How Trains Changed the World

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  1. Power and Empire: The Great Arteries

  One of the great advances of the 19th Century, the railways were a tool of empire. How did the Victorians use them to expand their influence?

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  2. The Great Workhorses: Trains That Move Loads

  From the Channel Tunnel to carrying iron ore in the Australian Outback, experts discuss the history and the future of freight trains.

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  3. Express Trains That Link Cities

  Intended as an efficient, economical way of moving freight, the emergence of express trains revolutionised society with the demand for fast travel.

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  4. The Commute: Trains That Make Cities

  The world's 10 busiest metro systems carry more than 22 billion passengers every year. How has the train shaped cities - and changed the world?

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  5. Trains and War: Weapons and Logistics

  As weapons and transport, trains transformed the battlefield - from huge railway guns and hospital trains to those taking victims to death camps.

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  6. The Love of Trains: Power, Prestige and Romance

  Trains have changed the way people see the world - and each other. What is it that makes them so special?

Cast

Kevin Spink

Narrator