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Rail Articles

Allegro boosts rail travel from Helsinki to St. Petersburg

31 May 2011 | By Antti Jaatinen, Senior Vice President of Passenger Services, VR-Group Ltd and Maarit Haavisto-Koskinen, Head of International Marketing, VR-Group Ltd and Mika Heijari, Head of External Communications, VR-Group Ltd and Tiina Nieminen, Managing Director, Avecra Oy

The high-speed Allegro rail service between Helsinki in Finland and St. Petersburg in Russia began operating on 12 December 2010. The service cuts the journey time between the two cities by more than two hours to three and a half hours. The Allegros have a top speed of 220km/h and…

A turning point for Norwegian railways

31 May 2011 | By Elisabeth Enger, Director General, Jernbaneverket

2011 will be an exciting year for Norwegian railways. The past year was unfortunately marred by widespread service disruption and much criticism from passengers, the media and politicians. Our goal at Jernbaneverket, the Norwegian National Rail Administration, is that 2011 should be the turning point where we begin to see…

Investments are key to the development of Eesti Raudtee

31 May 2011 | By Arvo Smiltinsh, Member of the Management Board – Infrastructure Director, AS EVR Infra

Whilst the other Baltic countries are still considering whether to start work on the Rail Baltica project and discussing how extensive it should be, Estonia will soon be completing the reconstruction of the southbound railway line. The group of undertakings under Eesti Raudtee was established on 14 January 2009, when…

Maximising the benefits of re-signalling the Danish railway network

31 May 2011 | By Claus Nymark, Manager, Engineering Team of the Signalling Programme, Banedanmark

The Danish parliament Manager, Engineering Team of the Signalling Programme, Banedanmark has decided to fund a €3.2 billion replacement programme of renewing all Danish railway signalling before 2021. The programme is unique in Europe both in size and in its approach of focusing on economies of scale and creating a…

London Southend Airport railway station development project

31 May 2011 | By Kirk Taylor, Managing Director & Stephen Harker, Project Manager, Stobart Rail

By any measure, a new main line railway station is a rare commodity. There has been only a handful over the past 20 years, some linked to regional airports. But the south-east region in the UK now has its own, all-new, congestion-easing rail-air interchange at Southend Airport – the work…

A new era for rail travel in Northern Ireland

31 May 2011 | By Mal McGreevy, General Manager – Rail Services, Translink NI Railways

Rail travel in Northern Ireland is a major success story with over 60% customer growth since 2002 exceeding government targets. Two years ago, Translink NI Railways celebrated delivering 10 million passenger journeys in a year – the highest on record in the company’s history and we are on schedule to…

CER’s commitment and involvement with the progress of ETCS throughout Europe

31 May 2011 | By Libor Lochman, Deputy Executive Director, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER)

The legal environment of the European rail system has dramatically changed during the last two decades. The three rail packages have caused a completely new structure of the railway business and induced an introduction of a number of new actors on the European railway market. Furthermore, in order to enable…

What are the implications of satellite-guided digital rail networks?
What are the implications of satellite-guided digital rail networks?

Satellite positioning systems: assessing state-of-the-art technology for railways

31 May 2011 | By , , ,

In this paper, we will try to provide a general overview about the state-of-the-art aspects of satellite positioning systems and their usage in the railway safety assessment field, in particular in the On-Board Technological Systems (OBTS) assessment processes. Obviously CENELEC norms are applied in Italy, but the national peculiarities request…

Reforming Russia’s railway network: final phase

31 May 2011 | By Vladimir Yakunin, President, Russian Railways

The restructuring of the railway, which has traditionally been a natural monopoly sector of the economy, is an important benchmark for the economic development of all European countries. Russia too is currently in the process of reforming its rail transport, in line with a government-approved programme that has now reached…

Innovation – a major sucess factor for future product developments within Bombardier Transportation Bogie Business Unit

31 May 2011 | By Markus Dengler, Director of Standardisation, R&D and Innovation Management, Bogie Business Unit, Bombardier Transportation

Since the 1930s, the rolling stock industry lost its role as ‘technology and innovation driver’ which it held for a century from the 1830s to 1930s, to the aircraft and automotive industry. Today, the railway industry is perceived as a ‘technology follower’ rather than a ‘technology driver’. In addition, a…

Keeping Europe’s railways rolling

31 May 2011 | By Dr. Raimund Abele, EURAXLES Chairman

EURAXLES is a three-year EU/industry research programme lead by UNIFE which aims to reduce the risk of axle failure to a level where it is no longer a significant threat to safe operation. The project unites 23 partners across Europe including six axle manufacturers, four railway operators/IMs, two system integrators,…

The Focus is on punctuality

6 April 2011 | By Ashwin Kumar, Rail Passenger Director, Passenger Focus

Passenger Focus is the independent consumer watchdog which, through its National Passenger Survey (NPS), provides a network-wide picture of passenger satisfaction with Britain’s rail services. Overall, Passenger Focus’s NPS of more than 31,000 passengers reveals that overall satisfaction has been rising gradually over recent years – with 84% satisfied in…

A long-term vision for next generations

6 April 2011 | By Michel Clement, President, Kapsch CarrierCom

GSM-R is a big area of the railway industry. Many railway operators worldwide are integrating and upgrading their systems to ensure that they are running their networks as best as possible. In an interview with Craig Waters, Editor of Global Railway Review, Kapsch CarrierCom’s Vice President of GSM-R, Michel Clement,…

The role of the Federal Network Agency

6 April 2011 | By Prof. Dr. Karsten Otte, Head of Rail Regulation Department, Bundesnetzagentur (BNetzA)

The German rail market is – due to its size of infrastructure and number of customers and its central transit position within Europe – a very interesting target for domestic and foreign train operators. Both the European legal framework and the German Railway reform programme of 1994 encouraged liberalisation of…

“We are consolidating and strengthening our European network”

6 April 2011 | By Dr. Alexander Hedderich, CEO of DB Schenker Rail

Thanks to strong companies, and cooperation and joint ventures with partner railways which have matured over the years, DB Schenker Rail offers rail freight services throughout almost the whole of Europe. DB Schenker Rail comprises the three regions East, Germany/Central and West. The regions are supported by central functions such…