There were 4 containers with hazardous material involved (Aniline UN 1547 en NAtriumboorhydride UN 3320(NaBH/NaOH)) so the whole station was shut down. According to some rumours the fire brigade was lazy checking the papers and the containers (happens often lately) so they shut down everything.
Another good one: because it was not clear what was in the containers NS could give no prognosis when trainservice would be resumed. All trains have papers, just check it! On the other hand, NS no longer operates freight trains so the spokesperson wouldn't know it (why give a statement?).
Anyway, the damage is considerable. See the following pictures. The container train was the ACTS 60244 with a class 58 (former English class 58) from Rotterdam Maasvlakte west (container terminal at the far west end of the harbor of Rotterdam) to Veendam in the north of the country.
The passenger train was a recently modified / upgraded class 2900 sprinter.
From the location it seems that it is the same place where earlier this year an intercity Rotterdam - Utrecht and a local Rotterdam - Gouda collided at around 7.10 AM. I was a passenger in the intercity train then. The location is in front of an office of railroad contractor BAM (which could be translated as bang in this instance).
First picture is from the newspaper AD, 2-4 are from Bert Stortenbeker (http://bert11.homeip.net/) and the last by Maarten Otto.
greetings,
Marc Immeker
This morning around 10.00 AM an empty passenger train and a container train collided on an westward extension of platform track 14 here at Rotterdam Central Station. All traffic at Rotterdam CS came to a standstill. Around 14.00 PM traffic started to move again but with severe disruptions to service going on at least untill 24.00 PM.
Both engineers escaped without damages. The containers were not so lucky. The container train had mixed cargo including loads of whisky. (Why am I not at those locations when things such as this happens )
Reparing the damage (catenary, cables, rails) may take up to 2 days.
Hi Murphy,
For those pesky facts you need John Beaulieu. He seems to be able to find them.
What I do know is this: in 2004 or 2005 (forgot which) Railion Netherlands hauled close to 33 million tons (metric) of freight. This is close to the all time record of 1963, just above 33 million tons (then it was still the cargo division of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS)). That year however was characterised by one of the most severe winters on record. Most rivers were frozen for quite some time so all the coal from our own mines and foreign mines had to be hauled by train.
Some 10 or 15 years ago NS Cargo had trouble reaching as high as 20 million tons of which 2.3 to 3 million was railraod infrastructure related.
These days we have, beside Railion, some 8 or so other operators here in the Netherlands and their numbers are harder to get at. John Beaulieu quoted figures from the UIC site but they seem to be all former monopoly railroads (not the game!). I miss Rail4chem, ERS Railways, HGK etc.
Overall the amount of freight hauled is much more than those 33 millions of Railion.
The big question is of course this: did the share of railroads grow (and more than the economy did/ the competition) or not. If not they then are still losing market share to road and inland shipping.
Open access competition does seem to have some effect in that some shippers, which had not shipped in some time because of poor service from Railion, did try the new competition. Sometimes they liked it and started to ship more, even via Railion.
Since the Dutch economy is growing again we should see more freight on the rails too. And the new Betuweroute finally goes into service sometime next year. This gives much needed track space on the current route east. However, the success really stands or falls with the German side. No significant increase there for some time will make increasing freight transport by rail difficult. The border station Emmerich for instance has way too few tracks for freight trains that change locomotives. Especially at times like last weekend when there are major trackworks at rail lines that are also heavily used by freigth trains.
Meanwhile, inland shipping is putting ships into service that have a capacity at least 3 times that of current container trains....
edit: the troubles of container terminal operator ECT (new computer system implementation problems and labor troubles) will definitely have an effect. Effects have lasted for weeks for both railroads and inland shipping.
