Issue 5 2007

New tracks in Stockholm improve train traffic

Issue 5 2007 / 27 September 2007 /

For more than 20 years, there has been a political discussion about more rail lines running through Stockholm. For the same length of time, hundreds of thousands of travellers have endured heavy trafficked rolling stock. At both mornings and evenings, the long-distance, high-speed, commuter and even freight trains have waited in queues at entrances. In an interview for the European Railway Review, Mr. Kjell-Åke Averstad, Project Manager at Banverket, discusses the issues about the improvement of rail traffic in Stockholm and his impressions of the most valuable rail line being built in Sweden – the City Line.

500 trains per day must pass through the 2-track entrances and exits at Stockholm Central Station, known as the ‘Wasp’s Waist’. This is a fitting description of what the passage looks like. But all this will be over in a couple of years as the commuter train will be set free. The new Swedish government gave its approval last winter and by 2017, the commuter train will have its own train tunnel running under the Swedish capital – the City Line. (more…)

Tagged with: Banverket, Kjell-Åke Averstad, Rail infrastructure, Sweden, Tunnelling

An organised identity to focus on clear goals

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

Since last February, Banverket has taken on a new identity. The organisation is now totally focused on the customer: providing a higher level of reliability and punctuality and stopping the increasing costs for major investment projects.

“If rail transport is to have a future, we must ensure the quality of today’s traffic. We must deliver the product expected by passengers and freight transporting operators. In addition, we must invest and develop the railway to respond to the demands of the future”, says Director General, Per-Olof Granbom.

Since the founding of Banverket in 1988, it has been organised in five regions, all with independent planning, investments and activities. Now the organisation is divided into two divisions: Operations and Investment.

The Operations Division includes traffic management, maintenance, and customer contacts and is in charge of the everyday traffic and improving it. The Investment Division is a supervisory organisation for the major investment projects. (more…)

Tagged with: Banverket, Per-Olof Granbom, Rail infrastructure, Rail traffic, Sweden

Higher railway investment level can help reverse climate change

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

Railway infrastructure investments in Sweden are presently substantially higher compared with preceding planning periods. Reversing climate change while maintaining continued economic growth are political priorities and an expanded railway system can help fulfil both these objectives.

New investment for the period 2004–2015 amounts to SEK 108 billion (approximately €1.15 billion). Towards 2015, the new commuter railway tunnel under central Stockholm, the City Line, will be nearly completed. After decades of deliberation, the capital city will finally boast more than the two southbound tracks originally built in 1872. Concurrently, new tracks are planned for the commuter line northwest of Stockholm, enabling greater capacity and shorter journeys. Sweden’s second largest city, Göteborg, will benefit from an upgraded railway yard adjacent to the central station and the 80km double track between Göteborg and Trollhättan, northeast of the city. These investments will result in expanded commuter capacity and fewer traffic disturbances in the existing system. Upon completion of the tunnel through Hallandsås, passengers will enjoy shorter journey times between Göteborg and Malmö. Moreover, in Malmö, the country’s third largest metropolitan area, the new City Tunnel will be open to traffic as well as the new yards at the central station. Both the provincial commuter lines and the Öresund Line over to Copenhagen and beyond will benefit from greater capacity. (more…)

Tagged with: Banverket, Environment, ERTMS, Katarina Norén, Rail freight, Sweden

SJ is back on track

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

From the threat of bankruptcy to the position of a profitable travel company in just a few years, SJ is now crowning themselves as the most efficient and profitable train company in Europe. But with Sweden’s old rail infrastructure still in use means that SJ is struggling to keep up with the European standard of high-speed trains. Nevertheless, the increase of passenger numbers shows that the Swedish people have made a conscious choice for the environment. In an interview for the European Railway Review Claes Broström, Vice President of Fleet Management at SJ explains past, present and future investments.

Only a few years ago, SJ was in a deep financial crisis. Since then, the government owned passenger train operator, a former Government enterprise agency, has managed to turn around the results with the aid of hard cutbacks and a comprehensive change in its programme. Today, an average of 100,000 journeys are made with SJ every day from 200 locations nationwide, and SJ has 90% of the market for train journeys exceeding 100 kilometres. (more…)

Tagged with: Claes Broström, Environment, High-speed rail, Rolling stock, SJ, Sweden

One year on: high-speed plans continue

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

In our last article (published in ERR 4/06) concerning the plans, projects and priorities of REFER, we presented a general perspective of the public infrastructure investment in the conventional network corresponding to the most urgent ones and it also gave some information about the development of the high-speed project.

