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Banedanmark - Articles and news items
Rail industry news / 31 January 2012 /
Banedanmark, the Danish infrastructure owner, has awarded the Thales and Balfour Beatty Rail consortium, a €400 million contract for the installation of a state-of-the-art European signalling system on nearly 1200 km of rail lines across Jutland. This comprises approximately 60 per cent of Denmark’s railway network and is one of the largest signalling contract ever awarded in the world.
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Rail industry news / 5 August 2011 /
Banedanmark, the Danish railway infrastructure developer and operator, has placed a contract with Siemens for the modernization of the complete signaling system of the Copenhagen commuter rail (“S-Bane”) network. This contract is worth 252 million euros, making it the biggest rail automation order that Siemens has ever received. It calls for the supply and installation of the fully automatic Trainguard MT type train control system, Sicas type electronic interlockings, and switch machines. The equipment package also includes a brand-new operations control center. The first of six construction phases equipped with the new signaling system is scheduled to go into operation already before the end of 2014. The contract also includes maintenance services for 25 years.
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Issue 3 2011 / 31 May 2011 /
The Danish parliament Manager, Engineering Team of the Signalling Programme, Banedanmark has decided to fund a €3.2 billion replacement programme of renewing all Danish railway signalling before 2021. The programme is unique in Europe both in size and in its approach of focusing on economies of scale and creating a competitive market situation to ensure the best possible price and quality.
The programme also introduces a step change in technology which maximises the possibilities and benefits of re-signalling the Danish railway network. Customer benefits from the programme include higher reliability, higher line speed at selected lines and homogenous high safety across the country. (more…)
Rail industry news / 1 July 2010 /
Denmark’s state-owned railway infrastructure enterprise, Banedanmark, is preparing for the railway signaling and train control system to be established across the European Union by 2020. It has selected Nokia Siemens Networks’ GSM-Railway (GSM-R) technology to ensure interoperability with the railways in Sweden and Germany, while increasing the speed, capacity and security of the country’s train operations.
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Issue 3 2010 / 31 May 2010 /
In January 2009, the Danish parliament decided to fund a €3.2 billion replacement programme of renewing all Danish railway signalling before 2021. The programme is one of its kind in Europe both in size and being unique in its approach of focusing on economies of scale and creating a competitive market situation to ensure the best possible price and quality.
The programme also introduces a step change in technology which maximises the possibilities and benefits of re-signalling the Danish railway network. Customer benefits from the programme includes: higher reliability, higher line speed at selected lines, homogenous high safety and nationwide interoperability. (more…)
Rail industry news / 1 March 2010 /
Lloyd’s Register EMEA has won a framework contract from Banedanmark to provide independent safety assessment and Notified Body (Interoperability Directive) (NoBo) services as part of the approval process for the euro 2.4 billion renewal of Denmark’s signalling systems. The value of the NoBo and generic safety assessor (G-ISA) work is estimated to be DKK 48 million. The contract will cover the period from January 2010 until the end of Banedanmark’s Signalling Programme projected to be in 2021. (more…)
Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 26 March 2009 /
In January 2009, the Danish parliament decided to fund a €3.2 billion replacement programme of renewing all Danish railway signalling before 2021. The programme is unique in its approach of focusing on economies of scale and creating a competitive market situation to ensure the best possible price and quality. The programme also introduces a step change in technology which maximises the possibilities and benefits of re-signalling the Danish railway network.
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Issue 3 2008, Past issues / 28 May 2008 /
In 2005, the Danish railway experienced a major crisis, suffering massive delays due to poor track standards and failing signalling systems. Two issues were behind the problems; the railway had been, and was, under-funded and there was a significant lack of technical and managerial control of the infrastructure. Lack of control working in concert with money shortage led to an accelerated degradation.
As chance will have it, this crisis surfaced into public view in 2005 – two years after a much celebrated political agreement for the future railway from 2005 – 2014. This means that Rail Net Denmark, the state owned railway asset management company, was then facing general political mistrust. This fact was further augmented by multiple critical reports from the state auditor.
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Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 6 June 2007 /
Banedanmark face great challenges in the coming years. New funds from the Danish government will make it possible for Banedanmark to renew large parts of the Danish State rail network over the next seven years. Another huge challenge is a total renewal of the entire signalling system introducing an ERTMS based system in Denmark.
The Danish Railway has been facing great challenges over the past five years. A major part of the rail network dates back to the 60s and 70s and despite great efforts to maintain the network, the poor condition of tracks, signals and other infrastructure elements have caused major problems for train traffic across the country.
The problems come at a time when the need for transport in Denmark is constantly and rapidly increasing. Statistics show that the population’s need to move over longer distances is growing. Though the number of train passengers being transported on the Danish rail network has increased over the last 10 years, the increase in road traffic has been even larger. It is therefore urgent that something has to be done about the rail network in order to make train transport more attractive, not least for environmental reasons. (more…)
Issue 3 2006, Past issues / 31 May 2006 /
Infrastructure matters; the statement has gained increased significance for the users, owners and operators on the Danish tracks.After years of neglecting both track renewal and signal system, Denmark is now at a crossroad: either passengers must become accustomed to new, but lower standards, or the Danish politicians must get used to the idea that renewal and maintenance is a costly business which grows exceedingly more expensive for each year the work is postponed.The infrastructure needs action and realistic planning, and the owner, the Danish state, needs to take some active decisions based on realistic expectations.
For some, the wake up call came in August 2005. From delivering the foundation for a general speed of 180km/h, comfortable for a country the size of Denmark, the trains were obliged for several months to travel at 120km/h between Denmark’s two largest cities – Copenhagen and Aarhus, adding at least half an hour to the travel time. The reason was a series of almost a hundred rail joints bending around the limits of the allowed standards. For me this was just another proof of the challenges that the Danish infrastructure is facing. As an eye opener this made a lot of people understand how pivotal the infrastructure is for a well functioning train system. (more…)
Issue 3 2006, Past issues / 31 May 2006 /
Approximately 2,700 trains are in operation on the Danish tracks every day.They make use of over 3,240km of tracks, cross 2,342 bridges and intersect with roads at numerous points. The technology involved is mostly of the standard proven type,with a general inclination towards high quality.This is not a land of cutting edge solutions – but this may change in years to come when larger renewal plans are implemented.
The Danish Rail Tracks is, like in most of Europe, a mix of older material and generations of upgrades. The major concern lately is that track joints have been generating problems, not holding inside their tolerances and thus giving way to speed limitations. The existence of rail joints is due to the fact that the overall control system in Denmark is based on electrically separated blocks. Other block systems are in use such as axel counters, but there is no radio or GPS based system currently in use. (more…)
Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 31 May 2005 /
The challenges are plain for Danish rail infrastructure manager, Rail Net Denmark. A somewhat outdated rail and signal infrastructure are ripe for thorough renewals. The task is put in the hands of an organisation in the process of change, moving from being household of the state to a more independent role. To complete the picture, the Danish Government is reconsidering the entire future structure for Rail Net Denmark. The man in charge of both processes is CEO Jesper Rasmussen. In this article he explains how Rail Net Denmark will develop in the coming years and which strategic measures are taken into use to support the development.
In a couple of years Rail Net Denmark has moved from being part of the central administration in Denmark to a state-owned enterprise with an independent Board of Directors. As liberalisation of the markets is a fact, I suspect this will go even further. Markets are opening up and we need to be able to compete with the other players on the track market in Europe more than ever before. This means major changes in the way we do our business, and to do that we have to define the desired qualities of our core business in a way that is unmistakable for customers, employees and government alike.
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