International railway journal april 2016

IRJ

April 2016 I Volume 56 Issue 4

www.railjournal.com | @railjournal

International Railway Journal

AVE advances Spain continues to expand Europe’s largest high-speed network

Mobility 4.0 DB gets to grips with the challenges of digitisation

Exclusive interviews: Alstom CRRC FS Etihad Rail DB

Contact us Editorial offices Post

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Editor-in-Chief David Briginshaw db@railjournal.co.uk Associate Editor Keith Barrow kb@railjournal.co.uk Features Editor Kevin Smith ks@railjournal.co.uk Senior Designer Fiona Browning fb@railjournal.co.uk Production Assistant Sue Morant sm@railjournal.co.uk

Contents April 2016 Volume 56 issue 4

News 4 6 12 16 18 20

Tel

19 John De Mierre House Bridge Road Haywards Heath West Sussex, RH16 1UA UK +44 1444 849123

International area sales manager Louise Cooper lc@railjournal.co.uk Tel +44 1444 849123 International area sales manager Julie Richardson jr@railjournal.co.uk Tel +44 1444 849318

20

Interview 22

CRRC aims for Europe Vice-president Weiping Yu speaks exclusively to IRJ

26

Alstom focuses on the rail business Henri Poupart-Lafarge reflects on new Alstom strategy

Italy 30

FS eyes improvements ahead of privatisation

34

Transferring high-speed success

38

RFI embarks on spending spree

30

New CEO Renato Mazzoncini outlines his priorities

Trenitalia sets its sights on new opportunities

Huge upcoming investment in network upgrades

Advertising sales offices Post

This month News headlines Transit Financial UIC ERTMS World Conference Analysis

Middle East 42

Etihad Rail DB exceeds expectations The challenges of operating the UAE’s new railway

High speed 46

Spain pushes ahead with high-speed plans

42

More new lines set to open this year

Track 51

New approaches to friction management Lubrication optimising wheel and rail life

Conference report International Railway Journal (Print ISSN 2161-7376, Digital ISSN 2161-7368), is published monthly by Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp, 55 Broad Street, 26th Fl, New York, NY 10004-2580, USA. Printed in Great Britain by Buxton Press and distributed in the USA by Mail Right International, 1637 Stelton Road B4, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA. Periodicals postage paid at Piscataway, NJ and additional mailing offices. COPYRIGHT © SimmonsBoardman Publishing Corporation 2016. All rights reserved. Contents may not be reproduced without permission. For reprint information please contact Editor-in-Chief. For subscriptions & address changes, please call +1 402 346-4740, Fax +1 402 346-3670, Email internationalrailwayjournal@halldata.com or write to: International Railway Journal, SimmonsBoardman Publishing Corp, PO Box 1172 Skokie, IL 60076-8172, USA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to International Railway Journal, PO Box 1172, Skokie, IL 60076-8172, USA.

IRJ April 2016

54

Industry leaders express strong views Highlights from International Railway Summit 2016

Also in this issue 56 57 57 58

Rendezvous Full contact list Advertisers index The last word

Front cover Ansaldo STS equipped, operates and maintains the driverless unattended metro lines M1/M2 in Copenhagen. In 2010, the company won the contract for the new Ring Line.

54 IRJ

April 2016 I Volume 56 Issue 4

www.railjournal.com | @railjournal

International Railway Journal

AVE advances Spain continues to expand Europe’s largest high-speed network

Mobility 4.0 DB gets to grips with the challenges of digitisation

Exclusive interviews: Alstom CRRC FS Etihad Rail DB

3

This month | David Briginshaw

ETCS progress still dogged by challenges N the face of it you might be forgiven for thinking that a conference on ERTMS would be rather dull. Far from it: there is always plenty of lively debate over the numerous issues bedevilling progress with ETCS. While some of the fire may have gone out of ERTMS conferences, the UIC’s 12th event in Brussels on March 1-2 had plenty of discussion to keep delegates engaged.

It is now 25 years since the European Union drew up plans for a common signalling and train control system for Europe, and while GSM-R, the telecoms element of ERTMS, has been rolled out successfully across Europe, progress with ETCS has been painfully slow and there are still major issues which need

O

to be resolved, as our coverage of the conference on page 18 shows.

The release of Baseline 3 software for ETCS Levels 1 and 2 is a major achievement as it should bring stability to the system and give more confidence to infrastructure

“

It is unrealistic to consider freezing the specification for several years.

managers planning to install ETCS. However, several speakers called for a freeze on the specification for Baseline 3 to aid deployment, with one speaker arguing it should be frozen for 10 years. Whilst a temporary freeze would be welcome, it is unrealistic to consider freezing the

IRJ co-founder Luther Miller dies UTHER Miller, co-founder of IRJ with the late Robert Lewis in 1960, and long-time editor of IRJ’s US sister magazine Railway Age, has died at the age of 89.

Miller was a graduate of the University of North Carolina’s journalism school in Chapel Hill.

He served with the US Army during the Korean War, after which he completed a year’s study at the London School of Economics in 1953. Following a stint at the Institute for Railway Progress in Washington DC, Miller joined Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation and Railway Age in February 1958. He was appointed editor in 1966, a position he held in high regard for 34 years.

It was only a couple of years after joining Simmons-Boardman that Miller and Lewis had the foresight to launch a magazine to serve the railway industry globally. “A pilot issue of IRJ was produced in October 1960 and received such an enthusiastic reception that it was decided to start monthly publication of IRJ in January 1961,” says David Briginshaw, IRJ’s editor-in-chief.

“IRJ continues to uphold the standards for fair reporting set by our founders in half a century ago.”

“Suffice to say that Luther’s main legacy is a standard of excellence to which all journalists should aspire,” says Railway Age editor-in-chief William Vantuono, who worked with Miller from 1992 until his retirement as senior consulting editor in May 2015.

L

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specification for several years given the need to correct any major faults and the pace of software development. It would also hold back the necessary evolution of ETCS. Another concern is the lack of off-the-shelf ETCS products, resulting in high costs which in turn jeopardises the business case for investing in ETCS, particularly for private operators who simply cannot afford the huge cost of retrofitting a locomotive, which can range from É300,000 to É1m. This needs to be addressed urgently by manufacturers and perhaps the arrival of Baseline 3 will

spur them into action.

Another issue is the failure to develop a high-density ATO version of ETCS comparable with CBTC which is starting to be used by mainline railways on urban lines where a high frequency and sometimes automation is required. Italian Rail Network (RFI) is addressing this by developing its own solution (page 40), while in Mexico Alstom is pioneering ATO over ETCS Level 2 on a new commuter line.

Mr Michel Ruesen, director of the ERTMS Users’ Group, said this concept is still under development in Europe due to the need to be able to apply it to a whole network rather than a single line.

This requirement to develop ETCS as a fully interoperable system is one of the main reasons why the deployment of ETCS has been so slow in Europe and explains one of the paradoxes of ETCS that it finds greater favour outside Europe than within.

Another factor is the reluctance of networks in

Britain, France, Germany and Poland to adopt it. While Spain has installed ETCS on its highspeed network (p48) it usually maintains a backup conventional system which increases costs. RFI has sufficient confidence in ETCS to install it without a backup on all of its new high-speed lines.

Italy’s national SCMT train control system was developed with ETCS in mind which has made it easier to produce a comprehensive strategy for deploying ETCS on different types of line (page 36) as well as a low-cost satellite version for rural lines.

Conversely, the smaller railway networks - Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Switzerland - are pushing ahead with system-wide deployment of ETCS. Here, the rationale is either to boost safety, as with Belgium, or because the conventional signalling system has reached the end of its life and needs replacement anyway.

Hopefully, it will not take another 25 years to see major progress with the deployment of ETCS across Europe in order for railways to reap the benefits of the original concept for an interoperable network.

db@railjournal.co.uk

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News | headlines

Thalys to launch low-fares Paris - Brussels services

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HALYS has unveiled plans to launch new low-fares services between Paris and Brussels this month in a bid to draw motorists travelling between the French and Belgian capitals away from their cars and onto high-speed trains.

From April 3 Thalys will operate at least two services per day between Paris Nord and Brussels Midi under the Izy brand, with advance fares starting from É19. Two services will operate each way on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, with three return services on Fridays and Sundays, which

will target the leisure market.

Thalys says it will minimise operating costs - and therefore fares - by simplifying onboard services, limiting ticket flexibility, digitising distribution and using the conventional network instead of high-speed lines.

This is reflected in an average journey time of 2h 15min, considerably slower than existing Thalys services, which operate via the LGV Nord high-speed line and complete the 312km trip in around 1h 22min.

However, Thalys says Izy will still be significantly quicker than driving -

according to Mappy.be, the road journey between the two capitals typically takes up to 3h 30min, excluding time taken to find a parking space.

Tickets go on sale two months before departure and the maximum fare on Izy services will be É59 in Standard class and É69 in Standard XL accommodation, which will feature larger seats and at-seat power sockets.

Izy will also offer É10 fares for children under 12 years of age and 10 tickets without a guaranteed seat will be sold on each train for É10. There will also be 25 folding seat tickets priced at É15.

Preferred bidders chosen for Fehmarn Belt tunnel

F

EMERN A/S, which is responsible for implementing the 18km roadrail tunnel between Denmark and Germany, has been mandated by the Danish political parties behind the project to appoint the preferred bidders for the three main tunnel contracts.

Conditional contracts will be agreed no later than mid-May so that final and binding contracts can be signed with the successful bidders.

However, construction will be postponed until a German construction permit is in place.

The contracts will be valid until the end of 2019 with the option to renegotiate them at that time.

The preferred bidders for the immersed tunnel are Vinci Link Construction Grands Projets, France, Per Aarsleff, Denmark, Wayss & Freytag and Max Bögl, Germany, CFE, Belgium, Solétance-Bachy International, France, BAM Infra and BAM International, Netherlands, with Dredging International, Belgium, as a subcontractor, and Cowi, Denmark as consultants.

The same companies have

also been selected for the portals and ramps contract including Cowi as the consultant. Fehmarn Belt Contractors, a consortium of five companies, has been chosen as preferred bidder for the dredging and reclamation contract.

The tunnel will consist of 79 217m-long individual elements and 10 low-floor elements for use by operations and maintenance equipment.

Construction is expected to take eight-and-a-half years at an estimated cost of DKr 55.1bn ($US 8.14bn) at 2015 prices.

Go-ahead for Ringsted - Nykøbing upgrade

A

S tendering for the Fehmarn Belt tunnel reaches an advanced stage, the Danish government has also endorsed the development of the hinterland rail link, giving infrastructure manager Banedanmark the go-ahead to sign contracts for the upgrading of the 83km Ringsted - Nykøbing (Falster) line.

The first DKr 7.5bn ($US 1.1bn) stage of the project is due to be completed by 2021

6

and involves track-doubling between Vordingborg and Nykøbing, including the construction of a second single-track bridge across the Masnedsund south of Vordingborg.

The line will be resignalled and upgraded for 200km/h operation.

With the completion of the Copenhagen - Køge - Ringsted high-speed line, this will reduce the journey time for diesel-operated Nykøbing -

Copenhagen services to one hour, compared with 1h 48min at present.

Electrification will be completed by 2024 as part of the national electrification plan and when sufficient new electric trains are available.

The final part of the project, which will cost a further DKr 2bn, involves track doubling and electrification on the section between Nykøbing and the northern portal of the Fehmarn tunnel near Rødby.

Distribution is 100% digital and all pre-travel customer services will be dealt with online.

Unlike Thalys’ existing services, there will be no bar car or Wi-Fi, and luggage will be limited to one larger case and one small item of hand luggage. “Extra luggage” provision follows the low-cost airline model, with a É10 charge for cases booked in advance and a É30 charge on the platform prior to departure.

All services will be operated by two multi-system TGV Réseau sets, which will carry Izy’s green and purple livery.

Budapest Déli station to close?

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HE Hungarian government is to commission a study into the closure of Budapest Déli, one of the capital’s three main railway stations.

A conceptual plan detailing costs and implementation of closure together with options for potential development of the site will need to be finalised by September.

Passenger groups and the rail industry are currently protesting against the proposal which is largely viewed as a scheme to release valuable land to certain interests, under the pretence of creating more green space for the neighbourhood.

One government official has raised the possibility of an underground connection between Kelenföld and Nyugati, but this lacks any serious financial backing.

With the closure of Déli, most services would terminate either at Keleti station, making use of the third track now planned between Keleti and Ferencváros, or at Kelenföld, an interchange with metro Line 4.

IRJ April 2016

In brief Cambodia revives passenger services

C

AMBODIAN rail concessionaire Royal Railway announced on March 21 that it will launch a trial passenger service on the metre-gauge line from the capital Phnom Penh to the port city of Sihanoukville on April 9.

During the eight-day trial, which coincides with Khmer New Year, Royal Railway will operate a daily service in each direction, departing from Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville at 07.00 with intermediate stops at Takeo and Kampot.

The journey time for the 264km trip will be around eight hours with a $US 7 single fare. One of the two trains being used for the service will include airconditioned coaches.

British parliament approves HS2 bill

B

RITAIN’s House of Commons passed the third reading of the High-Speed 2 (HS2) Hybrid Bill on March 23, authorising construction of the 190km line from London to Birmingham and a junction with the West Coast Main Line (WCML) near Lichfield.

The bill, which was passed by 399 votes in favour to 42 against, must now go the House of Lords before

receiving royal assent, which is expected at the end of the year.

Approval of the third reading means the project is on course for construction to start in 2017, and the line is due to open in 2026.

