The past 10 days of snow has really snarled transportation in central Europe. All airport runways and ramps in the UK, Brussels, Amsterdam, & Germany still haven't been cleared to allow full service. The airlines in UK cancelled almost all inter - UK flights citing that British travel could be accomplished by surface travel.
Last week's Britiish Railway Herald mentions that UK train service has been curtailed or seriously delayed due to lack of snow removal equipment. Eurostar has also reported delays of Chunnel trains and the lack of crews. This contrasts with their ability to add service during the volcano problems. Today 5 hour waits for Eurostar at St. Pancres for travelers who are being taken on a first come first served basis. No info if reservation holders given any preference. (could also be a lack of ticket agents able to get to work?)
French, Brussels, Netherlands, & Germany all report train delays and cancellations due to no return equipment available of TGV,Thaylys (sp), and other HSR equipment. Many of the UK light weight EMUs and DMUs have been severly curtailed. To further complicate this situation there are almost no available reservations for empty seats on any trains in these areas or other trainss outside the affected areas due to the Christmas holiday unlike the volcano occcurrence.
All in all it appears that European HSR has to slow considerably in snow conditions to become only MSR or emerging corridor speeds?
The question then becomes how do you plan for this situation in the future (along with the volcano possibility or other items)?
Also how do you plan for the same in the USA? Amtrak's previous straight lining the NEC has workd in the past having all trains essentially follow one another at the same speed but acquiring cascading delays. It appears that the NEC equipment is heavy enough to push thru the snow at a fairly good speed.
However as a somewhat fan of light weight equipment I am rethinking its use in heavy snow especially on the NEC? Now Chicago has some winters of a lot of ice and snow and I wonder how Talgo equipment would or could handle those track conditions? Certainly the TGV and other HSR units are having a difficult time.
Any thoughts?
Just checking DB for today: ICE trains running on time to 50 minutes late depending on where in Germany. A few cancellations but generally pretty good recovery. I don't think lightweight is the problem. More switches and catenary.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
Light weight is a problem if it is to be the trail breaker after a fresh storm. Once a trail is broken and any road crossing flangeways have been cleared of ice then light weight is of little consequence.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
High speed trains - IC and ICE - are slowed down to 100 mph ( IC ) and 125 mph ( ICE ) to prevent damage to carbodies by blown-up ice pieces, therefore some late-running.
I just pulled up the SBB (Swiss) website at 17:47 CST and the SBB site shows no Swiss services running late, however three French TGVs that continue into Swiss destinations are running late, and one German ICE service is also running late.
Compared to our NE Corridor, disruptions in rail services Europe don't seem all that big a deal.
Who knows what will power the Talgos? An F59 or NPCU in the lead would have little problem in most cases. Worst cases, a stand-by pilot diesel or leased freight locomotive with plow might be used during the snow and after if winds drift the snow back across the tracks. Speeds may be reduced anyway on account of possible drifting and rail pull-aparts with sub-zero temperatures.
Just what can be done within reason to keep the trains limping along under bad conditions? At what point is it irresponsible to risk liability exposure just to keep trains running? That's not being a wuss.
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