Continental Rail

Continental Rail
	An EMD SD80MAC in the Conrail color scheme.
Overview
Headquarters	Chicago, American CR, United Commonwealth
Reporting mark	CR, CRY (yard locomotives)
Locale	United Commonwealth, with extensions into Tournesol, Brazoria, Quebec, and the Maritimes
Dates of operation	1921–present
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length	42,335 miles (68,132 km)

Continental Rail (reporting mark: CR, CRY), also referred to as Conrail, is the state-owned railroad corporation of the United Commonwealth that operates 42,335 miles of track, primarily east of the Mississippi River, with joint trackage rights on some segments of track in Tournesol, Brazoria, Quebec, and the Maritimes. It is the largest railroad in the world (followed by Germany's Deutsche Bahn) in terms of passengers served and freight transported annually. Conrail provides both freight and passenger rail service, with 5.3 billion riders on its intercity trains as of 2019. The company employs nearly 1 million people and operates many hundreds of trains every day. Conrail's headquarters are located near Union Station in Chicago and it is managed by the People's Commissariat for Transportation.

In 1921, before the Continental Revolutionary War was over, the new Continentalist provisional government nationalized several private railroad companies in the United Commonwealth, as the railroads had been instrumental for the Revolutionary Army's success against the Federalists. Railroads were the primary means of long-distance transportation across the large country and many railroad workers were sympathetic to the Landonist cause at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. The Norfolk and Western Railway, New York Central Railroad, Pennsylvania Railroad, New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, Chicago and North Western Railway, Southern Railway, Seaboard Air Line Railroad, Illinois Central Railroad, and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad were the largest companies in operation at that time and were combined to form the "Continental Railroad System" on May 31, 1921, by an order of the People's Commissar for Transportation Winston Ashtabula. By 1928 all of the private railroads in the Commonwealth had been nationalized.

During the Great Wars the Continental Railroad provided logistical support for the Continental Armed Forces. It remained the primary means of transportation until the development of the Thoroughfare system and airlines in the 1960s and 1970s, from which point ridership began to decline, but it still remains relatively high. In 1976 the company received its current name "Continental Rail." There were very few direct rail connections between Western North American countries and the United Commonwealth for much of the 20th century because of geopolitical tensions, but as the Cold War ended in the 1990s and 2000s Conrail has increased its cooperation with other railroads, such as Superior's Great Northern Railway, Sierra's Royal Pacific Railroad, and the Manitoban National Railway.

In the present day, CR passenger trains are divided into three categories: high-speed intercity trains, higher-speed and normal-speed intercity trains, and regional/local trains that connect small towns and suburbs to large cities in their area.

History

Corporate structure

Continental Rail is regulated by the People's Commissariat for Transportation and is controlled by the Continentalist Party of the United Commonwealth, like many other government-owned corporations in the country.

Most employees of CR are members of the Continental Union of Railway Workers, the labor union representing railroad workers in the Commonwealth.

Service divisions

The train service is organized into four functional branches.

CR InterCity

CR Regional

CR Cargo

CR High-Speed

Operating divisions

CR has several regional divisions, with most of them being roughly approximate to the trackage of some of the former railroads that existed prior to the Continental Revolutionary War, which were absorbed into the unified Continental Rail System in 1921. The regional divisions correspond to the region in which their employees operate.

Baltimore and Ohio Division

Trackage primarily in Ohio and Indiana (the western section of the former Baltimore and Ohio Railroad).

Grand Trunk Division

Trackage primarily in Ontario (the former Grand Trunk Railway).

Cotton Belt Division

Trackage primarily in Arkansas, Missouri, Acadiana, and Louisiana (the former St Louis Southwestern Railway).

Illinois Central Division

Trackage primarily in Illinois and Mississippi (the former Illinois Central Railroad).

Southern Division

Trackage primarily in Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and Tennessee (the majority of the former Southern Railway).

Passenger service

The CE Celerita ETR-430, a higher-speed electric multiple unit that is the primary model in the passenger service.

Conrail has a monopoly on passenger service across the United Commonwealth, which consists of high-speed (210 mph), higher-speed (125 mph), and normal-speed (80 mph) trains, including long distance as well as regional and local trains. There were over 5.3 billion riders on its passenger trains in 2019.

Locomotives and rolling stock

Conrail was reported as operating nearly 9,000 locomotives and 87,000 rolling stock as of 2019. Continental Electric is the main manufacturer of locomotives for the railroad while the TTX Company is the main manufacturer of rail cars.

Color scheme

Blue, red, and white are the main colors used on locomotives and certain rolling stock.

Heritage fleet

Conrail maintains a fleet of heritage units that are painted in the colors of some of the historic Continental railroads that had been absorbed into the company when it was created in 1921.

Former Norfolk Southern.
Former Illinois Central.

Popular culture

Throughout the history of rail service in the United Commonwealth, the People's Commissariat for Transportation has utilized several advertisement schemes to promote the image of Continental Rail. In the 1940s, Continental Rail utilized "Wabash Cannonball" as the service's theme song after its popularization by the Carter Family. Continental Rail utilized Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion" throughout the 1960s.

The Continentalist Party popularized the song "Love Train" by the O'Jays in connection to Conrail as it sought to export Conrail's technology across the world. Rupert Gardner was the first President of the United Commonwealth to appear in a music video, where he was depicted waving from a Conrail MP75. Conrail and Gardner utilized the commercial campaign as a propaganda tool to promote détente during the Cold War.

In 1997 the rail service attempted to use Quad City DJ's "C'mon N' Ride It (The Train)" in its advertisements, although the government quickly pulled the campaign after the Central Committee deemed the song too "salacious". Conrail reverted to using "Love Train", and has since used the song to advertise its service. Continental Rail has been mentioned in a series of songs, including Angry Johnny's "Racing the Train", and MRJSTAR's "Marie la Gata".

Continental Rail

Contents

History