All language subtitles for Impossible Engineering s06e05 NYC Monster Train.eng

In this episode,

the world's urban railroads,

the unique challenges of
laying tracks in the city...

To do 2,500 blasts
under grand central

required a lot of coordination

to make sure that we didn't
disturb anything above.

And the ingenious solutions...

This port is just such
an impressive operation,

and the whole thing
is running on rails.

Without the cable cars,
it would be really difficult

to get around.

To make the impossible possible.

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discovery communications

despite being able to weave
their way across the planet,

covering colossal distances
on cross-continental journeys,

trains are in a league
of their own

when serving the world's cities.

Many of our busiest
metropolises thrive

on the existence
of the railroad,

transporting the population
on its daily commute,

getting goods to market,
and visitors to great landmarks.

But the urban environment poses
some remarkable challenges

for railroad engineers,
from grueling inclines...

You can see
the challenges that are faced,

and you can see
the undulating territory

and how steep these hills are.

To keeping supply on par
with demand...

Our biggest challenge is
the new generation of vessels.

It is one challenge to work
the vessel,

other challenge to get them
into the hinterland.

And delivering vital services.

The post office was
gonna have to find a faster

and more efficient way
to get that mail around town

if the capital
was gonna stay connected.

And it's one such
seemingly impossible challenge

that has been facing engineers
in New York for decades.

New York City, a Metropolis that
relies heavily on its railroads.

With around 90 million
passengers a year

traveling westward
from long island

to the heart of the city,
Manhattan,

the busiest commuter line in the
us is desperately overstretched.

To relieve the strain, engineers
and construction workers

are at work in the central hub
of the city's rail network.

Although few passersby
would even notice.

We're here in the heart
of grand central terminal.

This is where hundreds of
thousands of passengers a day

come through to take the trains.

Mike Pujdak is part of a team
working in near secret

to solve New York's
commuter problems.

Given how packed and
congested midtown Manhattan is,

we have to work like
a stealth project.

All of our materials
and all of our equipment still,

to this day, has to come in
from queens and the Bronx

to feed this job.

Despite the challenges, the
city's nonstop transit system

is operating undisturbed.

It's remarkable that
hundreds of thousands

of tourists and commuters
come into grand central

every day
into this iconic structure

and don't have any idea of the
magnitude of the construction

that's going on
right below their feet.

The east side access project,

with ambitions to completely
transform

the transit network in New York.

It's an undertaking
on a truly grand scale.

This is one of the
largest infrastructure projects

ongoing in the us right now.

This is incredibly important
for New York.

This project is $11.1 billion,

and we have,
right now, currently,

about 1,600 people
working on it.

And at one point, we peaked out
at 2,600 people

a day working on this project.

Connecting one of the world's

largest railroad
commuter stations

with the busiest
commuter railroad in the us

via more than 7 miles of tunnel,

east side access
will carry trains

along a network of new
and refurbished tunnels

into a four-platform,
eight-track terminal directly

under grand central terminal
and park Avenue.

It's a giant space that must
be constructed from scratch.

And that's easier said than done
when you're operating

under some of the most expensive
real estate on the planet.

So, we're in the
east side access caverns here,

and we're 150 feet
below park Avenue

and grand central terminal.

If you don't carefully plan
what you got to do down here,

you will wind up
creating a situation

where you could disturb
the ground

'cause you could influence
some of the structures above.

With the consequences
of any errors

adding to a potentially
multi-billion-dollar disruption,

it's a scenario that had
to be avoided at all costs.

We could not interrupt
this economic area

and the traveling public
coming into grand central,

'cause that's a lifeline
for the economy in this area.

To create this vast underground
terminal, Mike and his team

utilized an appropriately
awe-inspiring solution.

Fire in the hole!

Just to set the stage here,
this is all Manhattan bedrock.

There was nothing here.

And then we used
drill blast methods

to basically carve out
the balance of the structure.

It's controlled blasting,

so you basically calculate
the amount of powder

you're gonna use to control how
much rock you want to remove,

and then you measure
the vibrations,

so that way, you don't impose
any issues to the buildings

and the structures above.

