{ "model": { "rank": 3231, "code": "thing-q3565868", "model_id": "vr.tr.rail-transport", "name": "rail transport", "purpose": "Let an agent handle rail transport by service type, network, operators, tickets, passenger rights, safety and sustainability.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.PRC", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q3565868/", "tier": 2, "score": 89, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "light railway", "Home Liner", "commuter rail", "Renfe Cercanías", "Services Express Métropolitains", "Pendeltåg", "elektrichka", "commuter rail in North America", "Taiwanese push car railways", "children's railway", "Pioniereisenbahn", "Holocaust train transport", "Łódź Ghetto Deportations", "stopover", "rail freight transport", "rail freight transport by country", "transport of elephants by rail", "transport of post by rail", "double-stack rail transport", "Precision railroading", "transport of post by rail in Germany", "transport of post by rail in France", "transport of post by rail in Switzerland", "transport of post by rail in Austria", "passenger rail transport", "Railway anniversaries in the Netherlands", "railways rolling stock leasing", "all-night operation", "rail transport in Macau", "rail transport in Asia", "Division Regional III Palembang", "rail transport in Hamburg", "train meet", "delay certificate", "rail transport in Costa Rica", "rail transport in Hong Kong", "high-speed rail in Asia" ], "aliasCount": 37, "merged": 37, "knownIn": 89, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q3565868", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3565868", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-11T09:12:59Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 1, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q3565868", "registryId": "vr.tr.rail-transport", "name": "rail transport", "version": "0.2.0-wave.1", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.PRC" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q3565868/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.rail-transport", "name": "rail transport", "purpose": "Let an agent handle rail transport by service type, network, operators, tickets, passenger rights, safety and sustainability.", "definition": "The transport of passengers and goods on trains running on rails, including intercity, high-speed, commuter, light rail and freight services, operated on national and regional networks.", "what_it_is_for": "Efficient, lower-carbon movement of people and goods.", "affordances": [ "plan journeys and buy tickets", "claim delay compensation", "understand services and networks", "compare emissions with other modes" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Guided transport on rails", "Passenger and freight", "Regulated for safety and rights", "Lower emissions per passenger-km than most modes" ], "appearance": "Trains, tracks, stations and signals.", "visual_identification": [ "Service types such as commuter or high-speed", "Operators and brands", "Freight trains" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "high-speed rail", "intercity rail", "commuter and suburban rail", "light rail", "freight rail" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "land transport", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "uses", "target": "railway line and railway station", "why": "infrastructure" }, { "relation": "uses", "target": "locomotive and train", "why": "vehicles" }, { "relation": "is regulated by", "target": "railway authorities", "why": "regulator" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "EU Rail Passenger Rights Regulation 2021/782", "EU railway safety and interoperability rules", "National rail regulation" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Level crossing accidents", "Trespass", "Disruption" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "service", "name": "Service", "description": "Which rail service.", "rationale": "Service type matters.", "layers": [ { "id": "type", "name": "Type", "description": "High-speed, commuter.", "findings": [ { "id": "type-finding", "name": "Type", "description": "Service type.", "questions": [ { "text": "What type of rail service is meant?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which operator runs it?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "network", "name": "Network", "description": "Routes.", "findings": [ { "id": "network-finding", "name": "Network", "description": "Network.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which routes and stations does it serve?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How frequent is it?", "kind": "measurement" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "passengers", "name": "Passengers", "description": "Travel.", "rationale": "Passengers need practical data.", "layers": [ { "id": "tickets", "name": "Tickets", "description": "Fares.", "findings": [ { "id": "tickets-finding", "name": "Tickets", "description": "Tickets.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which tickets and railcards apply?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Where can they be bought officially?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights", "description": "Delays.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-finding", "name": "Rights", "description": "Passenger rights.", "questions": [ { "text": "What compensation applies for delays?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "How is it claimed?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "safety", "name": "Safety", "description": "Rail safety.", "rationale": "Railways carry risks.", "layers": [ { "id": "crossings", "name": "Crossings", "description": "Level crossings.", "findings": [ { "id": "crossings-finding", "name": "Crossings", "description": "Level crossing safety.", "questions": [ { "text": "How should people cross railways safely?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "What are the rules at level crossings?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "incidents", "name": "Incidents", "description": "Reports.", "findings": [ { "id": "incidents-finding", "name": "Incidents", "description": "Incident reports.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do accident investigation reports say?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which body investigated?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "sustainability", "name": "Sustainability", "description": "Emissions.", "rationale": "Rail is lower carbon.", "layers": [ { "id": "emissions", "name": "Emissions", "description": "Per trip.", "findings": [ { "id": "emissions-finding", "name": "Emissions", "description": "Emissions.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are the emissions per passenger-km compared with other modes?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "From which source?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "freight", "name": "Freight", "description": "Goods.", "findings": [ { "id": "freight-finding", "name": "Freight", "description": "Rail freight.", "questions": [ { "text": "How much freight moves by rail here?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "text": "What limits growth?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should service types be separate entries?", "How should operators be linked?", "How should live disruption be presented?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a rail transport, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent handle rail transport by service type, network, operators, tickets, passenger rights, safety and sustainability.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: light railway, Home Liner, commuter rail, Renfe Cercanías, Services Express Métropolitains, Pendeltåg, elektrichka, commuter rail in North America, Taiwanese push car railways, children's railway, Pioniereisenbahn, Holocaust train transport.", "37 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 89 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a rail transport, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "light railway", "Home Liner", "commuter rail", "Renfe Cercanías", "Services Express Métropolitains", "Pendeltåg", "elektrichka", "commuter rail in North America", "Taiwanese push car railways", "children's railway", "Pioniereisenbahn", "Holocaust train transport" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 89 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 37 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one rail transport from another, and a rail transport from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a rail transport sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a rail transport from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a rail transport passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a rail transport between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a rail transport, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a rail transport is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a rail transport proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a rail transport, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a rail transport and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a rail transport consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a rail transport takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What rail transport is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of rail transport are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is rail transport operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of rail transport and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of rail transport?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as rail transport?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a rail transport came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a rail transport and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a rail transport is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a rail transport, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a rail transport, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a rail transport is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }