1 00:00:08,389 --> 00:00:13,009 Welcome back to the course. In previous parts of this course we explained 2 00:00:13,009 --> 00:00:19,300 how large scale infrastructures emerge through interconnection across regions and national borders. 3 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:26,210 Continental electricity infrastructure is a system composed of national systems, 4 00:00:26,210 --> 00:00:33,210 which are composed of regional systems, which are in turn composed of local systems. 5 00:00:33,309 --> 00:00:37,730 Such a constellation of systems is known as a system-of-systems. 6 00:00:37,730 --> 00:00:44,730 The aggregated system can only function as a system thanks to the adoption of interconnection 7 00:00:45,329 --> 00:00:49,649 and interoperability standards. 8 00:00:49,649 --> 00:00:54,820 To make you understand the implications of standardization issues involved in building 9 00:00:54,820 --> 00:01:01,820 today's large scale infrastructures, let me take you back to the mid 19th century, 10 00:01:02,070 --> 00:01:08,330 to the revolutionary event of the adoption of standard time. 11 00:01:08,330 --> 00:01:13,000 Until then, each city had its local time. 12 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:17,420 Before the use of mechanical clocks in the 1400's, 13 00:01:17,420 --> 00:01:23,610 even the length of the hour still varied between locations and with the seasons. 14 00:01:23,610 --> 00:01:30,610 The standard time was produced by the Royal Observatory of Greenwich in London. 15 00:01:31,380 --> 00:01:38,140 Why was it adopted? Standard time became a necessity because of the roll-out of national 16 00:01:38,140 --> 00:01:44,759 infrastructure systems, especially those for postal services and railway transportation 17 00:01:44,759 --> 00:01:53,500 - and it became possible to distribute standard time by the implementation of another new infrastructure: 18 00:01:53,500 --> 00:01:56,500 the telegraph communication system. 19 00:01:56,500 --> 00:02:05,520 So finally, on December 11, 1847, British railways switched from local mean time, 20 00:02:05,619 --> 00:02:10,700 which varied from place to place, to Greenwich Mean Time. 21 00:02:10,929 --> 00:02:16,980 Until then, the railway system was run by private railway operators each of which based 22 00:02:16,980 --> 00:02:24,900 their timetable on their own local time standards, so you can imagine the delays and accidents 23 00:02:24,900 --> 00:02:28,319 caused by the lack of standardized time. 24 00:02:28,319 --> 00:02:36,300 In fact, so influential was the role of British railways in the adoption of standardized time, 25 00:02:36,300 --> 00:02:43,420 that Greenwich Mean Time became also known as railway time. 26 00:02:43,420 --> 00:02:49,110 It is difficult now to imagine a world without standardized time zones, 27 00:02:49,110 --> 00:02:53,500 as a prerequisite for worldwide transportation and telecommunication networks, 28 00:02:53,500 --> 00:02:56,790 that enable global trade. 29 00:02:56,790 --> 00:03:03,790 However, given the local origins of all these infrastructure networks, 30 00:03:03,909 --> 00:03:10,909 you can now start appreciating the standardization issues that had to be overcome to bring continental 31 00:03:11,170 --> 00:03:14,500 and global infrastructure systems into being. 32 00:03:14,500 --> 00:03:17,790 Another very simple example: 33 00:03:17,790 --> 00:03:22,209 when you buy a car, the steering wheel will be on the left side 34 00:03:22,209 --> 00:03:26,180 of the car if your country's rule of the road dictates right-hand traffic, 35 00:03:26,180 --> 00:03:31,299 and on the right side if the rule of your country is left-hand traffic. 36 00:03:31,299 --> 00:03:36,799 This is unlikely to bother you, unless you drive into a country where the 37 00:03:36,799 --> 00:03:40,939 opposite rule applies, which will bring you as a driver in a position 38 00:03:40,939 --> 00:03:45,560 with a reduced line of sight on the traffic. 39 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:52,560 For commuters between Macau and mainland China, this is an everyday experience. 