When finally excavated,
this space was 1,150 feet long,

which is larger than
the Chrysler building is tall,

and it was 60 foot high
by 60 foot wide,

and we have two caverns.

I mean, to do 2,500 blasts
under grand central

and not impact them

required a lot of coordination
with Metro north.

Work on this
supersized city railroad

began in 2007
with the launch of a pair

of giant tunnel boring machines
under Manhattan.

Using powerful cutting heads
to burrow

through the layers
of dense rock,

the tunnel boring machines

were set on course
towards grand central.

As tunnel engineer
Jeff rice recalls,

operating in the heart of
New York caused complications.

If we were in
a burgeoning city somewhere

where there wasn't already
an overfilled Penn station

and a historic
grand central in the way,

a completely
developed Manhattan,

heavily traveled train-traffic
areas within the project limits,

the project would've
been much simpler.

The huge volumes of
rock and debris generated

by the tunneling process
made removing it

a challenging
logistical dilemma.

Since we couldn't bring
muck up through grand central

and it was not viable
to bring it up

by train out of grand central,
we needed to bring it out

where it could be handled
for trucking.

With working out of the
overcrowded center of Manhattan

out of the question,
the team had no alternative

but to take the wreckage
the long way around.

The rock removed
from the tunnels

was then brought back
entirely through the second tube

of the existing tunnel on
a conveyor system out to queens.

The sheer volume of rock
that was removed through

the length of all the tunnels,
it's time-consuming.

Stretching for over
1.2 miles, the giant conveyor

fed out to a construction yard

where rubble
was loaded onto trucks.

Thousands of tons
of material was brought out.

The tunnel has become
pretty much a highway

for all the resources
in and out of the tunnel.

But one section
of tunnel under queens

poses east side access'
engineers

with a particularly tricky
set of problems.

There you go.

With soft ground,
a high water table,

and dense, active city
infrastructure to contend with,

inspired engineering solutions
are required.

What we're approaching is

one of the greatest challenges
on the east side access project

is the northern boulevard
crossing.

So, you can see
northern boulevard at midday

is still a heavily
traveled truck route.

Here comes a Astoria-line train
on the elevated structure.

On top of the elevated structure
at northern boulevard,

underneath northern boulevard is
a five-track subway structure,

one of the heaviest traveled
lines in all of New York City.

To get the trains for east side
access to their destination,

the route must cross directly

below these three
major transport links.

But the challenging
ground conditions

leave only a small area
of viable material

to tunnel through
and little margin for error.

All the traditional methods, and
particularly methods

that were tried
and true here in New York City

and in north America,
in general, they met defeat.

We didn't want to do
something innovative.

We had to do something
innovative here.

With just under 10 feet
of soil between the subway

and the new tunnel,

the engineering required
to solve this problem

had to be bold.

This is one of...
It's not necessarily the first,

but this was the first time
for a tunnel in north America

where we're able to
horizontally freeze the ground.

Freeze pipes basically
carried tubes that ran back

and forth to a freeze plant.

The freeze plant used a chilled
brine to pump the chilled brine

through all of
the pipes individually

and freeze the ground slowly.

Creating
this frozen layer of earth

helped to strengthen the ground

sufficiently to tunnel
in safety.

The frozen arch performed
better than we expected.

That provided the initial
support to allow us

to actually perform
our sequential tunneling.

It's very high stakes,
but in the end,

it was a very big success
and very proud of it.

Work to complete
this railroad is ongoing,

but east side access
will also need to be able

to handle a horde
of New York commuters.

Moving thousands of people
from the train tunnels

below up to ground level

would take an engineering
solution on an epic scale.

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New York's east side
access project

will increase city access
for thousands of commuters.

It will also drop them off
in the heart of Manhattan

around 15 floors
below ground level.

In a peak timeframe
when this job is running,

long island railroad plans
to move 24 trains

an hour into the terminal,

and that's adding
a lot more people down below,

150 feet below park Avenue,

to have to get out
to the street.

And with that,
that'll be 160,000 people

that have to be moved,

and we needed to figure out
a way to do that.