Murphy Siding wrote:ouldn't the same thing be said for NA railroads? Through 2Q, couldn't you say it was looking pretty good?
ouldn't the same thing be said for NA railroads? Through 2Q, couldn't you say it was looking pretty good?
beaulieu wrote: Murphy Siding wrote: Marc: John Beaulieu's post about a slowdown in carloadings on NA railroads made me wonder. How is *business* on European Railroads? Up, or down from last year?Hard to tell Murphy, Railion and SBB Cargo are up sharply. Others are up some. A few like SNCF Fret (France) are off quite a bit. I haven't seen 3Q figures yet, but through 2Q it was looking like a good year overall.
Murphy Siding wrote: Marc: John Beaulieu's post about a slowdown in carloadings on NA railroads made me wonder. How is *business* on European Railroads? Up, or down from last year?
? Couldn't the same thing be said for NA railroads? Through 2Q, couldn't you say it was looking pretty good?
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
Startup in Germany is relatively easy. Get yourself a second hand former East German V60 diesel locomotive and a driver's license (railroad one) and you can start powering infrastructure trains during heavy maintenance. Its a pity most owner / operators are dreaming big. They want to grow too big too fast. It was relatively easy to go from that one locomotive to a fleet leased from the builders and hiring drivers from a temp agency. I shudder when I think about their cost structure. With only a small head wind they can stumble and fall.
Hi
Sadly I havn't been able to get back to this forum for a week or so.No doubt you will have heard about the Stern Report. On this side of the pond, most folks seem to be smiling. Tell them that the world is on the verge of climatic collapse, and no one takes any notice.Mention that if we don't stop using cars(automobiles) or heavy goods vehicles starting to decline now,with economic consequences as bad as the 1929 Wall Street Crash, then all hell breaks loose. So on my home UK site, there has been a lot going on.
We are wondering how the Govt.will act, if at all, but more importantly the Civil Servants in the Dept. of Transport.The politicians think they run the country, but we all know, except them, that it is the full time guys who are usually sqeezing the Railway of cash, and also the assumption by my friends over here, that they are all barking mad or totally ignorent.
One of my friends is a driver (engineer), and had the misfortune to have a load of DfT top advisors in his cab.They were standing at a station, awaiting departure, and when the signals turned from red to green, this expert asked. " What does that funny light do ". As they were being directed to a slow line which is usually indicated by a row or rows of left or right facing or both white lights, fixed on top of the main signal, unlit if straight on, illuminated if the train is to be moved to a different track, the driver assumed that, it was just about possible, that this expert had not previously seen these Route Indicators.No says the guy, the one that went from red to green. God help us!
Have you tried the Railion web site, and also Stinnes, both German freight sites. You seem to have found most of the others, like Hupac.The trouble is new operators are springing up all the time, going bust, setting up subsiduaries, mergers, etc.I will try to get the most up to date I can and post. By the way have a look at the Mora C site. This is the name DB has given to the scheme to make wagonload traffic, which still acconts for about 40% of trafficin Germany more efficient. UK of course got out of this some years ago, concentrating only on Trainload and Intermodal. It's back now since privatasation, and doing OK.
Finally, glancing through some of the posts on the Betuwe Route, mention was made of double stack. This is the asparation of the proposed Central Freight Railway, a new line from Liverpool, around London, next to the Orbital M25 motorway, and then to the Channel Tunnel. Personally, I think it is a non starter, as many European countries, struggle with 9'6" boxes, not just the UK.The wagons used are either well wagons, with a floor 330mm above rail (The UIC standard) or "megafret" low deck, and small wheels, not like the tiny ones on the Rollende Landstrasse, about 730mm, with a deck height of 845 mm, which gets through the structure gauge of most main lines.Both types have a max. speed of 120kph.
Take care folks,
Andy.
Thanks Martin.
I've dropped a clog, having sent an e mail rather than a reply.
I'm sorry, but got confused with my UK freight site, which has a different layout, plus premature senility
Andy
Hi Martin,
That seems to be quite a subsidy! Any information on the relation of subsidy to the total cost of the trip / movement?
Greetings,
You have chosen a very good subject which is a big part of the problem moving freight from road to rail.A goods vehicle driver can go wherever he wants, say from England to Poland, without being able to speaka word of Polish. For safety and other reasons it has been decreed that the train driver (engineer) must be able to communicate in the language used on that countries network. In practice it isn't a problem, as locomotives will probably have to be changed.This will probably have to be done in any event for different in cab signalling,means of power supply ( I am assuming electric traction. Apart from the UK which has a pityful sized electrified network, even ex communist block poor countries main lines are mostly electrified, like Romania, or Bulgaria, joining the EU from01-01-2007)not to mention pantograph width, and its head copper, carbon etc.
The issue is being addressed and a German rep. in the EU has suggested English! There are plenty of web sites, putting Rail Freight, Interoperability, and if you wish the Country into a search engine. Probably the EU Govt.site adding "transport" is a good place to start
Finally a rather excellent example of the problem happened a few years ago. When the Channel Tunnel and Eurostar started operating, the English and French Drivers had to learn enough of the others language to cope with technical and operating needs.
A Paris bound Eurostar was happily speeding to the French Capital at 186mph on the LGV through north France when, despite fencing, he hit a stag, and obviously stopped to check his powercar and report to Paris Control.The French controller asked what sort of animal he had struck. The driver thought a bit, not knowing the word, then replied in Cockney French "It was a cow with a pantograph"!
I came across these facts in my local newspaper with regard to freight transport in the Netherlands. As most of the readers of this thread know we have a lot of waterways in my country, natural ones like the Rhine, Maas (Meuse) and Schelde and manmade canals like Amsterdam-Rhine canal.
Since 1999 600 new container ships have been build for shipping on the Rhine and the canals.
There is currently a 700 % growth capacity in waterborne freight traffic to Germany, Belgium and France and 100 % in domestic Dutch capacity.
23 riverside and canalside inland containerterminals have been build with governement subsidy (now abolished). There is apparently room for more if the subsidy is reinstated, mainly on the smaller canals. Trucks would then be limited to local distribution.
40 % of containers are transported over rivers and canals, tendency is growing. Growth is in connecting those inland terminals.
There are now 54 ships with a length over 130 meters and a width up to 17.4 meters under the Dutch flag. 12 tankships, 39 dry loads, mostly containers and when stacked 5 high the number is 500 teu. Compare that to the maximum container train length of 99 teu (33 60 ft cars).
There are 11000 ships on the rivers and canals of Western Europe, half of them Dutch.
Shipping has a share of 56 % of the international market from or to the Netherlands, road 41 % and rail a whopping 3 %!
This site has facts and more: http://www.inlandshipping.com/ not the latest though.
As an aside, this evening while commuting home by train a saw the smallest containership: 12 40 ft containers (more was not possible...).
Saw something different this morning in Dordrecht (which is south of Rotterdam on the lines to Germany and Belgium and thus sees a lot of freight traffic).
Usually at 7.14 AM there is a freight train with destination Roosendaal / Belgium passing southbound doing more than 80 kph and slowing down for the switches and curve that has a speed limit of 80 kph.
This morning it was 3 class 6400's with 38 6 axle ore cars and a special car at each and with normal screw couplings on one end and automatic ones toward the ore cars. Total weight around 5200 tons metric, making it one of the heavies of our network.
What surprised me was this. South of the harbor is the hump yard Kijfhoek, then comes the short climb to the bridge over the river Dordse Kil (a Rhine branch) between the stations of Zwijndrecht and Dordrecht. Normally trains coming down the bridge have to slow down but the ore train seemed to continue accelerating. Must be steeper than I thought, inside electric passenger trains such grades are hardly noticible anymore.
By the way these trains to Germany have to keep moving, especially during rush hour or the whole timetable comes to a standstill...
railwayandy wrote:Hi John So far have not found the web site on European Railway Interoperability. Having scanned and filed the article on OBB traction, I'm damned if I can find how you attach items.
Hi John
So far have not found the web site on European Railway Interoperability.
Having scanned and filed the article on OBB traction, I'm damned if I can find how you attach items.
