The Transformation of the Industrial Revolution

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Warming up the little grey cells

Things happen for a reason….

 What determined that you would be in GBTT 251 this

semester?

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18th Century 19th Century 20th Century 21st Century
Industrial Revolution

What was going on

during this era that
affected
transportation
systems?

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 The factors that led to the economic, technological and social changes
brought by the industrial revolution are subject to debate in terms of their
role and importance. The following four factors are very prevalent and
interdependent:

 The scientific method. Mostly the outcome of changes that took place in
the 17th century, often dubbed the "Age of Reason", it triggered a rational
approach to the laws of nature (physics, chemistry, engineering, etc.).

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 Property rights. The strengthening of democratic institutions leaning on
the rule of law that guarantees and protect private ownership.

 Capital markets. Institutions such as banks able to gather capital pools an

invest them in economic ventures. The process of capital accumulation and
allocation became increasingly rational.

 Communications and transport infrastructure. The setting and

development of mechanized transport systems supporting the distribution of
resources and the setting of comparative advantages.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 It was during the industrial revolution that massive modifications of
transport systems occurred in two major phases.

 The first centered along the development of canal systems and the second
centered along railways.

 This period marked the development of the steam engine that converted
thermal energy into mechanical energy, providing an important territorial
expansion for maritime and railway transport systems.

 This marked a new era in the mechanization of land and maritime transport
systems alike.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 Transportation systems also began to be studied in order to capitalize on new
efficiencies never seen before.

 Efficient use of equipment contributed to a lower overall cost to transport

cargos.

 The concept of demand elasticity begins to emerge….

 Elastic Demand – Cargos that may not be essential but desired. Therefore
transportation costs of the items are affected by “Demand” and “Competition” For
example, a Latte from Starbucks

 Inelastic Demand – Cargos that are essential and not subject as much to “Demand”
and Competition” For example, ambulance service when you need urgent medical
care.

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An example, the steam engine…

What needed to happen for this innovation to be successful?

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The preconditions for the industrial age

Historians ask why the Industrial Revolution happened, why it

happened where it did (in England instead of, say, France), and
why it happened when it did and not either earlier or later.

Landow, G. P. (2001, March). The Industrial Revolution: An Introduction. The Victorian Web.

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Landow suggests the following
preconditions
• Population with "modern" attitudes towards work
• Literacy
• Widely available printed materials, particularly including those with
technical diagrams
• A product that is easily commercialized, needed by -- and affordable by --
many people
• Adequate transportation and communication
• Markets
• Government commitment to subordinate foreign policy to economic ends

Are there others?

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 Preconditions give rise to critical success factors.

Critical success factors are preconditions for the future.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 From the perspective of land transportation, the early industrial revolution
faced problems over bottlenecks, as inland distribution was unable to carry
the growing quantities of raw materials and finished goods.

 Roads were commonly unpaved and could not be used to effectively carry
heavy loads. Although improvements were made on road transport systems
in the early 17th century, such as the Turnpike Trusts in Britain (1706) and
the development of stagecoaches, this was not sufficient to accommodate
the growing demands on freight transportation.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
The first coach services had speeds
of about 5.5 miles per hour in the
1750s. By the 1820s turnpikes
greatly improved overland
transportation but roads were not
profitable if used to haul anything
except compact and valuable
goods. In a horse drawn era, road
economics were clearly
disadvantageous. Bulk products
could be transported for about 100
miles, but in a slow, costly and
inefficient manner

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 From the 1760s a set of freight shipping canals were slowly built in
emerging industrial cores such as England (e.g. Bridgewater Canal, 1761)
and the United States (e.g. Erie Canal, 1825).

 These projects relied on a system of locks to overcome changes in

elevation, and thus linking different segments of fluvial systems into a
comprehensive waterway system. Barges became increasingly used to
move goods at a scale and a cost that were not previously possible.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 Economies of scale and specialization, the foundation of modern industrial
production systems, became increasingly applicable through canals.

 Physical obstacles made canal construction expensive, however, and the

network was limited in its geographical coverage. In 1830 there were about
2,000 miles of canals in Britain and by 1850, there were 4,250 miles of
navigable waterways.

 The canal era was however short-lived as a new mode would revolutionize
and transform inland transportation emerged in the second half of the 19th
century.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 Steam railway technology initially appeared in 1814 to haul coal. It was
found that using a steam engine on smooth rails required less power and
could handle heavier loads.

 The first commercial rail line linked Manchester to Liverpool in 1830

(distance of 40 miles) and shortly after rail lines began to be laid throughout
developed countries.