HS2 Ltd also confirmed on March 23 that it has shortlisted nine bidders for Tranche 1 civil engineering contracts, which have a total value of between £7.1bn and £11.8bn.

Uzbekistan completes Kamchik tunnel

U

ZBEKISTAN Railways (UTY) celebrated a milestone in the construction of the 122.7km Angren - Pap line on February 27, when a ceremony was held to mark the completion of the 19.2km Kamchik Tunnel.

The tunnel was built by China Railway Tunnel Group and local contractors, and has taken around three years to complete.

The $US 455m project was financed with the aid of a $US 350m loan from the Export-Import Bank of China.

The $US 1.9bn Angren - Pap line will create a direct link between the capital Tashkent and Namangan and will also enable east-west freight traffic to bypass northern Tajikistan.

Pension funds acquire Pacific National

Australia

The first electric test trains ran on Queensland’s Moreton Bay Rail Link on March 16 as the project entered its final phase before the start of commercial operations later this year. The 12.6km double-track branch from Petrie on the North Coast Line to Kipper-Ring will become part of Queensland Rail’s Brisbane Citytrain network and includes six new stations.

The New South Wales state government has announced a $A 275m ($US 203.5m) investment in the Sydney Trains Operations Centre, a centralised train control centre for the Sydney Trains suburban rail network. The new facility will be located at Green Square on the Airport Line, and is due to be commissioned in 2018.

Britain

Open-access passenger operator First Hull Trains has been granted a 10-year extension to its track access agreement from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) which will enable it to continue running its Hull - London King’s Cross service until 2029. The deal will enable Hull trains to replace its fleet of four five-car class 180 DMUs with five 225km/h bi-mode electric-diesel trains.

High Speed Two Ltd (HS2), which is responsible for implementing Britain’s second high-speed line, has appointed a team of consultants to act as its engineering delivery partner for the 190km phase one linking London with Birmingham and Lichfield.

The team comprises CH2M, Atkins, and Sener.

Denmark

F

OLLOWING a nine-month takeover battle, the board of Australian transport and logistics company Asciano has formally entered into a sale agreement with a consortium of Qube, Brookfield and several institutional investors for $A 9.28 ($US 6.93) cash per share.

Under the deal, Asciano’s Pacific National (PN) railfreight business will be sold to Global Infrastructure Management, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, China’s CIC Capital Corporation, Singapore sovereign wealth fund

IRJ April 2016

GIC, and the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCIMC).

Asciano’s ports and logistics operations will be broken into several parts, which will either be owned jointly or separately by previous rivals Qube and Brookfield.

While an exact price has not been put on the purchase of PN, as it is included in the overall sale of Asciano, it is estimated to be in the region of $A 5bn, on annual revenues of around $A 2.4bn.

Transport minister Mr Hans Christian Schmidt officially launched electrification of the Lunderskov - Esbjerg line on February 25, when the first catenary mast was erected on the 57km route. Preparatory works began in May 2014.

Germany

Lower Saxony Transport Authority (LNVG) has published a tender notice in

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News | headlines

DB into the red as quality falls short

British report calls for greater competition

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NNOUNCING its results for 2015 in Berlin on March 16, German Rail (DB) says revenue increased by 1.9% in 2015 to a record É40.5bn but Ebit plunged by 16.6% to É1.76bn, while DB turned a profit of É988m in 2014 into a loss of É1.3bn in 2015. ”A critical look at our performance shows us that we did not achieve the targets we had set,” CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube says. “We also failed to reach the quality target we had set ourselves for 2015. In the face of ever fiercer competition, each of our business units will need to make major strides in terms of quality.”

Revenues for the 2015 financial year were hit by the longest strike in the company’s history, disruption from severe storms, and the need to carry hundreds of thousands of refugees.

Dr Richard Lutz, DB’s CFO, says the overall cost of the strikes and storms was É370m.

He says the loss after tax reflects a É1.7bn adjustment to

DB’s financial position and precautionary measures connected with restructuring.

Net capital expenditure fell by 13% to É3.87bn in 2015 while net financial debt climbed 7.9% to É17.5bn. The dividend which DB pays to the federal government rose from É700m in 2014 to É850m last year. For 2016, Lutz forecasts a net profit of É500m, a further reduction in investment to É3.5bn, and a further rise net debt to É19bn or more.

Bucking the downward trend of recent years, DB saw a 2.5% increase in long-distance passenger traffic to 132 million journeys and a 2.4% rise in passenger-km to 37 billion.

“Long distance asserted itself on the market in 2015,” Grube says. However, this did not translate into higher revenue which fell by 2.1% to É3.95bn.

While DB’s long-distance operation is still profitable, adjusted Ebit fell from É212m in 2014 to É164m in 2015.

Regional passenger rail recorded a 2.3% drop in

passenger-km to 42.7 billion, a 1.8% reduction in revenue to É8.67bn, and a É174m fall in adjusted Ebit to 669m.

DB Cargo (formerly DB Schenker Rail) had a tough year in 2015 with a 4.3% drop in tonne-km to 98 billion, a 3% reduction in revenue to É4.7bn, and a É229m fall in adjusted Ebit which turned a surplus of É46m in 2014 into a loss of É183m last year. “Many customers signed long-term agreements with other carriers during the strike, and our rail freight revenues are still down 8% to 10% as a result,” Grube explains. “We are doing everything we can to encourage former customers to return and also to recruit new customers.”

DB’s international passenger subsidiary DB Arriva performed well with a 1.4% increase in revenue to É4.5bn or É4.8bn after adjustments, and ended 2015 with an adjusted Ebit of É270m an increase of É5m over 2014.

DB expects turnover to exceed É41.5bn this year.

Study says Alberta - Alaska heavy-haul could be feasible

A

pre-feasibility study by the University of Calgary’s Van Horne Institute suggests that it would be feasible to build a railway to transport bitumen and minerals between the Canadian province of Alberta and the US state of Alaska.

The proposed 2440km heavy-haul railway between Fort McMurray, Alberta and Delta Junction, Alaska, would be single track initially with

8

the possibility to upgrade it to double-track.

The study identifies rolling stock and manpower requirements for both a 1 and 1.5 million barrel per day (MBPD) bitumen volume. The capital cost ranges between $US 20bn for 1 MBPD and $US 25bn for 1.5 MBPD. The railway would also create an opportunity to transport untapped mineral deposits to North American and world markets.

The study recognises that the proposed railway would pass through or come close to a number of environmentallyprotected areas which support migratory and endangered species, or are important for wildlife and biodiversity, especially along major river valleys. The environmental approval and permitting process would be extensive and complex and is defined in the study.

REATER on-rail competition between passenger operators could deliver lower fares, ridership growth, improved efficiency, and more effective use of capacity, according to a report published on March 8 by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA).

The report indicates that increasing the number of open-access services on key inter-city routes or splitting franchises offers the most immediate benefits from increased competition, but it is also suggested that a transition towards a system of multiple licensed operators replacing franchises could be worth considering in the longer-term.

The CMA suggests potential for on-rail competition is confined largely to the East Coast Main Line, which is already used by two openaccess operators, the West Coast Main Line (where Alliance Rail Holdings is looking to launch openaccess services) and the Great Western Main Line.

The CMA suggests that open-access operators would be able to make more of a contribution than at present in terms of track access charges and could also pay a public service obligation (PSO) levy to subsidise the operation of unprofitable but necessary services. This might help to cover any decline in premium payments to the government as a consequence of increased competition.

The report notes that the first opportunity to introduce “significantly greater” on-rail competition is likely to come with the next Inter-City East Coast franchise, which is due to start in 2023, and it says there will be opportunities to expand provision for openaccess in the subsequent West Coast franchise, which will be awarded in 2025, and the next Great Western franchise in 2026. Capacity constraints are likely to limit the scope for expansion of open-access operations before 2023.

IRJ April 2016

In brief the Official Journal of the European Union for a contract to operate a revived service on the Bentheim Railway (BE) from December 2018.

Passenger trains on the Bad Bentheim - Neuenhaus line were replaced by BE-operated buses in 1974, although the railway still runs freight trains on the 30km route.

Hungary

Arriva launches Czech services: DB’s Czech passenger subsidiary Arriva Vlaky launched a new unsubsidised suburban service between Prague Hlavní and Benešov u Prahy on February 29. The semi-fast services operate every two hours on weekdays using a former DB Regio class 628 DMU. At weekends the train is used to operate an open-access service from Prague to Olomouc and Trencín in Slovakia, which was launched on March 5. Photo: Quintus Vosman

Agreement reached on Venice airport rail link

P

LANS to construct a rail link to Venice Marco Polo International Airport took step forward on March 9, when Mr Enrico Marchi, president of Venice Airport Company (SAVE) and Mr Maurizio Gentile, CEO of infrastructure manager Italian Railway Network (RFI), signed a memorandum of understanding in Rome on the planning, financing, and scheduling of the project.

The airport line will branch off the Venice Trieste line north of Mestre at a triangular junction, following the main airport access road, before looping beneath the airport in a tunnel to

serve the passenger terminal.

The project will now enter the detailed design phase, with ƒ14m set aside through the 2015 update of the 2012-2016 programme of investments agreed between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and RFI. Under the schedule agreed by RFI and SAVE, final design will be completed by December, enabling to the project to go to the Interministerial Economic Planning Committee for (CIPE) for approval in 2017.

Construction is due to begin in 2019 and the line will open in 2024.

Newag delivers first new commuter EMU for Warsaw

T

HE first of six Newag type 39WE EMUs for Warsaw Commuter Railway (WKD) is due to be delivered to the capital at the end of this month following the completion of dynamic tests at the Polish Railway Research Institute test track at Zmigród.

Tests are focussing on noise and vibration as well as the operation of heating and airconditioning systems, braking, and dynamic performance of the 3kV dc standard EMU. The 60m-long articulated train accommodates up to 505 passengers, including 164 seated. Each train has four wheelchair spaces and accommodates eight bicycles.

The Zlotys 98m ($US 25m)

IRJ April 2016

Hungarian State Railways (MÁV) will begin tendering shortly for contracts to begin electrifying the line along the northern shore of Lake Balaton. Initially only the 61km Szabadbattyán - Aszófo section of the line to Tapolca will be electrified and this could be completed by mid2017, in the time for the Water World Championships, which will be partially held at Balatonfüred.

Indonesia The Ministry of Transport and an Indonesian-Chinese joint venture company, PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China (KCIC), have signed a 50-year design-build-operate-maintain concession for the 142km Jakarta-Bandung high-speed line. The concession is scheduled to take effect on May 31 2019, when the line is due to be completed.

Iran Iranian Islamic Republic Railways (RAI) has completed a project to increase capacity on the 926km Tehran - Mashhad line with the installation of intermediate signals to split block sections between stations.

Together with the introduction of ATP on the route last year, the project has reduced headways from 20 minutes to seven minutes.

Italy

order, which was placed in August 2014, was financed with the aid of a Zlotys 45.5m loan from the Swiss-Polish Cooperation Programme.

The trains are being assembled at Newag’s Nowy Sacz plant and the final sets are due to be delivered to WKD in August.

Puglia regional operator Ferrotramviaria marked the completion of another phase in the modernisation of its train fleet on February 11, when three new four-car CAF ETR 452 Civity EMUs were formally presented in Bari.

Delivery of the three trains takes the railway’s Civity fleet to five units.

9

News | headlines €1.5bn investment in intercity fleet

Photo: Keith Fender

T

France to put night train services out to tender

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RANCE’s secretary of state for transport, Mr Alain Vidalies, has announced plans to stop funding all but two of the Lunéa overnight train services operated by French National Railways (SNCF) and to put their operation out to tender.

The government will now issue a call for expressions of interest in conjunction with regional governments in areas served by the trains, which will otherwise be withdrawn.

However, the government will not provide any subsidy to new operators. The result of the tender will be announced on July 1.

The services up for tender are: Paris Austerlitz - Cerbère Paris Austerlitz - Hendaye (Irun)/Tarbes Paris Austerlitz - St Gervais/Bourg St Maurice Paris Austerlitz - Nice Luxembourg - Nice/PortBou, and Strasbourg - Nice/Port-Bou. These trains form part of the TET contract for conventional long-distance services agreed with the government in 2010.

The government has given SNCF notice that it will cease funding overnight services on all routes except Paris Briançon and Paris - Rodez/ Latour de Carol from July 1.

Figures released by the government show that use of overnight trains has fallen by 25% since 2011 and that these trains represent 25% of the losses from the TET operation whilst carrying 3% of the passengers, each of whom the government says benefits from É100 of subsidy per ticket.

SNCF decided in 2007 to remove all sleeping cars from overnight trains and to provide only low-quality couchette cars. As a result, many passengers have switched to hotels and daytime air or TGV journeys rather than downgrading to travel in highcapacity couchette cars.

Swiss-German pact for Upper Rhine electrification

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HE state of BadenWürttemberg has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hochrhein-Bodensee Regional Council, the Swiss Federal Office of Transport (BAV) and municipal governments for planning, finance, and implementation of electrification on the 75km Basle - Waldshut - Erzingen Upper Rhine Line between the

two countries.

The stakeholders now plan to seek a contribution towards the É160m project from the German government, which could provide up to 60% of the funding through the FederalMunicipal Transport Financing Programme (BGVFG).

The remaining 40% will be divided equally between the Swiss and German participants, and federal

funding will be sought from the Swiss federal government.

Electrification of the adjoining 19km section between Erzingen and Schaffhausen was completed in 2013. The two projects will enable the integration of the Upper Rhine Line into the Basle S-Bahn network, as well as the introduction of regular-interval regional express services between Singen and Basle.

