Transport
Discover facts about transport. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Transport
Why cyclists wear those skin-tight suits
Modern cycling enthusiasts have inexplicably decided that operating a pedal powered two wheeler requires outfitting oneself like a futuristic superhero…
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Personal watercraft propel riders swiftly across aquatic surfaces utilizing jet pumps
Often referred to generally as jet skis, these agile machines draw water in from the bottom and forcefully blast it out the rear. By pivoting the…
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Teams of specialized canines pull wooden sleds across expansive frozen landscapes
Before snowmobiles, dogsledding was the primary method for traversing vast snowy wildernesses where wheels were useless. A skilled musher commands a highly…
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The 50-kilometer tunnel beneath the Swiss Alps
The Gotthard Base Tunnel is an absolute marvel of subterranean transit. Reaching depths of nearly two and a half kilometers beneath the mountain peaks, it…
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Fascinating urban infrastructure design utilizing automated underground vacuum tubes to collect municipal garbage.
To completely eliminate the terrible smell and traffic congestion caused by traditional diesel garbage trucks, several modern eco-cities have installed vast…
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The ships built to carry other ships
When a massive military destroyer or civilian oil rig is heavily damaged at sea, traditional tugboats lack the structural strength to tow them to distant…
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Why airports were once designed with circular runways
In an attempt to permanently eliminate the profound danger of unpredictable crosswinds, mid-century civil engineers aggressively proposed building perfectly…
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How ships signal danger without radios
Governed by the International Code of Signals, every single alphabet letter is represented by a strictly standardized, highly visible colored flag. This…
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Dunhuang has traffic lights for camels
To safely manage massive influxes of eager tourists exploring the breathtaking sand dunes of Dunhuang, local municipal authorities installed dedicated traffic…
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London once had a railway just for mail
For over seventy incredible years, a highly complex network of narrow tunnels operated far beneath the bustling streets of the city, running completely…
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Hong Kong has the world's only double-decker trams
Weaving through extremely dense urban skyscrapers, the bustling streets of Hong Kong harbor the only completely double-decker electric tram fleet in the…
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The bridge where ships sail over a river
The Magdeburg Water Bridge is a massive navigable aqueduct in Germany that connects two vital canals over the Elbe River. Ships literally sail across the…
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Tank treads started on farms
The continuous track, famously used to propel massive military tanks across muddy battlefields, was not originally a weapon of war. It was invented to…
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A Concorde jet chased an eclipse for 74 minutes
In 1973, scientists charted a specialized Concorde jet to chase the shadow of a total solar eclipse across the African continent. Flying at twice the speed of…
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The historic canals still carrying freight in Britain
Before the steam locomotive dominated logistics, the United Kingdom dug thousands of miles of narrow, interconnected waterways to move heavy coal. Amazingly,…
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The mountain road carved through a cliff by hand
Desperate to connect their isolated village to modern civilization, a small team of untrained farmers spent five agonizing years manually carving an actual…
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Treacherous racing circuit winding through Macau
The Guia Circuit in Macau is widely considered one of the most dangerous motorsport tracks in the world. Unlike custom-built raceways, this track utilizes…
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How a train station heats a building with body heat
In Stockholm, the central train station hosts over a quarter of a million rushing commuters every single day. Engineers realized these bodies generated an…
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The cat who saved a Japanese railway
Facing bankruptcy, a small electric railway in Japan officially appointed a stray calico cat named Tama as their stationmaster. Adorned in a tiny custom hat,…
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London’s lost-and-found gets flooded with umbrellas
Since its inception, the bustling transport network of London has systematically cataloged an unbelievable amount of bizarre lost items. Annually, the transit…
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How interstate numbers reveal their direction
The American highway system uses a highly structured numerical grid. Highways with even numbers consistently run east to west, while odd-numbered interstates…
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Why cruise ships don't have steering wheels
The massive wooden helms seen in classic pirate movies are totally extinct on modern luxury liners. Today's colossal cruise ships are steered with small…
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Yellow traffic lights must stay on for a minimum time
Municipalities cannot rig yellow lights to flash briefly just to catch drivers and generate ticket revenue. Federal engineering guidelines strictly mandate…
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Digital speed limit systems governing German highways
While famous for having sections with no absolute speed limit, the German Autobahn actually utilizes incredibly advanced digital overhead gantries. These…
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