 The capital costs to build railway networks were enormous and often left to
the private sector. They included rights of way, building, maintenance and
operating costs.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 This was accompanied by a few railway manias (and their subsequent
busts) with capital pouring in a sector that was perceived, at least by the
general public, as limitless in possibilities.

 By the 1850s, railroad towns were being established and the railways were
giving access to resources and markets of vast territories. 6,000 miles of
railways were then operating in England and railways were quickly being
constructed in Western Europe and North America.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 The journey between New York and Chicago was reduced from three weeks
by stagecoach to 72 hours by train. Many cities thus became closely
interconnected. The transcontinental line from New York to San Francisco,
completed in 1869, represented a remarkable achievement in territorial
integration made only possible by rail.

 It reduced the journey across the continent (New York to San Francisco)
from six months to one week, thus opening for the Eastern part of the
United States a vast pool of resources and new agricultural regions. This
was followed by Canada in 1886 (trans-Canada railway) and Russia in 1904
(trans-Siberian railway).

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 Railroads represented an inland transport system that flexible in its
coverage and that could carry heavy loads. As a result, many canals fell into
disrepair and were closed as they were no longer able to compete with rail
services.

 In their initial phase of development, railways were a point to point process

where major cities were linked one at a time by independent companies.
Thus, the first railroad companies bore the name of the city pairs or the
region they were servicing (e.g. the Camden and Amboy Railroad Company
chartered in 1830). From the 1860s, integrated railway systems started to
cohesively service whole nations with standard gauges and passenger and
freight services.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 And it is still going…..so much so that the United States has seen the
railroad sector grow at a faster rate than any other transportation mode over
the first quarter of the 21st Century…So far…

 Even modern developments such as commercial aviation carry less than one
percent of the domestic U.S. trans shipped cargo volume.

 The advent of the U.S. Interstate highway system commissioned by the

Eisenhower Administration in 1956 served to seriously diminish the
railroads cargo volume. However capital investments made during the
intermodal era have returned the railroads to very high growth rates.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 In terms of international transportation, the beginning of the 19th century
saw the establishment of the first regular maritime routes linking harbors
worldwide, especially over the North Atlantic between Europe and North
America.

 Regarding steamship technology, 1807 marks the first successful use of a

steamship, Fulton's North River / Clermont, on the Hudson servicing New
York and Albany. In 1820, the Savannah was the first steamship (used as
auxiliary power) to cross the Atlantic, taking 29 days to link Liverpool to
New York.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
The gradual improvement of steam
engine technology slowly but
surely permitted longer and safer
voyages, enabling steamships to
become the dominant mode of
maritime transportation.

The main consequence of the

industrial revolution was a
specialization of transportation
services and the establishment of
large distribution networks of
raw materials and energy.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 With the developments of large distribution networks as a consequence of
the industrial revolution came the notion of “supply chains” and
“logistics” 100 years later in the 1990’s with the advent of the Information
Revolution. This “Information Revolution” created the recognition of profit
potential associated with supply chain information technology management.

 One element of the industrial revolution that spawned its global effect was
the availability of energy. Specifically coal, and oil.

 Currently, the access and availability of energy has had a major impact on
rising transportation costs with respect to global sourcing and supply chain
length.

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 The establishment of “LOGISTICS” and “SUPPLY CHAINS” became
integral to developing Transportation Systems Engineering as a discipline
as important as the actual physical transportation modes.

 In other words, understanding supply chain flows became as critical as

operating railroads, or building highways.

 Supply chain flows included, but were not limited to:

 Information
 Reverse Logistics
 Finances

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Emergence of the Industrial Revolution
 Transportation became a much more reliable service for which the service
providers determined which transportation services were available to people
wanting to ship cargo more so than the governments, consumers, or
manufacturers.

 The development of reliable rail and maritime trade services introduced a

concept not to be fully developed for another 75 years with the advent of
the shipping container.

 The concept was INTERMODAL and INTRAMODAL transportation. Or

more specifically
 INTERMODAL – cargo transported on more than one mode of transportation
 INTRAMODAL – cargo transported within the same mode of transportation.

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 Remember, where we want to end up….

Look at the innovations and innovators

responsible for what we reviewed today…

Understand that transportation systems are a

prerequisite for suggesting change…

Deep, Huh?

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The Written Assignment
Pick one of the significant achievements of the Industrial
Revolution.

Please do not select the steam engine!

Describe how this achievement affected a specific

transportation system of the time.

The achievement you choose could be responsible for creating

a new transportation system, enhancing an existing one, or
rendering an existing one obsolete.

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