Some 200 years ago, the first ideas of railway transportation were laid. Internet had its origin in
the 1950s – also a remarkable history of some 60 years even here. Both railways and Internet are
central infrastructures, but they are scientifically very seldom compared and jointly analyzed, but
some contributions exist (Latora & Marchiori, 2005; Suomi, 2005). Yet we might get a deeper
understanding of the characteristics of network operations by analyzing these different but at the
same time similar infrastructures.
Railways and Internet are, of course, technical artefacts and innovations but they must be seen as
socio-technological systems that need the support of organizing (Mitev, 1996). Carr (2004) has
identified the resemblance between the infrastructures: “Many contemporary commentators have
noted the resemblances among these technologies, and have identified particularly strong parallels
between the rollout of the rail network in the mid-1800s and the expansion of information technology,
particularly the Internet, in the late 1900s.” For example, it is very well known that the introduction
of railway traffic very much contributed to the acceptance of standard time (Carradice,
2012).
This paper identifies the basic properties of network infrastructures, and discusses the cases of
railways and Internet illuminated by them. Especially the interface between the two infrastructures
is taken into scrutiny. Four areas of infrastructure are particularly discussed: First, the physical
infrastructure comprising of human-made technology. Second, human infrastructure supporting
and developing the whole. Third, the organizational infrastructure needed to govern the infrastructure.
Fourth, each infrastructure needs a related knowledge base to support it.