40 00:03:52,879 --> 00:03:59,330 Driving your car across national borders, you also expect the fuel supply to be of a 41 00:03:59,330 --> 00:04:02,640 standardized quality, so that you do not have to worry about your 42 00:04:02,640 --> 00:04:11,600 car's performance or potential damage to its engine if it so happens that you need to refuel it abroad. 43 00:04:11,860 --> 00:04:16,459 You furthermore expect that traffic signs that look the same, 44 00:04:16,459 --> 00:04:22,109 also carry the same meaning as those in your home country. 45 00:04:22,109 --> 00:04:27,020 For the road network it seems easy and straightforward enough to standardize rules between countries, 46 00:04:27,020 --> 00:04:32,640 but in the case of the railway infrastructure quite a few physical barriers need to be overcome 47 00:04:32,640 --> 00:04:37,469 to ensure interconnectivity and interoperability. 48 00:04:37,469 --> 00:04:44,110 One of the key issues here is the track gauge (width between the rails' inner sides). 49 00:04:44,110 --> 00:04:50,479 Today, 60% of the world's railway lines use the so-called standard gauge, 50 00:04:50,479 --> 00:04:54,919 also known as international gauge, UIC gauge or normal gauge. 51 00:04:54,919 --> 00:04:59,469 Normal gauge is also the standard for all high-speed lines, 52 00:04:59,469 --> 00:05:04,149 except for Russia and Finland, where broad gauge is the standard for all 53 00:05:04,149 --> 00:05:06,250 railway lines. 54 00:05:06,250 --> 00:05:10,440 Australia is a special case, with six different railway gauges, 55 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:17,260 as nobody in the mid 1800's had the foresight to even imagine the need for an Australia 56 00:05:17,260 --> 00:05:21,000 wide railway system. 57 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,000 Another standardization issue encountered in long distance, 58 00:05:24,020 --> 00:05:28,130 especially international, railway networks is concerned with the electrical 59 00:05:28,130 --> 00:05:34,099 power supply standards to electrified railway lines. 60 00:05:34,099 --> 00:05:36,909 Different countries and regions apply different standards, 61 00:05:36,909 --> 00:05:43,909 some AC, some DC, with different standard voltage levels. 62 00:05:46,380 --> 00:05:52,580 This necessitates costly investments in auxiliary equipment on the electric locomotives on international 63 00:05:52,580 --> 00:05:59,800 railway lines, so that they can adjust to different electrical standards. 64 00:06:00,100 --> 00:06:05,779 Standardization issues are a given in most infrastructure networks. 65 00:06:05,779 --> 00:06:10,240 An international pipeline system for natural gas requires all users, 66 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:15,849 both suppliers and buyers of the gas, to agree on a standardized gas quality. 67 00:06:15,849 --> 00:06:21,450 If different countries apply different national gas standards, 68 00:06:21,450 --> 00:06:26,950 they have to modify the gas quality before feeding the gas into their national transport 69 00:06:26,950 --> 00:06:29,240 and distribution system. 70 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:36,029 In other words, quality conversion units are needed to ensure interconnectivity and interoperability 71 00:06:36,029 --> 00:06:42,130 between national and international gas infrastructure. 72 00:06:42,130 --> 00:06:47,810 Whereas in the electrified international railway system the electrical conversion units are 73 00:06:47,810 --> 00:06:54,779 mounted on the rolling stock, in the natural gas infrastructure the gas 74 00:06:54,779 --> 00:07:01,500 quality conversion units are part of the immovable infrastructure. 75 00:07:01,500 --> 00:07:06,099 As Professor Johan Schot will explain later, 76 00:07:06,099 --> 00:07:12,200 standardization issues are usually tackled in lengthy negotiations between technical experts 77 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:16,259 - they are dealt with as technical issues, 78 00:07:16,259 --> 00:07:23,259 which obscures the huge political and commercial interests involved. 79 00:07:23,259 --> 00:07:32,100 Standardization issues still hamper the smooth operation of many international infrastructure systems 80 00:07:32,500 --> 00:07:40,900 - they are a nuisance for end-users like you and me, who have to carry adapter plugs around the world.