The answer, as with
all things on this impressive

urban project,
is on an enormous scale.

We have 17 high-rise
escalators altogether

that will head down
to the caverns below.

They're 90-foot-high escalators,
and when they're completed,

they'll be the longest
escalators in New York City

and some of the longest
in the country.

At 150 foot run, these are some
massive escalators

that are being constructed here
to connect the concourse

with the caverns down below.

Right now, we're rigging
in one of the truss sections

so that the escalator comes
and putting it on the incline,

and then they'll
bolt it up together,

and then they'll install
the next one.

You're working on
a 30-degree slope,

so everything's cabled back
and winched back,

and they use a whole bunch
of chain falls

to lower these things
safely into place

so they can interlock them
and go to the next unit.

Huge volumes of
passengers are expected to flow

into the new terminal each day,

so the efficient movement
of people

will be essential
to the project's success.

We're heavily relying
on passenger flow

utilizing these banks
of escalators.

These are what'll be
the main feed

of bringing everybody up
from the caverns

or down to the caverns
up to the concourse level,

to the street, and into
grand central proper itself.

But simply getting
these giant escalators

belowground has been
a challenge in itself.

The contractor has no
access from Manhattan

to build out this job,
which is kind of unique.

We couldn't come into the middle
of 42nd street in midtown

and just start taking out
and doing an open cut.

We had to bring in everything
from a remote area, from Bronx,

on work trains
just to access this.

It's another epic
achievement in a project

that, once complete,

will stand amongst the most
impressive feats of urban

railroad infrastructure
anywhere on the planet.

Everything on this job
is larger than life.

The tunnels are more difficult
than the usual tunnel.

The soil conditions
have been more difficult.

And despite all the obstacles,

the goal is
to unveil east side access

to the commuters of New York
in 2022.

When this is done,
we're going to greatly improve

the access to New York City
for riders from long island.

And it is a significant
achievement.

Thanks to the hard work of Jeff,
Mike, and many more like them,

the city will soon be able

to rely on
another impossible railroad.

Well, it's personally rewarding
to work on a project this long

and know that it's gonna be
around for generations to come

and really change
the infrastructure in Manhattan.

Trains have to contend
with all manner

of obstacles in cities.

Hey!
Come on!

But when it comes to
getting people from "a" to "b,"

inclines can feel like
an incredible challenge.

Both man and beast can
struggle to overcome slopes,

but trains can simply
run out of steam.

In California, railroad
engineers had to find a way

to keep a train running

on some of the steepest
city inclines imaginable.

San Francisco, notorious
for its hilly geography.

Historically, horse and cart
were used to climb the streets.

But accidents were common
and often fatal,

a daily challenge that local
Ed Cobeen knows all too well.

Just imagine these
streets being cobblestone

and with the fog or the dew
or the mist or the rain.

When you get a wet cobblestone
and how steep these hills are,

how would those horses
be able to get up,

pulling a streetcar with people?

Clearly, an
alternative mode of transport

that could confidently tackle
the city's terrain was needed.

And the solution has since
become

one of the most iconic
urban railroads on the planet.

The San Francisco cable car.

Standing alongside
the golden gate bridge

as a symbol for the city,
cable cars have been running up

and down some of California's
steepest streets since 1873.

And in the 100-plus years
since its opening,

this remarkable railroad
has been declared

a national historic landmark.

The cable car is a
perfect fit for San Francisco.

It's an achievement
that's thanks to the work

of inventor Andrew Hallidie.

And keeping his seemingly
impossible railroad

moving depends on an impressive
engineering operation.

Right now, we're in
the cable car powerhouse.

This is the beating heart.

This is what operates
the entire cable car system

that allows all the cars
to move out on the street.

The cables range anywhere
from 2 to 4 miles,

and they're all driven
by these electric motors

that are 750 horsepower each.

And it's all being held
with this cable.

Running at a constant
speed of 9.5 miles per hour,

these huge cables travel out
under the city streets

in a giant continual loop.

Once the cables leave the barn,
there's a series of thousands

of pulleys underneath
the street,

and the cable will ride
on those pulleys

underneath the slot of the rail.

