James Abbott - Articles and news items

Electrification to prompt surge in demand for cables

Issue 1 2011 / 15 February 2011 /

Cables have applications all across the railway industry. Increasing interest in electrification implies extra demand for cables.

Electrified railways are the way forward for the future, as they are cleaner and cheaper to operate than diesel. Another key point is that they are able to draw their power from any primary source – nuclear, renewable or fossil fuel – rather than being dependent on oil. (more…)

Application of technology improves wheelset performance

Issue 3 2010 / 31 May 2010 /

The wheel/rail interface is one of the most critical parts of an entire railway operation. Through a contact patch the size of a small coin, all the forces between the moving element (the train) and the static element (the track) are transmitted. These forces are immense, and if not properly managed, disaster may follow.

Rolling contact fatigue can propagate tiny cracks in steel, so that the cracks grow and penetrate the rail web, causing it to disintegrate. This happened at Hatfield in the UK in October 2000, resulting in a fatal derailment. Following this, an intensive rail grinding regime was instituted, taking cracks off the railhead before they have a chance to propagate. (more…)

Crossrail work gets underway

Issue 6 2009, Past issues / 12 December 2009 /

One of the biggest public transport projects in the world has started in London. Crossrail will provide welcome work at a time when other parts of the construction sector are experiencing a downturn.

London is the poor relation amongst European cities when it comes to cross-city suburban rail links. While Paris has its Regional Express (RER) system and German cities their S-Bahns, the British capital struggles on with 19th century suburban rail termini that ring the core of the city. Only one line crosses from one side of the city to the other.

In the next decade, all that is set to change. A cross-shaped system is being constructed in London that will rival those of Continental cities. London’s sole present cross-city route, the north-south Thameslink line, is being upgraded so that by 2015 it will be able to accommodate 24 trains, each 12 cars long, in each direction per hour. The upgraded Thameslink route will intersect with a new east-west line, Crossrail, at Farringdon in the City of London. (more…)

In praise of electrification

Issue 5 2009, Past issues / 26 September 2009 /

In July the British government announced a major programme of railway electrification, taking in the Great Western main line from London to Bristol and Swansea. To many Continental European readers, it must seem astonishing that such an important artery on the British rail network is still diesel worked.

Successive UK governments have expressed scepticism about the merits of electrification, and as a result this main line, built by the famous Victorian engineer I. K. Brunel, has remained devoid of wires to this day. Paradoxically, one reason has been that railway managers in the UK have been very good at exploiting diesel technology to the maximum. When British Rail’s 200km/h diesel high-speed trains (HSTs) were introduced on this route in 1976, they were a true world beater – putting the UK at the top of the global speed league, alongside Japan’s bullet trains. (more…)

SNCB restructures its freight operations

Issue 1 2009, Past issues / 23 January 2009 /

In an interview for European Railway Review, Mr. Geert Pauwels, Coordinator of SNCB’s Freight Group, discusses how operations are being split from commercial responsibilities.

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Grinding and milling are essential to rail quality

Issue 1 2009, Past issues / 23 January 2009 /

Rail grinding helps to prevent the dangerous build-up of rolling contact fatigue, and also reduces running noise for line side communities. James Abbott, Technical Editor for European Railway Review, assesses some developments and significant aspects of this important area of our industry.

The Hatfield accident in the UK in 2000 was a wake-up call for railway administrations the world over. The derailment of an express passenger train with passenger fatalities was shown to have been caused by rolling contact fatigue (RCF), in which tiny cracks in the rail head extended down into the body of the rail, eventually causing a break.

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Consultancies help out on major projects

Industry Focus 2008, Past issues / 28 December 2008 /

Consultancies are providing expertise that is helping to realise important railway projects in Europe and around the world. Britain’s first high-speed railway line – High Speed 1 – was opened by Queen Elizabeth II with much fanfare on 6 November 2007. High speed Eurostar trains now whisk passengers from the splendidly-restored station at London St Pancras to the centre of Paris in just 2hr 15min. This magnificent engineering achievement would not have been feasible without the help of some of the world’s biggest engineering consultancies. Indeed the very route of the new link, over the marshes by the river Thames and into London by an eastern approach, was the brainchild of Ove Arup – it appealed to the government as it gave an opportunity to regenerate areas by the river that have become known as Thames Gateway.

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SNCF Rolling Stock Division seeks to expand

Issue 6 2008, Past issues / 3 December 2008 /

Long-distance international passenger traffic in Europe will be opened up to competition in 2010. In an interview for the European Railway Review, Alain Bullot, Director of the SNCF Rolling Stock Division, explains how they are gearing up for the challenge.

The European Commission in Brussels has long had a policy of promoting competition between operators on the continent’s railways, in order to bring down prices and sharpen up service for consumers. Competition has been in place in the freight sector for more than two years now, with previously closed markets such as France seeing new entrants such as DB Schenker’s Euro Cargo Rail division and Veolia Cargo.

The next step comes on 1 January 2010, when the international passenger sector will be opened up to competition. Already, some major airlines such as Air France have spoken of taking advantage of the opportunities offered by this change in the law, capturing the environmental zeitgeist with the idea of transferring passengers on international routes such as Paris to London from air to rail.

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Banverket seeks investment to cope with growth

Issue 5 2008, Past issues / 27 September 2008 /

With traffic increasing steadily, Banverket is seeking more money to finance new lines, adding extra capacity and improving maintenance in the Swedish rail system.

Over the past decade, rail traffic growth in Sweden has been impressive. Passenger loadings are up by almost three quarters, while freight traffic has grown by more than a quarter.

Banverket, the state-owned company responsible for the infrastructure of the rail system, argues that these rates of growth mean that there is a need for more money to be invested in the network to boost capacity. Both investments and maintenance needs to be increased to meet the needs.

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High levels of mechanisation in Swiss track maintenance

Issue 4 2008, Past issues / 1 August 2008 /

DB to add 1,000km to the high-speed network

Issue 3 2008, Past issues / 28 May 2008 /

In a recent presentation from Dipl.-Ing. Wolfgang Feldwisch of DB Netz AG given at the UIC High-Speed show in Amsterdam, ambitious plans for enlarging the German high-speed network were explained.

The first German high-speed rail lines were planned in the 1980s, when the Iron Curtain dividing the country was still in place.

Historically, the main transport corridors in Germany had been east-west routes centred on Berlin. With the division of the country, West Germany needed better north-south links. Accordingly, the first high-speed lines ran north-south, from Hannover to Würzburg and Mannheim to Stuttgart. These pioneer routes, opened in 1991, and have maximum speeds of up to 280km/h.

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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…)