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Issue 4 2006

 

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The communication and signalling network of ÖBB

28 July 2006 | By August Zierl, Director of Technology Department, Friedrich Cerny, Signal Engineer and Herbert Müller, Leader of GSM-R Competence Centre, ÖBB-Infrastruktur Bau AG

At the beginning of the 1990s, and due to the occurrence of some heavy accidents, ÖBB began to look for a new train protection system to fit the requirements of an increased traffic capacity on the lines and as a result of this, the necessity to increase safety on the…

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Condition detection – an intelligent solution

28 July 2006 | By Wolfgang Zottl, Project Manager ARGOS, ÖBB-Infrastruktur Bau AG and Dietmar Maicz, Project Manager for Railway Applications, Hottinger Baldwin Messetechnik

In view of free network access, it is important for railway companies to detect the condition (loading, driving stability, out-of-roundness of wheels) of their trains as they run along the track. In 1998, the Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) began research in the field of intelligent local measurement. The ARGOS system…

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Swiss ETCS implementation

28 July 2006 | By Hansjörg Hess, Head of SBB Infrastructure and member of the Management Board of SBB AG

ETCS has now become fully operational on one of Switzerland’s main lines. Since July 2006, ETCS Level 2 has been activated during the evenings to ensure the safe operation of revenue-earning services on the newly built Mattstetten–Rothrist route. At present, therefore, approximately 20 trains a day are being controlled by…

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The Kaizen method for SBB

28 July 2006 | By Philippe Gauderon, Deputy Director of SBB Passenger Traffic Division and Head of SBB Passenger Traffic Division’s Operating Department

Rolling stock maintenance at SBB AG has been affected by a number of trends: increasingly fierce competition, rising pressure on costs, Europe-wide overcapacity, increasingly heavy use of rolling stock with each timetable change, and ever shorter idle periods. Against this backdrop, there is a pressing need to deploy existing resources…

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High-speed and GSM-R: Portuguese overview

28 July 2006 | By Eduardo Frederico, Director of Engineering, RAVE

By decision of the Portuguese Government, a High Speed Transportation System shall be developed which offers both international high-speed and national high-speed train services (passenger and freight) accommodating the increasing requirements for cross-border mobility and which contributes to the strengthening of the economic position and social cohesion, in particular between…

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PEIT: a bet on the future

28 July 2006 | By Vicente Gago Llorente, High-speed Technical Coordination Executive Manager, ADIF

On 15 July 2005, the Spanish Government approved the Infrastructure and Transport Strategic Plan 2005-2020 (PEIT). Infrastructure is considered the indispensable support for citizens to have quality transport services, and also an efficient instrument to foster economic development as well as social and territorial cohesion. The PEIT predicts a total…

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An engineering change

28 July 2006 | By Tim Shakerley, Engineering Director, Freightliner Group

Since its inception seven years ago, Freightliner Heavy Haul has grown to become a business with a turnover in excess of £75m. Part of the company’s success is the recognition that engineering expertise has a key role to play in delivering and improving service and efficiency. Now, with capacity approaching…

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Tunnelling for European high-speed railways

28 July 2006 | By Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alfred Haack, Past President of the ITA – International Tunnelling Association, and Managing Director and Board Member of STUVA – Research Association for Underground Transportation Facilities

Since the 1980s railway traffic for passengers has experienced a renaissance. Especially France and some time later Germany started to construct and operate their first high-speed lines with speeds between 300 and 350km per hour. Later, other European countries followed; such as Italy, Spain and the UK, and even the…

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Design of prestressed concrete sleepers

28 July 2006 | By Dr. Stephan Freudenstein, General Manager of Engineering and Development and Mr. Franz Haban, Project Engineer, RAIL.ONE GmbH

The basis for design work for prestressed-concrete sleepers in Europe is EN 13230, valid since October 2002: “Concrete sleepers and bearers.” A supplement to this standard is UIC 713: “Design of Monoblock Concrete Sleepers,” which provides a design example for a prestressed-concrete sleeper. The design bending moment calculated here accounts…

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Visible improvements in Hungary

28 July 2006 | By Mr. István Heinczinger, Chief Operating Officer, MÁV Co

Hungarian State Railways (MÁV Co) celebrates the 160th anniversary of its foundation this year. The first railway line running between the capital city of Pest and Vác, a town situated 30km from the capital and operated by steam engines, opened on 15 July 1846. István Széchenyi and Lajos Kossuth, eminent…

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The SF 400 bogie

28 July 2006 | By Roland Paar, Product Manager Bogies, Siemens Transportation Systems

The modular-design SF 400 trailing bogie with air suspension was designed approximately ten years ago at Siemens Transportation Systems’ center of excellence for running gear in Graz, Austria.

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Consultancies help out on major projects

28 July 2006 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor

Consultancy practices have an important role in providing technical expertise for railway projects around the globe. Historically, Europe’s big state railways were self-sufficient. All the engineering skills were on hand in-house: when a new project was sanctioned by the government, the state railway would generally be able to design and…