How long could a person stand for without getting tired? If he could move a little, Ang Lee felt that it would not be a problem for him to stand for six to ten hours. However, if he had to stand guard for two hours, he would be very tired. But no matter what, no one could stand standing for six to ten hours in a row. It would really be very tiring. It was better for young people. They could just endure it, but for old people, it was too hard. It was almost killing them.
Humans were not livestock, and their spines were more fragile. It was easy for them to stand for a long time. Sitting could last longer, but lying down was more comfortable. Thus, many carriages had sleeping berths. For a journey that required three to five days of continuous travel, sleeping berths were a must. For a journey that required a day of travel, having a seat was enough. Only a standing ticket was suitable for a journey that required two to four hours. In the current Great Tang, the commoners would definitely not choose to take the train for a short journey. They would just ride a horse. As long as they boarded a carriage, they would definitely travel a long distance of three to ten hours, or even several days.
The flow of people from the capital to Luoyang was very large. It took about twelve hours to reach this distance, which was the most suitable way to travel by car. Therefore, the carriages on this journey were basically carriages with more than one hundred seats. This accounted for the majority. There were slightly fewer carriages with seventy to eighty seats. There were even fewer suites and the last carriage was the workshop for oxen and horses.
Due to the increased demand for travel by the rich, there was a trend of more suites. However, the transportation capacity was always relatively tight. After meeting the demands of the rich, the pressure on the poor to travel was even more serious. Usually, the ordinary carriages were basically more than eighty percent full, which was barely enough to meet the needs. However, when it came to certain festivals, especially the New Year, the transportation pressure was too great. All the trains were bound to be full. Many ordinary people who could not buy tickets and were anxious to go home were so anxious that they stamped their feet and wished they could fly home.
On one side, there was a large number of poor people who could not buy tickets. On the other side, there was a group of rich people who took up too many resources. This would obviously cause a lot of contradictions. The poor would naturally voice their own voices, asking the imperial court to send more ordinary carriages and not let the proportion of suites be too high.
The trains of the Tang dynasty basically consisted of 18 carriages. One carriage was used for fuel and power generation, one for dining cars, and four of the remaining 16 carriages were reserved for horses and other large luggage. Thus, there were only 12 carriages left for people to sit in. According to the situation of different routes, the ratio of the 12 carriages varied.
For example, if the starting point of a car was in Beijing and the final destination was in Anxi, the hard sleeper would take up eight compartments and the soft sleeper would take up two compartments. There were also large and small compartments.
As for the trains that started and ended in Chang 'an and Luoyang, the hard seats took up at least half of the six sections. The soft seats for seventy to eighty people took up two sections, and the luxurious suites took up four sections. This ratio was indeed a little high, and it took up too much resources.
The reason was naturally because there were a lot of rich people coming and going to these two big cities. Although the suite was equipped with four sections, it was almost never wasted. Basically, there would be an 80% occupancy rate every time. There would never be a situation where the room was empty. In fact, it was often full. There was no waste at all.
Moreover, from the perspective of profit, the tickets for these suites were more expensive. They were two to three times more expensive than the full ordinary carriages. This had a great effect on increasing the efficiency of the railway system. It was a necessary measure to make a profit.
Usually, when the ordinary hard seats were 80% occupied, the suites could basically reach 100% occupied. This configuration was completely reasonable. After all, there was still a surplus of ordinary hard seats, but the suites were basically in short supply. However, when it came to festivals, the ordinary hard seats would also be in short supply. Needless to say, it was very difficult to buy tickets for the suites. One would even have to go through the back door or rely on one's identity to get a ticket.
When both types of carriages were under great pressure, it was worth discussing whether to satisfy the rich or the poor first. If it was in the future, it would definitely satisfy the poor first. They would cancel the suites and replace them with more hard seats. In fact, in the future, there would be no suites at all. The best option would be the narrow soft sleeper. However, in the era of the Tang dynasty, the rich were undoubtedly the most valuable. The benefits of the poor could not be compared with those of the rich. Moreover, the suites had never been empty, and they were also in short supply. Many businessmen with low status could only settle for the second-best option. They chose to buy low-grade suites and even had to buy soft seats helplessly. This made their journey less comfortable, especially when the whole family went back to celebrate the New Year. It was a very unpleasant thing to let the family members sit together with strangers. They even had to let the family members dress up as men to reduce the occurrence of embarrassing situations.
