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The Oruwe-Tirakhan Transnational

The Oruwe-Tirakhan Transnational is a rail line connecting Muizgard's four largest islands, and the most extensive single rail network on the planet. The main line is now over three hundred years old, although only fragments of the original track remain. Dozens of subsidary lines connecting smaller settlements have since been constructed, approximately sixty percent of which are currently operative. No single organisation owns the Transnational - regional governments are usually responsible for upkeep of the track, although Tirakhan maintains the line for two hundred miles south of the city-state in return for reduced trading tariffs from neighbouring tribal nations. Approximately eighty percent of the network's capacity is taken up by freight, mostly perishable goods which can't be transported quickly enough by the continent's extensive canal network.   The bridges between each island remain some of the most complex engineering feats ever accomplished by humans on the Ariad. Constructed primarily from irradiated wood and held up by powerful magic, the bridges are capable of withstanding extreme fluctuations in Delta Radiation, as well as all but the most destructive tectonic shifts of the deep trenches dividing the islands. Since their construction, only three severe bridge collapses have occurred, and the Oruwe-Kuhum bridge has never been destroyed by an earthquake.   Although the early trains running on the Transnational were powered by biofuel, the rolling stock has since been replaced by delta-magnetic trains on the main line and many of its subsiduaries. Although delta-magnetic technology had been developed by the elves before the humans' arrival on the Ariad, the flux caused by the engines absorbing ambient radiation was too dangerous for passenger vehicles until the development of insulated carriages capable of maintaining a controlled radiation level. Even so, the Transnational trains are designed to maximise the distance between passengers and the engines by following an alternating freight-passenger design with engines only under the freight carriages.

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