It is not possible to attach files to forum messages. However, look at the bottom of any post, you will see 2 icons or buttons, the first allows you to send the person an e-mail (it doesn't give you his e-mail address though). The second button allows you to send a private message or "pm". This can only be seen by the person it is addressed to, and the forum moderators. I will send you an e-mail with my e-mail address, just put OBB Locomotives for a subject line.
Look at my previous forum message, notice that the last two words "Trainspotting Bükkes" are blue. This means that they are a hypertext link, put your mouse pointer over them and click the left mouse button and you will be taken to the website of the same name. I think it might be the website you are thinking of. In any case there is information about interoperability on the website.
All I can think of is to send it via Outlook Express, but I don't have your e-mail address. So if you know how to send attachments, or are willing to let me have your e-mail address, fine. I've a feeling that I may be asking you to do something against the rules,as I am a member of a UK forum called "Freightmaster Online ",and that can be a bit agressive about what you can do So, I'll keep hunting for the Interoperability site, and no doubt will be hearing from you. Regards. Andy.
All I can think of is to send it via Outlook Express, but I don't have your e-mail address.
So if you know how to send attachments, or are willing to let me have your e-mail address, fine.
I've a feeling that I may be asking you to do something against the rules,as I am a member of a UK forum called "Freightmaster Online ",and that can be a bit agressive about what you can do
So, I'll keep hunting for the Interoperability site, and no doubt will be hearing from you.
Regards.
railwayandy wrote:John Hi. To answer the last question first. My last post was as Surveyor General, with the British Rail Propery Board, and my principal function was to work with the mainstream railway on selecting, designing, obtaining planning permission,for railfreight terminals and dealing with the complexities of rail connection to the site, as well as road access.So I qualified as a Chartered Surveyo rin 1970, and in 1981 qualified as a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport. Before ill health intervened, I had applied for the job of Regional Freight Manager, on the old Eastern Region at York.
John
Hi. To answer the last question first. My last post was as Surveyor General, with the British Rail Propery Board, and my principal function was to work with the mainstream railway on selecting, designing, obtaining planning permission,for railfreight terminals and dealing with the complexities of rail connection to the site, as well as road access.So I qualified as a Chartered Surveyo rin 1970, and in 1981 qualified as a Chartered Member of the Institute of Logistics and Transport. Before ill health intervened, I had applied for the job of Regional Freight Manager, on the old Eastern Region at York.
It seems that in recent years all the good sites for Railfreight in the London area are disappearing forever. Most of the currently operating sites are bound up with no room for expansion. What is the situation with the Cricklewood site? It is probably the last goodsized site reasonably close to London.
Regarding the Surveyor position, you would probably get along well with a gentleman on here who goes by the moniker of "mudchicken" he also is a surveyor and railway civil engineer.
All this sounds rather pompous, but not intended. Somehow I could never understand, those who were seeking promotion by always applying for new job all over the Country. However each to his own. Enjoying my work was far more important to me. Indeed I probably inherited this from my late father. He had a childhood ambition to be the man who maintained the WCML over Shap. He achieved this, and got the Settle Carlisle as well.As a teenager I went out on site with him a lot, on one memorable Sunday I ended up driving the steam engine,as they slowly structure gauged from bridge to bridge.Before drinking on duty was taken seriously,we had stopped for luch, and the fireman came back pissed out of his brains. The driver asked if I could drive, and he would fire, as at 16 I was an obvious weakling! I know that OeBB (the e raplacing the umlaut,hiding in the bowels of this PC) class 1042/1142 are Bo-Bo's. The loco's concerned were 1010 or 1110's built between 1955 and 1958, but still sound. I may be wrong but a lot of the modern systems, needed for operation today were fitted to some.
All this sounds rather pompous, but not intended. Somehow I could never understand, those who were seeking promotion by always applying for new job all over the Country. However each to his own. Enjoying my work was far more important to me. Indeed I probably inherited this from my late father. He had a childhood ambition to be the man who maintained the WCML over Shap. He achieved this, and got the Settle Carlisle as well.As a teenager I went out on site with him a lot, on one memorable Sunday I ended up driving the steam engine,as they slowly structure gauged from bridge to bridge.Before drinking on duty was taken seriously,we had stopped for luch, and the fireman came back pissed out of his brains. The driver asked if I could drive, and he would fire, as at 16 I was an obvious weakling!