Trainline expands into European ticketing with Captain Train purchase

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RAINLINE, an independent provider of ticketing services in Britain, has acquired Captain Train, France, to create a new digital rail ticket retailer for the European market.

The acquisition will enable Trainline to offer a one-stopshop for European rail travel by selling tickets for 36

10

operators active in 22 countries. Trainline was acquired by global investment firm KKR in March 2015 with a view to expanding into the European market, and the company says the combined business will offer train operators the opportunity to broadening their distribution to reach more customers.

Trainline currently records £1.6bn of ticket transactions annually with 28.8 million visits to its website and app every month. Captain Train currently has more than 1.6 million registered users, selling 5000 tickets daily, and combines the offers of a variety of rail companies operating in 19 European countries.

HE French government has announced plans to invest É1.5bn between 2017 and 2025 in rolling stock for daytime TET services operated under the Corail Intercités brand.

SNCF will launch a tender for a fleet of 200km/h electric trains later this year. These will be introduced on the Paris - Limoges - Toulouse, Paris - Clermont Ferrand, and Bordeaux - Toulouse Marseille routes from 2020.

For services on the Paris Caen - Cherbourg route additional trains will be acquired under existing contracts awarded to Bombardier in conjunction with the Normandy region.

A fleet of 34 new Coradia Liner bi-mode trains is already on order from Alstom under a É510m contract, these trains will in part be used to replace diesel TET services from Paris Est to Troyes/Belfort in the next 12 months.

Another contract for a further 30 Coradia Liner trains will be placed with Alstom for delivery from 2018 following consultations with regional governments.

Consortium to build Brenner Base Tunnel

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RENNER Basistunnel (BBT), which is responsible for building the 64km É8.8bn tunnel under the Brenner pass between Italy and Austria, has selected a consortium led by Astaldi to build the Italian section at a cost of around É1bn.

This involves construction of the exploration tunnel and two running tunnels totalling 23km using traditional tunnelling techniques, and 46km of bored tunnels. The work is expected to take seven years to complete.

The consortium comprises Astaldi with a 42.5% share, Ghella also with 42.5%, and Oberosler Cav Pietro, Cogeis, and PAC each with a 5% stake.

Construction will start as soon as the contract is signed.

IRJ April 2016

In brief NS seeks to rebuild trust with new strategic plan

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ETHERLANDS Railways (NS) has unveiled a new strategic plan for 2016-2019, entitled ‘Better at full speed,’ which aims to regain public trust and secure NS’s position in the Dutch railway market up to and beyond 2025.

The new strategy follows a request by minister of finance, Mr Jeroen Dijsselbloem, for the state-owned company to redefine its role following operating problems, irregularities in a tender for regional services in Limburg, and the failure of the highspeed project.

NS will invest É3bn in three main areas: core network operations and connected international services, for

which NS has exclusive concession; NS will improve reliability, provide clean trains, and introduce new trains and increase frequencies station improvements, supported by infrastructure manager Prorail, and door-to-door journey will be enhanced by improving passenger information and introducing new payment methods in cooperation with Prorail, other operators and regional authorities.

As a result, NS will cut back on non-core activities and will no longer participate in tenders for regional train services.

Instead NS will partner with competitors like Connexxion and Arriva.

In the long-term, NS will withdraw from bus operator Qbuzz, and will cease to hold shares in city transport operators. It will also pull out of retail activities at stations and continue to sell off nonstrategic assets.

By 2019 NS aims to increase its passenger satisfaction rating to 80%, achieve 92.3% punctuality, and improve passenger information for the entire journey to 82%.

While the strategy focuses predominately on domestic policies, NS also plans to expand its international activities through its Abellio subsidiary which is currently active in British and German rail and bus markets.

Jamaica Minister of transport and mining Mr Mike Henry says the government is considering a PPP to finance rehabilitation of the island’s railway network. Passenger services were revived in 2011 after a 19-year hiatus, but ceased again in 2012.

Morocco A Dirhams 600m ($US 61m) project to reconstruct Rabat Agdal station was officially launched on March 7. The station is being rebuilt with new retail, commercial and residential developments as part of an urban renewal project to coincide with the construction of the Tangiers Kenitra high-speed line.

New Zealand KiwiRail is planning to mothball a section of its Northland line between Kauri just north of Whangarei and Otiria from August, claiming freight operations are no longer viable. KiwiRail’s sole customer on the line, a woodchip producer, will now switch to road transport.

Switzerland

Kazakh passenger diesels enter service: The first two TEP33A diesel passenger locomotives for Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) began trials on the Almaty - Aktogay line last month. KTZ placed an order with GE Transportation in September 2012 for 110 of the six-axle 120km/h ac traction units, which are being supplied as kits by GE plants in the United States for final assembly in Kazakhstan

by JSC Lokomotiv Kurastyru Zauyty. The TEP33A is a passenger variant of the TE33A freight locomotive, which is already in service with KTZ.

German Quiet Track strategy aims to cut rail noise

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three-pronged strategy to substantially reduce rail noise was outlined by German transport and digital infrastructure minister Mr Alexander Dobrindt at an industry seminar in Berlin on March 9.

Under the Quiet Track strategy, the federal government plans to invest around É1bn by 2020 to curb noise from rail operations.

The first element of the strategy is technological development and quieter trains. This includes the federally-funded Innovative Freight Wagon project, which

IRJ April 2016

calls for the development and testing of a new generation of prototype low-noise wagons by 2018, as well as new noise abatement technologies, which DB is currently testing.

The government will incentivise the acquisition of new wagons which meet European noise standards, and the Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) will allocate É152m to equip more than 163,000 existing wagons with so-called whispering brakes by the end of the decade.

Secondly the strategy focuses on infrastructure-based

measures, and Dobrindt says the ministry seeks to encourage voluntary adoption of noise reduction on existing lines. Funding for non-rolling stock noise abatement will be increased to É150m per year from 2016 to fund noise barriers, sound-proofed windows, and other solutions.

Thirdly, the government plans to introduce legislation banning “noisy” freight wagons from 2020. The minimum threshold to qualify for noise abatement funding was reduced to 5dB (a) last year and the government plans a further cut to 3dB (a).

A groundbreaking ceremony was held in the canton of Aargau on March 9 to mark the start of major construction works on the new Bözberg railway tunnel. The SFr 350m ($US 350m) tunnel is due to open in 2020 and is a key element of a project to increase the loading gauge on the 270km Gotthard line between Basle and Chiasso to accommodate lorry semitrailers with a corner height of 4m.

United States A study into the introduction of a passenger train service between Detroit and Grand Rapids, Michigan, has found that the economic benefits and number of passengers anticipated justifies taking the project forward. Establishing a 127km/h service on the 299km route through Ann Arbor and Howell would require an annual subsidy of about $US 3m and an upfront investment of $US 130m. IRJ

11

In brief

News | transit

CRRC to build up to 846 metro cars for Chicago

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HE board of Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) voted on March 9 to award CSR Sifang America JV, a subsidiary of China’s CRRC Corporation, a contract to supply up to 846 metro cars, which will be assembled at a purpose-built facility in the city.

CSR submitted an offer of $US 1.31bn for 846 vehicles, $US 226m lower than the rival bid from Bombardier. The $US 632m base order comprises 400 cars with options for a further 446 vehicles, and the 600V dc third rail trains could ultimately represent up to half of CTA’s total fleet if all options are exercised.

The first pre-series cars are due to be completed in 2019 and will enter passenger service the following year. The initial build will enable the withdrawal of the 2600 series trains currently used on the Orange and Blue lines, which were supplied by Budd between 1981 and 1987.

The stainless-steel-bodied

TRATHCLYDE Partnership for Transport (SPT), which operates the Glasgow Subway, has awarded a £200m contract to a consortium of Stadler Bussnang and Ansaldo STS for the supply of 17 driverless trains and signalling.

The 10.4km circular line has 1220mm-gauge track, a very restricted loading gauge and is electrified at 600V dc third rail.

Although the trains will be built to the same dimensions as the existing sets they will have four cars instead of three, with open gangways maximising space and allowing wheelchair access.

7000 series vehicles will be assembled at a new $US 40m production facility, which will be located at the intersection of 135th Street and Torrence Avenue in the southeast of the city. CTA says it expects the plant to generate 170 new jobs.

Unlike the preceding 5000 series, the new trains will feature a combination of lateral and longitudinal seating. This is intended to improve comfort while maximising passenger

Wheelchair users will be able to access the Subway at St Enoch in the city centre and Govan at the new transport interchange which is currently under construction.

The Subway’s signalling equipment, control systems and control centre will all be replaced by a new automated system, which will upgrade train operation from partially automated to fully automatic unattended operation.

Stations will be fitted with half-height platform screen doors, and the new trains are due to enter service in the city in 2020.

Incheon commuter rail network expands

K

ORAIL has opened an extension to the Suin (SuwonIncheon) Line from the previous terminus at Songdo to Incheon, where it connects with Line 1 of the Seoul metro.

The 7.4km extension, which began operating on February 27, is almost entirely underground, and has historical significance as it will re-establish a rail connection between Songdo and Incheon - the original narrow-gauge line closed in 1973.

The new extension has five intermediate stations and will provide easier access to one of the city’s international ferry terminals, and various industrial and residential areas.

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The first phase of the CBTC rollout on the S-Train network was completed on February 29, when commercial operation began on the northern section of Line A between Jaegersborg and Hillerød. Siemens is resignalling the 170km network under a contract awarded by Danish infrastructure manager Banedanmark in 2011.

Delhi

Stadler and Ansaldo STS to modernise Glasgow Subway

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Copenhagen

flow and capacity and was selected following consultation with passengers, the first time CTA has sought user input on rolling stock seating layouts.

The 110km/h 14.63m-long vehicles will also be equipped with LED lighting, modern passenger infromation systems, and ac traction motors.

Delivery of the 7000 series cars will reduce the average age of CTA’s fleet to 11 years, compared with 26 years in 2011.

Seattle opens new line

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HE mayor of Seattle Mr Ed Murray and Sound Transit CEO Mr Peter Rogoff officially inaugurated the city’s $US 1.9bn University Link light rail extension on March 18, when hundreds of guests took their first trip on the 5.1km underground line from Westlake station in the city centre to University of Washington (Husky Stadium).

The extension runs in twinbored tunnels for its entire length and includes one intermediate station at Capitol Hill. The line has reduced the journey times from the University of Washington to the city centre to eight minutes and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to less than an hour.

The line is expected to increase ridership on Sound Transit’s light rail network by 71,000 to 114,000 passengers per day by 2030.

Construction began in 2012 on a further 6.9km extension from University of Washington to Northgate, which is due to open in 2021.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has awarded CRRC Nanjing a contract worth around Rs 8bn ($US 121m) to supply 19 standard-gauge trains for the 29.7km Noida Greater Noida metro line.

Gold Coast CIMIC subsidiary CPB Contractors (formerly Leighton Contractors) has secured a contract to construct the 7.3km Queensland’s Gold Coast Light Rail Stage Two. The $A 420m ($US 319m) project is due to be completed in 2018 and will be delivered with a $A 270m contribution from the Queensland government, $A 95m from the Australian government, and $A 55m from City of Gold Coast council.

Kanpur (India) The Uttar Pradesh state government approved a detailed project report for the first phase of the metro network on March 14. The Rs 137.2bn ($US 2bn) network will comprise two lines totalling 32.8km with 31 stations, 19 of them elevated and 12 underground.

Lausanne Switzerland’s Federal Office of Transport (BAV) has approved construction of the initial 4.6km phase of the city’s first modern light rail line. The 10station Line T1 will run west from an interchange with metro lines M1 and M2 at Flon, to the main line station at Renens.

Los Angeles Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) opened a $US 1bn 18.5km extension to

IRJ April 2016

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In brief Contractor chosen for Maryland Purple Line PPP

M

ARYLAND Department of Transportation has selected the Purple Line Transit Partners consortium as preferred bidder for the $US 2bn Purple Line light rail public-private partnership (PPP) project.

Purple Line Transit Partners comprises Meridiam as a 70% equity provider, with Fluor Enterprises and Star America

each providing 15% of the equity. Meridiam is an investor and asset manager specialising in public and community infrastructure. Fluor Construction has formed a construction joint venture to build the line with Lane and Traylor Brothers, while Fluor, Alternate Concepts, and CAF USA have formed an operations and maintenance

joint venture with CAF supplying the vehicles.

The concessionaire is required to finance, develop, design, construct and equip the line, supply LRVs, and operate and maintain it.

The 26km east-west Purple Line will run from Bethesda to New Carrollton serving Capital Beltway suburbs north of Washington DC.

the Gold Line light rail line on March 5, which also marked the entry into service of the first of a fleet of 21 LRVs supplied by Kinkisharyo.

Miami Hitachi Rail USA officially opened its new 13,000m2 assembly plant at Medley, Florida, on March 16 with the unveiling of a full-size mock up of the new metro train for Miami Metrorail. The plant, Hitachi Rail’s first in the United States, will assemble 136 metro cars and 272 motor bogies for Miami, under a $US 313m contract awarded to AnsaldoBreda in 2012.

Natal Brazillian Urban Trains Company (CBTU) is proposing to expand the 56.2km dieseloperated light rail network with the addition of a third 24km line. The project is estimated to cost Reais 152m ($US 40.2m), including the acquisition of three diesel LRVs.

