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Issue 1 2012 / 6 February 2012 /
Since 2006, infra-manager ProRail has been keeping the Dutch rail free from Head Checks by grinding the rails in an Anti Head Check profile. Head Checks (HC) are rail defects that are created by wheel-rail contact. These can be serious safety threats. I obtained my doctorate in 2010 with the dissertation titled ‘Design of an Anti Head Check profile based on stress relief 1,2. I designed a rail profile that saves ProRail €50 million of maintenance costs for the rails per year. This rail profile made the volume of HC decrease by over 70% since late-2008. Head Checks are becoming extinct in the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, approximately 70% of the total annual maintenance budget is spent on rails, including foundation, sleepers, ballast, constructions and switches3. Rails may seem to be simple elements, but they deserve ample attention. The wheel-rail contact is the force that brings the degeneration of both separate systems together. All failing mechanisms can eventually be brought down to this dynamic contact system. This also played a role in the serious and fatal UK rail accident in 2000 at Hatfield, where rails affected by HC broke down.
Shocked by this, infra-manager ProRail took a look at the situation in the Netherlands. Inspections proved that here HC was a serious problem as well: 10% of the curves (rails) appeared to have been affected. The safety, reliability and availability of the rails was in danger. The problem increased and expo – nentially grew each year. In the peak year 2004, ProRail spent €50 million on fighting HC. (more…)
Issue 1 2011 / 15 February 2011 /
Imagine: six intercity trains, six regional trains and two freight trains per hour in the morning and evening peak hours. In September 2010, the Dutch rail industry carried out a unique test named ‘Each ten minutes a train (ETMET)’ on a mainly two-track route. In a special interview for European Railway Review, Erik Sigger (NS) and Peter van Waveren (ProRail), Project Management of ETMET, explain that although this is the dream of every train passenger, is it really possible?
The answer seems to be yes, provisionally, because with a structural introduction of this metro-like system, there are a lot more factors than just arranging extra trains and staff, as was discovered by Dutch Railways (NS), infrastructure manager ProRail and the united freight railway undertakings Royal Dutch Transport Federation (KNV). (more…)
Issue 1 2010, Past issues / 28 January 2010 /
In Issue 1 2009 of European Railway Review, an article was published about how ProRail expects to realise a growth of 50% by applying a new approach. This approach is known as the Triple A. In this article, I will discuss the progress since January 2009, but I will first give a brief outline of the scope of Triple A. (more…)
Issue 1 2009, Past issues / 23 January 2009 /
Over recent years, minds have been focused on improving the system reliability of the Dutch railways. So far, it has proved possible to shoehorn the capacity requested by transport operators into the timetable each year, even though the network is one of the most intensively used in Europe. Now that reliability has been put in order, and the demand for capacity is increasing, the time is right for expansion and for raising capacity utilisation above traditional standards.
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Issue 4 2008, Past issues / 1 August 2008 /
Passenger traffic in the Netherlands has grown by approximately 3% over recent years and it is expected to continue increasing in the foreseeable future. There are many stations in the Netherlands, a large proportion of which were built after the Second World War and they lack the capacity to cope with the expected growth. Old tunnels and walkways are too narrow, platforms are too short and station halls are too small. The modern-day traveler expects a high level of convenience, comfort and visual appearance.
ProRail, the Dutch railway manager and builder, is currently working in close cooperation with several parties to ensure the modernisation and development of eight major stations and their immediate surroundings.
The need to develop stations has been accelerated by the construction of the HSL-Zuid, the Dutch section of the European network of high-speed lines. This route runs from Amsterdam via Schiphol and Rotterdam to the Belgian border and has connections to The Hague and Breda. With this new line, trains will reach top speeds of up to 300km/h and the Dutch government hopes many economic opportunities will arise. The surrounding areas of the HSL-Zuid route are already top locations for the establishment of international companies. (more…)
Issue 1 2008, Past issues / 29 January 2008 /
In 1990, a goods train travelled along the single track, cross-border line connecting the Dutch city of Maastricht and the Belgian town of Lanaken. At that time, it was known to be the last goods train to ever travel on the track. However, this 6km long goods line is now being reactivated with support from the European Union. Following an administrative decision-making process that took several years, and extensive debate concerning usefulness and necessity, finance and conservation, the planning decision was finally taken in 2007 to reopen the line. The rail link, which is to provide access to a new business park near Lanaken, is due for completion in 2010.