I know that OeBB (the e raplacing the umlaut,hiding in the bowels of this PC) class 1042/1142 are Bo-Bo's. The loco's concerned were 1010 or 1110's built between 1955 and 1958, but still sound. I may be wrong but a lot of the modern systems, needed for operation today were fitted to some.
Hmm, the Platform 5 roster book German Railways Part 2, Private Railways and Museums, shows that 3 Austrian Class 1020s are registered in Germany but no 1010s or 1110s. Of course the 1020s were built just before or during WW2 as German Class E94s later Baureihe 194s, and just stayed in Austria when the Anschluss was undone.
As you probably know in the States, railways/railroads are not run for benefit of the passenger or freight customer.In the UK at least, it is far more important to keep all the paper work in order. I'm a mild mannered guy, but I went purple with rage when a new company was formed to run just one Intermodal return trip a day. The firm folded, but not before the Dept.of Transport, the Stategic Rail Authority, ( now disbanded)the Rail Regulater, and the Health & Safety Executive had extracted in total £500,000 for the grant of an operating licence.
I am not sure that I agree with you here, The company being formed to operate just one return working per day doesn't sound necessarily bad to me, if they can justify it economically or at least environmentally. The fact that the firm folded apparently fairly quickly suggests that they were undercapitalized and had a poor business plan. And I don't see the 500,000 GBP license fee as being excessive, not that the ORR has costs that high, but rather it will discourge companies that have no business trying to operate a railfreight company from even starting.
This post seems short on detail, and I will try to be more expansive next time.Going back to the Austrian Loco's, there was a good article in "Todays Railways" on the present and future of OeBB motive power. At the moment it is lost. There is a good web site on Interoperability. I will find it, and let you have it.
I am a subscriber to Today's Railways Europe, indeed today I just wrote a e-mail to David Haydock the editor concerning some inaccuracies in an article in the current issue. I received a prompt response thanking me for writing him. I have been a subscriber for a little over two years, but I don't remember the story about OeBB locomotives.
Finally, there is very strong pressure on the EU. As you are no doubt aware,the Germans have a substantial representaion in the Reichtag.The building of DB's High Speed Lines, took far longer to build than the French.To be fair they did intend the lines to be used by night freight. A last little gem - When they built/upgraded the Berlin - Hannover line, it cost them millions of Euro's to build a tunnel, deep cuttings, "false embankments" because of the nerby, albeit rare bird,the Great Bustard.To this day the ICE's have to drop speed from 250kph to 200kph when passing through the Bustard zone!
The DB are fighting over the Nuremburg - Erfurt highspeed line right now, there is strong opposition to building the line through the Thuringerwald (Thuringia Forest). This is the middle section of the eventual Munich to Berlin high-speed line.
I will break copyright and let you have a copy of both articles.Indeed it may help the editor David Haydock and his team forsome of you to subscribe to Todays Railways, as I intend to subscribe to "Trains".
Its not necessary for me, but a citation of the issue that the article appears in would help me obtain a copy of the back issue.
All the Best, Andy
All the Best,
All this sounds rather pompous, but not intended. Somehow I could never understand, those who were seeking promotion by always applying for new job all over the Country. However each to his own.Enjoying my work was far more important to me. Indeed I probably inherited this from my late father. He had a childhood ambition to be the man who maintained the WCML over Shap. He achieved this, and got the Settle Carlisle as well.As a teenager I went out on site with him a lot, on one memorable Sunday I ended up driving the steam engine,as they slowly structure gauged from bridge to bridge.Before drinking on duty was taken seriously,we had stopped for luch, and the fireman came back pissed out of his brains. The driver asked if I could drive, and he would fire, as at 16 I was an obvious weakling!
