Edit post

Edit your reply below.

Post Body
Enter your post below.
Hi again all First, apologise for the last post above. Somehow this seems to have been posted on the wrong string. I can only claim premature senility, that's what a lifetime working for British Railways can do! Glancing through the various posts, there are a few points I would like to comment on. Voltage  1500dc is not unique to Holland, French Railways are roughly 50/50 25kv ac, and 1500 dc.Basically it is ac in the north, and dc in the south.In consquence from a relatively early date say about 1960/65,electric loco's were bi-current. Seems to work OK, at least I have never seen that it has caused any problems. Multi Voltage Loco's/ EMU's  Tri and Quadri Voltages, basically DB's 4 voltage 1966 class 184, and Belgian class 26 ? were expensive. Technology has come a long way, and I think I've posted before that Austrian OBB, when ordering 400 of the 1016 class "Taurus" fleet, had no intention of a multi voltage machine.Siemens, the builders told them that there was now really no difference in adding 25kv as well as the "Germanic" 15kv.I believe the difference was less than 5% more. So after 50 1016 had been delivered, the remaining 350 are dual voltage. With few exceptions, most new electric loco's are at least bi-voltage.The ' Taurus'  fleet now have a further, 50 potentially 4 voltage, but to save weight, several are configured for only 3, depending where they are to operate.They can easily be altered. The Betuweroute / HSL Zuid According to Todays Railways - Europe, Angel trains are to lease 15 TRAXX machines, with ETCS signalling, configured for Germany/ Austria and Holland and Belgium.They must have got a good deal, as although the Bombadier TRAXX 185 bi-voltage has been around for a few years now, the competing 4 voltage Siemens class189 is well proven and now reliable. If my comments appear to contradict, with weight saving, it is because of the I believe 15 different cab signalling systems floating about in Europe. All hope that ETCS with ERTMS, level 2 at least, will arrive soon - very very unlikely. When BR was privatised, Railtrack had virtually no engineers.It was more or less people from outside, who joined, as my generation grabbed their pensions and ran! The West Coast Line renewal was going to have ETMS level 3,- moving block.This would mean, no lineside signals, computers and track mounted transponders would "assess" how far and fast the train in front was doing, and compere with the following train.Train operators today moan about the 5 or so miles of ' fresh air'  between trains. Capacity is now the name of the game, with even hard bitten road hauliers with a deep resentment of rail, are trying to climb on the railfreight bandwagon.With the MI, M6,and the London orbital motorway, the last known as the largest car park in the capital, rising fuel costs, harshly enforced drivers hours, and an acute driver shortage, the road haulage industry has it's back to the wall.Apart from a few exceptions, there are no toll roads in the UK, we all get hammered for an annual road tax, in my case - a small family car, I pay roughly the equivalent of $250 a year.Goods vehicles add another 0 at least. On top of this road charging is being contemplated, either as an addition, or alternative. UK railways are now carrying more passengers and freight ( thelatter in tonne-miles) than early post war, but thanks to Beeching about half the system size, and even more in track miles as over the years, every bit of track not fully used was ripped up.4 track main lines were reduced to 2 and double tracks singled. This was going to be a short post! Finally, why the fuss about weight. Whilst the UK has the tightest structure gauge, it generally has the highest axle load at 25.5 tonnes. Most of mainland Europe is about 21 tonnes, and incredible as it may seem Russian 1520mm gauge, with a structure gauge almost as large as yours is also only about 21 tonnes. When Ed B bought part of Estonian raiways, previously part of the USSR, he brought over some second hand US SD diesels. Which type I'm feeling too tired to find out. They laid down an axle load of 30 tonnes, and wondered why rails were breaking! Indeed I've recently seen that the Estonian Govt. is to re-nationalise them. Bit odd, as they are now in the EU, where separation of infrastructure, from train operating companies, with access potentially allowed to any rail company is mandatory.In the long term whilst each country may have a single track authority, in theory this too should turn into commercial ventures.Try telling that to the French! Andy
Tags (Optional)
Tags are keywords that get attached to your post. They are used to categorize your submission and make it easier to search for. To add tags to your post type a tag into the box below and click the "Add Tag" button.
Add Tag