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Issue 5 2007, Past issues / 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…)
Issue 4 2007, Past issues / 30 July 2007 /
ProRail manages an installed base which has an estimated replacement value of more than €30 billion. Tracks and turnouts are a significant part of the pie, amounting to more than €8 billion. Moreover, they consume more than 50% of total maintenance costs and 75% of renewal costs due to their usage-based, relatively rapid deterioration pattern and high cost of installation. Last but not least, track and turnouts, and especially high-speed turnouts are important because they are sources of failure and traffic disruption. This is why ProRail develops policy plans for track product and maintenance management.
This article briefly drafts ProRail’s product management and maintenance policy, which aims to deliver optimum performance levels of tracks and turnouts. The policy is a formal working document within ProRail, which sets out which track products, standards and maintenance strategies deliver best value for money1. (more…)
Issue 1 2006, Past issues / 14 February 2006 /
ProRail, the owner of the Dutch railway network, has gone further than most European rail infrastructure companies in putting maintenance and renewal work out to tender. James Abbott, European Railway Review’s Technical Editor asks the questions that matter to two of ProRail’s employees – Mr. Jan Swier, Strategic Advisor for Maintenance and Renewals and Mr. Anthonie Bauer, Director of Infrastructure Management.
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Issue 4 2005, Past issues / 3 November 2005 /
Railways are of great social importance. In The Netherlands, a million passengers take the train each day and an increasing amount of freight traffic also goes by rail. Without a safe and reliable network with sufficient capacity, everything would grind to a halt. It is one of the tasks of ProRail, which manages the Dutch network, to ensure that the rail infrastructure is adequate, reliable and safe.
Safeguarding the performance and quality of that infrastructure is a continuous process. The Dutch Government requires regular inspections of track and points to check that lines are safe and to make sure that environmental influences are not compromising the system. ProRail also makes time to inspect other components, such as overhead power lines and signals. Whether new or long-standing, the entire infrastructure will need maintenance or replacement eventually. (more…)
Issue 3 2005, Past issues / 23 August 2005 /
In the last two years the roll-out of the innovative weigh-in-motion (WIM) system Quo Vadis has taken place on the Dutch rail network. This system, developed by ProRail, Baas R&D and NedTrain Consulting, has been installed in 38 locations, allowing the measurement of 80% of traffic movements and 96% of ton kilometres. Identification of trains is functioning well, using systems that are also used for traffic control purposes.
The development of Quo Vadis was initiated by the implementation of EU directive 2001/14 within The Netherlands1. It has cost €3.5 million (excluding the NedTrain part). This directive specifies that the track access charge must be cost-related, which is why a mixture of train kilometres, tonne kilometres, stops and energy consumption was chosen as its basis. The choice of measuring locations is optimised using a calculation model, based upon the forthcoming timetable. Quo Vadis has been developed for measuring the loads of passing trains, which are a measure of the maintenance requirements of the superstructure2. The superstructure (or track system) is one of the primary cost drivers in railway maintenance and renewal3. The Quo Vadis measurements are quickly available; the operators can easily track their haulage and access charging online via the Internet.
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Issue 1 2005, Past issues / 2 March 2005 /
Delft University of Technology has developed new technical regulation standards for the geometrical deviations of metallurgic rail welds in The Netherlands, in cooperation with the Dutch rail infrastructure manager ProRail.
Like in all norms worldwide, the Dutch standards were based on establishing vertical (and horizontal) tolerances. In this way, only the maximum value of the longitudinal rail surface irregularity played a role, whereas the geometrical shape had no importance. However, this shape has a direct relation to dynamic wheel-rail contact forces, which may not be neglected, as these forces are at the source of many railway component defects and track deterioration mechanisms. Further, in the old standards the train velocity limitation for the line section in question had no influence.
In order to tackle this shortcoming, it was decided to develop a method to evaluate the overall dynamic quality of each individual realised weld-geometry, dependent of the line-section speed. This quality can be expressed in terms of dynamic effects occurring for train passage of the weld geometry. The concept is elaborated in the following article.
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