Newcastle-upon-Tyne Stern & Hafferl launches Tramlink LRVs: Austrian local railway operator Stern & Hafferl (StH) launched its new fleet of metre-gauge Vossloh Tramlink V3 LRVs in a ceremony at the company’s newly-commissioned Vorchdorf depot on March 12. StH awarded Vossloh a 30m contract in 2014 to supply 11 of the 32m-long vehicles, which accommodate up to 183 passengers. Eight of the vehicles have been ordered for the Stadt Regio Tram project, which involves linking the Gmunden tram network with the Vorchdorf - Gmunden line. The connection is due to open in July.

Arriva wins Overground concession

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RANSPORT for London (TfL) has selected Arriva Rail London as preferred bidder for a £1.5bn 7.5 year concession to operate the London Overground orbital suburban rail network with an option for a two-year extension.

Arriva will take over operations in November, succeeding London Overground Rail Operations (Lorol), a 50:50 joint venture between Arriva and MTR, which has operated the network since 2007.

The new concession encompasses all London Overground lines, including the West Anglia lines from Liverpool Street to Enfield Town, Cheshunt, and Chingford, which, together with the Romford - Upminster branch, recently came under TfL control. A new fleet of 45

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Bombardier trains will be introduced on these lines from 2018.

Gospel Oak - Barking services will be extended to a new station at Barking Riverside by 2021 in a £263m 4km extension project approved by the mayor of London Mr Boris Johnson on March 17. The line is fully funded and the developers, Barking Riverside Limited, will provide £172m with the remainder coming from TfL. Construction is expected to begin in late 2017 and the project is due to be completed in 2021 Passenger numbers have increased 400% since the launch of London Overground in 2007 and the network now carries more than 184 million passengers a year, equivalent to 585,000 passengers a day.

Oslo to renew tram fleet

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PORVEIEN Oslo, which operates the light rail and metro network in the Norwegian capital, invites companies to prequalify by May 2 for a contract to supply a fleet of low-floor LRVs. A total of 87 LRVs will be required initially with an option to supply a further 60 vehicles either identical to the first batch or as an extended version of the original design.

A contract is due to be signed in August 2017 and the first two pre-series vehicles will be available for testing in Oslo during the winter of 2019-20. Delivery of the series vehicles is expected to commence in 2020 and all 87 LRVs should be in operation by 2024.

Part of Oslo’s tram fleet dates from 1981-1989.

Transport authority Nexus says it does not intend to renew DB Regio’s contract to operate the 75km Tyne & Wear Metro network, which expires next year. Both parties say they are “dissatisfied with the structure and the financial and operational performance of the current contract.”

Qingdao Passenger operations began on March 5 on the Chinese city’s first light rail line, which runs for 8.8km. Services are operated by a fleet of seven ForCity 15T LRVs, which were built by CRRC Qingdao Sifang under licence from Škoda Transportation. The vehicles are equipped with hydrogen fuel cells for catenary-free operation.

Sofia Metro operator Metropolitan EAD has awarded Siemens and Newag, Poland, a É140m contract to supply trains and CBTC for the first phase of the new Line 3, which is due to open in 2019. The consortium will supply 20 three-car Inspiro trains with an option for 10 additional sets. IRJ

IRJ April 2016

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News | financial

SNCF revenues rise but profits decline

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EPORTING its first results as an integrated railway, French National Railways (SNCF) achieved a 5% increase in revenue from É29.9bn to É31.4bn in 2015, although Ebitda fell 4.6% from É4.6bn to É4.4bn.

Current operating profit dropped by 28.5% from É1.76bn to É1.26bn. However, an increase in net profit from É135m to É377m was turned into a loss of É12.2bn following an impairment of its assets which SNCF describes as an accounting technicality which has no impact on its

cash position or investment programme. The book value of SNCF's assets fell by É9.6bn, plus É2.2bn for the TGV fleet, and É450m for stations.

SNCF invested É8.2bn in 2015 of which 70% was selffinanced. Of this, É5.1bn was spent on the infrastructure with 1500 projects completed, 1014km of track upgraded, and 409 switches and crossings renovated. É3.2bn was invested in passenger services with 70% used to purchase new trains. SNCF plans to invest almost É9bn this year.

SNCF's passenger business

recorded a 9% increase in revenue. TGV services achieved a 0.4% growth in traffic, and SNCF's Oui range of low-cost high-speed rail, bus, and car rental services is growing quickly, carrying a total 4.8 million passengers in 2015. This figure is expected to almost double this year to 9.2 million, with Ouigo high-speed rail services running to eight new destinations.

Railfreight showed signs of recovery in France in 2015.

Total railfreight operations increased by 3.4% while SNCF Fret grew by 3%.

Mounting loses for KiwiRail

ÖBB to order up to 300 EMUs

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USTRIAN Federal Railways (ÖBB) is planning to order up to 300 more EMUs in addition to its existing framework contract for 200 Siemens Desiro ML sets.

IRJ understands that ÖBB is seeking up to 150 three-car and 150 four-car sets over a five-year framework deal.

However, provision will be made for the transfer of any order to the Ministry of Transport or its subsidiary Schig in case other operators win contracts.

Should all options in the framework deal be taken up insiders suggest that ÖBB could use the new trains to replace Bombardier Talent EMUs or for operation abroad.

The tender says the technical specifications for the new trains can be altered "significantly" for any order made.

Israel to order more doubledeck trains

I

Photo: David Gubler

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EW Zealand's national rail operator, KiwiRail, has posted a net loss of $NZ 16.2m ($US 10.94m) for the six months to December 31 2015.

This is an increase of $NZ 9.4m compared with the same period in 2014.

Revenue for the first half of the financial year was

$NZ 364.4m, down 5.5% yearon-year while Ebitda fell 22% to $NZ 27.3m for the six month period. The underlying operating surplus dropped to $NZ 33m, compared with $NZ 35.1m for the same period in 2014.

CEO Mr Peter Reidy cites “challenging market and

weather conditions for two of our bulk freight commodities, coal and milk” for the fall in revenues. However, this was partially offset by passenger growth from its Cook Strait Interislander ferry services, which grew by 6%, and long distance passenger services, where revenues increased by 8%.

Strong Swiss Franc dents SBB profits

S

WISS Federal Railways (SBB) published its 2015 annual results on March 18, confirming a group net profit of SFr 246m ($US 254m), 34.1% down from the previous year, despite recording a 1.4% increase in operating revenues, which rose to SFr 8.8bn.

Operating expenditure fell 1.5% to SFr 8.5bn.

While the passenger sector recorded a positive result with revenues rising 25.6% to SFr 131 m, real estate revenues declined 13.3% to SFr 342m, while infrastructure was down 46.3% to SFr 96m. Most disappointing of all however was the performance of the company’s freight unit SBB

16

Cargo, which recorded a loss of SFr 22m after two years in profit.

On the positive side, ridership was higher than ever before at 1.21 million passengers a day, up 2.7% from 2014, and 18.6 billion passenger-km for the full-year (+1.8%).

Punctuality also improved by a 0.1% to 87.8%.

Performance by SBB Cargo was also up by 4.1% to 15.1 billion net tonne-km.

According to Mr Ulrich Gygi, chairman of the board of directors, the strong Swiss franc meant that profits were SFr 80m less than they might have been.

SRAEL Railways (IR) published an international tender on March 20 for a contract to supply a fleet of 160km/h double-deck EMUs, and also confirmed it will exercise an option with Bombardier for additional locomotive-hauled doubledeck coaches.

The EMU tender calls for the supply and maintenance of 60 25kV 50Hz ac regional trains. The tender envisages a fleet of four and six-car trains, which are capable of multiple operation, with options to extend the sets to five or seven cars if required.

Each car must seat at least 100 passengers (including folding seats) and accommodate up to 100 standees at four passengers/m2.

In addition, IR will exercise a Shekels 456m ($US 118m) option with Bombardier for 60 push-pull double-deck coaches which will be equipped for operation with both diesel and electric locomotives.

IRJ April 2016

In brief Competitive pressures erode VR Group revenues

F

INNISH national train operator VR Group suffered a 9.9% decline in revenues last year as competition from other modes took its toll on earnings, according to the company's 2015 financial results which were published on March 10.

Group turnover fell to É1.23bn and taking into account the divestment of rail traffic control services company Finrail, comparable turnover fell 7.5% compared with 2014. Net profits dropped from É67.6m to É50m.

Intensifying competition had a negative effect on VR Group's passenger business, which saw turnover decline by 5.6% to É534.8m.

VR Group says successful sales campaigns halted the decline in ridership on

domestic long-distance services by the middle of the year, although international trains continued to suffer from the tensions between the Russia and the European Union, with a 20% decline in traffic on services to Russia.

Overall rail journeys fell by 6.1% to 76 million and the punctuality of long-distance services declined by 1.6% to 87.8%. The Passenger Services unit achieved an operating profit of É9.9m, down from É32.8m in 2014.

VR Group says its strategy to cut prices on long-distance services and increase efficiency to compete with buses was already yielding positive results by the end of the year, although the full impact of this programme will not become clear until 2017.

Australia

Global mining conglomerate Glencore is looking to sell its New South Wales Hunter Valley ‘above-rail’ coal haulage business later this year, according to a report in the Financial Review newspaper. Glencore currently has 30 GE C44aci locomotives and 900 wagons in its fleet, with crewing and management of day-to-day operations sub-contracted to Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Freightliner Australia.

OLLOWING an international tender, Bangladesh Railways (BR) has awarded PT Inka, Indonesia, a Taka 5.62bn ($US 71m) contract to supply 150 stainless steel-bodied passenger coaches, including 50 broadgauge and 100 metre-gauge vehicles.

CSR Nanjing Puzhen and Rites, India, also submitted bids for the contract, which is being financed by the Asian

IRJ April 2016

Development Bank.

The broad-gauge batch includes four sleeping cars, four first-class coaches, 25 nonair-conditioned saloons, eight dining cars, and five generator cars. The metre-gauge batch comprises 13 air-conditioned standard-class sleeping cars, six first-class sleepers, 24 executive cars, 36 non-air conditioned economy coaches, 13 dining cars, and eight generator cars.

Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) announced on March 21 that bidding for the privatisation of Trainose and Hellenic Company for Rolling Stock Maintenance (Rosco) will be delayed after prospective investors asked for more time to prepare their offers. The closing date for binding offers for both companies has been pushed back to May 31.

Japan

Network Rail has appointed KPMG as financial advisers to assist it in testing the market to sell some or all of its electrical distribution and traction power assets to global investors or electricity network operators. Assets under consideration include 7500 properties, freight yards, major passenger stations, depots, electrical power networks, and telecommunications assets.

Keio Corporation has awarded Japan Transport Engineering Company (J-Trec) a contract worth around Yen 10bn ($US 89.6m) to supply five 10-car 5000 series commuter EMUs. The trains will feature rotating seats, which can be arranged longitudinally for normal daytime operations or in a forward-facing 2+2 configuration for reserved-seat evening commuter services.

Cuba

Ireland

France

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Greece

Britain

The Ministry of Finance has concluded financing with China’s Exim bank for 240 new passenger coaches for Cuban National Railways (FCC). No details of the price or supplier have been disclosed but it is anticipated that 80 vehicles per year will be delivered over three years.

Bangladesh orders 150 coaches

lines S2, S3, S9, RB3, RB40, and RB41 from December 2019.

Akiem, the locomotive leasing subsidiary created by French National Railways (SNCF) in 2008, has been partly sold to Deutsche Bank-owned investment business Deutsche Asset Management for an undisclosed sum. The transaction is due to be completed this month.

Germany

Rhine-Ruhr Transport Authority (VRR) has selected Stadler Pankow as preferred bidder for a contract to supply 41 EMUs for S-Bahn and regional services in North Rhine Westphalia. The contract will include 30 years' maintenance for the fleet of four-car 15kV 16.7Hz ac trains, which will be introduced on

Irish Rail (IE) has issued a tender for the supply of a new National Train Control Centre (NTCC), which will replace the existing Centralised Traffic Control Centre (CTCC) located at Connolly Station in Dublin.

IE says it needs to replace the CTCC due to capacity restraints with the existing facility.

Macedonia

Macedonian Railways (MZ) has launched a tender for a contract to supply three new electric locomotives as part of a É59m project to upgrade its train fleet and depots.

Sweden

Systra has acquired Swedish railway signalling business Dalco Elteknik for an undisclosed sum. Dalco Elteknik employs 52 staff at nine locations across Sweden and has managed more than 1200 projects since it was founded in 1987.

Trafikverket has awarded Strukton Rail a contract to renew 80km of track on the 40km line between Boden and Bastuträsk. IRJ

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News | UIC ERTMS World Conference

Elusive ETCS Level 3 still a long way off

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HE path towards an interoperable version of ETCS Level 3 suitable for use in Europe still appears to be some way off.

Dr Rüdiger Brandt, vicepresident sales mainline with Siemens, says a pre-project for Shift2Rail for ETCS Level 3 will be completed this year with a view to it being accepted as one of the main projects within the IP2 element of Shift2Rail.

Brandt claims that specifications for Level 3 have not been detailed or agreed yet. But this was challenged by Mr Pio Guido from the European Railway Agency, who said Level 3 was defined in the original specifications for ETCS. “Level 3, moving or fixed virtual block, is a reality in operation in metros and in specialised freight lines, mostly in integrated railways, where ETCS is not a requirement,” Guido told IRJ. “Level 3 remains elusive on the main lines in Europe with mixed traffic and multiple actors, which is exactly the target domain for ETCS.” Brandt acknowledged that there is increasing demand for Level 3 to address capacity constraints and because of high expectations for infrastructure savings. It will be a basis for higher levels of train automation in the future to bridge the gap between CBTC and ETCS. Level 3 will facilitate the introduction of moving block, automatic train operation, autonomous driving, automatic train regulation, IP radio, and satellite positioning.

