List view / Grid view
30 July 2007 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor
Recent research has underlined the importance of maintaining rails with regular grinding. The behaviour of the railhead under load used to be an imperfectly understood subject. Research work has broadened the rail industry’s knowledge; now, the question of how rail deteriorates over time and the way in which grinding can…
30 July 2007 | By Poul Frøsig, UIC Project Manager, ERTMS/ETCS and ERTMS Regional Projects and Craig Waters, Commissioning Editor, Global Railway Review
The European Train Control System (ETCS) is a signalling and control system designed to replace the 14 incompatible safety systems currently used by European Railways, especially on high-speed lines. This year, the UIC is holding its ERTMS World Conference in Berne, Switzerland. Switzerland offers a prime example of how ERTMS…
30 July 2007 | By Dan Mandoc, Chargé de Mission – GSM-R, Department of Infrastructure, UIC
GSM-R is an acronym for Global System for Mobile Communication for Railways and is based on the commercial system GSM, and it is also an ETSI standard.
6 June 2007 | By Jon Frøisland, Executive Director of Infrastructure, Jernbaneverket
Stavanger, on the west coast of Norway, is the country’s oil capital. The city and the surrounding Jæren region have consistently enjoyed the fastest population growth in Norway since the oil boom started in the early 1970s. The Jæren line from Egersund to Stavanger is a continuation of the Sørland…
6 June 2007 | By Peder Nørregaard Jespersen, Director of Train Sets and Maintenance, DSB
At the beginning of April 2007, one of the first DSB IC3 train sets reached a historic landmark. It has been recorded that train set MF 5010 has clocked up five million train kilometres since 1990 – a distance which is the equivalent to 125 journeys around the Earth or…
6 June 2007 | By Harri Yli-Villamo, Head of Project Planning Unit, RHK
The planning of Finland's first airport line is well under way and construction is scheduled to begin in 2008 on the outskirts of Helsinki. A working group has recommended that the line will be constructed with normal state budget funds. The project is expected to cost approximately €420 million (at…
6 June 2007 | By Eigil Sabroe, Chief Technical Officer, Banedanmark
Banedanmark face great challenges in the coming years. New funds from the Danish government will make it possible for Banedanmark to renew large parts of the Danish State rail network over the next seven years. Another huge challenge is a total renewal of the entire signalling system introducing an ERTMS…
6 June 2007 | By Mr. Czeslaw Warsewicz, President, PKP Intercity
PKP Intercity is a commercial partnership which was established in 2001 as a result of the Polish National Railways restructuring programme. PKP Intercity owns the fastest, most comfortable and modern railways in Poland and our trains connect big city centres and popular holiday resorts.
6 June 2007 | By Joachim Mayer, Head of Rolling Stock, Technology & Procurement, Deutsche Bahn AG
Deutsche Bahn AG's €30 billion core business consists of mobility services around railway transportation as well as a worldwide network of logistics in freight including rail business in Europe. In addition, DB operates a network of approximately 35,000 track-kms and offers further services such as station management, heavy maintenance and…
6 June 2007 | By Daniel Huerlimann, CEO, OpenTrack Railway Technology Ltd and Andrew Nash, Researcher, ETH IVT
OpenTrack is a user-friendly railroad network simulation program. It is a microscopic model that simulates rail system operations based on user defined train, infrastructure and timetable databases. OpenTrack can be used to evaluate and test infrastructure plans and operating schedules in order to optimise network and timetable design. It can…
6 June 2007 | By Arnold Trümpi, Head of Business Unit ETCS, SBB
Since March 18 2007, the European Train Control System (ETCS) has been in full operation on Switzerland’s backbone of the railway network. The newly built Mattstetten – Rothrist line between Bern and Zurich is the core of the Rail 2000 concept. The new 42km section is used by 242 passenger…
6 June 2007 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor
Consultancy firms are currently working on a diverse range of projects in the railway industry. This November, the final section of High Speed One will open. This is the UK’s first high-speed rail line, formerly known as the Channel Tunnel Rail Link. With the completion of the route, Eurostar trains…
6 June 2007 | By Andreas Michnik, Senior Expert, Heitkamp Rail
The fact that the slab track is more than just a product becomes apparent if the subject matter is approached from the perspective of the internationally active track construction company Heitkamp Rail, a subsidiary of the Dutch Heijmans group of companies.
6 June 2007 | By Dipl.-Ing. Ingo Wiermann, Engineering Director, SPITZKE AG
On 15 April 2007, the RPM-RS-900 from the SPTIZKE Group celebrated its construction première in Germany. For the first time, the machine works to improve the formation, cleaning and recycling of ballast – all in a single machine complex. Renewing the substructure of tracks is now performed by 200 metres…
6 June 2007 | By Mr. Trond Børsting, Civil Engineer in Construction, Norwegian Technical School of Civil Engineering
In an interview for the Global Railway Review, Mr. Trond Børsting, a Civil Engineer in Construction at the Norwegian Technical School of Civil Engineering, explains that Jernbaneverket (the Norwegian National Rail Administration) will be placed under greater strain because the future is likely to bring increased precipitation which has forced…
