Infrastructure is a term to describe all those nearly invisible activities that are needed to support other productive economic functions. A railway system ? although not really invisible ? is needed to connect other economic activities in this case called (public) transport.Infrastructure is a quality kind of service. This means that the level of the infrastructure is variable irrespective of the supportive function it provides. Those rails enable transport ? up to a certain level.
The word "Standard" describes this level best. For example in "the standard of living," but also the standard in the sense of standardization. The success of Internet is also due to standardization, and not because of (regional) exceptions and mismatches.It is normally a service that is centrally governed. It makes no sense for other infrastructural services like the army and education to manage these differently in any town, province or state. An (overall) educational system for example would raise exchange problems if one regional school system was not accepted by the neighboring region and visa versa.
The problems this would give speak for themselves?.If not centrally governed -? like the Spanish Railway system -? it will give different kind of problems, one of them being interoperability. In Spain there are three different railway systems according to the size of the gauge (small, normal international standard and a broad standard). It goes without saying that these different standards will make the exchange of connections more difficult and time consuming (not only in the operation).The Iberian peninsula ? already a peninsula ? has been more isolated from the rest of Europe because of this own standard (deviation).
Yet, this (not complete) unique situation has some advantages. Innovation for example is one of them. The Talgo .
- TALGO stands for "Tren Articulado Ligero Goicoechea Oriol" (Goicoechea-Oriol light articulated train), Goicoechea and Oriol being the founders of the company. Its name gives the key to its success: this system is much lighter than any other, thus cheaper to operate. Since the introduction of the "Talgo Pendular", the train tilts naturally inwards on corners, making it more comfortable for the passengers.
(wikipedia)
.(this Talgo) . is an innovative train design in which the gauge axles are variable.In this way these trains operate both in Spain as in France giving the Spanish manufacturer a "natural" Competitive advantage.© 2006 Hans Bool.
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Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days. You can apply for a free demo account.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Bool.
By: Hans Bool
