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Rail Articles

NS is saving energy and going green

29 January 2008 | By Jeroen Duijvestijn, Manager of Corporate Sustainable Development, NS

For NS (Netherlands Railways), sustainability is becoming more and more important in the way the railway company does business. Recently, Mr. Aad Veenman, CEO of NS, stated new and ambitious goals in this field for 2020. Emissions of CO2 will be reduced by 20%, independent from business growth. The energy…

Achieving the goal of positive business activity

29 January 2008 | By Davorin Kobak, President of Management Board, HZ Holding

The year 2007 for Croatian Railways has been marked by intense action in two basic areas. In one of the areas, the aim was to carry out the restructuring process which entered its key phase during the year. Pursuant to the Railways Law and the Act on the Division of…

Making Britain’s railway ‘greener’

29 January 2008 | By Ian Papworth, Engineering Director, Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC)

At the end of the Brussels European Council of 8/9 March 2007, the EU Presidency committed itself by commenting that; “The EU makes a firm independent commitment to achieve at least a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 compared to 1990.” The need to find greener solutions has…

Applying the brakes to catastrophic rail freight disasters

29 January 2008 | By Christian Aubry, Project Manager, Freight Wagon Engineering, SBB Cargo AG

The possibility of catastrophe always has to be borne in mind in the case of a train carrying hazardous cargo. The risk can be substantially reduced with the use of derailment detectors, which are designed to immediately apply the brakes if a fault is detected.

New and dynamic changes for Latvia

29 January 2008 | By Aija Poca, Head of Project Management Unit, LDZ – Latvian Railway

In Latvia, railway transport plays a significant role in the freight transport sector with more than 52 million tons being carried by the railways in 2007.

Talent 2: the future of regional train design

29 January 2008 | By Oliver Schmidt, Vice President of Sales North Region, Bombardier Transportation Mainline and Metro Division

In November 2007, at a spectacular ‘virtual launch’ event in Hennigsdorf, Germany, Bombardier presented its new Talent 2 to its customer, DB Regio. Attended by senior representatives from the industry and the region, the event heralded the inaugural call off of 42 Talent 2 regional trains from 321 ordered as…

Working towards the railway of 2030

27 November 2007 | By Professor Andrew McNaughton – FREng, CEng, FICE, FPWI, MIOD, Chief Engineer, Network Rail and Global Railway Review Editorial Board Member

Compare our European railway network today with that of 25 years ago. Safety and punctuality have continued to improve, however, traffic growth has been patchy and costs have risen enormously. Meanwhile there have been revolutionary changes in the communications and transport environment. Mobile phones, internet and e-mail didn’t exist 25…

Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link: from conception to construction

26 November 2007 | By Ron McAulay, Network Rail Director, Scotland

Scotland’s rail network is currently enjoying an unprecedented level of funding for enhancement projects across the country. However, one project in particular has the potential to transform lives throughout the Central Belt. The Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link project, funded by Transport Scotland and delivered by Network Rail, is the most ambitious…

Reducing CO2 emissions through new rail freight choices

26 November 2007 | By Graham Smith, Planning Director, EWS

Lowering CO2 emissions is central to all businesses these days. Within the rail freight industry, every day we are being asked to provide business with a way to reduce emissions generated by their transport choices. With rail freight emitting five times less CO2 per tonne kilometre moved than road haulage,…

Branching out to stay competitive

26 November 2007 | By Tim Shakerley, Engineering Director, Freightliner Group

In 1999, Freightliner Group identified a significant opportunity for the company to enter the bulk freight market, and established Freightliner Heavy Haul Ltd (FHH). In an interview for the Global Railway Review, Tim Shakerley explains how starting from scratch, the company has quickly grown in the bulk rail business, branching…

United Kingdom joins the high-speed club

26 November 2007 | By Dave Pointon, Managing Director, Union Railways (North) Ltd

High Speed 1 (HS1), the UK’s first high speed railway, opened for business on 14 November 2007. Dave Pointon, Managing Director of project client Union Railways, looks back at key aspects of the 14-year planning and construction effort.

High Speed 1: A new benchmark in project management

26 November 2007 | By

Britain is finally getting its first new successful railway line in over a century. Nine years after construction began, High Speed 1 (HS1) is ready to commence commercial services from St Pancras International, the glorious new home of British high-speed rail travel.

Significant developments of GSM-R in France

26 November 2007 | By Rémi Bévot, SNCF Engineering, GSM-R Project Director and Alexandre Saide, SNCF Engineering, GSM-R Project Manager

Many railway operators decided to implement ground-to-train radios on their networks during the fourth quarter of the 20th century, which, for most of them, was to use variants of UIC specific analogue technology. In order to anticipate the upcoming obsolescence of this existing radio and having in mind the objective…

Construction of the new Lower Inn Valley Railway

26 November 2007 | By Johann Herdina, General Manager, Brenner Eisenbahn GmbH

The construction of the new Lower Inn Valley Railway is one of Austria’s largest infrastructure projects. By 2012, the first section of the Northern feeder line to the Brenner base tunnel will be constructed on a length of ca. 40 kilometres.

A joint agreement to improve the French railway network

26 November 2007 | By Jean Prevot, Joint Commitment Programme Manager, RFF

On 25 May 2007, Anne-Marie Idrac, the president of the SNCF Group and Hubert du Mesnil, the President of Réseau Ferré de France, signed a new infrastructure management agreement to cover the financial years from 2007 to 2010 inclusive, for maintenance and upgrading of the French national railway network.