The rich were fastidious and had too many things to do. It was not that the poor were not fastidious, but they did not have the conditions to be fastidious. If they had no money in their pockets, they could only squeeze into the simple hard seat carriages. Even when the transport capacity was particularly tight, the poor would be allowed to ride in the same carriage with horses. In this way, they would have to endure the stench of horses all the way. Fortunately, the poor could get used to it and endure it all the way.
Once the number of trips increased greatly, both the aristocrats and the poor peasants would complain endlessly about the railway system. The aristocrats would directly use their influence to order the relevant government offices to build more suites. The poor could only complain, but it would also have a certain impact on the imperial court. After all, water could carry a boat, but it could also capsize it. Completely ignoring the wishes of the poor could easily cause unrest.
Because the transport capacity had always been tight, it was difficult to meet the needs of everyone. Not only could the transport of the rich and the poor not meet the needs of the passengers, but the transport of goods by the merchants also could not meet the needs. There were always not enough vehicles, and there were not enough passengers and goods.
In this case, whose needs should be met first was very troublesome. If the needs of the aristocrats were not met, the aristocrats would come looking for trouble. If the needs of the ordinary people were not met, it would also cause unrest. Merchants were very important to the prosperity of the Empire, and the transport requirements of the merchants could not be ignored.
Under the premise of the transport capacity being tight, the railway system could only be continuously optimized. After understanding the pattern of the passenger flow, it could guide the merchants to transport goods in advance and at a later time.
Of course, the effect of this optimization was very limited. Because even in normal times, the transport capacity was full, and it was difficult to advance it. The best way was to increase the supply of vehicles. The transport capacity of 100 trains a day was obviously different from that of 50 trains. Slightly increasing the speed could also increase the efficiency.
In short, the final solution fell on the corresponding workshops that produced carriages and locomotives. After all, increasing the number of trains was the most effective way to ultimately solve these contradictions. Another way was to build more railways, so that the ordinary people and merchants could choose more routes. This could reduce the pressure on a certain road.
But whether it was building more railways or more carriages and locomotives, it was not easy. It would cost a lot of money. This was obviously a very serious test for the national strength of the Tang dynasty. Without a strong national strength as support, it would definitely not work. Even if the national strength was strong, it could only be done step by step and pick up the important things first. No matter how rich the national treasury was, it could not withstand too much trouble. Just like the Sui Dynasty, whose national treasury was very ordinary, actually dug the Grand Canal while conquering Korea three times. Their mentality was too anxious. If these things were done slower, perhaps there would not be unrest.
In fact, whether it was building railways or trains, the imperial court had already done a lot. The progress could not be slow. However, no one had expected that the people's demand for railways would increase so fast. The speed of increase had exceeded the speed of the railways and trains, which made the imperial court somewhat unprepared. If they continued to increase the progress, it would affect the progress of other projects. After all, they could not only consider transportation, but machinery and other industries also needed to be developed.
When someone proposed to build double-decker carriages, Ang Lee felt very uncomfortable. Not only because it was uncomfortable, but also because many people brought a lot of luggage when they went out. These luggage also needed a place to put it. Generally, there was a place for luggage above the seats. If the carriages, which were not very high, were rebuilt into double-decker carriages, then there would be no place for luggage. Could it be that only the poor were allowed to ride but not allowed to carry luggage? Wasn't it too cruel and did not meet the needs of the common people? In addition, too many people would be very uncomfortable and there would be a great safety hazard. Once the carriages were on fire, there would be no chance to escape. In short, Ang Lee felt that it was quite unrealistic. The most important thing was that the common people would carry too much luggage. Without a luggage rack above the seats, the common people's needs would be difficult to be met.
