Continental European Railway Operations

[Hugh Jampton]

Okay, here's one. Why does most non-North American equipment have buffers? This is something that has baffled me since I was a little kid, watching Thomas the tank engine...............

Dave

Slack runs out,, slack runs in.

In North America the knuckle coupler is attached to a hefty drawbar that is able to withstand slack action in both directions.

In Europe the hook and shackle coupler (little more than a bit of chain) can only withstand the slack running out. The buffers stop the ends of the cars crashing into each other when the slack runs in is the simple answer.

[mustanggt]

Okay, here's one. Why does most non-North American equipment have buffers? This is something that has baffled me since I was a little kid, watching Thomas the tank engine...............

Dave

 

[Anonymous]

I think the place to look for the best answers might be yahoo groups european rail........its a finance group.
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/europeanrail/

[Anonymous]

Lets face it - if you're doing  fair speed at night and you're close enough to see something then you've already hit it. Remember that the majority of Europe is fully signalled with regular checks on train integrity from either track circuiting or visual  inspection of the tail lamp by the signalman who could not give train out of section without seeing and recording the fact.

Cornfield meets were rare in the extreme compared to the potential in dark territory. I find running to train orders far scarier as a concept than the lack of a headlight

 

Kev

[Hugh Jampton]

Wow! Running "blind" at night at speed! I cannot begin to imagine how scary that would be for those of us used to seeing where we are going.

Thanks,

Pop Z

  

     I take it that there are not as many grade crossings in Europe, as we are used to over here?

No, there aren't nearly as many crossings as there are in teh states, plus, there are very few crossings that only have crossbucks (well, the UK equivalent thereof). If you want numbers I can say that in the UK there are 7684 (RSSB), most of these are user worked crossings that have telephones for the user to contact the signaller (although this rarely happens). Last I heard there were about 250,000 crossings in the US (a lot of these are private crossings with no more protection than a set of crossbucks).
There are more and less crossings in Europe than in the UK, France has around 17,000, Germany around 27,000, Belgium and the Netherlands have only 2,100 and 3,000 respectively.

[Murphy Siding]

Wow! Running "blind" at night at speed! I cannot begin to imagine how scary that would be for those of us used to seeing where we are going.

Thanks,

Pop Z

  

     I take it that there are not as many grade crossings in Europe, as we are used to over here?

[Tulyar15]

In any case, you'd be suprised how much light a full moon gives. Dont forget it's enough  to cast shadows.

[Simon Reed]

Why is that scary?

When you train as a driver (engineer) you learn the road, to the point where you know every wrinkle.

At night you should, therefore, know where you are by either elapsed time or what you see outside.

I'm not sure where you live, Poppa, but it's never truly dark. In populated areas there's always a sodium glow. In rural areas, on a cloudy night, it's amazing how quickly the human eye adapts to conditions.

Anyway - if you're on a steamer, and you know roughly where you are, what do you need to see??    

[Poppa_Zit]

Wow! Running "blind" at night at speed! I cannot begin to imagine how scary that would be for those of us used to seeing where we are going.

Thanks,

Pop Z

  

[Simon Reed]

There are two answers to this.

European railroads tend to be fenced off - indeed, the law in the UK states that railway property must be adequately fenced - so there is'nt as much of an issue for crews needing to see that the road ahead is clear of livestock etc..

I think that some Scandinavian steam had headlights, presumably to spot moose.

The second answer is that the headlight on modern traction is largely to make oncoming trains more visible to MOW personnel. This was'nt an issue in steam days as, even when coasting, a steam loco on jointed track is a noisy old beast!  

[owlsroost]

Yes, of course they ran at night - in simple terms the rails guide the train and the signals are illuminated so why do you need a headlight ?

Not sure about other European countries, but in the UK we didn't have headlights generally on trains until the 1970's - just white marker lights, other than a on a few trains which ran on more remote branch lines in Scotland and Wales. I believe the main reason for fitting them at that time was to make trains more visible in daylight for people working on the track, rather than night time use.

Tony

[Poppa_Zit]

Okay, here's something I've always wondered. A large percentage of Euro steam locomotives in pictures I've seen do not have headlights.

Did they not run at dark/night, or did they run in the dark with no headlamp? Or were they called "torches?"

[Poppa_Zit]

     Is there a *standard* language used in train operation on the continent?

Each country uses it's local profanities.

     I'm sure some profanities are universal.

I believe some hand-signal profanities are international.

[beaulieu]

B cargo also operates in the Netherlands:

The Ford train (Mondeo's) from Genk in Belgium to Vlissingen Sloe.

The Volvo transit train from Almhult in Sweden at least from Bad Bentheim (border station in Germany on the line Hengelo - Rheine) to Antwerp via Roosendaal.

Terneuzen Dow via Gent and Antwerp in Belgium to Buna Werke in Germany.

Another new operator in the Netherlands is Veolia Cargo Nederland (formerly Connex Cargo). It has a contract to deliver each month 15-20 coal trains from EMO (a company transloading coal and ore from ship to rail and barge) on the Maasvlakte to Dortmund.

One curious operation is that by the small operator Bocholter Eisenbahn. It works for Railion and moves traffic from Emmerich (border station in Germany) to Arnhem. It is apparently too expensive for Railion Nederland to stop in Arnhem on the way from Rotterdam to Emmerich.

greetings,

Marc Immeker

Edit: the Terneuzen train has to run through Belgium as this part of the Netherlands is not connected to the rest of the country. It is in the extreme southwest of the country on the left or south bank of the river Westerschelde. The train itself runs through the rest of the Netherlands via Roosendaal and leaves, presumably, via Bad Bentheim.

 

No sign of a German license for B-Cargo yet so they must only operate to the border station.

[Simon Reed]

Last time I went to Terneuzen (admittedly it's 6 years ago) NS kept a few 2200's there. I'm not really surprised that the traffic has gone to B Cargo.

To revert to the subject of passport control my last European rail jaunt (November 2005) is quite instructive.

1. Flew UK to Belgium so usual airport controls.
2. Belgium - Luxembourg. No controls, but there never have been.
3. Luxembourg - France. A walk - through passport check by French border guards.
4. France - Switzerland. The customary fully armed patrol and bag check at Basle.
5. Switzerland - Italy. No controls.
6. Italy - Switzerland. Amusing! We took the bus from Domodossala to Iselle, which is at the Southern end of the Simplon Tunnel, to travel in the foot-passenger vehicle of a car train. The cars were checked - we were not!
7. Switzerland - Germany. No controls.
8. Germany - Belgium. No controls. 

Draw from this what you will....    

[MStLfan]

B cargo also operates in the Netherlands:

The Ford train (Mondeo's) from Genk in Belgium to Vlissingen Sloe.

The Volvo transit train from Almhult in Sweden at least from Bad Bentheim (border station in Germany on the line Hengelo - Rheine) to Antwerp via Roosendaal.

Terneuzen Dow via Gent and Antwerp in Belgium to Buna Werke in Germany.

Another new operator in the Netherlands is Veolia Cargo Nederland (formerly Connex Cargo). It has a contract to deliver each month 15-20 coal trains from EMO (a company transloading coal and ore from ship to rail and barge) on the Maasvlakte to Dortmund.

One curious operation is that by the small operator Bocholter Eisenbahn. It works for Railion and moves traffic from Emmerich (border station in Germany) to Arnhem. It is apparently too expensive for Railion Nederland to stop in Arnhem on the way from Rotterdam to Emmerich.

greetings,

Marc Immeker

Edit: the Terneuzen train has to run through Belgium as this part of the Netherlands is not connected to the rest of the country. It is in the extreme southwest of the country on the left or south bank of the river Westerschelde. The train itself runs through the rest of the Netherlands via Roosendaal and leaves, presumably, via Bad Bentheim.

 

[beaulieu]

I might add that some interesting new operators are getting into the business in the most "Open" countries.
The newest railway freight company in Sweden is (are you ready for this) the Swedish Highway Authority
"Vägverket" hauling containers of paper from a mill near Sundsvall to the port of Göteburg. They hired locomotives and railcars to haul road salt for their highways initially, then decided they need to keep the crews and locomotives employed all year-round.

[beaulieu]

     Are the railroads mostly kept within the borders of their own countries, or are they multi-national infrastrucures-like the way CN and CP operate in 2 countries?

Right now the situation is a bit like a patchwork quilt. In the old EU, basically everything west of the old "Iron Curtain" except Switzerland and Norway, all freight service is theoretically "Open". The Infrastructure is owned either by a separate company, a government agency, or at least a separate subsidiary of the national railway company.  As a practical matter Germany  and the UK have been completely open for freight since 1995, and the Netherlands two years later, Sweden became open about the same time. Switzerland is mostly open since 2003, only traffic that originates and terminates in Switzerland is protected. Austria is also open but I can't put a date to it. Italy became open in about 2002 also. The problem has been the countries that have put up roadblocks and are in between, especially France and Belgium, Luxembourg is an unknown, but with restriction in France and Belgium there is no reason to pass through Luxembourg. In France the Door has been open for a few years but SNCF Fret and their unions have been fighting a delaying action that has meant that there has been only very token operations in France other than by SNCF Fret. Spain and Portugal are also legally open but practically still closed. Belgium is slightly open, one open access operator is up and running and is an important player, a couple of other players have licenses to operate but haven't yet started in Belgium.
Here is the operating situation right now;
Germany National Railway (DB) operates freight as "Railion"
 Dutch National Railway (NS) sold its freight operation (NS Cargo) to Railion which operates it as        "Railion Nederland"
Danish National Railway (DSB) sold its freight operation (DSB Gods) to Railion which operates it as
       "Railion Danemark"
Swedish National Railway operates freight as "Green Cargo"
Norway National Railway (NSB) operates freight in a joint operation with Green Cargo as "CargoNet"
French National Railway (SNCF) operates freight as "SNCF Fret"
Belgium National Railway (SNCB/NMBS) operates freight as "B-Cargo"
Swiss National Railway (SBB) operates freight as "SBB Cargo" (SBBC)
Austrian National Railway (OeBB) operates freight as "Rail Cargo Austria"
Italian National Railways (FS) operates freight as "Trenitalia Global Logistics"
The biggest independents are
Rail4Chem (R4C) 
Hafen und Güterverkehr Köln (HGK)
TX Logistics (TXL)
Rail Traction Company (RTC)
Dillen and Le Jeune Cargo (DLC)
European Rail Shuttle (ERS)
BLS Cargo
Del Fungo Giera (DFG)
Crossrail
FN Cargo (now called I think "Nord Cargo")
Trenitalia has bought a controlling interest in TXL so it operates on Trenitalia's behalf in Germany

Germany
Railion, SBBC, HGK, R4C, RCA, TXL, DLC, ERS, RTC, and a whole lot of smaller companies.
Netherlands
Railion, HGK, R4C, DLC, ERS, plus Dutch independent ACTS.
Belgium
B-Cargo, Railion, DLC, R4C, ERS, SNCF Fret. except for DLC these are very short distance operations.
Switzerland
SBBC, Railion, BLS Cargo, R4C, TXL, Crossrail.
Austria
RCA, Railion, ERS, RTC, plus Austrian independent like LTE and WLB.
Italy
Trenitalia, Railion, SBBC, DFG, SNCF Fret, plus other Italian independents.

[Murphy Siding]

     Are the railroads mostly kept within the borders of their own countries, or are they multi-national infrastrucures-like the way CN and CP operate in 2 countries?

[beaulieu]

French news source "Les Echoes" reports that rotating strikes against SNCF are hammering SNCF Fret so hard that it will be unable to fulfill the conditions the EU laid down for allowing the most recent rescue loan from the French Government. It speculates that this may cause SNCF Fret to have to cancel its purchase program for new diesel locomotives

[beaulieu]

     How do the railroads, and countries involved handle freight cars (and passenger cars) that cross international borders?

<snipped>

Power: It's not common for locos to travel in other countries so they're usually changed at the border. This maeans that international trains are coaching stock rather than multiple units. Where electric trains have to  have their locos changed because of different line voltage there is a special section that can be switched to the correct voltage for the locos to allow this to happen.

On the Trans-Alpine Routes its becoming more common, Venlo on the Dutch border to Milan is done daily by a FN Cargo ES64F4 with a container train. Rotterdam to Basel, Switzerland twice daily by a ERS Class 66 Diesel. Munich to Verona, Italy is done with Rail Traction Company ES64F4s daily. The German - Swiss border is crossed by dozens of trains daily not just to Muttenz Yd. That requires the safety systems for both countries plus pantographs for both. Obviously Germany - Austria doesn't count. Both SNCF Fret and Railion are running through between Woippy and Cologne.

Signalling: Most railways use lineside signals so there's not really a problem here, except of course that most railways use some form of train protection system, the main ones are KVB, LZB, AWS, TPWS and a few others. As this equipment has something mounted on the locos it's another reason why they tend not to travel accross borders.

Couplers: Not a problem as most international trains have hook and shackle couplers or knuckle couplers. Some of the eastern countries us the Russian coupler, so a match wagon, which has different couplers at each end is used.

The EU has decreed that railways should be more interoperable with each other and has issued the Technical Standards for Interoperability (TSIs for short) and they tell the member countries which track gauge, overhead voltage etc. to use. There are 2 main TSIs, one covering high speed trains and the other conventional railways. There is also a move to standardising the signalling and they've come up with what they call ERTMS which is not a signalling system as such, but a load of waffle on functionality.

ETCS is the signalling part of ERTMS. Its development has been fraught with bugs, but since the first of this year it is finally beginning to work like it is supposed to. The Spanish section is now approved for operation, in June the Swiss Government  gave the ok for 160kph operation on the Matstetten - Rothrist NBS and expects to approve 200kph operation at the December Timetable change. Futher they have announced the intention to convert their whole standard gauge network over to ETCS by the end of 2015.  And in Italy one of the new High Speed Lines is being run solely with ETCS at 200kph.
There are other trial installations but they are not fully operational yet.

