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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 3 2006, Past issues / 31 May 2006 /
A steady succession of small rolling stock orders is keeping interest alive in the Nordic market.A decade ago, the Nordic countries were seen as a beacon of hope by Europe’s rolling stock manufacturers,with some large replacement orders coming up.
But those orders are now behind us, with the Italian manufacturer Ansaldo-Breda winning many of them at competitive prices. Finland, Norway and Denmark (this article excludes Sweden) all boast modern fleets and the orders coming up are tending to be in niche areas of the market. (more…)
Issue 3 2005, Past issues / 23 August 2005 /
The task of Banverket, the Swedish National Rail Administration, to safeguard the state-owned railway infrastructure is performed with the aid of significant maintenance so as to ensure its operations achieve the transport policy goals set out by Sweden’s Government.
Maintenance is a link in securing a transport system for the general public and industry throughout Sweden that is both socio-economically effective and sustainable in the long term. Maintenance is a precondition for ensuring that the investments made will have the lifetime and outcomes that have been planned.
At present, extensive development work is in progress within Banverket aimed at increasing the efficiency of maintenance operations. In order to gain sufficient insight into the individual parts, it is necessary to shed light on how they are inter-linked to form a single entity. This entity is described in Banverket’s overall maintenance strategy.
It is also important that everyone involved in the management and direction of maintenance operations should share a common view of what is to be achieved.
(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.
(more…)
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