In-Depth Focus: Rail Asset Management
As rail networks modernise and expand, the role of intelligent, resilient asset management has become more vital than ever.
List view / Grid view
As rail networks modernise and expand, the role of intelligent, resilient asset management has become more vital than ever.
Welcome to the Spring/Summer issue of 2025! As always, thank you to the expert voices across the rail industry who continue to contribute their insights and vision to Global Railway Review. Your work drives the conversations and innovations that are shaping the future of rail.
30 July 2007 | By Annette Jordan, Head of SBB Cargo Deutschland
What do bananas, undressed timber and pasta all have in common? They are all travelling increasingly by rail thanks to the new rake offers added to SBB Cargo's international wagonload services.
30 July 2007 | By Hansjörg Hess, Head of SBB Infrastructure and Member of the Management Board
Overall mobility in Switzerland is forecast to grow by 15-30% between 2000 and 2030. Public transport is set to grow even faster, increasing its market share at the expense of car travel. For its part, SBB is forecasting an increase of 45% in passenger traffic in the same period. There…
30 July 2007 | By Federico Fabretti, Director of Media Relations, Ferrovie dello Stato S.p.A
Ferrovie dello Stato’s business plan for 2007-2011 was approved by the Government on 4 May 2007. It is a development plan, a turning point and a real revolution from a quality point of view, with the aim of re-launching the Group on the domestic and European market and turning it…
30 July 2007 | By Arjen Zoeteman, Team Leader of Asset Maintenance Policies, ProRail
ProRail manages an installed base which has an estimated replacement value of more than €30 billion. Tracks and turnouts are a significant part of the pie, amounting to more than €8 billion. Moreover, they consume more than 50% of total maintenance costs and 75% of renewal costs due to their…
30 July 2007 | By Markus J. Kuhn, Head of Marketing & Communications, DB Training
Initial and advanced training, together with lifelong learning, are steadily growing as being the most important attribute in today’s society. Employees’ social or management skills are, alongside their vocational qualifications, more crucial than ever to a company’s success or failure.
30 July 2007 | By Stephen Gaskill, Chairman NB Rail
Railway Interoperability Directives (96/48/EC, on the interoperability of the Trans-European High-speed network, and 2001/16/EC, on the interoperability of the Trans-European Conventional network, both as amended by 2004/50/EC) are changing the way that railway fixed infrastructure, the rolling stock that runs on it and certain key components are designed, assessed and…
30 July 2007 | By
Talgo’s main objective since the establishment of the company in 1942, has been the constant research and development of innovative, simple and efficient solutions for railway operators – not only in the field of rolling stock, but also in providing integrated maintenance services customised according to the operator’s needs.
30 July 2007 | By Douglas Oakervee, Executive Chairman of Cross London Rail Links Limited
Cross London Rail Links’ proposals for a major new railway for London and the south of the UK, with benefits for the whole of the country, continue to move steadily through the parliamentary process towards construction. Proposed in 1999 as part of a central London rail study (following a prior…
30 July 2007 | By Jan Komarek, Director General of SZDC (Czech Railways Infrastructure Administration)
The Czech Republic owns one of the densest railway networks in Europe. The total length of lines is approximately 9,500km and the Czech territory represents an area of ca 79,000km2. Geographical location of our republic within the centre of Europe is convenient as regards to the most significant transit directions.
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…