Approximately one year later, with the high-speed project stabilized and fulfilling its schedule, namely the public presentation of its financial model in July, REFER is now able to present the latest developments of its investment program 2007/2015 regarding the conventional network.

The Government investment program was presented on the 28 October 2006, the date of the 150th anniversary of the railway in Portugal, consisting of the ‘Strategic Railway Guidelines’ targeting the year 2015. This document is very important to REFER, and to the entire railway sector, because it allows to plan the investments and to organize and structure the railways companies. (more…)

Tagged with: High-speed rail, José Alves Monteiro, Rail infrastructure, REFER, Spain

Portuguese high-speed network is fast approaching

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

RAVE is a company that develops and co-ordinates the projects and studies that are necessary to facilitate decision-making in the context of planning, constructing, financing and operating a high-speed rail network that is to be established in continental Portugal along with its planned connections to the high-speed railway network in Spain.

RAVE was founded in 2000 with a corporate capital of €2,500,000, which was wholly subscribed by its two shareholders, the Portuguese State and REFER – the Portuguese national railway system.

In addition to its activities in Portugal, in partnership with ADIF – a Spanish Railway Infrastructure Management company, RAVE is a 50% shareholder in AVEP – Alta Velocidade Espanha-Portugal [High Speed Spain-Portugal], a European economic interest grouping created in order to study rail links between the two countries. AVEP is responsible for co-ordinating market research studies and defining routes and other technical aspects of the trans-crossing sections of this railway system, and also co-ordinates applications and procedures for obtaining EU funding for the project. (more…)

Tagged with: ADIF, Carlos Alberto João Fernandes, Environment, Funding, GSM-R, High-speed rail, Portugal, Rail infrastructure, RAVE, Spain

ADIF looks towards the future

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

Heavy investments will be made in the Spanish railway network in forthcoming years.

The Spanish railway network has been split into separate companies managing the railway infrastructure (ADIF) and train operations (Renfe). There is strong political impetus to invest in the railways, with the 15-year Strategic Plan for Transport Infrastructure (PEIT 2005-2020) outlining the way in which the rail network will be upgraded. (more…)

Tagged with: ADIF, Funding, James Abbott, Joaquin Jiménez Otero, Rail infrastructure, Renfe, Spain

Renfe faces the future with confidence

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

Completion of the first high-speed line in Spain 15 years ago gave Renfe a new confidence and investment in the network is continuing at a sustained pace.

Spain has one of the fastest–growing railway networks in Europe. Renfe (Spanish National Railways) gained a new confidence with the opening of the first high-speed line in the country in 1992, and since then has gone from strength to strength. Not only is the high-speed network growing faster than anywhere else in Europe, but the railway has also modernised its commuter and regional networks.

Work began in 1986 on the 471km Madrid–Seville high-speed line. Seville might seem a curious choice of destination for the country’s first high-speed line: a more obvious choice might have been a route linking the capital with the second-largest city, Barcelona. But the historic route to Seville through the mountains was a serious bottleneck on the network, and the World Expo planned for the city in 1992 gave the government a goal to work towards. (more…)

Tagged with: High-speed rail, James Abbott, Rail freight, Renfe, Rolling stock, Spain, Urban rail

Corrugation and dip angle measurements performed by Eurailscout

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

Corrugation on rails causes severe damage to the railway infrastructure. Corrugation causes noise, additional stress in the rails and high frequency vibration which damages the subsoil; squats can also occur if rail head corrugation is not controlled.

Like rail head checking, corrugation can easily be cured by grinding at an early stage before any severe damage has developed. The best infrastructure maintenance strategy is to grind prior to the occurrence of severe corrugation; to achieve this accurate survey and measurement techniques are essential to reliably identify corrugation at an early stage. Hand equipment delivers results of high accuracy but is not suitable to make a general survey of the whole network and to date train borne inspection techniques have not been accurate or reliable enough to improve the maintenance strategy and a grinding programme, this has now changed: Eurailscout’s UFM 120 is equipped with the latest generation of corrugation measurement systems. A detailed measurement of corrugation can now be achieved with this highly accurate system at high speeds up to 120 kph (75 mph). The measurement is contact-less and almost independent of environmental circumstances. The advanced technology ensures that the measurement is always taken above the centre of the rail. (more…)

Tagged with: Eurailscout, Steffen Knape, Track maintenance & engineering

Beneficial monitoring: not whether, but when?