Remarkably, it's a system
that works in the same way today

as it did more
than a century ago.

Since the day it's been open,

we're still utilizing the same
processes and techniques

that have been handed down
for generation to generation

to the entire staff
who's doing today

what somebody did
over 140 years ago.

But those beautiful cars are
about more than just appearance,

and the only way to appreciate

what it takes to overcome
the hills is to take a ride.

Slide all the way
down for me, folks.

Slide all the way down for me.

Ed's joining his fellow
San Franciscans

as they climb one of
the city's steepest streets.

The only way to move
and/or stop the car

is by the actions
of the gripmen.

He's got all the manual
levers from a track brake

to a wheel a brake
to his actual grip

that grabs onto the cable,

and that's what makes
the car propel.

The grip works in much
the same way as a vise.

When the lever is pulled back,
a set of metal jaws,

or dies, close around the cable,
gripping it tight.

And when the lever is pushed
forwards, the cable is released.

It's the secret behind
how the cars

can ascend San Francisco's
hilly terrain.

So, right now, we're
approaching Lombard street

on the famous Hyde hill.

This is the hill
that's 21% grade.

This is the steepest route

that we have in
the entire cable car system.

So, right now, what the grip
operator is doing is,

he's pulling back on the grip,

and the dies are clamping
onto the cable,

and that's what's
propelling us up the hill.

But what does up
must also come down.

And things get even
more complicated

when a car approaches
a crossing.

So, what's about to happen is,

we're gonna cross
over Mason street.

So what he's doing here
is letting go

so he can coast
over the intersection

so we don't run into
the other cable underground.

Let go too late and the operator
could hit the cable

at the junction
and cause an accident.

So, now we're coasting
over the intersection.

But let go too soon
and there won't be enough speed

to clear the crossing.

So now we've regripped
the cable,

and we are back on our way.

But wear and the tear
on the grip system is dramatic,

so how do engineers keep
this brilliant mechanism

functioning over 100 years
after its inception?

The grip system of
San Francisco's cable cars

is essential for the railroad
to operate around the city.

But the toll it takes
on the equipment

means maintenance
engineer Luis Carazo

is kept busy in the workshop.

This is like the engine,

the propulsion system
for the car.

Without this thing,
you're not going anywhere.

So you can see these dies
are completely worn out.

I got to knock them out
of the hinges

to put these new ones back in.

The grabbing and releasing,

grabbing and releasing
the cable,

the cable just rubbing it
all day long

and just tearing up the metal.

And without these
regular repairs,

the grip could cause
serious damage

to the system's
other key component.

Got a cable car, 6 tons weight.

You remember,
it's carrying 6 tons

plus the passengers in there.

Pretty heavy.

Right now, what I'm gonna do,

I'm gonna completely
disassemble it.

For Luis, this is
nearly nonstop work,

with a set of dies needing
changing every

three or four days.

We got brand-new dies
right here.

They're ready to put back on
into the grip.

But without it, the cable cars
simply couldn't function.

So, this work's
definitely vital.

I can take it apart,
put it together in the morning,

and by the afternoon,
it could be worn out.

It's just a part of
the cable car daily runnings.

We have to get it done.

Thanks to the work of Luis,
and many more like him,

day after day,
this iconic city railroad

keeps running up and down
the streets of San Francisco,

defying all the odds.

I mean, if you look
behind us and you can see

the hills and the grades
that we have to deal with

and how steep everything is,
the cable cars were designed

to be able to get through
that treacherous terrain.

And there's little
doubt that the cable car system

is one of the most incredible
pieces of urban railroad

engineering ever constructed.

It still stands
the test of time today.

140 years later, we're still
operating on the hills.

There's no way I could ever
understand or fathom

what the city
would be like without it.

London, at the turn
of the 20th century.

In just 100 years,
England�s capital experienced

a rapid rise in its population,

growing from less than 1 million

to over 6.5 million.

Under the strain
of this hasty expansion,

in a scenario similar to
today's most congested cities,

getting around became
a serious problem,

as physicist Andrew Steele
is experiencing for himself.

