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Rail Articles

Smart ticketing on rail

4 June 2015 | By Steve Wakeland, General Manager at ITSO Limited

The future of rail in Britain has been at the centre of much political debate recently, especially during the run-up to the General Election on 7 May 2015. Public or state ownership plus whether High Speed Two is a good investment or a waste of money were two of the…

Supporting competition and an innovative single European railway

4 June 2015 | By Julia Lamb, ERFA Secretary General

ERFA, the European Rail Freight Association, brings together the newcomers on the European rail market. ERFA’s members range from railway undertakings to wagon keepers, freight forwarders, leasing companies and national rail associations, covering the whole value chain of rail transportation across Europe. All members are united in a commitment to…

High speed and high accuracy keep German trains moving

5 May 2015 | By

With more than 33,000km of track, the German rail system Deutsche Bahn (widely known as ‘DB’) handles more than 26,000 passenger trains and 5,100 freight trains every day. While DB operates the majority of trains, trains from other countries also use the system’s tracks for trans-European freight and passenger traffic.…

Track Systems supplement

7 April 2015 | By

In our latest free-to-view Track Systems Supplement, Chris Eady from the Institute of Rail Welding explains the topic of broken rails and rolling contact fatigue, plus experts from Graz University cover the challenges in railway asset management in order to implement a preventive, condition-based maintenance and renewal strategy...

Bogies / Wheelsets supplement

7 April 2015 | By

In our latest free-to-view Bogies / Wheelsets Supplement, we have articles from Bombardier to give an update on the latest developments at their Bogies Technical Centre, plus experts from Loughborough University (UK) explain mechatronic bogies and their benefits and risks...

The future of Germany’s railways – intermodal and digitally interlinked

7 April 2015 | By Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Germany

In international comparisons, Germany is a world leader in terms of infrastructure, logistics and connectivity, writes Alexander Dobrindt, Federal Minister of Transport and Digital Infrastructure, Germany. This safeguards our competitiveness as an exporting nation, thereby securing growth, prosperity and jobs. Linked with this is a continuous growth in the demand…

The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel: From vision to reality

7 April 2015 | By Johnny Restrup-Sørensen, Contract Director, Railway at Femern A/S

The Fehmarnbelt Tunnel will become the world’s longest immersed tube tunnel for combined road and rail traffic. It will provide a double-track railway and four-lane highway connection between Puttgarden on the German island of Fehmarn and Rødbyhavn on the Danish island of Lolland. After years of detailed investigations, the planning…

Upholding high safety levels on the Estonian railway network

7 April 2015 | By Heigo Saare, Head of the Railway Infrastructure Department, National Safety Authority (NSA) for Estonia

The Technical Regulatory Authority in Estonia is an agency working under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications with a broader objective to help implement national economic policies through the improvement of safety, organising sensible use of limited resources and increasing the reliability of products in the fields of manufacturing…

Finland concentrates on rail network development

7 April 2015 | By Kari Ruohonen, Director General of Projects at the Finnish Transport Agency

The greatest challenge in Finland is an insufficient amount of maintenance funds which have resulted in maintenance backlogs in both railway and road infrastructure management. In a report completed in autumn 2014, the parliamentary working group under the Minister of Transport and Local Government proposed an additional annual appropriation of…

Scandinavian rail freight: Time for change

7 April 2015 | By Gottfried Eymer, CEO, DB Schenker Rail Scandinavia A/S

National governments have to create level playing fields between rail and road, writes Gottfried Eymer, CEO of DB Schenker Rail Scandinavia A/S. Driven by globalisation and changes within manufacturing industries, the demand for freight transportation is increasing to levels never seen before. Various things like raw materials, consumer goods and…

Competition strengthens German rail sector

7 April 2015 | By Burkhard Bastisch, Managing Director, NWL

Since access to the German rail market was open to all rail operators, competition for services has strengthened the railway’s ability to compete with other modes of transport. Burkhard Bastisch, Managing Director of NWL – the transport authority for the Westphalia-Lippe region – explains NWL’s responsibilities and policies and how…