the wheels cannot jump out of the rack line thus the Train does not lose its grip even at the steepest points and cannot tip over backwards the car is also specially designed for this demanding route much effort was put into keeping the construction light on a 48 percent great every kilogram counts after about 15 minutes the train reaches the halfway station at an altitude of nearly 1400 meters the driver Christian mullah performs his first inspection all of the machinery is underneath the car that makes maintenance easier and creates more space for passengers everything looks good temperatures right not too hot no we're kinda nah bleep oil engine gearbox it's all good the cars were built at the Winterthur locomotive and machine works meanwhile bought up by stodla rail one of the largest train manufacturers in the world forced visa worked at the vintage or locomotive works and is responsible for cog railways each toddler rail and thus also for the pin artists railway the palapa see the fair the Pilatus in Lucerne on the other side mount Riggi getting up there was very attractive for tourism at the time the Pilatus was much steeper so something new had to be designed cable cars didn't exist yet so it was an exciting task to build a railway up there the Pilatus railways first cars were driven by steam they brought nearly 50 thousand passengers a year to the summit an unexpected success to increase capacity and meet the heavy demand the railway was electrified in 1936 for over 1 million Swiss francs it also received the new power cars which are still used today in the first year alone these cars brought more than 100,000 people of the Pilatus even today the swiss train manufacturer regularly sells new cog trains in contrast to the Pilatus railway however they have only one cog wheel the system with two pub wheels remained one-of-a-kind despite its success it's an incredible accomplishment all the things railway engineers invented in the late 19th century I'm reckoning by hand drawing by hand everything done on paper with a ruler no resources like we have today he Smith the Vivi ahoy take and take no CAD no calculation programs and they had no test tracks only when the first train drove did you know if it worked or not it's focusing its autofocus any actors need the engineers who built the Pilatus railway did everything right Kristian moola the driver has meanwhile almost completed his test-drive the railway is good it's 80 years old now and we're proud it's so dependable there are a few malfunctions or breakdowns we're proud it runs so well and never lets us down only about five minutes until the summit but then right sadly this is the end of the line I thought my colleagues had cleared more snow but there's snow on the tracks ahead they need it more time than I thought so we have to go back the masses of snow appear at about 2,000 meters are also the reason why the railway only operates in the summer for the return journey Kristian Muller moves to the second camp it's there because the car cannot turn around on the tracks for safety reasons the train descends at a maximum of only 9 km/h if it exceeds this speed an automatic brake engages and stops the car an important safety system Christian Muller tests this brake now to end the test drive we stopped moving almost immediately that's good our Lusaka in the next six to seven months the steepest cog railway in the world will bring more than half a million people to the summit of the pin artists from a small lightweight on the mountain to an extremely heavy trend that stretches four kilometers six locomotives and 342 cars decision saldaña iron ore train is the longest train in the world being proud of this long history couldn't ask for more this monster on Rails has been operating since December 2007 it's a month or four machine its maximum length is four point two kilometers it transports over 34,000 tons of iron ore at a time over a distance of 861 kilometers in the middle of South Africa this is the location of one of the world's biggest iron ore mines since 1953 over a billion tons of ore have been dug out at the moment more than 8,000 people work in this mine 14 kilometers long and 400 meters deep a single track rail stretches to the port in saldaña the trip lasts 18 hours a problem along the single track line can quickly bring freight traffic to a complete standstill one locomotive alone is insufficient to pull the four kilometer monster it requires at least five the train is so long that it takes 15 minutes to drive by freight trains have run on the line from sition to sell down a bay since 1976 until 2007 the trains maximum length was 2.3 kilometers manager Sadiq vandercave helped to design the longer trains in the main reason what the line was to keep the iron ore to the harbor as quick as possible so we needed to get as much as we can and this is how we design the long train the trains that leave the mine incision loaded with iron ore have three individual sections each section typically consists of one electric locomotive one diesel locomotive and 114 iron ore cars all three sections are ultimately joined together and then augmented by an additional electric locomotive at the end at the moment a train with four electric locomotives two diesel locomotives and 342 iron ore cars is being prepared for departure responsible for coupling the sections Kristopher molar all way he needs one and a half hours to check all the sections of the train company clothes are now 5 meters for coupling ten meters half-a-meter the challenge the line to the coast is single track if only one section of the train stops working all the traffic comes to a standstill one mr. candy toy a very big dissident the consequence millions in expenses the whole train is controlled by the first locomotive this functions by means of a radio system RDP or radio distributed power the driver sends a signal to accelerate or break from the lead locomotive to the other locomotives via radio waves and they sent information for example about their speed bank if necessary the lead locomotive is also able to send different commands to the individual locomotives that means all commands come from the lead locomotive in addition to the electric locomotives the diesel ones have meanwhile also been upgraded with a radio system what we have done now we have also installed DP radio sub symbol to RDP to those locals now also which are giving us a little bit more flexibility since 2016 it has been possible to place diesel locomotives at any point in the Train if necessary even as the lead locomotive the primary responsibility lies with driver Paul brand news he alone controls the four kilometer long steel Colossus until the midway point there he trades places with a driver of the empty returning train and drives it back to the mine his greatest challenge he must estimate the energy consumption properly the fully loaded heavy weight consumes a great deal of electricity it's very heavy so I need to take a little bit more power then the guy on the empty frame doesn't need much power he can I mean he can be in motion at a very low noise or so and he can still continue at work for me I need the power in order to gather train keep it in motion he must decide on the right combination of electric and diesel consumption in the worst case the returning train receives no power at all that means a standstill the radio waves give him continual feedback thus he has all the information he needs for his estimation it's much easier to to handle a train it's much easier to control the trip constant monitoring is especially important for a train of this length if the emergency brake is engaged the Colossus would only come to a stop after two kilometers but all brand Lou loves the challenge I can't change it for anything in the world I mean it's something that I can be proud of that or it that I am proud of I mean being here and as I said I'm here for the love of the job only one driver is required to transport 34,000 tons of iron ore in one vehicle across South Africa [Music]

Channel: Free Documentary

Views: 959,505

Keywords: Free Documentary, Documentaries, Full documentary, HD documentary, BBC documentary, trains, train documentary, documentary - topic, documentary (tv genre), railways, longest train, biggest tran, fastest train, fastest train in the world, giant vehicles, ultimate vehicles, documentaries national geographic, luxury trains

Id: 06amPHxVGdM

Length: 48min 8sec (2888 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 04 2019