In the early 1900s,
London was one of the largest

and most populace urban areas
in the world.

And just like today,
congestion was a real problem.

You can easily imagine
these vans being replaced

by horse-drawn carriages.

The problem is
pretty much the same.

It's not about how many
horsepower you've got

if you're just stuck
in traffic like this.

Been in this car
about 20 minutes,

and I don't think
we've gone a mile.

This is why I cycle
around town normally.

But it wasn't only
commuters that were suffering

the consequences
of the backed-up traffic.

London's postal service
relied heavily on the roads.

But with mail coaches
barely managing a crawl,

the deliveries were suffering
severe delays.

In those days, one of
the most important ways

to communicate was by post,

and with sorting offices
spread across London,

the post office was gonna
have to find a faster

and more efficient way
to get that mail around town

if the capital
was gonna stay connected.

Today, Andrew is
en route to discover

how one pioneering railroad

helped keep the lines
of communication flowing.

The solution the post office's
engineers came up with

lies down here, 20 meters below
the city's crowded streets.

In 1927, one of
the most unique railroads

the world
had ever seen launched.

Check this out.

This is what
they came up with...

The London post office railway.

What an amazing contraption.

The world's first driverless
electric railroad.

These miniature trains
rode an underground network

of almost 22 miles of track

at speeds of up
to 29 miles per hour,

serving eight stations
and sorting offices.

For 3/4 of a century,
it ran uninterrupted,

carrying up to
4 million letters a day,

and London hardly even knew
this ingenious system existed.

This is so impressive.

I've lived in London for years,

and I had no idea
that all this was down here,

let alone that it was
still running in 2003,

delivering letters
right across London.

This place is now
just a tourist attraction,

but back in 1927
when it was opened,

it was a real
engineering pioneer.

Allowing it to run for
an astounding 22 hours a day,

delivering millions of letters
all across London.

But constructing this
urban railroad

and its labyrinth of tunnels
was no small feat.

Built in the early 20th century,

well before modern
tunnel-boring methods,

it would take an innovative
engineering strategy

to get London's
mail rail up and running.

Wow.
What an amazing place to be.

We're going deeper underground,

and it's really
quite cramped down here.

Imagine the workers
excavating these tunnels.

It must've been grueling work

and also not a job
for the claustrophobic.

Underground tunneling in London

was by no means a new concept
in the early 1900s,

but the early work on tunnels
for the tube network

had been an arduous
and dangerous endeavor,

thanks to the
challenging conditions.

The layer of soft Clay
beneath London meant water

could seep in, potentially
causing tunnels to collapse.

The post office were building
over 20 meters

below the streets of London,

and so they needed
this tunnel excavation

to be quick and efficient
but, most importantly,

safe for the workers
doing the excavating.

The innovative
solution to this problem

came from one of tunneling's
great pioneers,

James Greathead.

The solution the
engineers used was called

the Greathead tunnel shield.

It worked a bit
like this cookie cutter.

So, imagine I'm trying to build
a tunnel

going towards you
in this material here.

What we can do is place
our tunnel shield in position,

shove it forward with
a series of hydraulic rams,

and as this cutting edge
dislodges material,

workers inside can excavate it,
safely protected by the shield.

Then, as it moves forward
a bit further,

we can start constructing
the lining of the tunnel

behind the shield as it moves,

making the whole process
fast and efficient,

and most importantly,
safe for the workers,

who are protected inside here.

This groundbreaking technique

not only made it possible
to build this railroad,

it also enabled the London
underground to dig much deeper,

heralding the transformation
of London's transport network.

It took three years
to dig the tunnel system

for the post office railway.

Construction was halted
when world war I broke out.

But in 1927,
with the rails laid,

this innovative
electric railroad

finally started operating.

However, London's postal system
would encounter another problem,

one that threatened to
derail the whole project.

The route between the stations
was essentially a giant loop,

and as you can see, the corners
can get pretty tight.

Now, in the original design
of the trains, the wheel base...

So, the distance between the
wheels... was about 2 meters.

So, just let me show you
what that means

by getting out
this tape measure.