DG Move outlines ERTMS objectives

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Brandt envisages two major design variants for Level 3: as an overlay for Level 3equipped trains on lines with ETCS Levels 1 and 2 to provide high capacity and availability, and a pure Level 3 application on a line to reduce infrastructure costs, as Level 3 will require less trackside equipment, with simplified interlocking functions, and better track utilisation.

But Brandt recognises there needs to be a consensus on operating rules which he believes will be a key for success, while interoperability will become an even bigger challenge. “The challenges are on the operational side rather than on the technical side,” Brandt says. “ERA has advised the industry and railways in Europe to work out a common set of operational scenarios first in order to derive and hand in

the required change requests.

Change requests on interfaces and functions will follow after these rules are set.”

Brandt says the big lesson from developing ETCS is that if you do it the other way round, interoperability is difficult to achieve. “That is the reason why it took several baselines before an interoperable specification was reached,” Brandt explains.

“I see no real technical barriers to the introduction of Level 3 as devices and systems for train integrity are in use outside the EU, and Shift2Rail can bring additional effective solutions,” Guido says. “Level 3 is a priority for ERA. The railway sector and ERA consider Level 3 as one of the game changers to ensure a more competitive and efficient railway system.”

CCORDING to Ms Amelia Areias, single European area policy officer with the EC’s Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move), there are four key principles for ERTMS. “Users should come first, not designers,” she said. “We need standardised on-board units, there must be a focus on development, and a reduction in costs.

“Stabilisation is very important to us,” Areias continued. “We want to freeze the specification for Baseline 3 for as long as possible.”

Areias explained that Baseline 2 is in the Technical Standard for Interoperability (TSI) because there is a strong commitment to protect existing investment in ERTMS. “We expect Baseline 3 to be used on new projects because it corrects the errors in Baseline 2,” she said.

“Facilitating deployment is mostly about funding,” Areias said. “We can provide grants through our typical instruments such as the successor to TEN-T, the Connecting Europe Fund (CEF). But there is a huge over-subscription every year and we will only pay for interoperable projects.”

Areias said private investors are interested in public-private partnerships, but warned: “If rail doesn’t use the funds available the money will go to other sectors.”

Rail freight operators bemoan the cost of ERTMS

M

R Reinhard Bamberger, CEO of the rail freight task force representing 30 operators, called for ERTMS to be much simpler and more affordable. “Are we more efficient in the market or not?

This is the only real measure of success for ERTMS,” he said.

“At present there is no positive business case for train operators,” Bamberger complained. “It costs between É300,000 and É1m to retrofit a locomotive - this is unacceptable.

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“We have an expensive and time-consuming authorisation process, which makes me speechless.

“Nobody has a master plan or a commitment to roll out ETCS. There are no standard on-board units, and most networks require additional national solutions. There is no centralised steering for migration so far.

“We need a serious funding scheme for operators to retrofit locomotives,” Bamberger continued. “We strongly

support compatibility between on-board and trackside

systems and we want Baseline 3 to be frozen for 10 years.”

IRJ April 2016

Lallemand calls for temporary freeze of ETCS development

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HE CEO of Infrabel, Belgium, Mr Luc Lallemand, called for a temporary freeze of current ETCS development so that railways can focus on deployment.

While recognising that the focus for ETCS has finally shifted to its roll-out, Lallemand says there are still a number of challenges which need to be tackled quickly and thoroughly. He sees two priorities: “First, there is the need for what we could call technological stabilisation. I am not saying that ETCS and the underlying technology should no longer evolve. We have to watch carefully that the more or

less mature product we have now will not be jeopardised by adding extras which do not necessarily have much to do with the essence.

“Let me make myself clear: we have a broad and detailed set of specifications that should facilitate the roll-out of ETCS both on-board and trackside.

But there continue to be obstacles that are difficult to solve. Issues like compatibility or interoperability but also guaranteeing seamless crossborder operations still remain challenging.

“That is why I am saying: let us temporarily freeze the scope of ETCS development, finish

First application of ATO over ETCS underway in Mexico

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HE application of automatic train operation (ATO) in conjunction with ETCS Level 2 is being pioneered on a new line project in Mexico, well ahead of its adoption in Europe.

“The proposed architecture for ATO over ETCS has been developed by Unisig and the ERTMS Users Group,” Mr Manuel Villalba with CAF Signalling, told delegates. Although the two systems are functionally different, the on-board systems are shared. The same trackto-train communications system is used with independent channels connecting the cab radio via an IP network to the separate trackside ATO and ETCS radio block centre and interlocking.

“The ATO over ETCS concept is entering the final steps of the road map, and the ATO specifications require further technical work under Shift2Rail, but we are already applying the concept using draft specifications on the new 57.7km Mexico City - Toluca line,” Villalba said.

The contract was awarded in 2014 and work on the project began last year. CAF Signalling is responsible for the on-board ATO and

ERTMS, the trackside ATO, and the integrated control centre, while Thales is supplying the trackside ERTMS equipment and the interlocking. CAF is building a fleet of 30 fivecar Civia EMUs for the new line.

The ETCS specification is Level 2 Baseline 2.3.0d with semi-automatic train operation with drivers required to close the doors and operate the train during periods of disruption.

Trains will operate at 2.5-minute headways at a maximum speed of 160km/h.

The line will be electrified at 25kV ac and will run from Observatorio to Toluca with five stations. Trains will complete the journey in 39 minutes, which will be about 90 minutes faster than the equivalent road journey, and the service is expected to carry around 270,000 passengers per day when it opens in 2018.

Mr Michel Ruesen, director of the ERTMS Users’ Group, explained why the ATO over ETCS concept is still under development in Europe: “We want to ensure the concept can be applied to the whole network and not just one specific line.”

the ongoing work and focus on deployment.”

Lallemand says he is convinced that this is in the interest of both infrastructure managers and railway operators, but also the supply industry, for which it is a major challenge to have the components available in time.

“I am not asking us to ignore innovation or interconnections between different technologies, nor am I asking us to turn a blind eye,” Lallemand said.

“But we have to be realistic, after 25 years of system development, we need to show results and focus on the rollout.”

Network Rail plans for ETCS Level 2

M

R Paul Boyle from Virgin Trains East Coast and Ms Laura Doughty from Network Rail (NR) outlined Britain’s plans for ETCS Level 2 deployment.

The objective is to install ETCS Level 2 without lineside signals on a short initial section of the London - Leeds/ Edinburgh East Coast Main Line between London King’s Cross and Wood Green by March 2020.

This will be followed by Wood Green - Peterborough

by August 2022, and Peterborough - Retford by December 2024.

These sections cover 338km, 2024 signal equivalent units, 32 interlockings, 56 highway level crossings, and 68 nonhighway crossings.

News | analysis

Development and decay in Ile-de-France Keith Barrow Associate Editor

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LANS to expand the Paris RER network to the west of the city received a significant boost on February 6, when French prime minister Mr Manuel Valls confirmed that the government will contribute a further É500m towards the É3.7bn extension of Paris RER Line E from St Lazare to Mantes-la-Jolie.

The so-called Eole project involves constructing an 8km tunnel from St Lazare to Nanterre-la-Folie and upgrading the existing 47km line to Poissy and Mantes-laJolie. With funding finalised, major construction is set to begin later this year with RER trains due to reach Nanterre in 2020 and Mantes-la-Jolie in 2022.

Four days later on February 10 French National Railways (SNCF) signed a É186m contract for the rollout of CBTC on the core section of Line E, which will provide capacity for up to 28 trains per hour on the central section of Line E between Nanterre-laFolie and Rosa Parks. The system - dubbed Nexteo by SNCF - will offer theoretical headways of 108 seconds, compared with 180 seconds at present, enabling Line E to absorb the huge increase in traffic generated by the western extension.

While expansion of the system grabs the headlines, there remains a pressing need to modernise existing RER and Transilien lines and redress the backlog of investment in infrastructure, rolling stock, and stations, which continues to undermine the performance of the network.

The full extent of the challenge facing suburban rail operations in Ile-de-France is exposed in a review of the system and its operation, which was published on February 10 as part of the French Court of Auditors

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annual report.

A previous report by the Court of Auditors in 2010 noted that recurrent deficiencies in the quality of service on the Transilien network stemmed from “persistent under-investment” over the last 30 years, with funding channelled towards the expansion of the highspeed network at the expense of the existing network, particularly in Ile-de-France.

Over the intervening six years, substantial investment has flowed into the network, yet the latest audit found performance of many lines remains below target and is even deteriorating in some cases. Indeed, the auditor forecasts operating performance will deteriorate further before it improves.

The Transilien network makes up only 10% of national system, but accounts for 40% of passenger traffic. Between 2010 and 2014, spending on

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infrastructure quality will continue to deteriorate until 2020 and will not recover to current “far from optimal” standards until 2025, with clear implications for safety and performance. Meanwhile, increasing traffic places further strain on ageing infrastructure passenger-km on the SNCF network rose by 8.26% between 2010 and 2014 and this upward trend continues.

Spending Under its 2008-2011 contract, SNCF invested É1.35bn in the Transilien and RER networks, while RATP invested É5bn.

These sums increased to É2.3bn and É6.5bn respectively in 2012-2015, with a further increase in the 2016-2020 contracts awarded to the two operators by Ile-de-France transport authority Stif last September.

Investment in new rolling stock rose from É200m in 2010

General infrastructure quality will continue to deteriorate until 2020 and will not recover to current “far from optimal” standards until 2025.

infrastructure maintenance and enhancements increased from É538m to É810m and is set to increase further over the next few years. However, the average age of track in the core of the network rose by 30% between 2003 and 2014 and 40% of track on the Transilien network is over 30-years-old.

Around 15% of electrification equipment is over 80-years-old and 5% has been in service for more than a century. Much of the catenary on RER Line C is over 90-years-old.

The number of speed restrictions has been growing, covering 213km at the start of 2015. The report states that according to managers responsible for maintaining the Transilien network, general

to nearly É300m in 2014. The average age of SNCF’s Transilien and RER train fleets fell from 24.6 years in 2009 to 23.4 years by the end of 2014.

RATP’s fleet of 1589 RER vehicles will have an average age of 18.9 years by the end of this year, compared with 27.1 years in 2011, and 70% of these trains were new or refurbished between 2007 and 2016.

The new operating contracts set more stringent targets for operating performance, although it is questionable whether these are achievable.

The 2012-2015 contracts between Stif and SNCF/RATP enforced financial penalties against the operator where punctuality fell below 96% during the peaks and 98% at

other times. Between 2010 and 2014, penalties paid by SNCF to Stif for failure to meet punctuality targets trebled from É6.3m to É19.5m.

While RATP has received a bonus for improving performance on the metro, it has been consistently penalised for poor punctuality on RER lines A and B. Since 2010, neither of these lines has achieved the contractual target of 94% of trains arriving within five minutes of schedule. The report notes that for daily travellers on these two lines, which carry nearly four times as much daily traffic as the entire TGV network, hardly a week goes by without a significant delay or cancellation.

Performance on the 11 other RER and Transilien lines operated by SNCF has deteriorated steadily since 2012 and only two lines (H and N) met contractual targets.

Passenger satisfaction scores improved on only three lines between 2012 and 2014, remaining static on three lines and declining on seven.

“Peak-hour saturation of lines A and B, delays and cancellations, and traffic related incidents explain the growing disatisfaction of regular rail users in Ile-deFrance,” the report states. “This reality must be taken into account in the implementation of the modal shift policy from road to rail. Encouraging the use of public transport over the car is not questionable, but it is necessary to ensure travel conditions meet appropriate standards.”

The auditor acknowledges that the operators have achieved improvements in cleanliness, passenger information, and safety, but it suggests more work is still required in these areas.

Grand plans Paris has an undeniably bold vision for the expansion of its rail network over the next decade. In addition to a

IRJ April 2016

string of new tram lines and metro extensions, the É22.6bn Grand Paris orbital express metro network will provide seamless links between the suburbs, major employment centres, new residential developments, and the capital’s airports. The Court of Auditors anticipates the cost of implementing Grand Paris will reach É30bn after rolling stock and upgrading existing sections of metro lines 11 and 14 are included, and even this figure could well be “far exceeded.”

In addition to capital costs, a much larger network brings inflated operating costs preliminary estimates indicate that building all of the lines currently proposed could add É1bn to the É5bn annual cost of operating the capital’s rail network.

Add all this to the “necessary” cost of bringing the RER and Transilien network up to modern standards, and it’s clear Paris and Ile-de-France face a huge long-term financial challenge.

According to the report, operating, maintaining and expanding the network will cost É50bn in 2015-2020 alone The auditor questions whether it will be possible to balance the needs of the existing network with the demands of expansion at a time of “high fiscal stress.”

The French government’s decision to scrap the proposed Ecotax means there is less government funding available for rail projects, and the report argues fares are too low to support investment, a situation exacerbated by the creation a new Navigo fare structure for Ile-de-France. Furthermore, fare evasion is costing the region more than É360m per year in lost revenue.

The court reiterates the recommendation of its previous report in 2010, which called for passengers to meet a higher proportion of infrastructure costs through fares. “The highest priority must be given to improving the existing network because the quality of infrastructure and some rolling stock is not consistent with the demands on the Transilien network.” IRJ

Investment in new rolling stock has reduced the average age of the Transilien fleet in recent years. Photo: Keith Fender

Interview | CRRC

CRRC aims for Europe Formed following the merger of Chinese state-owned companies CSR and CNR in June 2015, CRRC is by some distance the world’s largest rolling stock manufacturer. While its rise is based largely on demand from its vast domestic market, the company is now engaged in a push to boost exports, as vice-president Weiping Yu reveals in an exclusive interview with Kevin Smith.

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IRJ April 2016

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OWARDS the end of his speech at the Fourth Railway Forum in Berlin on February 29, Dr Weiping Yu, vice-president of CRRC, presented two maps to the watching delegates, one of China’s now 19,000km highspeed network, and another showing proposed high-speed connections in Europe.

Yu said that given the pace at which China has built its network since 2005, and Europe’s struggles to develop a similar sized network over a much longer period, Chinese companies, including CRRC, could help to solve what he perceives as “Europe’s problems.”

“We want to share with others what we have learnt and what we have done to say thank you for helping to develop Chinese high-speed trains,” Yu said.

“We want to cooperate with European customers to develop high-speed trains so there is less threat to the environment and so that together we can deploy smarter trains.”

Audacious? Certainly. Erroneous?

Perhaps. Europe is, after all, a complex and fractured railway market. But his sentiments reflect the burning ambition at CRRC to become active in each of the world’s railway markets and secure 20% of its business, or around Yuan 20bn ($US 3.07bn) annually, from international projects in the next five years.

Speaking exclusively to IRJ, Yu said that CRRC understands that each market is unique and moves at its own pace. However, he said it is important the company does its groundwork so that its prospective customers know what they have to offer. He was in Berlin fresh from a trip to the north of England and used Britain as an example to highlight this point.

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Market demands The new company consists of 51 individual subsidiaries and employs 182,000 people, 6000 of whom work outside of China. Yu says that there are “no plans yet” to streamline these subsidiaries stating that any interior integration is dependent on the demands of the market.

He added that the company is listed on both the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock exchanges for the purpose of the “company’s development,” which is now focusing on four primary market areas: main line, urban transport, new energy, and modern service.

“As well as maintaining our advantage as a manufacturer of railway equipment, we are developing our

We want to be a good enterprise, which creates job opportunities, and increases tax benefits for local governments. Weiping Yu

“We see a very big demand for highspeed trains to operate High Speed 2 (HS2) between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds,” Yu says. “They need these high-speed trains to help the economy move ahead, but according to the government’s plan, the first highspeed trains for HS2 will not operate until 2026. Every market is important to CRRC but all have different time requirements on when you might be able to enter.”

CRRC as a company was officially

IRJ April 2016

born on June 1 2015 following the merger of China Northern Rolling Stock Company (CNR) and China Southern Rolling Stock Company (CSR). These two state-owned behemoths had firmly established themselves at the top of the rankings of global rail equipment manufacturers in the previous five years. SCI Verkehr’s 2014 railway industry market study found that both companies had new vehicle revenue approaching É12bn in 2013-14, streets ahead of Bombardier in third place with nearly É7bn.

But with the Chinese government keen to develop its exports, and with rail one of 10 focus industries targeted for growth, it increasingly found the companies were competing with each other for international contracts. As a result, the decision was taken in 2014 to merge and integrate the resources of the two companies to become CRRC, a process which took nine months to play out.

business to focus on other sectors like new energy, automotive and wind power generators, environmental protection equipment and other complex materials,” Yu says. “CRRC has set up an electrical suppliers’ platform. We have also invested in facilities for leasing rolling stock, financing and maintenance services.”

In its most recent results for the first half of the 2015 financial year, which were published in September 2015, CRRC reported revenues of Yuan

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Interview | CRRC 91.8bn, an increase of 6.26% compared with the combined performance of CSR and CNR in the first half of 2014. Its overseas revenues increased by 61.2%, which followed a 22.6% increase in 2014, and profit attributable to the owner was just under Yuan 4.7bn, an increase of 6.85%.

CRRC has an almost 99% share of its domestic rail equipment market, which continues to account for 88% of its revenues according to the September 2015 figures. But with the pace of the domestic high-speed development

“

under discussion, and that CRRC has secured an initial cooperation agreement for the California high-speed project in the United States.

Also in the United States, one of the most noteworthy recent deals was the $US 566m contract from Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in October 2014 to supply 284 metro vehicles to Boston. The deal includes building a new factory in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Yu says work is underway and progressing well on the plant which is on course to open in spring 2018.

We are developing our business to focus on other sectors like new energy, automotive and wind power generators, environmental protection equipment and other complex materials.

programme beginning to slow, it is increasingly looking beyond its borders to secure long-term sustainability.

Yu says that in 2015 CRRC was active in 101 countries and listed several Chinese achievements during the year from which CRRC could benefit, including the Jakarta - Bandung highspeed project in Indonesia, and projects in Laos and Hungary. He added that proposals for Russia’s high-speed project between Moscow and Kazan, including a localisation element, are

Success in Boston was followed with the news last month that CRRC was selected for a $US 1.31bn contract to supply 846 metro cars to Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) (p12). The deal includes opening a manufacturing plant in the city, which will create 170 new jobs.

“CRRC’s policy is to enter the market and then stay there and make friends with the local government and the local people,” Yu says. “We want to be a good enterprise, which creates job opportunities, and increases tax benefits

for local governments.”

The new US plants follow the creation of similar manufacturing facilities in Turkey and Malaysia in recent years. Yu says that CRRC also has ambitions to establish a manufacturing base in Europe and is considering both joint ventures and independent investment to achieve this goal.

CRRC’s emphasis on the European market is evident in the recent acquisition of two European firms. The £120m purchase by CRRC’s CSR Times Electric subsidiary of Specialist Machine Developments (SMD), Britain, a manufacturer of remote intervention equipment including subsea remotely operated vehicles, a sector in which CRRC is making significant strides, was confirmed in September. Subsidiary company Zhuzhou Times New Material similarly bought ZF’s Rubber and Plastics business unit in April 2014.

While it has limited itself to smaller companies thus far, there have also been persistent rumours about CRRC’s interest in purchasing an established European rolling stock manufacturer.

Stories that it was ready to acquire a controlling stake in Bombardier were quashed in June 2015, and CRRC was linked with AnsaldoBreda before Hitachi finally acquired the Italian manufacturer in November 2015.

Stadler was also reportedly approached by a Chinese state-owned firm earlier this year, which led CEO Mr Peter Spuhler, who holds 83% of the company’s shares, to inform the Swiss press last month that he had no intention of selling the company.

While not referring to any specific deals, Yu did confirm that CRRC is considering further acquisitions. “So long as it is a policy of CRRC that will improve its position in the market, and conforming with the requirements of developing CRRCs business, there is no doubt that CRRC will be willing to acquire other enterprises,” he says.

Certification

CRRC is looking to build on its recent export successes, including in Buenos Aires.

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Part of the reasoning for the rumoured interest in Stadler offered by Spuhler was for the bidder to gain a greater understanding of national licensing procedures in Europe. Indeed questions remain whether CRRC’s current range of products are able to meet Europe’s tougher certification requirements.

However, Yu was keen to downplay the issue. He says that the company’s understanding is based on the input of European and Japanese engineers who

IRJ April 2016

The CRRC delegatioin, including Weiping Yu (centre left), meet Kevin Smith in Berlin.

clearly complied with the regulations when developing their products.

“When we started developing our technical systems, we absorbed three main manufacturers’ technologies,” Yu says. “From Europe we have brought in the technology of Siemens and Alstom, and from Asia we imported the technical expertise of Kawasaki as an Asian technical system. We have developed our independent products and innovation on the basis of European standards. That’s why it is not difficult for Chinese to produce Europeanstandard rolling stock, not only for highspeed trains but for other products. For example we passed the TSI a few years

ago for our tank wagons.”

Throughout the interview and during his presentation, Yu reiterated the desire of CRRC to take the lead in developing the next-generation of environmentallyfriendly rolling stock and railway systems. Inevitably research and development has played a critical role in delivering CRRC to its current position, and will remain crucial to its future. The company invested Yuan 3.7bn in the first half of 2015, an increase of 19.4% compared with Yuan 3.1bn invested in the same period in 2014, and Yu says this upward trajectory will persist.

“For R&D CRRC emphasises

developing intelligence that will provide leading technology,” Yu says.

“This R&D must be carried out for our advantage but also to meet customer demand. We are currently considering how to customise our offerings to make more suitable rolling stock products that meet our clients’ requirements.”

During his presentation Yu referred to the current development of high-speed freight trains and new high-speed rolling stock. Many of these innovations may be on display at InnoTrans later this year where Yu promises CRRC will show a number of new products. CRRC will exhibit in Berlin as an integrated company for the first time and no doubt the company’s representatives will again be enthusiastic to push its solutions to prospective European customers.

Yu’s observations during his presentation in Berlin may well have rustled a few feathers among the European suppliers in the audience, particularly those that partnered with CSR and CNR in their early days of development. After all if CRRC is successful in fulfilling its strategy to crack the European market and to grow exports in all other regions around the world, these suppliers will suffer.

As Hitachi has already shown with success in the British market, the socalled Asian threat to European manufacturers’ hegemony in their home region is now very real. CRRC, armed with affordable and technologically sound products, is hoping it will soon make a further dent. IRJ

Interview | Alstom

Alstom focuses on the rail business and goes for growth With the sale of its power generation and turbine business to GE at the end of last year, Alstom has been left to focus entirely on its rail activities. Chairman and CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge explains the company’s growth strategy to Keith Barrow.

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OUNDING off a year dominated by mergers and acquisitions, the completion of GE’s É12bn takeover of Alstom’s energy activities on November 2 recast one of the industry’s leading players as a company dedicated solely to the rail business.

With the completion of the transaction Mr Patrick Kron resigned as chairman and CEO, his place at the helm taken by director and executive vice-president Mr Henri PoupartLafarge, who had led Alstom Transport since 2011.

Last year France’s economy minister Mr Emmanuel Macron said Alstom’s challenge is to grow, and that the reduction of debt from the sale of the energy business “should help it to acquire competitors internationally.”

While Alstom has not publically disclosed an interest in any potential purchases, Poupart-Lafarge says the company is now in stronger position to pursue expansion in this way.

“The GE deal has two important consequences,” Poupart-Lafarge told IRJ. “Firstly, it strengthens Alstom by giving us the ability to pursue growth both organically and strategically.

Secondly, it gives us the momentum and dynamism to reinforce our position in the market, putting us closer to our customers, and giving us a platform for strategic partnerships.”

Over the last year Alstom has continued to expand its rail portfolio with a number of strategic acquisitions.

The purchase of Motola Train in Sweden and a 51% stake in South Africa’s Commuter Transport &

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Locomotive Engineering have enabled the company to strengthen its position in the rolling stock overhaul and refurbishment market. In the signalling business, Alstom has acquired Balfour Beatty’s stake in Britain’s Signalling Solutions, a 50:50 joint venture between the two companies established in 2007.

Proceeds from the sale of the energy business were used to acquire GE’s signalling activities, a transaction worth around É700m which boosts Alstom’s signalling sales by around 40%.

At the end of last year Alstom increased its stake in Russia’s Transmashholding to 33%, while in February it acquired an additional 25% stake in the Kazakh EKZ joint venture locomotive manufacturer from Kazakhstan Railways (KTZ) to become the main shareholder with a 50% holding.

Poupart-Lafarge says Alstom will consider further opportunities for acquisitions if they are “good for the company” but he rejects the suggestion that Alstom needs to grow to compete with China’s vast CRRC Corporation, which is actively seeking to expand its international business (p22). “This is not a strategy to compete with one

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As part of the Gibela consortium, Alstom is delivering 600 Xtrapolis commuter trains to Prasa, 580 of which will be built at a new plant in South Africa.

competitor or another,” he says. “It’s about having a global footprint, being present in all key markets, and providing a complete range of solutions for all the sectors we are active in.”

Our order book is looking good at the moment, and while the situation varies between countries, I think it’s fair to say the market is firm worldwide. Henri Poupart-Lafarge

IRJ April 2016

Alstom achieved sales of É6.2bn in the 2014-15 financial year and the company’s order backlog stood at a record É28.7bn on December 31 2015.

The company is active in over 60 countries and employs around 32,000 staff. Poupart-Lafarge says Alstom has emerged from the GE deal in good financial health, and he is confident the rail equipment market will remain strong, despite the weakening global economy.

“Our order book is looking good at the moment and while the situation varies between countries I think it’s fair

IRJ April 2016

to say the market is firm worldwide,” Poupart Lafarge says.

Europe remains at the core of Alstom’s business, accounting for 63% of sales in the first three quarters of the 2015-16 financial year, although recent successes elsewhere in the world particularly in emerging markets - are helping to diversify revenue sources.

“Our business is two-thirds European it’s a large part of the market and our industrial base, so you would expect that,” says Poupart Lafarge. “We see a number of interesting prospects in Europe, such as the British market,

which is quite buoyant at the moment with High Speed 2 and contracts for London Underground coming up.

However, the fastest-growing sector is urban and suburban rail in developing countries.”

Forging alliances One of Alstom’s most prominent current projects falls into this category, and demonstrates how the company is forging alliances with local partners to win business in emerging markets. In December 2013, Passenger Rail Agency

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Interview | Alstom

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Increasingly we see that operators are taking the total cost of ownership into account at the procurement stage.

of South Africa awarded Gibela Rail, a consortium of Alstom (61%) Ubumbano Rail (30%), and New Africa Rail (9%) a Rand 51bn ($US 3.4bn) contract to supply 600 six-car Xtrapolis commuter trains, 580 of which will be assembled at a new manufacturing plant and maintenance facility at Dunnottar, 50km east of Johannesburg. Gibela broke ground on the factory on March 4 and the first South African-built trains are due to roll off the production line next year.