Finally, there is very strong pressure on the EU. As you are no dobt aware,the Germans have a substantial representaion in the Reichtag.The building of DB's High Speed Lines, took far longer to build than the French.To be fair they did intend the lines to be used by night freight. A last little gem - When they built/upgraded the Berlin - Hannover line, it cost them millions of Euro's to build a tunnel, deep cuttings, "false embankments" because of the nerby, albeit rare bird,the Great Bustard.To this day the ICE's have to drop speed from 250kph to 200kph when passing through the Bustard zone!
railwayandy wrote:Hi, I'm a new boy from the UK, who has followed European Railway activity for years. I am a retired railway manager, and even at 62 an aspiring consultant!
Hi, I'm a new boy from the UK, who has followed European Railway activity for years. I am a retired railway manager, and even at 62 an aspiring consultant!
Welcome to the forums Railway Andy, I am looking forward to your contributions, especially to this discussion.
As its way passed my bedtime, this post will be brief. The European Union, so far as railways are concerned, is a joke. How Interoperbility, Private Access, Voltage changes etc. works, depends on which Country you are studying. Germany, and Romania ( the last joining the EU on 01-01-2007) have a considerable numberof private freight operators.One of the interesting things about private railfreight is the number of old loco's, which would otherwise have been scrapped. A small firm starting up, obviously wants to keep his capital outlay to a minimum.
As its way passed my bedtime, this post will be brief.
The European Union, so far as railways are concerned, is a joke.
How Interoperbility, Private Access, Voltage changes etc. works, depends on which Country you are studying.
Germany, and Romania ( the last joining the EU on 01-01-2007) have a considerable numberof private freight operators.One of the interesting things about private railfreight is the number of old loco's, which would otherwise have been scrapped. A small firm starting up, obviously wants to keep his capital outlay to a minimum.
But do you think there would be any progress at all without the European Commission pushing?
He has three choices, buy new, lease a modern loco ( Siemens Dispolok seems about the most prominent) or buy an old one and "do it up".With a new multi - voltage loco, a reasonable price tag is about $3 million, renting one about 10% per annum.However buying a second hand one, can be very cheap, your biggest expense getting all the permissions to run on the Network.As an example a sound, well maintained 15kv Austrian Co-Co electric was sold by the State Railway for about $20,000! The only condition was that it could not work on Austrian railfreight.
He has three choices, buy new, lease a modern loco ( Siemens Dispolok seems about the most prominent) or buy an old one and "do it up".With a new multi - voltage loco, a reasonable price tag is about $3 million, renting one about 10% per annum.However buying a second hand one, can be very cheap, your biggest expense getting all the permissions to run on the Network.As an example a sound, well maintained 15kv Austrian Co-Co electric was sold by the State Railway for about $20,000!
The only condition was that it could not work on Austrian railfreight.
A couple of points here, are you aware that within the last month Siemens is selling Dispolok to Mitsui Rail Capital Europe (MRCE) subject to regulatory approval? I think that Siemens found out it is best not to compete with your customers, Bombardier also had a locomotive leasing company for a couple of years called "Lokpool". Notice that the other leasing companies Angel Trains, CB Rail, Mitsui (MRCE) weren't buying Siemens locomotives. BTW - the Austrian locomotives Class 1042/1142 were Bo-Bo.
The nonsense over the various electric supplies, is mainly historical. Without giving a full list, below is just a few examples: Holland 1.5k DC. Belgium, Italy, Poland 3.0k DC. France both 25kv AC and 1.5k DC Germany, Austria, Switzerland 15kv AC. Hungary, UK, and most new lines, and all new High speed lines, are 25kv, the simplest and compatable to national power grids Building a multi voltage loco is now almost the same as a single voltage, the Austrian 25/15kv AC class 1116, was about 10% more expensive than the single 15kv 1016 of the same design.One service to benefit was the Vienna -Budapest. Where previously, the Austrian loco had to be changed for a Hungarian one, the change point and national boundary being only a few miles east of Vienna, with a 1116, the regular service ( about hourly) the loco runs right through.
