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Issue 4 2007, Past issues / 30 July 2007 /
Ferrovie dello Stato’s business plan for 2007-2011 was approved by the Government on 4 May 2007. It is a development plan, a turning point and a real revolution from a quality point of view, with the aim of re-launching the Group on the domestic and European market and turning it into one of the major players in a competition which is becoming tougher every day.
A key element of the Plan is the traffic growth, which we estimate to be around 34% for regional transport, 14% for medium/long-distance journeys and 19% for freight transport.
These are significant figures, which are supported from the start of 2010 by the completion of the new Turin – Milan – Naples High-Speed/High Capacity line – a project with a high technological content, which is absolutely essential if we are to meet the challenges in the Italian transport sector over the coming years. (more…)
Issue 4 2007, Past issues / 30 July 2007 /
Cross London Rail Links’ proposals for a major new railway for London and the south of the UK, with benefits for the whole of the country, continue to move steadily through the parliamentary process towards construction.
Proposed in 1999 as part of a central London rail study (following a prior abortive attempt at legislating for a similar scheme in the early 1990s), work began in 2001 to design a new network which will link Maidenhead and Heathrow airport to the west of London, with the counties of Essex and Kent in the east through new tunnels running under central London. The project represents one of the largest transport engineering initiatives in the UK’s recent history.
Known as ‘Crossrail’, the project is a 50/50 joint venture between Transport for London (TfL) and the Government’s Department for Transport (DfT). Its objectives are: to support the continuing development of London as a World City and a global financial centre; to support London’s economic growth and its regeneration areas by boosting capacity and reducing congestion on the existing transport network; and to improve rail access into and within London. (more…)
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…)
Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 6 June 2007 /
Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway, is the country’s oil capital. The city and the surrounding Jæren region have consistently enjoyed the fastest population growth in Norway since the oil boom started in the early 1970s. The Jæren line from Egersund to Stavanger is a continuation of the Sørland line linking Oslo with the south of the country. Extensive modernisation of the rail system in Jæren is now under way, with well over NOK 2bn due to be invested over the next few years.
After many years of stagnation in local services, a new timetable offering many more departures was introduced in 1992. This was well received by the market, and traffic has increased fourfold from 1992 to date. The current single-track line is now operating at full capacity, making further increases in traffic impossible. Construction of a double-track line between Sandnes and Stavanger is therefore under way and scheduled for completion in 2010. In future, the line will be the region’s main public transport artery. Double-tracking will facilitate a doubling of the number of trains between Bryne and Stavanger. (more…)
Issue 3 2007, Past issues / 6 June 2007 /
The planning of Finland’s first airport line is well under way and construction is scheduled to begin in 2008 on the outskirts of Helsinki. A working group has recommended that the line will be constructed with normal state budget funds. The project is expected to cost approximately €420 million (at the May 2006 cost level).
The 18km line in Vantaa will offer a rail link to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport, plus making it possible to build new residential areas and workplaces along good traffic connections.
The airport line, which in the master plan stage was called the Marja Line, has been renamed the Ring Rail Line, since it will run between the main line to the north and the Martinlaakso commuter line via the airport. The Ring Rail Line will form an urban rail loop that will make it possible to use commuter trains more efficiently. Plans call for services to operate at 10-minute intervals in both directions on the new line. The fastest journey time from the centre of Helsinki to the airport will be approximately half an hour. (more…)
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 2007, Past issues / 6 June 2007 /
Since March 18 2007, the European Train Control System (ETCS) has been in full operation on Switzerland’s backbone of the railway network. The newly built Mattstetten – Rothrist line between Bern and Zurich is the core of the Rail 2000 concept. The new 42km section is used by 242 passenger trains and more than 30 freight trains a day travelling at speeds of up to 200km/h at operational headways of less than two minutes. The Swiss Federal Railway (SBB) is the first railway in the world to successfully introduce a highest density mixed traffic operation applying ETCS Level 2 and GSM-R voice.
Switzerland is an export oriented country. A high percentage of the Swiss industrial production is exported to the surrounding countries, mainly to Germany and Italy. Most of the heavy goods are transported by train. In addition, Switzerland is one of the geographical pivot points of Europe, as the shortest way from northern Germany to Italy passes through Switzerland. Therefore, a large proportion of the Trans European freight is transported over the Swiss railway infrastructure. (more…)
Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 30 April 2007 /
The Ankara-Istanbul High-Speed Train Project is the first high-speed train line of Turkey and is being realized in two phases – the first being the 251km Sincan-Inönü section and the second being the 158km Inönü-Köseköy section. The 24km Ankara-Sincan and 56km long Köseköy-Gebze sections will be completed by being tendered out separately. The 44km Gebze-H.Pafla section has not been included within the scope of the project as it wasn’t included in the scope of Marmaray Project.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 3 April 2007 /
In an interview for the European Railway Review, Dr. Volker Kefer, Chairman of the Board of Management for DB Netz AG, explains the companies operational techniques and also discusses future development plans to ensure that DB Netz AG is a company that performs successfully.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 3 April 2007 /
DB Netz AG is responsible for the entire track infrastructure of Deutsche Bahn. The track network, which encompasses more than 34,000km, is the longest in all of Europe. It is presently used by approximately 350 rail transportation companies. There are approximately 39,000 train movements each day in combined passenger and freight traffic, which yields an annual traffic volume of more than one billion train-kilometers.
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Issue 2 2007, Past issues / 3 April 2007 /
Strongly supported by the Ministry of Transport and Communications, a new era for Hellenic Railways is starting to take shape with major modernisation and upgrading projects of the railway service and infrastructure of the country. (more…)
Issue 1 2007, Past issues / 6 February 2007 /
Belgium, at the heart of Europe’s railway network, is a key link in what is to become a vast interoperable network of high-speed lines covering Europe. Infrabel intends to take every advantage of the opportunities this will offer. The high-speed line between Brussels and the Dutch border will be put at the disposal of the operators in April 2007; the link between Brussels and the German border is scheduled for December 2007. European Railway Review spoke to Jean Marie Raviart, Director-General Infrastructure of Infrabel, about the final phase in the Belgian high-speed project.
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