Thematic Sessions

This 5^th Railway History Congress aims to encourage the submission of papers corresponding to the following thematic sessions:

Session 1. The Railway in Mallorca and its contribution to regional development

Insularity is a factor that has either favoured or impeded the development of a railway network in any part of the world. In these exceptional cases, various social-economic and regional factors favour or hinder the creation and form of these railway networks shut in by the coastline. Railway history in Mallorca goes back to the year 1875 when the first section between Palma and Inca was opened for service. Mallorca thereby became the second island in the Mediterranean, after Sicily, to have a Railway. The island of Mallorca is, therefore, a good example of the establishment of a non-state network, one which managed a considerable increase in the number of kilometres, and achieving a density that was greater than the peninsular average. The aim of this session will consist in discovering new contributions relating to the Railway in Mallorca and its contribution to regional development. This session also aims to encourage the submission of work dealing with similar cases, both in the Mediterranean and other parts of the world.

Session Chair: Carles Manera Erbina (University of the Balearic Islands) and Ramón Molina de Dios (University of the Balearic Islands).

Session 2. Sea-rail transport and infrastructure: the complementary nature of the two modes from a regional perspective

The relationship between the development of sea transport and land transport by rail, and vice versa, are areas of study that have hardly been covered by the research community. Similarly, the development of port infrastructure and its effect on the railways (at all levels), and the effect of both the above on the city housing them are also subject areas that have not yet received a sufficient number of contributions. The aim of this session will consist in encouraging research into the above, giving rise to the submission of cases relating to any part of the world.

Session Chair: Joana M. Petrus Bey and Joana M. Seguí Pons (University of the Balearic Islands).

Session 3. Worker organisations and repression on the Railways: an international view

The study of railway worker organisations in Spain has received some important contributions in the last few years. It is considered that this research effort should be contrasted with research carried out into the development of railway trade unions in different countries. The aim is also to encourage the submission of papers about the history of these trade union organisations in this area of economic activity, and about the process of political purging that took place in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s and the effects of the above on the railway and its human resources.

Session Chair: Carme Molinero Ruiz (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and Miguel Muñoz Rubio (Spanish Railways Foundation and Autonomous University of Madrid).

Session 4. Railway and agricultural sector in Spain

Research into the contribution of the railway to the economic modernization of a society and the development of activities linked to secondary and tertiary industries has been one of the subject areas that has aroused most interest amongst the research community. Nevertheless, research from a historical perspective into the effects of the railway on the agricultural sector and on the distribution of fishing products in Spain still represents one of the areas of research that has received least attention within the general study of the economic consequences brought about by the establishment and development of this means of transport. This is why this session aims to encourage the submission of research work related to the above theme areas.

Session Chair: Jesús Sanz Fernández and Ramón Garrabou Segura (Autonomous University of  Barcelona).

Session 5. General

This session will bring together, grouped as a theme, those papers and research submitted which are not included in any of the specific theme sessions. This session will be subdivided into different working groups, coordinated by a reporter who will fit the texts submitted to the themes, research branches or criteria that give each group a uniform nature.

Session Chair: Javier Vidal Olivares (University of Alicante) and Pere Brunet Estarellas (University of the Balearic Islands).
 

The Scientific Committee of this 5th Railway History Congress has considered it of interest in this session to encourage certain working groups, which are explained below. This recommendation does not exclude the submission of papers referring to other theme areas. The working groups in question are as follows:

 

Documentary sources for research into industrial railways in Spain

Industrial railways still remain one of the areas where historiographic production has been least extensive. One of the reasons that has led to this situation has been a failure to locate and catalogue documentary sources. It is as a result considered desirable to encourage the submission of papers whose purpose is to circulate any documentary records that may allow the future construction of company history records linked to the activity of these industrial type railways.

Railways and tourism. A long lasting relationship from a historical perspective

The growth and expansion of railway networks throughout the world stimulated the development of different economic activities, including tourism. Some railway experiences arose from a leisure angle and were purely aimed at establishing centres to attract tourists, such as, in the case of Spain, the Guadarrama Railway, the tramway from Granada to Sierra Nevada or the Nuria Railway. Other railways would find their economic saving grace in tourism in a period in which rail transport was gradually losing its market share, the Sóller Railway in Mallorca perhaps being the most illustrative example. The working group encourages both the submission of other similar cases to the ones mentioned, as well as the conducting of research aimed at finding out about the tourist oriented commercial aspect in any universal transport railways.

Foreign investment in railways in the Mediterranean area

The research community is well aware of the role played by capital from pioneering countries in the industrial revolution (Great Britain, France, Belgium, Germany) in the building and operating of railways in different parts of the world, an investment activity that would gradually decline due to the economic effects caused by the First World War, the start of nationalization proceedings carried out during the first third of the 20th century and the spreading of the decolonization process in North Africa and the Near East following the end of the Second World War. We will focus our interest in this area on finding out about this investment process throughout the Mediterranean area, in order to know about the latest contributions made to this particular subject area.