The nonsense over the various electric supplies, is mainly historical. Without giving a full list, below is just a few examples:
Holland 1.5k DC. Belgium, Italy, Poland 3.0k DC. France both 25kv AC and 1.5k DC Germany, Austria, Switzerland 15kv AC. Hungary, UK, and most new lines, and all new High speed lines, are 25kv, the simplest and compatable to national power grids
Building a multi voltage loco is now almost the same as a single voltage, the Austrian 25/15kv AC class 1116, was about 10% more expensive than the single 15kv 1016 of the same design.One service to benefit was the Vienna -Budapest. Where previously, the Austrian loco had to be changed for a Hungarian one, the change point and national boundary being only a few miles east of Vienna, with a 1116, the regular service ( about hourly) the loco runs right through.
Yes, Multi-Voltage is now the standard, Multi-System (AC/DC) are still a more expensive option, I don't think the MS type will become the Universal choice with the growing network of Freight lines being equipped with 25kV. Bigger problems are the various safety systems, Signum, Integra,LZB,SCMT, TVM, etc. The rollout of ETCS, is going to be critical. I think we are going to see a narrow window of opportunity to get the system deployed over critical mainlines before the European Governments are forced to divert expenditures away from Rail Infrastructure to pressing Social Needs. Already most EU countries are cutting back on subsidies for railfreight. And funding for major projects are disappearing. The Brenner Base Tunnel and others are at risk.
I'm afraid I've only scratched the surface of this fascinating subject. Different voltages are only one problem. France, though a founder state in the EU, takes the attitude "if it ain't built here it can't run". The "roadrailer" which is used extensively in the US has mainly only operated in Germany and Italy.The French SNCF have had one for over ten years, and as the editor of one magazine says, they only keep testing it, until it derails, when they can say its unsafe! I hope to post again in a few days, but if anyone would like to respond, on whether I am providing useful information or otherwise, please do so. One day it is my hope to write a book on European railways, as well as my consutancy, but increasing senility will probably stop ambition. The magazine I referred to is "Todays Railways Europe". there is also a TR for the UK Take care all Railway Andy Back in the 50's and60's multi voltage machines were expensive, complex, and thus more to go wrong. Finally for tonight
I'm afraid I've only scratched the surface of this fascinating subject. Different voltages are only one problem. France, though a founder state in the EU, takes the attitude "if it ain't built here it can't run". The "roadrailer" which is used extensively in the US has mainly only operated in Germany and Italy.The French SNCF have had one for over ten years, and as the editor of one magazine says, they only keep testing it, until it derails, when they can say its unsafe!
I hope to post again in a few days, but if anyone would like to respond, on whether I am providing useful information or otherwise, please do so. One day it is my hope to write a book on European railways, as well as my consutancy, but increasing senility will probably stop ambition.
The magazine I referred to is "Todays Railways Europe". there is also a TR for the UK
Take care all
Railway Andy
Back in the 50's and60's multi voltage machines were expensive, complex, and thus more to go wrong.
Finally for tonight
Looking forward to carrying on this discussion, what part of the British Railways did you work in.
John Beaulieu
marcimmeker wrote:Hi Martin, The Belgian high speed line is also 25 kv, no problems there. Changeover from 1500 v dc here in the Netherlands was put on ice because of the cost. What with the cost of the high speed line, Betuweroute freight line and backlogs in maintenance and increasing capacity it will not happen soon I think. As far as I understand these things 3000 v dc is a better system than 1500 v dc so there is less need for the Belgians to change. greetings, Marc Immeker
The Belgian high speed line is also 25 kv, no problems there. Changeover from 1500 v dc here in the Netherlands was put on ice because of the cost. What with the cost of the high speed line, Betuweroute freight line and backlogs in maintenance and increasing capacity it will not happen soon I think. As far as I understand these things 3000 v dc is a better system than 1500 v dc so there is less need for the Belgians to change.
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