Funding - Articles and news items

Assessing current situations

Issue 4 2009, Past issues / 21 July 2009 /

In an interview for European Railway Review, Mr. Moretti gives his outlook on the European railways situation and also provides details of the important Florence to Bologna high-speed line, due to open in December 2009.

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The future development of Swiss rail infrastructure – ZEB

Issue 4 2009, Past issues / 21 July 2009 /

Before new rail projects are discussed at SBB Infrastructure, the division first establishes the long-term demand and future mobility requirements of its customers in both the passenger and freight sectors.

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Today’s challenges for the railways in Germany

Issue 2 2009, Past issues / 26 March 2009 /

100 years ago, railways in Germany had no serious competition. Their share of the freight transport market was 70%. Not until the 1930′s was there a change, brought about by the rise in road transport. Due to technological progress and by being more flexible and customer focused, road haulage was able to rapidly gain market shares.

The cumbersome and complex bureaucratic machinery of the railways was hardly able to reverse the progress, quite the contrary: The railways kept losing market shares and piling up debts. In order to bring these trends to a stop and preserve the railways as an economically and ecologically meaningful mode of transport, the German Bundestag adopted the reform of the railways in 1994.

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A joint agreement to improve the French railway network

Issue 6 2007, Past issues / 26 November 2007 /

On 25 May 2007, Anne-Marie Idrac, the president of the SNCF Group and Hubert du Mesnil, the President of Réseau Ferré de France, signed a new infrastructure management agreement to cover the financial years from 2007 to 2010 inclusive, for maintenance and upgrading of the French national railway network.

There are three concerned areas. Firstly, there is path plotting, of which an annual sum of approximately €32 million has been set aside for. Then operations, that is to say operational traffic management and traffic follow-up. An annual amount increasing from €794 million in 2007 to €861 million in 2010 will be dedicated to this area, which includes the safety and regularity assessment missions. Finally, the management agreement concerns the routine maintenance and major maintenance of railway facilities, for an amount decreasing from €1,890 million to €1,860 million over the term of the contract. (more…)

Performance of Poland’s operational programme

Issue 6 2007, Past issues / 26 November 2007 /

This article comprehensively describes a modernisation plan for the Polish rail network to be fulfilled during 2007-2013 and subsequent years. This great investment plan is lead by PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe S.A. (PKP Polish Railway Lines Company). The plan is an extensive one and there is still enough time and financial means for everybody who wants to participate in it to put their thoughts forward.

I would like to draw the attention of all European Railway Review readers who are representing companies cooperating within the railway sector and for rail operators, that in the heart of our continent we are creating convenient circumstances for the development of both domestic and international railway transport, aimed at interoperability and complete liberalisation of the passenger and freight transport market available to all EU operators. (more…)

Portuguese high-speed network is fast approaching

Issue 5 2007, Past issues / 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…)

ADIF looks towards the future

Issue 5 2007, Past issues / 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…)

The continued development of Switzerland’s rail network

Issue 4 2007, Past issues / 30 July 2007 /

Overall mobility in Switzerland is forecast to grow by 15-30% between 2000 and 2030. Public transport is set to grow even faster, increasing its market share at the expense of car travel.

For its part, SBB is forecasting an increase of 45% in passenger traffic in the same period. There are several contributory factors including general growth, changes in attitudes to mobility, developments in population and workplace patterns, the competitive effect of road traffic on rail, and not least a growing ecological awareness among broad strata of the population. If we are to cope with this growth, the continued expansion of rail services is essential. (more…)

All change for Czech railway infrastructure

Issue 4 2007, Past issues / 30 July 2007 /

The Czech Republic owns one of the densest railway networks in Europe. The total length of lines is approximately 9,500km and the Czech territory represents an area of ca 79,000km2. Geographical location of our republic within the centre of Europe is convenient as regards to the most significant transit directions.

Two international railway corridors run through the Czech Republic. One of them is the Pan-European Corridor No. IV, sometimes described as the E Corridor for the north-south direction from northern seaports to the east and south of Europe. The other Pan-European Corridor is the VI Corridor, for the north-south direction, currently being one of the crucial directions for the freight transit transport via the Czech territory. These corridors together with other two national railway corridors symbolize an imaginary backbone of our railway network. The Czech railway provides both an internal linkage of big cities and an international connection to the network of European railways. (more…)

Positive progression for the rolling stock market

Industry Focus 2007, Past issues / 29 December 2006 /

2006 has been a positive year for the Rail Industry – both in terms of development perspectives and recent technological achievements. This feeling was largely reflected at the Innotrans trade fair last September where the Industry presented its state-of-the-art technology, particularly in the Rolling Stock area. The seminar organised jointly by UNIFE and VDB on Rolling Stock technologies showed the latest developments such as the new generation of powered bogies presented by Mr. Gerhard, CTO Siemens Transportation and the modularity of internal & external design presented by Mr Lacôte, CTO Alstom Transport.

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Bright future for Belgium

Issue 1 2006, Past issues / 14 February 2006 /

In an interview with European Railway Review, CEO Luc Lallemand openly talks about Infrabel, the manager of the Belgian railway infrastructure. During this conversation the CEO, among other things, talks about the main tasks, the investments, the major projects and the challenges of Infrabel.

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Assessing infrastructure development

Issue 2 2005, Past issues / 31 May 2005 /

Austrian Federal Railways (Österreichische Bundesbahnen – ÖBB) has embarked to gradually complete Austria’s rail infrastructure, based on the requirements specified for the 2020 target network to enable it to cope with current and future transport demand. Capacity, cost efficiency and maximum customer benefit are the main drivers of all initiatives concerning operation, planning, construction and maintenance of infrastructure.

In the future, new assessment methods will help to give reasonable, retraceable and transparent answers to the difficult question of defining development project priorities. The goal is to better demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of individual projects at an early stage, thus making a positive contribution to objective public discussions. ÖBB will capitalise on its new Group structure to quickly and efficiently proceed towards this goal. (more…)