The Future of the Railway Transportation from the Science Fiction Point of View

Abstract

The main goal of the doctoral thesis from which this article arises, is the search, analysis, investigation and obtaining conclusions about the particular vision and proposals in the Science Fiction graphic novel of the 20th Century, related with the Civil Engineering and specially with one of its disciplines, the Transportation Engineering. In this paper we anticipate and summarize a brief sample of the doctoral thesis, including some of the most important aspects of the research and the conclusions obtained in the Railway chapter exclusively. After the work done we will conclude that there are countless references to the Transports and also to the Railway world in the Science Fiction comic. The vision of the graphic novels’ authors about the role of the communication infrastructures in the structuring of the city, its space, its function, the physical placement of the viaducts, the morphology, use and source of energy of the vehicles: (ground, marine, air ones and others) … are constantly reflected in their stories, and they deserve a deep technical, social and even philosophical analysis, that we will try to accomplish in the mentioned doctoral thesis and, partially, in this paper.