You can see with this
straight tape measure

laying on the curve,

it's just not following
the track at all.

What that meant was that
there was a lot of wear

and tear on the wheels,
on the track itself,

and the worst-case scenario,

trains could get derailed,
get stuck,

and that could stop
the whole network entirely.

Now, a derailed train is really
bad news for those letters

and parcels making it
to their recipients on time,

so what was needed was some
kind of engineering solution

to allow the trains to navigate
around these difficult corners.

If the engineers were to keep
their trains on track

and deliveries regular,

they would need to go back
to the drawing board

and redesign them
from the wheels up.

This stuff's sort of just been
down here pretty much untouched

since 2003.

To see the solution
engineers devised,

Andrew has been given
special access

to where the post office
railway's fleet

has been stored for decades.

This is the new design,
and so the first thing we can do

is get out
the tape measure again,

measure this distance here
between the wheels.

It's about 1 meter 30,
1 meter 40, so much shorter.

And the other big innovation
is that

this is connecting
to what's called a bogie,

and it's made up of
this big wheel here,

which is the drive wheel,

which is directly connected
to the electric motor,

which is underneath
this section here,

and then we've got this
smaller wheel here at the back,

which is connected to carry
the weight of that carriage.

And that means
that this long carriage here

is able to be articulated

to rotate around this point,
which is known as the kingpin.

And that meant that these trains
are much more flexible

when it comes to
going around tight bends.

Additionally, it meant you could
have a much longer carriage

in between these bogies.

This new design came
with a number

of significant advantages.

Firstly, there was less
wear and tear on the wheels

and the track.

Secondly, there was less chance
of derailments.

And thirdly, these lovely long
carriages meant that we could

carry more posts
beneath the streets of London.

Solving this final
engineering puzzle

enabled the post office railway

to run successfully
for 76 years,

reducing travel time
across the capital

and, in the process,

alleviating congestion
on London's busy streets.

This is pretty cool.

In the 20th century, this was
a game-changer for the capital,

a hidden hero working
tirelessly belowground

to keep London on track.

Hamburg, in northern Germany.

Despite being positioned
68 miles inland, incredibly,

this leading city
of international trade

has grown and thrives
from its busy port,

Europe's third-largest.

It's hardly any distance
at all from the center

of the city of Hamburg,
and yet there's this huge dock.

Connected to the north sea
by the Elba river,

Hamburg links Europe
with trade from east Asia

and the Baltic region.

But this port became so busy

that it's infrastructure
began to struggle.

In order to keep up with
the sheer volume of freight

coming in, engineers decided

to create a rail network
like never before.

Hamburg is one
of Europe's busiest ports,

and as the volume of cargo
has exponentially increased,

the city's resources
have been strained.

To deal with the escalating
needs of the port,

engineers have created a
remarkable rail-based solution.

The sheer scale of this
place is just incredible.

It's taken us 5 or 10 minutes
just to drive from one end

of this terminal to the other.

In 2002, they opened
the Altenwerder terminal,

the largest container
rail terminal in Europe.

Looking around this port,
you can see the crucial

importance of rails,
not just for the trains

that ultimately take a lot
of the goods out of this place

but for all of the operations
inside the port.

Everything is running on rails.

Everywhere around me, there are
these giant cranes constantly.

Everything's bustling,

moving these containers
off the ships, onto the land,

and then replacing them with
new containers right over there,

keeping this whole port moving.

The real secret to this place's
enormous efficiency

is these things.

And we've got a rail,

looking much more like
a conventional railway,

but the thing that's weird about
this is, we've just got one.

And if we were to imagine
this as a train track,

it has a ridiculously
wide Gauge,

'cause the other rail
is somewhere over

the other side there.

This is an RMG,
or a rail-mounted gantry,

and what this allows it to do
is move this huge crane system

up and down along
this massive stack of containers

and access any one of them.

Historically, both the port
and city have grown in tandem,

with a road and rail network
to distribute the cargo.

But in recent years,

a combination of ships
getting larger

and a global increase
in the use of containers

has led to a massive rise
in the quantities of cargo

moving through the port.

For sales director Thomas Lutja,

keeping the freight moving
is critically important.