"Double-decker carriages? How can they think of it? They want to occupy one carriage each, but let more than 200 poor people squeeze together. They can't treat the poor as human beings at all! The poor are also human beings, not pigs and dogs. They can be casually stacked together. "
Ang Lee opened his mouth and said.
Hearing this, the petty official looked a little embarrassed. Obviously, he didn't seem to care much about the compartments. He felt that Ang Lee was a little too concerned about the common people at the bottom. If the compartments were done well, it seemed that they could also meet the needs of the common people.
"Assistant Minister Li is right. The poor are also human beings. However, the transportation capacity is too tight now. If it is done well, there won't be a big problem in compartments. The first floor will have 120 people. After the compartments, the first floor will remain unchanged and the second floor will have 100 people. The seats below all the seats will be empty and can be used to store luggage. This will definitely be able to fit."
The petty official said.
Ang Lee couldn't help but admire the petty official's thinking. If the seats were empty, wouldn't they be able to store luggage? It seemed that luggage could be stored above and below the legs. It was just that it would be more difficult for the people sitting in the carriage.
As long as there wasn't too much luggage, it seemed to be able to fit it. Ang Lee had also experienced such a thing in his previous life. When he was on a long-distance carriage, a large number of luggage would be piled under the seats and in front of the seats. As for the people's thighs, they could only be placed on both sides of the luggage. It was really uncomfortable to sit in. When he got off the carriage, his legs would be numb. It was really very painful. Fortunately, the journey wasn't very far and they would arrive at the destination in a few hours. Otherwise, it would be really terrible. Every floor of the long-distance double-decker carriage was relatively low. Naturally, it wasn't very comfortable to sit in, but this kind of thing did exist. This kind of strange carriage really did exist.
"Do you think this is feasible?"
Ang Lee looked at the petty official and asked.
The petty official replied very slyly, "Everything will be decided by Assistant Minister Li?"
Obviously, because this kind of double-decker carriage was a very big change, a petty official had no right to decide. This was not a small matter. It had to be decided by Ang Lee.
Although he felt that this wasn't very good, it seemed that there was no better way.
For the design of a double-decker carriage, Ang Lee felt that it definitely couldn't be twice the number of people on a single floor. It could be about 1.5 times. Moreover, in order to increase the number of seats as much as possible, it was obvious that they couldn't follow the previous layout on both sides. They had to arrange all the seats on one side. The side near the window was the passageway. The lower level had five rows of seats together, and the upper level could only have four rows of seats. The outermost row was for people to walk through. The maximum possible number of seats was about 220.
This would double the number of seats. The actual number of seats would be less because after the separation, there would be no luggage rack. The luggage could only be placed under and in front of the seats. The distance between the two rows of seats would have to be increased. This way, it could meet the most basic needs. Therefore, the actual number of seats would have to be reduced.
Ang Lee felt that 180 seats would be more ideal. 80 on the upper level and 100 on the lower level. The distance between the two rows could be increased, and it would also be beneficial for the storage of passengers' luggage.
Originally, the first level had 120 seats. With the addition of 60 seats to the second level, it would reach 180 seats. It was an increase of 50%. It wasn't a small increase, but it was also the most reasonable increase. Ang Lee decided to design a double-decker carriage according to this number to meet the increasing demand for transportation.
Ang Lee would occasionally sigh. If a person's vitality was higher, they could be directly placed into a square cage and then stacked up layer by layer. This way, they could achieve the highest density of transportation. This was obviously impossible to achieve. It was just Ang Lee's imagination when he was bored.
"Alright! This official will definitely consider the issue of the double-decker carriage when I return. This isn't the time when transportation is the most tight. There's no need to rush. There's no need to rush at all. "
Ang Lee said.
Even though he felt that the double-decker carriage wasn't too good, Ang Lee still chose to accept it. There was no other reason other than the fact that transportation was too tight. Moreover, it didn't seem to have any signs of relief. It might even get worse in the future. It was just like the housing in the capital. It was very difficult to see whether it could be alleviated. However, these problems would definitely get better in the end. It was just that it would require a very long time to adapt.
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