List view / Grid view
15 February 2011 | By Alex Kremer, CEO, CFL
Strategically placed in the centre of Europe, Luxembourg’s railway network attracts, through the combined efforts of CFL and its freight subsidiaries CFL cargo and CFL Multimodal, important quantities of both passenger and freight traffic. Concerning freight transport, Luxembourg was no stranger to the effects the financial crisis had on the…
15 February 2011 | By Judit Sándor, Sustainability and Environment Manager, UNIFE and Max Obenaus, Head of Communications, UNIFE
The European transport sector is facing a serious challenge. While other European industry sectors have managed to reduce emissions in recent years – those of the transport sector are still growing. Today, transport accounts for almost a fifth of all greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (see Figure 1 opposite). It is…
15 February 2011 | By Enno Wiebe, Manager Research Programmes and Projects, UIC, and Judit Sándor, Sustainability and Environment Manager, UNIFE
The European railway network is the densest in the world and features the highest percentage of electrification – nearly 50%. Approximately 80% of total transport volume is hauled on the electrified part of the network. Nevertheless, diesel traction plays an important role in providing rail services and serves as the…
15 February 2011 | By Birgit Elsener, Project Manager, SBB Rail Environmental Centre
SBB adopted a comprehensive sustainability strategy in 2010. Nine Group targets drawn from SBB’s corporate strategy in 2009 represent the economic, social and ecological aspects of sustainability. SBB’s aim is to create sustainable added value for its customers, the company, the environment and society. SBB has agreed clear objectives for…
15 February 2011 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor
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…
15 February 2011 | By Costas D. Melissinos, Manager of Railway Telecom & IT Systems Operations & Maintenance, ERGOSE
The preparation, tendering and implementation phases of the GSM-R project in Greece are presented in a descriptive, but mainly explanatory type methodology. The objective was to introduce a new digital telecommunication network to replace the analog system along the main railway axis and provide the necessary interoperability for future roaming…
15 February 2011 | By Kris Przelaskowski, Retired Senior Signalling Engineer
In the past, Poland (with its 23,000km railway network) badly needed a good operational radio communication system. The first simple analogue system started in 1972 connecting the harbours of Gdynia and Gdansk with Silesia. The radio-telephone network has provided good communication between dispatchers and running trains along the whole route…
15 February 2011 | By Marijan Klarić, President of the Management Board, HŽ Putnički prijevoz d.o.o.
HŽ Putnički prijevoz d.o.o. is one of four associated companies in HŽ Holding and its main activity is passenger transport. The mission of HŽ Putnički prijevoz d.o.o. is providing high-quality, reliable, and economically and environmentally acceptable passenger transport services in urban-suburban, local-regional, international and domestic long-distance transport with modern rolling…
10 December 2010 | By Edward Welsh, Director of Corporate Affairs, Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC)
Passenger rail in Britain has boomed since privatisation as train companies have worked with the rest of the industry to improve services for passengers and attract ever greater numbers of people to the network. People have returned to the railways in numbers not seen since the Second World War, with…
10 December 2010 | By Thomas Bodenburg, Key Account Manager, Voith Turbo Scharfenberg GmbH & Co. KG
After having finished my secondary school certificate in 1991, my father asked me one evening if I would like to focus on a mechanical or an electrical apprenticeship. Because I had always preferred to have a hammer and a screwdriver in the hand than wire and pliers, I made my…
10 December 2010 | By Steve Yianni, Director of Engineering, Network Rail and Global Railway Review Editorial Board Member
Over the last decade, the UK’s railways have been transformed. When we took over from Railtrack in 2002, we took over a railway that had lost the confidence of the nation. Ten years ago punctuality was running at 79% while the number of broken rails approached 1,000. Today, nearly 94%…
10 December 2010 | By Maya Petkova, Principal EMC Engineer, Network Rail
The railway is a highly complex system relying on a vast number of electrical and mechanical components working properly together to keep the 24,000 trains that operate in Great Britain running safely, reliably and efficiently. Every minute, thousands of electrical components are called upon to carry out critical functions to…
10 December 2010 | By Paul Plummer, Planning and Development Director, Network Rail
An effective way of transporting goods across the country is by rail freight, and this is vital to Britain’s economy. Not only does it provide a faster, greener, safer and more efficient way of transporting heavy loads than roads, it is responsible for moving over 100 million tonnes of goods…
10 December 2010 | By Dave Curtis, General Manager, Freightliner Maintenance Ltd
Freightliner Maintenance Ltd (FML) faced significant challenges to turn an abandoned freight terminal into a fully-functioning railport for a customer running liquid products. In an interview for Global Railway Review, Dave Curtis, General Manager of FML, explains the work involved with this important project and also the success so far…
10 December 2010 | By Ian Duncan, Engineering Director, East Coast
‘Watching out for you’ – that’s East Coast’s message to customers as we roll out new CCTV cameras across our fleet. The installation of the cameras, which is expected to be complete by the end of 2010, will see a total of 1,621 CCTV cameras fitted across East Coast’s 43…
