List view / Grid view
Railways face continued growth in passenger ridership numbers and increased demand for rail freight operations. To cope, rail systems must adapt to their changing environment and provide networks that are both safe and secure.
6 February 2007 | By Anders Frick, Track Engineer and Per-Olof Larsson-Kråik, Research and Development Coordinator, Banverket
Over the last few years, rail grinding operations at Banverket in Sweden has become a natural and important part of the total maintenance track work. The number of track metres that were ground during 2006 was almost 1 million (exactly 997272 track metres) and almost 400 switches. The way of…
6 February 2007 | By Stephan W. Kallee, Sector Manager and John Davenport, Programme Manager, TWI Ltd
Whether rail vehicles are made from steel, stainless steel or aluminium, the search for lower cost, robust designs is never ending. For the case of aluminium, complete trains are being assembled from hollow aluminium extrusions and prefabricated panels. Recent investigations into the crashworthiness of aluminium railcars have clearly demonstrated the…
29 December 2006 | By Günther Leykauf, Director, Institute for Road, Railway and Airfield Construction, Munich University of Technology
The wheel/rail system is on the right way to ensure mobility for the future. To compete with road traffic, reliable track systems are necessary which require not only renewal of worn and fatigue stressed track components but also the introduction of optimized and newly developed system innovations as well as…
29 December 2006 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor, Global Railway Review
All large corporate organisations, such as railways, have the need for professional services. Lawyers, accountants, architects, engineers – all these and more are likely to be needed at some time or another, especially if large projects are being planned.
29 December 2006 | By Dr. Peter Winter, Project Director GSM-R/ERTMS, UIC
Signalling, train control and communication installations are all important assets for modern railways and they contribute significantly to performance and quality of passenger and freight train services. Over the last few decades they have been the subject of deep conceptual and technological changes.
28 November 2006 | By Andrew McNaughton, Chief Engineer, Network Rail and Global Railway Review Editorial Board Member and Bob Cummings, Head of Track Engineering, Network Rail
The strategy for the maintenance and renewal of track on the Great British network has been transformed over recent years. There is now a well embedded pro-active engineering culture of ‘predict and prevent’, rather than a reactive one of ‘find and fix’.
28 November 2006 | By Neil Jones, Territory Structures Engineer, Network Rail
A £14 million scheme to replace and refurbish the Leven viaduct in South Cumbria was successfully completed by Network Rail on time and within budget in July 2006. The 16 week project is the largest civil engineering bridge scheme in a five-year programme of work in the London North Western…
28 November 2006 | By Philippe Mugg, Technical Director, Vossloh Cogifer SA / Vossloh Switch Systems
At InnoTrans 2006 in Berlin, Vossloh Cogifer SA, a subsidiary of the Vossloh Group, pre-sented not one, but two innovations in turnout technology primarily for high-speed turnouts. These are, on the one hand, a totally new turnout system for slab tracks, and, on the other, a turnout drive system with…
28 November 2006 | By Ioannis G. Protopapas, Head of Railway Systems Department, ERGOSE S.A.
Though the Greek Railway Network is located far off Central Europe, ERGOSE S.A.1 is speeding up the efforts to comply with the interoperability requirements set by the European Community to facilitate unhindered, at least by technical barriers, cross-border operations at a European level and to introduce the technological evolutions of…
28 November 2006 | By Coenraad Esveld, Professor of Railway Engineering and Global Railway Review Editorial Board Member and Valéri Markine, Assistant Professor, Delft University of Technology
Currently, all over the world, non-ballasted track concepts are being applied, although still at a moderate volume. If the low maintenance characteristics of slab track on open line are to be retained, great care must be taken to ensure that the subgrade layers are homogenous and capable of bearing the…
15 September 2006 | By Olle Mornell, Project Manager, Banverket
Covering 440,000km2, Sweden is a relatively large country – approximately the size and shape of California. However, the population is only nine million, which means a density of 20 persons per km2. Approximately 90% of the population lives in the southern third of the country. Sweden is located on the…
15 September 2006 | By James Abbott, Technical Editor
Keeping on top of the condition of your track can pay dividends in terms of improved ride and reduced maintenance bills. Modern monitoring equipment allows engineers to plan predictive maintenance. Europe’s railways are stepping up spending on track testing and monitoring. Traditionally, track maintenance has been reactive: in this case,…
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…
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…
28 July 2006 | By Romeu Costa Reis, Member of the Board, REFER
In the wake of Directive 440/91 CEE, Portugal decided to set up a new model for the railway sector.