Hamburg is one
of the busiest industrial areas

we have in Europe.

1990, we had a number
of about 2,000 containers

which were loaded
and discharged.

Now we discharge up to 40,000
of those containers.

And by 2030, the
volume of containers

that the port will handle
is predicted

to increase by a further 43%.

But located in the heart
of the city,

the port has limited space
for expansion,

leaving no other option

but to find a way to handle
the freight more efficiently.

A truck, it could carry
two of those containers.

A train carries hundreds.

So we need to use the capacity
which we have in German

and European hinterland best

because we will not get
new train tracks, new motorways.

We have to use them
better than before.

And the answer for that for us
here in the north

is the railway.

When we started with this
facility, CTA, 16 years ago,

this was the first
fully automated terminal,

and I'll tell you,
in the first years,

everybody was laughing about us.

Now it's standard.

This high-tech
terminal has the capacity

to handle cargo from four ships
simultaneously

and distribute it onwards
into Europe,

either by train or truck.

Railways have long been integral
to the distribution of freight

once it comes off of ships.

But what's surprising is that,

as soon as this ship
hits the quayside,

it's immediately
confronted by rails.

Container handling is
divided into two stages.

The first is at the waterside.

It is the only part
of the process

that requires
a human crane operator.

Just look at the size
of these cranes.

These things are called
ship-to-shore cranes

for the obvious reason
that they move their containers

off the ships
and onto the shore.

And they are gigantic.

If that top beam gets tilted up
to its maximum height,

it can reach over
100 meters in the air.

They called dual trolley
because the top trolley

there brings the container
off the ship down

to this level here,
where a second trolley moves it

onto some automated vehicles
over on the other side.

They are incredibly efficient,

move huge, huge numbers
of containers.

But getting the cargo
to shore is only

half the battle.

The next part of the process

is why the Altenwerder container
terminal is known as

one of the most technologically
advanced in the world.

The Altenwerder
container terminal in Hamburg

is, in itself, a massive
engineering accomplishment.

When a vessel first
comes to port,

enormous ship-to-shore cranes
move the containers to land.

Two remotely controlled cranes
working at different heights

along a stack of containers,

taking them to and from
automated vehicles.

Mounting these RMGs on rails
is an incredible example

of engineering efficiency.

This whole thing is controlled
by software.

The software says
which containers

are gonna be pulled out,

which trucks are gonna be here
to receive them,

and it makes sure
that this enormous operation

can run smoothly
and efficiently.

The port of Hamburg's
bold use of technology

has transformed the way the port
and the city operates,

with billions of objects
connected to a computerized

system via intelligent sensors.

The degree of automation here
is just astonishing.

You've got these thousands
of transponders

sensing the location
of every one of those vehicles.

Not a single human being.

And those things, there are some
that are electric,

there are some
that are diesel-powered,

and when they run out
of batteries or run out of fuel,

they can automatically
drive themself

to the filling station

or to a different station
that swaps out their batteries

and gets straight back
onto their work.

This groundbreaking
solution to handling cargo

means that the port can now
handle over 7 million

containers per year,
setting new global standards.

In 2017, 58,500 freight trains
passed through

Hamburg rail port,

transporting vital goods
to its city and beyond.

This port is just such
an impressive operation,

and the whole thing
is running on rails.

To bring the goods onto
this train track below me

and transport this cargo
all around Europe

is just incredibly efficient,

all of it choreographed
by software.

And without rails,
that just wouldn't be possible.

Since the invention of trains,

the cities of the world
have given engineers

some of
their toughest challenges,

inspiring daring solutions...

Yeah, the cable cars
is the backdrop

to everything San Francisco.

The grades that
the cable cars overcome,

it's amazing to think
that everybody can enjoy

and get around the city.

And groundbreaking
innovations...

Nearly everything you buy,
from food to clothes to cars

is shipped
in these giant containers

on these enormous ships.

And without rails,
none of this would be possible.

To create impossible railroads.

While not impacting
the everyday operations

of the New York City passengers,

we have been building one of
the largest civil projects

in the history of north America.

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