Poupart-Lafarge. “Increasingly we see that operators are taking the total cost of ownership into account at the procurement stage and this means factors such as maintainability and energy consumption are becoming more important.”

Alstom is one of the founding members of the Shift2Rail joint

undertaking for rail research and Poupart-Lafarge is an enthusiastic supporter of the programme.

“Anything that improves the efficiency of the rail system in Europe is a very important step,” he says. The goal of reducing life-cycle costs by 50% is very ambitious, but it’s important that we achieve it. We need to ensure the efficiency of the rail system through greater standardisation.”

Poupart-Lafarge also believes the Fourth Railway Package will improve efficiency through the introduction of measures to streamline rolling stock approvals. “The Technical Pillar is a step in the right direction at the European level and it’s crucial that more power goes to ERA, because the homologation of new equipment is taking far too long.” he says. “This is an important regulatory and innovation issue that we have to address.”

Free of net debt and with a bulging orderbook, Alstom is undoubtedly in a strong position to emerge as one of the winners in the current round of industry consolidation. The focus will remain on expanding the non-European business and Alstom’s tried-and-tested strategy of establishing local partnerships to penetrate new markets looks set to continue, and while organic growth remains a core objective, further expansion through strategic acquisitions looks almost certain. IRJ

Supply chain Localisation of the supply chain will be vital to reach Prasa’s target of 70% South African content, and Gibela is in the process of recruiting 250 South African suppliers for the project.

Last November Alstom was awarded a Rs 230bn ($US 3.5bn) contract by Indian Railways (IR) to supply 800 double-unit Prima electric locomotives.

The project will be delivered through a joint venture company, with the IR holding a 26% stake, and all except the first five units will be assembled at a new factory in the Indian state of Bihar.

Both of these major orders include lengthy maintenance contracts, and like many of its competitors, Alstom sees significant potential for developing the fleet management side of its business, which already accounts for 15-20% of the company’s turnover. “For new operators, or existing operators buying new trains, it can often be simpler to outsource the maintenance of their fleets,” says

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Alstom opened a new LRV production line at Tavauté in Brazil last year.

IRJ April 2016

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Italy | FS

FS eyes improvements ahead of priva Renato Mazzoncini was appointed CEO of Italian State Railways (FS) on December 1 2015 following the resignation of the entire FS board on November 26 because of a failure to agree on how to privatise the national railway. Mazzoncini, who was previously CEO of FS subsidiary Busitalia, outlines his priorities and objectives for FS in an exclusive interview with David Briginshaw.

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HE Italian government has now decided to postpone the initial public offering (IPO) for FS until 2017 and Italian State Railways (FS) CEO Mr Renato Mazzoncini says attention should not be focussed on when the IPO will take place but how.

“We must arrive at it well, readying the group, improving the areas that are currently not profitable, whilst also keeping an eye on market trends,” Mazzoncini told IRJ. “Right now, the only sector truly ready to enter the market is high-speed, in as much as it is the only one in which we are operating within a clear regulatory context, but even that is not enough for it to look attractive to investors.

“Our goal is to substantially improve

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the other sectors as well, in order to have an efficient company throughout its component parts. That is why we are fine-tuning the industrial plan and looking with interest at what the Ministry of Transport & Infrastructure is doing in order to create a stable regulatory framework, a sine qua non for us to develop our business optimally. The parameters for the stock market listing will only be resolved at the end of this process.

“The company will in any event remain vertically integrated, and a decision will have to be made on the issue of ownership of the railway network, an asset worth É26bn, although it is not remunerated under the current regulatory system.”

The 16,700km network is currently managed by Italian Rail Network (RFI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of FS. In the meantime, the financial performance of FS is going from strength-to-strength. FS reported a 2.5% increase in net profit in the first half of 2015 to É292m, and Mazzoncini says the trend for the full-year results is going in the right direction. “What is emerging is a balance sheet I am pleased with, marked by a result showing clear growth compared with 2014,” Mazzoncini says. “Thanks also to the work of the previous management and the whole FS team, FS is profitable and with excellent prospects. The 2016 budget confirms the positive trend, but we are waiting for the industrial plan

Photo: Marco Stellini

atisation in 2017

which will be presented to all our stakeholders this summer.”

A key element of this plan is a rationalisation of FS’ railfreight activities, as Mazzoncini explains: “In the FS Group, we currently have 10 different companies dealing with traction and logistics. Some of the activities are managed by Trenitalia, as is the case of the Cargo division, others by RFI, such as Terminali Italia, while yet another group is directly controlled by FS. The goal is to create a freight subholding that groups together all the traction and logistics companies.”

Mazzoncini says he wants to present FS’ freight business as a “unified, plausible and reliable interlocutor” so that FS can compete more effectively

with road transport, its main competitor.

Transapline Mazzoncini says the opening of the Gotthard and Brenner base tunnels will put rail in a strong position to develop transalpine rail traffic which will become “the future cornerstone of our business.” He says the keyword is intermodal: by using rail over long distances and road for collection and delivery “we might subtract market share from trucks, with far-reaching benefits to the environment as well. In 2015 alone, we have removed 1.5 million trucks from the road, thereby saving 1.1 million tonnes of CO2.”

Mazzoncini says the other main challenge for the new business plan is local public transport. “We have to convince commuters to choose the train for their daily transfers, and to do that we need to improve the service,” he says. “We have to rethink mobility in the big cities, and FS intends to play a prominent role in this.”

FS wants to work with public transport companies, and incorporate complimentary activities such as car sharing and cycling into its offer. “In order to do this, we need a stable regulatory framework, something the government is currently working on,” Mazzoncini says.

Meanwhile, FS will continue to purchase new commuter trains. Since

31

Italy | FS

“

“We will do whatever is needed to export the quality of Trenitalia highspeed services to other networks.

Renato Mazzoncini

2009 FS has ordered 360 new trains, 200 of which have already been delivered.

This will continue under a É4.5bn framework contract for the purchase of 500 trains. Mazzoncini says development of commuter services might include taking over urban road transport companies.

As far as expansion outside Italy is concerned, Mazzoncini says the plan envisages bidding for turnkey contracts to realise high-speed lines, especially in developing countries, and operating trains on profitable European corridors.

“Our Frecciarossa 1000 is interoperable, and is ready to travel on the high-speed networks of eight European countries,” Mazzoncini says. “We will do whatever is needed to export the quality of Trenitalia high-speed services to other networks, and we feel that the Paris Brussels route is an excellent opportunity for us to focus our efforts.

“Unfortunately, at present there are technical obstacles that threaten competition: for example, the KVB signalling system on this line, which has unfortunately been discontinued since 2012, is still active. In short, we are ready to launch an assault on foreign markets, so let’s hope they allow us to do so.”

Referring to the extra É17bn allocated by the Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport in February to develop the infrastructure, Mazzoncini says: “The improvement of the network is essential, since it will enable us, for instance, to improve the regularity and punctuality of regional and suburban trains within the large urban hubs.”

Mazzoncini says the funds will also be used to complete the Italian sections of the four TEN-T Corridors which cross

32

Italy, to increase capacity for freight, and develop the network in southern Italy.

The total value of the FS 2015-2020 programme ageement master plan is É74bn, but only part of it has been funded so far. É45bn is earmarked for the works relating to the TEN-T corridors, É17bn is for the development of the national network, É8bn relates to network safety and improving maintenance, and É4bn to technical innovation. “As of 2015, FS was still the leading company in Italy in terms of investment, spending more than É5bn annually,” Mazzoncini says.

Liberalised Mazzoncini is enthusiastic about the opportunities the Fourth Railway Package will offer when it is adopted resulting in the creation of a liberalised single European rail market, although he has qualms about some of the elements which have been dropped. “FS is ready to compete in the other European countries,” Mazzoncini explains. “At present, Italy is the only country in the world where there is a competitor on the high-speed network: a positive experience for the companies and the passengers alike. Competition has prompted us to improve our service and make it more attractive, both from a qualitative viewpoint and in terms of ticket prices. All European citizens must be able to avail themselves of these benefits.

“We have lent full support to the technical pillar of the Fourth Railway Package, which has been reduced in scope, but ERA will be responsible for authorising the rolling stock earmarked

for trans-border traffic, as well as for the installation of ERTMS. We regret that the obligation to call tenders for public service contracts by 2019 has completely disappeared. What is left is opening up the market to commercial traffic, but it will be necessary to assess the conditions and limitations.”

FS already has two passenger operations outside Italy: Thello, a joint venture with Transdev which has been operating Italy-France cross-border services since 2012, and Netinera which it acquired from German Rail (DB) following Arriva’s acquisition by DB in 2011.

Thello generated a turnover of about É29m in 2014, which increased significantly in 2015 to around É45m.

“It is undoubtedly an important international partnership in the European rail passenger market, and we are assessing the possibility of extending the activity to other continental routes as well,” Mazzoncini reveals.

Mazzoncini says Netinera, which operates passenger concessions in Germany, is also doing very well and ended 2014 with a É423m turnover, which increased by around 35% in 2015 É573m. “We are counting on further expansion in the German public transport market over the next few years,” he says.

With additional capital funding for infrastructure, a willingness to advance rail technology, improving financial performance, and a determination to expand into new markets once the obstacles to competition have finally been swept away, FS looks set to grow still further as it prepares for partial privatisation in 2017. IRJ

IRJ April 2016

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Italy | Trenitalia

Transferring high-speed success to freight and regional services

Mobile ticketing is one way in which Trenitalia is enhancing its relationship with customers.

Buoyed by continuing growth in the face of a lacklustre economy and strong competition, Trenitalia has set its sights on further opportunities to develop its business, as CEO Barbara Morgante explains.

D

ESPITE increasing competition and the absence of a strong economic recovery in Italy, Trenitalia is continuing its positive trend with growth and solid results, witnessed by a stable Ebitda margin of around 26% in both 2014 and 2015. In 2015 passenger journeys almost reached 520 million compared with 512 million in 2014, and passenger-km almost 40 billion while tonne-km increased to 15.5 billion.

With the evolution of EU legislation,

34

the most important challenge facing Trenitalia is the opening of both the passenger and freight markets. Thanks to on-rail competition on the high-speed network in the last few years, Trenitalia has already strengthened its competence and skills in an open-access market and we are fully confident that we will continue to be successful.

The local transport business in Italy will be characterised over the next few years by an increase in public tenders that will represent the starting point for

an increasingly liberalised market.

Frecciarossa is an outstanding success: we have launched extensive high-speed services which have transformed the way people travel across the country.

High-speed services have increased their performance dramatically since 2010, reaching 11 billion passenger-km in 2015 and are expected to improve further in the future.

Despite the open-access market and the presence of a very challenging private competitor like NTV, unique in

IRJ April 2016

Europe, the Freccia brand maintains its profitability, with an Ebitda margin of around 35%. On the routes in direct competition with NTV, Trenitalia still retains a market share of around 80%, thanks to our continuing innovation and focus on customer needs.

We pride ourselves on our customercentric approach, aided by processing data and information to understand our customers’ priorities to better shape our offer. This approach led us to replace the traditional two classes of travel with four levels of service on our Frecciarossa fleet, with a service offer that better meets the needs of today’s diverse customer base.

“

time reductions, and in this situation we expect traffic demand and market share will increase even more.

As far as regional transport is concerned, today we manage 20 public service contracts for local services with the regions and half of them are already secured until almost 2020, either by direct assignments or public tenders as, for example, in Emilia Romagna. We are in the negotiation process for the remaining contracts and we expect to sign new contracts or extend the duration of the existing ones shortly.

The introduction of new direct services between Catania and Palermo in Sicily has been a resounding success.

It should be a priority to improve connectivity between

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the different types of infrastructure and to create a more rail-oriented regulatory framework.

We have completely redesigned our product with a dramatic improvement in brand awareness, and we redesigned our approach to staff recruitment for the new high-speed services by selecting people with the best customer-focused attitude. The result is a very high appreciation from our customers which is reflected in our customer satisfaction index results. Our new Frecciarossa 1000 trains, 20 of which are currently in service, is the next step in making our customers happier.

We are strongly committed to digital transformation as we believe this will benefit the company by delighting our customers through their whole travel experience, simplifying purchasing procedures, enhancing our on-board services, and thereby improving business relationships with customers.

Although we have technically achieved the increase in the maximum speed for ETR 1000 trains to 360km/h, as I witnessed recently with a run up to 385km/h during a night trial, we are currently working with suppliers, certification body Italcertifer and the National Safety Authority in order to obtain all the certificates and homologations required for commercial service.

Before the arrival of high-speed, a journey from Rome to Milan took 4h 30min and rail’s market share was less than 50%, now it takes 2h 55min and rail’s market share is more than 60%.

With a maximum speed of 360km/h there will be further significant journey

IRJ April 2016

They started in March 2015 with 14 round trips per day, in place of the single round trip. In 2015 we reached nearly 70 million passenger-km, with a load factor of almost 40% and carried more than 1700 passengers per day.

Our intention is to improve the quality of regional services while being aware that, according to the public service contracts, any decision regarding their modification is the responsibility of regional authorities. As in the case of Sicily, we are ready to study the technical feasibility of new proposals and put them in place in the most efficient way.

Railfreight Turning to railfreight, in the completely open-access market in Italy, Trenitalia’s share is around 65%. Road still plays a self-evident leading role, with rail’s market share only 10%. The ambitious target defined by the minister of transport to transfer 30% of freight travelling more than 300km from road to rail could be met by improving multimodality between rail, road and sea transport to win new traffic coming from ports as well as through measures intended to favour the use of freight trains, not least for environmental reasons. To this end, it should be a priority to improve connectivity between the different types of infrastructure and to create a more railoriented regulatory framework.

