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Rail Articles

ERTMS strategy and planning in Sweden

31 May 2006 | By Not known

The Swedish government has clearly indicated its commitment to railways as one of the most important means of transportation for the future. As a consequence, Banverket has been provided with resources to carry out an enhancement program needed to fulfil the transport policy objectives.

The GSM-R system in Spain

31 May 2006 | By Luis Garcia Tassias, Head of GSM-R, ADIF

GSM-R is a communication system for railway operations based on the standard ETSI GSM of public radio with additional railway features defined in the EIRENE (FRS, SRS) and MORANE specifications.These specifications have been developed by mandate of UIC and in collaboration with ETSI, to ensure interoperability between railway networks of…

On the home straight

31 May 2006 | By Dave Pointon, Managing Director, Union Railways

The UK’s first high speed railway,The Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is entering the final phase of construction. Dave Pointon, Managing Director of Union Railways, reviews progress and looks ahead to finishing the job in 2007.

Maintenance philosophy in a privatised market

31 May 2006 | By Erland R.Tegelberg, Director of Development & Technology, Strukton Railinfra

Politically inspired developments in the rail infrastructure environment in the 1980s and 1990s have led to varying degrees of privatisation of construction and maintenance activities.

Vehicle maintenance at Railion

3 April 2006 | By Dr. Karsten Derks, Spokesman of the Board, DB Bahnbau GmbH

Efficient and effective vehicle maintenance is a key competitive factor for any railway undertaking operating freight rail services. To this end maintenance must be consistently geared towards operations. Flexibility in respect of time and location, quality and ideal cost structures are success factors that bring about the most efficient use…

Strategic challenges for regional transport

3 April 2006 | By Dr. Tobias Heinemann, Head of Marketing DB Regio AG and Kai Gotthardt, Senior Specialist Tender Management

The market for regional passenger transport in Germany has changed tremendously during recent years. Liberalisation began in 1996 with the law to regionalise local transport. New competitors emerged and quickly gained a substantial market share. Currently, however, the market is facing some major challenges. Competition is becoming more intense, the…

Creating sustainable quality for railway infrastructures

3 April 2006 | By Wolfgang Scherz, Maintenance Director, DB Netz AG

Competition on Germany’s railways is working. In the time that Deutsche Bahn AG has been in existence there have never been as many train operating companies using the network as there are now. Never before have so many train-path kilometres been worked. Germany is a front-runner as regards the opening…

Technology for maintenance works

3 April 2006 | By

The increasing change in traffic towards rail, the opening of the market in European railway traffic and the increasing responsibility for providers of railways make heavy demands on the quality and the availability of the rail infrastructure. Effective and efficient maintenance concepts are sought after more than ever. New ways,…

Germany’s ‘Central Station’

3 April 2006 | By Wolf-Dieter Siebert, Chairman of the Board of Management, DB Station & Service AG

Travelling, shopping, dining – Berlin Hauptbahnhof (Berlin Central Station) opens its doors at the end of May as Europe’s largest crossing station. Right on time for the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006™, Europe’s largest and most modern crossing station will be connected to the network on 28 May: Berlin Hauptbahnhof…

Operations control centres at Deutsche Bahn AG

3 April 2006 | By Klaus Junker, Member of the Board of DB Netz AG – Operations, Dr. Jörg Bormet, DB Netz AG, Quality of Operations and Doris Brück, DB Netz AG, Operation of Control Centres

In 1995, Deutsche Bahn decided to amalgamate and extensively automate its train scheduling and interlocking control operations by creating seven dedicated competence centres. The objective of the restructuring was to meet the need for comprehensive modernisation of the interlocking systems especially those used in the east of Germany, whilst at…

Deutsche Bahn’s sales strategy

3 April 2006 | By Jürgen Büchy, Chairman of the Management Board, DB Vertrieb AG

As part of its restructuring and modernisation programme, Deutsche Bahn AG optimised its sales concept in the passenger transport sector. The strategic goals were to increase revenues and reduce costs, while at the same time securing quality. DB has substantially increased its local and long- distance transport revenues over the…

Machines and technology for high-capacity lines

3 April 2006 | By Ing. Rainer Wenty, General Manager Marketing and Technical Sales, Plasser & Theurer Bahnbaumaschinen GmbH

Whenever the speed or capacity of a line is increased or a new line is built, the application of appropriate track maintenance and upgrading procedures is very important to enable optimal and efficient use of the lines. In addition to that, a high level of comfort and safety has to…

Hellenic Railways: moving forward

3 April 2006 | By Prof. Nicolas C. Baltas, President of BoD of Hellenic Railways

The Greek railway network constitutes part of the trans-European transport network and OSE, therefore, implements an investment programme in compliance with the Common European Policy on railway/combined transports. The current activities of OSE that are financed by both European Union’s structural funds and OSE’s financial resources include such large investment…

Turkish state rail: past, present and future

3 April 2006 | By Suleyman Karaman, Director General, TCDD

TCDD is celebrating its 150th Foundation Anniversary this year. The history of Turkish railway commenced with the I·zmir – Aydin line, the foundation of which was laid on September 23 1856. After that foreign states, particularly England and Germany, arranged licenses for railway construction on the Ottoman lands.

Cross-border considerations

3 April 2006 | By Wolfram Seiler, Head of Locomotives Division, Siemens AG – Transportation Systems

The opening of the European railway network initiated by the European Commission in the mid-1990s created numerous opportunities for the railways. However, differing standards still raise considerable barriers to cross-border rail traffic. Different voltage and train safety systems, for instance, impede the more flexible use of traction units. But a…