French Railway Network Research Articles

Mapping the Distortions in Time and Space: The French Railway Network 1830–1930

Accessibility is frequently used in transportation planning to measure the efficiency of new infrastructure in terms of travel time and population served. In this article, the authors apply accessibility concepts based on the geo-historical angle. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships between population dynamics and the railway expansion from 1830 to 1930. Their approach considers a local scale composed of some 36,000 French communes for the demographic data and more than 28,000 kilometers for the railway network. The methodological framework of this database is based on historical geographic information systems completed by anamorphosis analysis. In this way, they are able to map the changing contours of accessibility from the local to the regional and national scales for historical time.

Cyperus schweinitzii(Cyperaceae): a new naturalized alien in Italy

Cyperus schweinitzii Torr. (Cyperaceae), a xenophyte native to North America, is reported for the first time in Italy. A considerable population was found on a railway yard in Stradella (Lombardy), where the species is naturalized. Until now, C. schweinitzii had been recorded outside of its native range only on the French railway network. Diagnostic characters are presented and an original drawing is provided. Additionally, its possible means of introduction and its invasive status are discussed.

Prof. H. L. Le Chatelier, For. Mem. R.S.

THE death of Henry Louis Le Chatelier, which occurred at Miribel-les-lSchelles on September 17, removes one of the great pioneers in the physical chemistry of the last quarter of the nineteenth century; he was born in Paris on October 8, 1850. His father, Louis Le Chatelier, who died in 1873, was a man of high technical abilities and scientific talents; in 1842, when France possessed only six hundred kilometres of railroads, he was put in charge of railway development and became largely responsible for the construction of the present French railway network. Louis also played a great part in the perfection of the locomotive, in the improvement of coal mining and utilization, in the manufacture of open hearth steel and of aluminium and in the organization of the Bordeaux pine forests.