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Rail Articles

ÖBB – shaping mobility of the future

1 August 2013 | By Klaus Garstenauer, Head of Local and Regional Train Services, ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG

In early-2013, the Supervisory Board of ÖBB-Personenverkehr AG and ÖBB-Holding AG concluded an order worth approximately €581 million for 100 new Siemens Desiro ML mass transit and regional trains. The new trainsets will contribute significantly to improving passenger comfort and prove that ÖBB is committed to enhancing its offering. The…

WESTbahn shakes up Austrian market

1 August 2013 | By Erich Forster, CEO, WESTbahn Management GmbH

WESTbahn Management GmbH is a private railway company that launched operations in December 2011 offering passenger services between Vienna, Salzburg and Freilassing. We are the first private long-distance railway company in Austria, offering almost hourly intervals. Due to a top speed of 200km/h, the journey time of WESTbahn trains from…

Construction, maintenance and upgrading of tracks: the Austrian way

1 August 2013 | By Michael Walter, Bernhard Knoll and Jürgen Stern, Business Unit Integrated Railroad Line Management, ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG

The liberalisation of European railways, particularly the free network access of passenger and freight traffic, have a basic influence on the construction of new lines and the maintenance and upgrading of tracks of ÖBBInfrastruktur AG. This article outlines the essential characteristics of track systems including track substructure. Line layout and…

Rail steel grades in track

1 August 2013 | By Peter Veit, Head of the Institute for Railway Engineering and Transport Economy, Graz University of Technology, Austria

Since 2002, track strategies at the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) have been based on life-cycle cost calculations1. These basic strategies have been adopted due to new technologies – for example the use of under sleeper pads, changing price levels, and the phenomena of rail contact fatigue2 (RCF). The basic data…

Healthy tracks mean healthy operations

1 August 2013 | By Michele Mario Elia, CEO, Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI)

Railway diagnostics – in other words a set of activities used to detect the ‘health conditions’ of rail infrastructure – is today an irreplaceable tool to optimise the maintenance of railway networks. It is a crucial area for railway network providers because it guarantees operating safety, prevents failures and directs…

Network Rail’s operating strategy

1 August 2013 | By Ian Chapman, Programme Manager (Change), Network Rail

Network Rail is embarking on a process that will revolutionise signalling in Britain and allow it to run more trains, more punctually and more efficiently than ever before. The company has mapped out where and how it will run the network of the future, and this has been driven by…

‘Train Fund Denmark’ – a plan for the future Danish railway

23 May 2013 | By Henrik Dam Kristensen, Minister for Transport, Denmark

It is the Danish Government’s ambition that most of future traffic growth should take place in public transport. This will help to reduce congestion and to ensure environmentally sustainable transport. However, in order to turn this ambition into reality, railway services must be able to attract new customers and to…

NSB gets connected with on-board Wi-Fi

23 May 2013 | By Peter Hausken, IT Department for Planning and Operations Manager, NSB Passenger Trains

With most trains expected to be equipped with wireless internet over the next few years, as passengers demand increasing levels of service, what are the implications and benefits to rail operators of implementing the technology? In an interview for Global Railway Review, Peter Hausken, IT Manager at the Traffic Department…

Upgrading the Ringsted–Fehmarn Line: a huge construction job

23 May 2013 | By Jens Ole Kaslund, Ringsted–Fehmarn Project Director, Banedanmark

The upgrading of the Ringsted–Fehmarn Line is one of Banedanmark’s largest ever projects. Together with the fixed link across the Fehmarn Belt and other major Danish infrastructure projects such as the Copenhagen–Ringsted Line, this is a massive scheme for both rail freight and passenger traffic.

CROSSING BORDERS: The Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link

23 May 2013 | By Johnny Restrup-Sørensen, Contract Director – Railway, Femern A/S

The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will connect Denmark and Germany with a two-track railway and a four-lane motorway underneath the Fehmarnbelt. With a total length of approximately 18km, it will be the world’s longest immersed tunnel for combined rail and road traffic and will help bring people, businesses and culture in the…

Estonian Railways invests to meet modern requirements

23 May 2013 | By Ahti Asmann, Chairman of the Management Board – General Director, AS Eesti Raudtee

The railway in Estonia has been expected to keep up with many requirements over its 142-year history, during which time there have been many key events and rapid developments – through wars, shifts of governments and regimes, development of technology, privatisation and re-nationalisation – the railway has worked at its…

Russian Railways’ rolling stock investments

23 May 2013 | By Vladimir Yakunin, President, Russian Railways

Today, passengers expect speed, comfort, and safety. Russian Railways intends to exceed all of these expectations and we believe it is impossible to achieve these goals without investing in modern rolling stock.