snagletooth wrote:Thanks for the answer on my previous post, but I'm (still) amazed at how European passenger trains are given such high priority. Imagine if Amtrak got delayed a half-hour, It'd be a GREAT day! Only a half hour? I'm not belittling your system, I'm belittling ours. There was a time when we ran short, fast freights here (before my time). Then I just noticed , you said commuter territory. Then again, on Metra in Chicago, anything more than 4 -minute delay is big news.
The high priority is not so amazing if you take the following into account (going off topic here).
Up till the early sixties freight (coal traffic actually) paid most of the railroad bill in the Netherlands. Then natural gas was discovered and that was the end for coal (and Dutch coal mines, last one closed in 1975) in domestic use. Remaining powerplant coal traffic was and is via waterways (Rhine, Maas, Schelde and numerous large canals).
What was left was carload traffic and the passenger traffic. Since that time the population has almost doubled (from 10 to 16.3 million currently in a country slight larger than 41,500 km2) and use of the passenger trains has grown accordingly. Truck traffic grew rapidly, especially in distribution (that spelled the end of lcl traffic). Various international changes (EU open market, fall Berlin Wall and eastern European countries joining EU, open access to rail infrastructure) have led to a renaisance in freight traffic but meanwhile the available capacity has been used by passenger trains.
In the early nineties freight traffic fell to an alltime low of around 16 million tons (from a high of 33 million in 1963, a cold winter and the gas distribution was not yet complete), some 3 million tons where for infrastructure projects of the railroad itself. NS Cargo, the then freight division of our national railroad Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), even thought about giving up freight alltogether! In a since NS did give up on freight because they sold the cargo division to the Germans, now it is Railion NL.
The only reason freight hung on was the fact that since the sixties international traffic (largely eastbound to Germany and beyond) has grown to well over 75% of all traffic in the nineties.
We are no different than Chicagoans and any delay is irritating but we have a more complicated network and longer distances so more can go wrong. If I remember correctly, EU statistics measure delays after 5 minutes and in the Netherlands generally 3 minutes. On time / punctuality target is 86 % and this week it is at 87,2 % down from 89 % in week 15. The figure of 86 % is on the low side. This was done deliberately by the transport ministry. It should increase in the near future now that massive investment in tracks and trains is well under way. A lot of slightly deferred maintenance has been done, doubling of tracks (2 to 4 that is), building of fly overs etc. The only thing not working seems to be implementing the newest generation of safety systems.
Anyway, if a train has a delay of 30 - 59 minutes you can get some money back (50 % one way ticket and 25 % return), more than 60 minutes and you get 100 % back on one way and 50 % on return tickets.
Hope this somewhat lengthy explanation gives some more insight in why we have lots of passenger trains and, again, growing freight traffic here in the Netherlands. In many European countries thisng happend in this same way. the exception beiing the former Eastern bloc countries which had and to an extend still have more freight traffic moving via rail. Then again, they are not at the end of Europe's busiest river, the Rhine, as we are!
greetings,
Marc Immeker
marcimmeker wrote:In the old days (pre 1995 say) a train was considered heavy when it was over 2400 metric tons. It got a special note in the timetable and had some restrictions on bridges.Heaviest trains in the Netherlands today are the ore trains from Rotterdam to Dillingen, Saarland Germany. They weigh in at 5400 tons and have automatic couplers with special cars on the ends as the 3 diesel locomotives that pull each ore train in the Netherlands have the regular buffers and link. The German side uses 2 class 151 electrics with automatic couplers. Speed is 80 kph, no more and no less and the dispatchers have to keep them moving otherwise passenger traffic is (seriously) delayed (in the Netherlands that can be up to half an hour and remember, we are mostly a commuter railroad here) because it takes time to get them into and out of sidings or run the passenger trains around them on the wrong main of the double track lines these trains run on. And that happens 6 times a day loaded and 6 times empty.greetings,Marc Immeker
In the old days (pre 1995 say) a train was considered heavy when it was over 2400 metric tons. It got a special note in the timetable and had some restrictions on bridges.
Heaviest trains in the Netherlands today are the ore trains from Rotterdam to Dillingen, Saarland Germany. They weigh in at 5400 tons and have automatic couplers with special cars on the ends as the 3 diesel locomotives that pull each ore train in the Netherlands have the regular buffers and link. The German side uses 2 class 151 electrics with automatic couplers. Speed is 80 kph, no more and no less and the dispatchers have to keep them moving otherwise passenger traffic is (seriously) delayed (in the Netherlands that can be up to half an hour and remember, we are mostly a commuter railroad here) because it takes time to get them into and out of sidings or run the passenger trains around them on the wrong main of the double track lines these trains run on. And that happens 6 times a day loaded and 6 times empty.
I guess the shorter trains would be better equipt (braking and acceleration wise) to keep up with your heavy commuter/passenger traffic if they held to smaller consist.
Snagletooth:
It is simple: money. It costs a huge amount of money to convert. Since the sixties new freightcars are ready for a central coupling system but nothing has happened since then. Last time it was studied was in the eighties.
Only certain unit trains like the ore trains between Rotterdam and the steelworks at Dillingen in the Saarland area of Germany run with central couplers or the ore trains up in Sweden and Norway and this mostly because those couplers are stronger so the maximum trainlength and hauling capabilities of locomotives can be used.
That's really interesting photos. But I got a question. Why does Europe still use link and pins? Has anyone upgraded to US-type, or come up with a similar or better coupler system?
P.S That yellow's a real sharp paint scheme.
Vossloh locomotives has build MaK G1206 type locomotives with both 12 and 16 cilinder MTU engines and Caterpillar 3512B DI TA engines since 1997. It is from their 3rd generation. This type is still build next to the 4th generation locomotives. Actually, the G1206 should have been superceded by the G1700 but only a few locomotives of that type have been build.
These diesel engines are used in the G1206:
MTU 16V 396 TC14: 1570 kW, 1997-1999, 17 locomotives
MTU 12V 4000 R20: 1500 kW, 1998-1999, 4 locomotives
MTU 12V 4000 R41: 1500 kW, since 2006, 20+ locomotives
Caterpillar 3512B DI TA: 1500 kW, since 1997, 127+ locomotives
This locomotive (602) is of the new type MaK G1206-2 (5+ build) and has a Caterpillar 3508B DI TA of 920 kW. Regular G1206's have a bigger cooling section. Source: Loks-aus-Kiel.de.
The first time I saw something like this was on a Regentalbahn locomotive that took part in the parade during 150 years of railroading in Germany back in 1985. It's use is mostly restricted to heavy switching. Eisenbahn + Häfen for instance services a steel complex and runs short heavy trains of torpedocars filled with hot liquid iron between different sites of the steelworks.
The blue locomotive to the right has a Caterpillar diesel with 1500 kW.
For more info on Vossloh locomotives Mak type diesels go to the following German website:
http://www.loks-aus-kiel.de/index.php?nav=1000001&lang=1. The text is in German but you will be able to follow the workslist and details of the various engines easily I think. If you need something translated just contact me.
thx for sharing your pictures.....what is the horsepower of the units shown?.....and how long has this "semi-auto" link and pin been around?....looks complicated.....
Since you have a better coupler system than we have here in Europe I thought to share a couple of pictures showing a new switcher for Eisenbahn + Häfen, a switching road in the western Ruhr area of Germany.
Note the white leds for lights. The loco has a semi-automatic coupler system between the buffers and above the hook. It is used in place of the hook and link system so a switchman does not have to go between the buffers.
In this second picture you can see the difference as compared to a normal locomotive at right. Both are of the Vossloh Locomotives MaK G1206 type. Lower picture is by Museumslok.
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