[beaulieu]

Murphy, there is a push to make English the Universal language for Operations of trains but its going slowly. The biggest push is coming from the companies that supply train crews to the Open Access Operators, companies like MEV Eisenbahn Verkehrsgesellschaft.

[Murphy Siding]

     Is there a *standard* language used in train operation on the continent?

Each country uses it's local profanities.

     I'm sure some profanities are universal.

[MStLfan]

There was a publishing company that had a railroad terms dictionary in four languages.

I think it was Elsevier.

greetings,

Marc Immeker

[Hugh Jampton]

     Is there a *standard* language used in train operation on the continent?

Each country uses it's local profanities.

[Murphy Siding]

     Is there a *standard* language used in train operation on the continent?

[Hugh Jampton]

     How do the railroads, and countries involved handle freight cars (and passenger cars) that cross international borders?

When operating conventional vehicles internationally there are a number of considerations that need to taken into account.

Track Gauge: Mostly the same so there's no problem there. The train in Spain is the notable exception where international passenger trains are usually gauge convertable Talgos, while in other places it's all change please. Freight is either transloaded, the trucks are changed or the whole car is put onto a car carrying car with the appropriate gauge wheels.

Loading Gauge: Most European loading gauges are pretty much the same so there's no problem there. The notable exception os the UK where it's tiny loading gauge means that only specific cars can come through the chunnel or accross on whatever train ferries may be operating (if any).

Power: It's not common for locos to travel in other countries so they're usually changed at the border. This maeans that international trains are coaching stock rather than multiple units. Where electric trains have to  have their locos changed because of different line voltage there is a special section that can be switched to the correct voltage for the locos to allow this to happen.

Signalling: Most railways use lineside signals so there's not really a problem here, except of course that most railways use some form of train protection system, the main ones are KVB, LZB, AWS, TPWS and a few others. As this equipment has something mounted on the locos it's another reason why they tend not to travel accross borders.

Couplers: Not a problem as most international trains have hook and shackle couplers or knuckle couplers. Some of the eastern countries us the Russian coupler, so a match wagon, which has different couplers at each end is used.

The EU has decreed that railways should be more interoperable with each other and has issued the Technical Standards for Interoperability (TSIs for short) and they tell the member countries which track gauge, overhead voltage etc. to use. There are 2 main TSIs, one covering high speed trains and the other conventional railways. There is also a move to standardising the signalling and they've come up with what they call ERTMS which is not a signalling system as such, but a load of waffle on functionality.

[sgtbean1]

All of those countries you mentioned (with the exception of Austria and Germany) did sign the treaty, but have not yet enforced it actively. So the Schengen Area (the area in which you can travel freely and customs only do random checks) ends at the Eastern - Germany border to Poland, Czech Republic, and of course Switzerland. Austria only has Schengen borders with Germany and Italy, so if you entered Austria from - say - Hungary or the Czech Republic, normal customs procedures would be enforced, meaning ID checks, checking goods imported / exported etc.

So yes: it is possible to have customs checks at these borders you've mentioned. Free traffic with only random custom checks (most of them not even at the borders) applies to the Schengen Area, so travelling from Holland to Italy, you will probably never take out your ID (except of course when you take the route through Switzerland, then you'll have to swing the ID around at least 4 times on a round trip).

[bjeffery]

Regarding the posts covering passengers crossing international borders:

During my recent (March/April) intercity European train travel I had Customs officers on the trains stamping my Australian passport for leaving/entering Germany, Slovak Republic, Austria, Hungary & Poland (all of which I believe are in the EU).  I believe that the officers who were operating in two teams (one set for the country being left and one set for the country being entered) were boarding the trains at the stops prior to the border crossings , processing travellers , and then getting off at the next stop to do the same process on the next train heading in the reverse direction.

[sgtbean1]

And the 1.5kv DC requires two pantographs to get full power from the locomotive. This is where the elimination of the two 1.5kv DC islands was important.

And requiring 2 panto's for one voltage is not something most multi-voltage loco's can spare, since Siemens (IIRC) uses one panto for every voltage setting. Since they have four different voltage settings, they have to use all four panto and cannot spare one extra for 1.5kV.

The good news: just about anything except the heavy chaulk trains can be set to move with one panto, since over here, the trains are not very long (and not that heavy) and the terrain is mostly..... well, pancaked.

If fact, loco's over here are not allowed to use two panto's when getting the train to move from a stand, since the current drawn throught the catenary can (and has) cause(d) the catenary to snap from extreme heat, sometimes even welding the panto's pickup "shoe" to the wires.