Rail infrastructure investment news | 16 comments (16 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Seed comment (4.00 / 10)

Also in France, the investigation into last summer's train accident at Brétigny-sur-Ogre presented its conclusions in January, finding a cause less obvious and more worrying that what was surmised at first.

To recap, seven passengers of an express train died when a loose fishplate of a complex switch – held by just one of its four screws, with the other three broken – pivoted and got stuck in the way of the wheels. The root cause was a crack in the frog (the centrepiece of a switch), which put shear stress on the screws but wasn't detected by visual inspection because it was hidden by the very fishplate that caused the derailment. (Claims in Le Figaro about earlier detection of the crack have been based on a misinterpretation of an unrelated cable rupture.) As a consequence, visual inspection procedures will be re-worked, automated inspection trains will be introduced, and point renewal will be accelerated with a €300 million programme.

This got me thinking: visual or portable instrumental inspection of points is still pretty much the norm across Europe, the few inspection cars I'm aware of are not a decade old. So the example of the accident in France should be read as a warning elsewhere, too.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 1st, 2014 at 06:34:40 AM EST

Puente AVE (4.00 / 5)

Amidst the stream of bad rail news out of Spain, there was one good news: the ticket price reform introduced last February resulted in a ridership growth for long-distance rail by 13.4%, for AVE high-speed trains even by 20.9%. As a consequence, on the Madrid–Barcelona relation (which I analysed in Puente AVE), rail solidified the dominance over air achieved last year and finally took a decisive lead with a market share of almost 60% (3.1 million vs. the airlines' 2.2 million in 2013).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sat Mar 1st, 2014 at 06:37:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Puente AVE (4.00 / 3)

And yet another government is forced by the facts to come to its senses regarding PPP:

ETCS tender launched for Madrid - Galicia HSL | International Railway Journal

SPANISH infrastructure manager Adif last week approved the tendering of a contract to design, install and maintain signaling and telecommunications equipment on the Madrid-Galicia high-speed rail line, with a total value of €640.8m.
...The package replaces a €905m public-private partnership contract issued two years ago. Despite its initial intention to call for private investment to equip the line in order to ease the financial burden on the state, the Spanish government subsequently decided to contract the works directly due to lower interest rates in the bond market and a lack of interest from the private sector.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Mar 5th, 2014 at 06:44:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Puente AVE (4.00 / 4)

Heh. And here is yet another (my emphasis at the end):

Trafikverket releases Swedish high-speed report | International Railway Journal

SWEDISH infrastructure manager Trafikverket published a new report on February 28 outlining potential options for a high-speed line linking Stockholm with Gothenburg and Malmö.
...The total cost of the network is estimated to be around SKr 125bn ($US 19.4bn) at 2008 prices, of which SKr 59bn would come from the state, SKr 43bn from track access charges, SKr 19bn from local and regional governments, and SKr 4bn from the European Union. The remaining SKr 19bn would cover the cost of private finance, and the report suggests costs could be reduced if the project is entirely publically-funded.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Mar 5th, 2014 at 06:47:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

NTV (4.00 / 2)

Meanwhile, in the brave new world of open access, the biggest new operator, Italy's NTV (which transported 6.2 million passengers in its first full year) is still struggling:

NTV launches cost cutting drive | International Railway Journal

Despite strong traffic growth last year, NTV says it does not expect to reach breakeven until 2016. In its original business plan breakeven was forecast for this year.
NTV has reached agreement with its five unions for each employee to take an extra 1.5 rest days per month for the next 12 months, which translates as a monthly pay cut of €25 per employee. However, the time can be used for training in order not to affect the quality of service to passengers, which NTV says is crucial for the success of the business.
In addition, the number of company directors is being reduced from 14 to nine, and top executives will take an average pay cut of 10%.

By 2016, Trenitalia (the passenger branch of state railways FS) will have put new trains in service, so I wouldn't be surprised if breakeven will be pushed further into the future (not to mention a bankruptcy).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Mon Mar 10th, 2014 at 02:42:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NTV (4.00 / 2)

Interesting: side-mounted pantograph.

_{Schengen is toast!}

by epochepoque on Mon Mar 10th, 2014 at 06:29:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: NTV (4.00 / 3)

Yes:

High-speed champion | International Railway Journal

"The problem with placing the pantograph on the roof is that it vibrates a lot when the train is operating at high-speed," Orellano says. "The carbody's flat plate roof effectively vibrates like a drum. In older high-speed trains power cars were situated at either end so no-one was sitting below the pantograph. But in today's trains passengers are seated throughout so this has become more of a problem and is something we wanted to address."
The solution adopted for the Frecciarossa 1000 is to mount the pantograph directly to the sidewall of the carbody with the stiffness of the carbody and the curvature of the sidewall working to reduce the vibrations and as a result noise. In addition when the pantograph is not being used it is stored flat, again minimising vibrations and any impact on aerodynamics.

The only picture I found, from the pantograph diagnostics supplier, unfortunately doesn't say much (no isolators and mounting points on the carbody shown):

At any rate, when it comes to the acoustic optimisation of pantographs, European manufacturers have a long way to go to catch up with Japanese counterparts:

(Series 500)

(Fastech360 prototype; also see noise test with/without noise screens)

(E5 series)

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Mar 12th, 2014 at 02:50:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Rail infrastructure investment news | 16 comments (16 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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