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Rail Articles

NoBo’s – providing competent, independent and impartial assessments for the railway industry

3 August 2010 | By Jean-Marc Dupas, Chairman of NB-Rail and Managing Director of Belgorail

Former Railway Interoperability Directives (96/48/EC and 2001/16/EC and their amendments) have been repealed on 19 July 2010 by the Directive 2008/57/EC on the interoperability of the rail system within the Community. These directives have changed the way that fixed railway infrastructure, the rolling stock that runs on it and certain…

More than signals and sleepers

3 August 2010 | By Nelson Ogunshakin, Chief Executive, ACE (Association for Consultancy and Engineering)

Rail transport is essential to the UK’s economy. The Eddington Transport Study of 2006 found a clear link between transport capacity and economic performance, and noted that transport was an enabler of economic growth rather than a creator of growth in itself. Crossrail, for example, is expected to generate around…

High-speed in Italy and liberalisation

3 August 2010 | By Mauro Moretti, CEO, Ferrovie dello Stato Group

The FS Group (Italian State Railways) is the largest company in Italy, which has helped boost the Country’s growth, thanks also to the recent launch of the high-speed service. The Group has successfully completed a process of internal reorganisation that has turned it into a modern and efficient reality, up-to-date…

The kick-off for Italo has been set

3 August 2010 | By Giuseppe Sciarrone, Managing Director, Nuovo Trasporto Viaggiatori S.p.a. (NTV)

NTV, the first Italian private high-speed operator, will start commercial service in September 2011. We officially announced the kick-off date in a press conference we held in Rome at the end of May 2010. We therefore have 15 months of tough work ahead to complete the necessary steps to ultimate…

Ready for the challenges

31 May 2010 | By Juhan Parts, Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications, Estonia

Steering the global recession to an upswing assumes new ideas and solutions from all economic sectors, and a well-functioning transportation system is one of the most important success factors in this process – we can accelerate growth of the economy only with efficient logistics.

Norway’s tough winter challenge and double-track progress

31 May 2010 | By Elisabeth Enger, Director General, Jernbaneverket

The past winter was unusually tough and challenging for Norwegian railways. Almost three months of continuous cold weather took their toll on ageing and well-worn infrastructure, resulting in record low punctuality and a large number of train cancellations. Never before have we experienced such poor punctuality over such a prolonged…

Public Private Partnership to be used in a Finnish second track project

31 May 2010 | By Mikko Asikainen, Project Manager, Finnish Transport Agency & Antti Haapalahti, Project Manager, Partner, CC Infra Oy

In a large-scale project of the Finnish Transport Agency, a 76.5km second track will be built between Kokkola and Ylivieska. To fund the project, a Public Private Partnership will be used for the first time in the Finnish railway network. It is also desirable to have foreign competitors for the…

Estonian Railways quickly adapts to changing economic circumstances

31 May 2010 | By Kaido Simmermann, Managing Director, Estonian Railways

With its 140-year history, Estonian Railways has been a bright example in illustrating how to adapt to circumstances and successfully cope with them in the rapidly changing economic environment of recent years. 2009 represented an important year for Estonian Railways, when it carried out several significant changes concerning its tariff…

Development progress and a cautiously optimistic outlook

31 May 2010 | By Uģis Magonis, Chairman of the Board, Latvian Railways (LDz – Latvijas dzelzceļš)

It might be a daring statement in the light of current events, but the last two years have been a great success for Latvian Railways (LDz) – in 2008 it transported a record amount of cargo and in 2009 was spared a significant reduction of volumes and continued with extensive…

Focusing on customers to deliver 21st century services for the 21st century passenger

31 May 2010 | By Thomas Eybye Oester, Commercial Director, Arriva Skandinavien

Arriva, one of Europe’s leading transport operators, is radically changing the travel experience for its customers in Denmark. Passenger information tailor-made to the needs and demands of the individual passenger. That is what Arriva Skandinavien is set to introduce through MyArriva – an innovative new concept which was part of…

A total renewal of the Danish signalling infrastructure

31 May 2010 | By Craig Waters, Editor, Global Railway Review

In January 2009, the Danish parliament decided to fund a €3.2 billion replacement programme of renewing all Danish railway signalling before 2021. The programme is one of its kind in Europe both in size and being unique in its approach of focusing on economies of scale and creating a competitive…

A dedicated forum for the Scandinavian region

31 May 2010 | By Craig Waters, Editor, Global Railway Review

High-speed railways, major infrastructure projects, development and investment plans and market liberalisation were just some of the important topics highlighted and assessed during Global Railway Review’s recent conference – Scandinavian Rail Development 2010. Held in the stunning city of Stockholm, Sweden, at the Operakällaren, Global Railway Review welcomed over 120…

Positive ETCS deployment progress for the Spanish network

31 May 2010 | By Juan Hernández, Planning and Functional Coordination Direction, Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF)

The aim of this article is to present the current situation of the ETCS deployment on the Spanish network managed by the Spanish Infrastructure Manager (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias – ADIF). It covers the situation in the newly built High-Speed Network (UIC gauge) and the deployment over the existing conventional…

ERTMS/ETCS: A new age in Railway Signalling Engineering

31 May 2010 | By David Sanz García Global Product Line Manager ERTMS Invensys Rail Dimetronic

The ERTMS/ETCS system currently being deployed on high-speed lines in Spain is the latest state-of-the-art signalling system, and in consequence the most complex signalling system available on the market. The complexity of the ERTMS system requires a great deal of effort to test and validate all application data, much more…

The deployment of ETCS: an important test case for Europe

31 May 2010 | By Emmanuel Brutin, Senior Public Affairs Manager, UNIFE

ERTMS, and more specifically its rail component ETCS, is arguably the technology that has caused most controversy and emotional debate amongst the railway community during the past decade. In many ways, this grand project, coordinated by the European Union, is now reaching a new and important phase in its history.…