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

Achieving high levels of rail system reliability in all the phases of the life cycle at an optimal cost requires sound information, robust risk based analysis, proper implementation of asset management activities and on-going critical review.

Major rail organisations are actively interested in moving towards an ‘intelligent railway’ – monitored more effectively, at increased frequency and with the resulting information providing key input to the improved management of the railway assets. Monitoring can lead to large cost savings and increased operational reliability of both trains and track. Monitoring for maintenance purposes has been standard practice in aviation since the 1970s, but is still less common in many parts of Europe’s rail network. While some systems have had remote monitoring to some degree (e.g. telecommunications systems), other railway assets have been less well served.

In the drive for the intelligent railway, the Gotcha system is making a major contribution. (more…)

Tagged with: Banverket, GVB, Infraspeed, Lloyd's Register, NedTrain, Network Rail, Poland, Polish National Railways, ProRail, Rhätische Bahn, Sweden, The Netherlands, Ton Bontekoe, Track maintenance & engineering, United Kingdom

Power Supply Solutions

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

The dimensioning of power supply systems for railways is complex. To obtain a power supply that fulfils the traffic demands over its lifespan, improving or upgrading of the power system cannot be avoided. The many planned projects for the northern transalpine line Lyon – St Jean de Maurienne and the southern alpine corridor call for a study to dimension and assess their power supply in order to weigh investment proposals.

As part of the new rail link between Lyon and Turin, the 52km-long Franco – Italian base tunnel underneath the Alps will be built. The route from Lyon to the base tunnel crosses the Alpine Corridor, a North/South corridor linking Geneva-Chambéry-Grenoble. Due to the performance required in terms of both capacity and speed, RFF (Réseau Ferré de France) is planning two separate lines between Lyon and the Alpine corridor. One is a 78km-long high-speed line for passenger trains running between Lyon (St Exupéry) and the north of Chambéry, which will cross the Dullin and l’Epine massifs via two successive tunnels. The other is a primarily new line for freight trains between Lyon (St Exupéry, where it connects to the Lyon Bypass line) and the Alpine Corridor, to the south of Montmélian, which will cross the Chartreuse massif via a tunnel. To the east of the Alpine corridor, passenger transport requirements are such that freight and passenger traffic can be grouped together on a single new line which will join St Jean de Maurienne via tunnels through the Belledonne and Glandon/Rocheray massifs, and will subsequently continue on towards Turin through the Franco – Italian base tunnel. Moreover, there is talk of establishing a short-cut between the lines Lyon – Grenoble and Valence – Moirans by 2020 in order to enhance the conditions of the line leading to Grenoble, a project referred to as Shunt de Rives. (more…)

Tagged with: ARCADIS, Margo van Vliet MA, Maurice Debrand, Mikaël Beck, Power supply, Remco Paulussen, Réseau Ferré de France (RFF)

Strong port investments to create efficient Intermodal links

Issue 5 2007 / 26 September 2007 /

Infrabel, the infrastructure manager of the Belgian railway network, is investing strongly in the extension of a competitive, suitable railway infrastructure in various Belgian ports. These extensions support the development of the ports and will improve intermodality between rail and water. In an interview with European Railway Review, Luc Lallemand, CEO of Infrabel, speaks about the challenges, strategy and Infrabel’s port investments.

According to various studies, freight traffic at various Belgian ports is on the increase. This increase concerns not only the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge but also the smaller ports of Ghent, Brussels, Ostend, Liège and Athus. For this reason, Infrabel is involved in various infrastructure projects in order to extend railway capacity and to support the expansion of the ports. By means of well-considered investment planning, the aim is to increase the share of the railways in the ports by making full use of existing and future railway potential. To follow is an overview of the most important infrastructure projects and investments in the various ports. (more…)

Tagged with: Belgium, Infrabel, Luc Lallemand, Rail infrastructure