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Rail Articles

Innovative solutions to old problems

3 November 2005 | By Willem van Ginkel, Track Expert, ProRail

Railways are of great social importance. In The Netherlands, a million passengers take the train each day and an increasing amount of freight traffic also goes by rail. Without a safe and reliable network with sufficient capacity, everything would grind to a halt. It is one of the tasks of…

Development of railway security policies

3 November 2005 | By Jacques Colliard, Senior Security Advisor, UIC

After having long assumed responsibility for technical aspects linked to traffic safety and installations, railway undertakings have progressively been taking over management of the day-to-day security problems of persons and trains.

RailML – a standard interface for railway data

3 November 2005 | By Vasco Paul Kolmorgen, Coordinator of the RailML group, Dresden, Germany and Dr. Daniel Huerlimann, Coordinator of the RailML group, Zurich, Switzerland

As the number of different railway simulation and operation programmes increase, developing and maintaining individual interfaces will become impractical. Therefore, RailML has been developed using the XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to simplify data transfer through the use of a common data structure – a simple and efficient way to transfer…

An overall view of maintenance

23 August 2005 | By Vivianne Karlsson, Senior Advisor Maintenance & Strategic Planning, Banverket

The task of Banverket, the Swedish National Rail Administration, to safeguard the state-owned railway infrastructure is performed with the aid of significant maintenance so as to ensure its operations achieve the transport policy goals set out by Sweden’s Government. Maintenance is a link in securing a transport system for the…

The start of a new century for Norwegian railways

23 August 2005 | By Steinar Killi, Director General, Norwegian National Rail Administration (Jernbaneverket)

Norwegian railway history is both long and eventful, as was evident in 2004 when we celebrated its 150th anniversary. Besides offering a chance for a nostalgic look back, the anniversary year also provided an excellent opportunity for looking forward. In actual fact, the year 2004 provided many causes for celebration.

The Finnish-Russian joint rail project

23 August 2005 | By Kari Ruohonen, Investment Director, Finnish Rail Administration

A joint project between Finland and Russia will gradually shorten the journey time on the Helsinki-St. Petersburg line to approximately three hours. Modernising the rail connection between Helsinki and St. Petersburg is one of the most important joint development projects between Finland and the Russian Federation. In the background is…

SJ prepares to defend its market share

23 August 2005 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor

An ambitious program of improved services is underway for Swedish State Railways as it squares up to face fierce competition from land, sea and air, including other rail operators in the regional market.

CORADIA LIREX for Stockholm

23 August 2005 | By Carsten Fischer, Engineering Manager – CORADIA LIREX Platform, ALSTOM Transport

From the LIREX Experimental to the CORADIA LIREX for Stockholm – how a new generation test vehicle became a series train...

Inside Swiss trains

23 August 2005 | By Ueli Thalmann, Chief Designer, Swiss Federal Railways

The demands placed in Sweden on our vehicles of long-distance travel differ considerably from those in other countries. For instance, in our small yet densely populated country, dedicated high speed lines, with trains running at 300km/h or more, do not make sense.

Machine pool

23 August 2005 | By Max Binder, Project Manager, Sersa Group

For a company to survive in the hard-fought international railway technology market it must have access to modern, high-performance, reliable and economical machinery. However, high-performance machines are both very complex and expensive to purchase. The technical complexity determines the qualification and training needs of the operating and maintenance staff. The…

Finalising the Swedish GSM-R project

23 August 2005 | By Kjell Ekberg, Project Manager SIR-project and Tord Nilsson, Manager Telecommunications, Banverket

Despite difficulties and eight years after its start, Banverket is about to finalise the Swedish GSM-R project SIR. Problems solved have included appeals against building permits for radio sites, interaction problems between phones and the Swedish GSM-R network and difficulties achieving full system functionality according to the EIRENE specifications.

The journey of ballastless track

23 August 2005 | By Günther Leykauf, Professor and Director, Institute for Construction of Roads, Permanent Way and Airfields, Munich University of Technology

When the new high speed line Nüremberg-Ingolstadt is opened for service in 2006, more than 800km of ballastless track will be in operation in Germany. The different systems have undergone extensive laboratory and field tests before implementation on grade, bridges and in tunnels. Available measurement results indicate the expected favourable…

The ÖBB life cycle cost

23 August 2005 | By Dr. Peter Veit, Professor, Institute for Railway Engineering and Transport Economy, University of Technology, Graz and Gregor Girsch, Technical Customer Services, Technology, voestalpine Schienen GmbH

In a joint project, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB), the Institute for Railway Engineering and Transport Economy of the University of Technology, Graz and voestalpine Schienen GmbH have developed a (LCC) life cycle cost-based evaluation model for track components – rail profiles and steel grades.

Continuous growth of the Spanish high speed network

23 August 2005 | By Ignacio Barrón de Angoiti, Charge de Mission Grande Vitesse, UIC

The precedent Spanish government started an ambitious plan for the construction of new high speed lines and the upgrade of some existing ones. Now, the new government (which came into power midway through 2004), has decided to continue the project, albeit with some changes.

A vital instrument in asset management

23 August 2005 | By Gerlof den Buurman, Advisor Management, ProRail Inframanagement, and Arjen Zoeteman, Researcher, ProRail Inframanagement and Delft University of Technology

In the last two years the roll-out of the innovative weigh-in-motion (WIM) system Quo Vadis has taken place on the Dutch rail network. This system, developed by ProRail, Baas R&D and NedTrain Consulting, has been installed in 38 locations, allowing the measurement of 80% of traffic movements and 96% of…