Pneumatic railway

The Pneumatic railway is a transportation system used to provide rapid mass transit across large distances. It is a magnetic levitation line run through evacuated tubes or tunnels. The lack of air resistance permits the pneumatic railway to use little power and to move at extremely high speeds.

Transit tubes are built on, above, or below the surface of a planet, suspended under water at a depth below that used by shipping or affected by storms.

History
The pneumatic railway was first put forward in 1973 by Elasian engineer Ënüv Häsälëv. He proposed a similar system to those used in pneumatic tube communication networks which utilised compressed air for transporting solid objects through a partial vacuum. In 2001 the idea of using a magnetic levitation line to power the train instead of the impractical compressed air system was proposed by Lesh scientist Iria Anuid.

Local scale
The first commercial pneumatic railway, the Kaa-Lest line, was completed in Knei in 2046 and was used as a rapid-transit system between the Kneian cities of Kaa and the capital, Lest with stops in Raney, Orthanda, Zrahadn and Teswa. This line was later extended from Lest to Ioys Evra through Ghaim and Kurs.

International scale
The first international pneumatic railway was built between the states of the island of Endonoa in 2051 and ran from Enom through Vata and Farch to Ala Reque followed by a second line from Kenterin to Rad through Ëcrata, Eveliin and Farch with Farch being the switching point between the two lines.

Intercontinental scale
The first intercontinental pneumatic railway was built between Biscenad in Atrique and Pietr-Mastĕ in Denmorik between the continents of Katimora and Regon in 2089. The train stopped in Eveliin, Kenterin and Borgia on the island of Forsina on the way.

By 2139 every country on Valeyne had been connected to the intercontinental pneumatic railway network.

Usage
The short range intercity pneumatic railway system provides transportation between nearby communities. It accelerates its cars at a steady but fairly gradual rate until they reach the predetermined velocity designed to provide a reasonable transit time to the destination, then lets the cars coast until they near the destination, whereupon they are gradually decelerated to a stop.

For longer range intercontinental travel the transit cars are accelerated continuously and brought to a halt just before the station using an inertial negation system to absorb the shock.