The completion of the European TEN-

35

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Italy | Trenitalia

“

Trenitalia has already strengthened its competence and skills in an open-access market and we are fully confident that we will continue to be successful.

Barbara Morgante

Tunnel. We have signed a long-term cooperation agreement to manage international passenger transport jointly in order to improve service quality and comfort. This agreement has already yielded positive results: a recent concrete example is the transport of 285,000 passengers between Italy and Switzerland during Expo 2015 in Milan.

So we have high expectations for the opening of Gotthard Base Tunnel that will reduce the Zurich - Milan journey time from 4 hours to 3h 30min, while the opening of Ceneri tunnel in 2020 will reduce it still further to 3 hours. In order to satisfy new potential demand, from 2017 services on the Gotthard

Photo: Keith Fender

T rail network will be a great opportunity to improve freight transport on safer and lessovercrowded lines. Italy is served by four of the 10 corridors and Trenitalia is ready to take advantage of the new opportunities for international freight transport, thanks to its important position on the three axes: north-south, east and west. We will need to continue to develop our multimodal business, since the four corridors connect the most important Italian ports.

Trenitalia and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) established a strong cooperation some years ago in order to prepare for the opening of the Gotthard Base

route will be slightly increased with the introduction of two trains per day between Venice and Zurich.

Furthermore, in December 2015 we improved passenger comfort on the route by replacing old ETR 470 trains with new ETR 610 Pendolino EMUs. We are working fruitfully with our Swiss colleagues to maintain and improve punctuality even though there are many construction sites along the line.

We also have good expectations for freight: in addition to the increase in traffic that will be generated by the tunnel opening, Swiss transport policy continues to support a shift from road to rail, with a significant road transport reduction target in the next few years.

Regarding investment, in the last four years, Trenitalia has invested around É3.5bn to purchase the ETR1000 fleet along with 250 electric and diesel trains for commuter services.

For the future, Trenitalia recently launched a tender to establish a framework agreement for the purchase of a maximum of 500 electric and diesel trains worth around É4.5bn. The new trains will be used for regional and urban services, supporting those public service contracts that include a provision for new trains. The first order within the framework agreement is for 85 trains for use in Emilia Romagna, as regulated in the tender awarded to Trenitalia.

I can say our main goal for regional and freight transport is to achieve the same results as we achieved in highspeed during the last few years, and we are striving to achieve this in the near future. IRJ

Morgante says that despite strong competition from NTV, Trenitalia’s Freccia high-speed brand has remained profitable.

36

IRJ April 2016

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Italy | infrastructure

Italian Rail Network embarks on spending spree Italy’s infrastructure manager, Italian Rail Network (RFI), will receive a massive injection of additional government funds to invest in upgrading the network and increasing capacity. Maurizio Gentile, RFI’s CEO, explains to David Briginshaw how the money will be spent.

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HE Contract Programme between the Ministry of Infrastructure & Transport and Italian Rail Network (RFI) announced on February 11 will provide RFI with an extra É17bn for capital investment. The funds are provided through the 2015 and 2016 stability laws and the 2014 Unblock Italy Decree.

“The É17bn of new investment offers us a great opportunity to give Italy the additional new railway infrastructure it needs and improve existing lines, which will enable us to respond effectively to the mobility needs of the large metropolitan areas and urban centres,” RFI’s CEO Mr Maurizio Gentile told IRJ. Around É9bn of the 2015 update of

Photo: Marco Stellini

38

the 2012-2016 Contract Programme will be used to start work on projects designed to improve local public transport, encourage the transfer of freight to rail, and continue work on three major projects: the Brescia - Padua section of the Milan - Venice high-speed line the Terzo Valico dei Giovi project - a 53km new line, 37km of which is in tunnels, to improve access to the port of Genoa from Turin and Milan as part of the Rhine-Alpine TEN-T Corridor, and the Brenner Base Tunnel link with Austria as part of the Scandinavia Mediterranean TEN-T Corridor.

In all, about É5.4bn of the É9bn will be used to develop the four TEN-T

European corridors crossing Italy, the other two comprising Baltic-Adriatic and Mediterranean. “The connections to the rail networks of other European countries are fundamental for development and both national and continental growth,” Gentile says. “We will strengthen these rail links with new infrastructure and the latest technology.

We will develop freight traffic by enhancing axleloads, loading gauge and train length, fostering modal interchange of goods through the creation of links to the main Italian ports, dry ports and logistics terminals.”

The opening of the 64km É8.8bn Brenner Base Tunnel is scheduled for 2026. “This is a unique opportunity for

us to facilitate faster connections between Italy, Austria, and Central and Northern Europe for both passengers and freight,” Gentile says. Works are also in progress to upgrade the access lines to the Brenner from the south. “We are working to quadruple about 180km of the Fortezza - Verona line; and in Verona, the ScandinavianMediterranean Corridor will intersect with the Mediterranean Corridor, creating a railway system of great value,” Gentile explains. “These actions will improve performance by removing the constraint of the maximum gradient, which will be reduced from the current 2.2% to 1.2%. There will also be an increase in commercial speed, thus eliminating bottlenecks through the Brenner Pass and increasing the capacity of the ScandinavianMediterranean Corridor. In addition, with the additional tracks, passenger traffic will be separated

from freight, a key aspect to improve regularity and punctuality.”

Regarding the additional É8.2bn provided by the 2016 Stability Law focusing on investments in southern Italy, Gentile says technical meetings will be held to determine its best use.

The update of the 2015 Contract Programme provides more than É3.5bn to improve urban and regional transport, with particular emphasis on eliminating bottlenecks at the points of entry to the major urban centres and important commuter lines.

“About É350m has been earmarked

for the adaptation of the major urban nodes” Gentile says.

“The increased capacity demands will be met through the use of ERTMS, initially ETCS Level 2 with Level 3 functions, overlapping our SCMT train speed control system and will be implemented in urban and metropolitan nodes using high-density ERTMS functions (see panel p36). We see no need

39

Italy | infrastructure to install CBTC, which is not interoperable and is mostly used for metros.”

Regional projects include doubling single-track lines and raising speeds on lines in Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sardinia, as well as on the north-south main lines in southern Italy along the Adriatic coast from Bologna via Rimini and Bari to Lecce/Taranto, and the Tyrrhenian coast from Battipaglia south of Salerno to Reggio Calabria.

“Stations will be upgraded to improve accessibility, comfort, and public information systems, as well as all the actions we plan to promote genuine sustainable mobility, integrated with other means of public transport and bicycles,” Gentile adds.

RFI also want to improve the overall reliability and availability of the rail network by carrying out work to prevent landslides, through the proper management of seismic events, the continuous monitoring of tunnels, and by eliminating level crossings.

Work is progressing to plug the few remaining gaps in Italy’s high-speed network.

“The Brescia - Padua section is the last missing piece of the Milan - Venice line, which will complete the horizontal axis,” Gentile explains. “In December, the Treviglio - Brescia section will begin to operate and we are collecting observations from the local authorities affected by the alignments of the last two sections: Brescia - Verona and Verona - Padua.

“

The Brescia - Padua section is the last missing piece of the Milan - Venice line, which will complete the horizontal axis.

Maurizio Gentile

“The first two construction lots of the Milan - Genoa high-speed connection are underway and a resolution by the Inter-ministerial Economic Planning Committe (Cipe) authorising the initiation of the third lot was recently published. The conclusion of all the

works is expected by 2021 and will be critical to connecting the port of Genoa to Central and Northern Europe.”

Gentile says important projects are also underway in the south.

The É6.2bn Naples - Bari project involves a mixture of upgrading the

RFI to launch tender for high-density ETCS

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PEAKING at the UIC’s ERTMS conference in Brussels in March, Mr Fabio Senesi, head of control and command systems and telecommunications with RFI, told delegates that RFI plans to launch a tender in June for the first application of a high-density version of ETCS to achieve 3-minute headways on its busiest commuter lines in Rome and Milan.

The first section to be equipped will be between Rome Termini and Ciampino, followed by the line from Rome Tiburtina via Ostiense and St Peter’s to Monte Mario, with a third phase planned from there to Cesano. It is also planned to install the system in Milan from Porta Garibaldi to Greco and Lambrate.

“ETCS high-density will not exactly be ETCS Level 3 with moving block as it will be fixed block but without physical block sections,” Senesi explained. In other words it will be

40

ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3 virtual block with on board train integrity detection overlapped on the national command and control system (SCMT).

Only trains equipped with ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3, the train integrity function active, and connected to the radio block centre, will be able to make use of the virtual blocks in between the conventional fixed blocks. Senesi says RFI has asked the safety authority if it will be possible for drivers of such trains to pass a red signal when the cab display says the next virtual block is free or whether a special signal will have to be installed. The objective is to have the first section in service by 2018.

RFI has been operating ETCS Level 2 Baseline 2 without a fall back on the Turin - Milan - Florence and Rome Naples high-speed lines for 10 years.

This year it will upgrade Rome - Naples to Baseline 2.3.0d and will open the Treviglio - Brescia section of the Milan -

Venice high-speed line with ETCS Level 2 Baseline 2.3.0d. By 2018 Italy’s original high-speed line, the Rome Florence direttissima, will be equipped with ETCS Level 2 followed by the Brescia - Verona section by 2020. This will give RFI 1100km of lines fitted with ETCS Level 2 Baseline 2.

The first application of Baseline 3 with Levels 1 and 2 overlapped with the national signalling system was completed last year on a pilot section of the TEN-T Mediterranean Corridor. This will be followed this year by installation between Ranzo Luino and Domodossola - Iselle on the Swiss border, Iselle Domodossola - Novara next year, Milan Chiasso on the Swiss border by 2018 and Novara - Villa Opicina on the Slovenian border, Verona - Bolzano - Fortezza on the Austrian border, and Milan - Genoa by 2020. RFI plans to invest a total of É500m in ERTMS trackside equipment between 2016 and 2025.

IRJ April 2016

existing line, and building new sections to achieve a line speed of 200km/h. “In October, we will deliver the work plans to the contracting firms for the Naples Cancello and the Cancello - Frasso Telesino sections,” Gentile reveals.

Completion of the project will cut the Naples - Bari journey time from 3h 40min to 2 hours while Rome – Bari will be reduced by 1 hour to 3 hours.

Sicily In Sicily, RFI has a É8.9bn project to upgrade and double sections of the Palermo - Catania - Messina line from where it leaves the Palermo - Messina main line at Fiumetorto to Messina to achieve a maximum speed of 200km/h.

“In October 2015, early works - roads and the preparation of construction sites - were contracted for the Bicocca Catenanuova and Catenanuova Raddusa sections,” Gentile says.

The work, which will begin in spring 2017, will cut the 243km trip from Palermo to Catania from 2h 42min to 1h 44min and the 95km journey from Catania to Messina from 1h 18min to 46 minutes. The line will have capacity to carry 180-200 trains per day.

The high-speed/high-capacity lines are being built to different standards from those of the high-speed network used exclusively by high-speed trains, with more gentle gradients and higher maximum axleloads. These lines will have a minimum curve radius of 5450m, a maximum gradient of 1.8%, a minimum radius for vertical curves of 20km, and a maximum axleload of 25 tonnes. There will also be numerous connections with the conventional network.

While the reconstruction of Turin Porta Susa and Rome Tiburtina stations and the provision of a new underground station in Bologna for high-speed services have been completed, the construction of Florence Belfiore and Naples Afragola highspeed stations has suffered delays.

Gentile says they are critical for the separation of urban and long-distance traffic, releasing tracks for commuter traffic, to create interchanges with urban services, and to avoid through trains having to reverse at the existing terminal stations in Florence and Naples.

The construction of Florence Belfiore station has been delayed due to problems with the disposal of the excavated earth from the tunnels connecting it to the network. Gentile says the opening date will only be

IRJ April 2016

decided after the Ministry for Environment, Land and Sea draws up a new work schedule and the National Research Council (CNR) clears the excavated soil for disposal or reuse.

Florence Belfiore is designed by British architect Sir Norman Forster and is being built on four levels. The platforms are at the deepest level, about 22m below ground. Escalators connect the platforms to a mezzanine. Level 0 will house a passenger centre, a lounge and areas for commercial use, and level 1 will contain a shopping area and management offices.

“As for Naples Afragola, the construction sites were re-launched in March 2015, and the first phase of the work will be completed by the first quarter of 2017, thus rendering the use of the passenger station feasible,”

Gentile says. “The completion of the works for commercial services will be carried out in stages in the years to follow.

“Naples Afragola will become the modal interchange pole for the Rome Naples - Salerno high-speed line and the Naples - Benevento - Bari highcapacity route, through the Naples Cancello link. In addition, it will directly serve the vast and denselypopulated Neapolitan hinterland, as well as Caserta and Nola,” Gentile says.

While Italy has achieved a lot to modernise and expand the network, there is clearly still a lot to do. RFI says it will now focus its efforts on upgrading the most important conventional main lines and commuter lines, and complete the high-speed network. IRJ

Italy AUSTRIA

Brennero

SWITZERLAND

IRJ

to Vienna HUNGARY

Domodossola

SLOVENIA Udine

to Lyon

Novara

Milan Treviglio

Turi n Terzo Valico to Marseille

Tortona Genoa

CROATIA

Venice Padua

Trieste

Bologna Rimini

Pisa

Zagreb

Verona

Florence

Ancona

BOSNIA Existing main lines Existing lines being upgraded High-speed lines open HS lines under construction Planned high-speed line

Adriatic Sea Pescara

CORSICA Rome

Foggia Porto Torres

Bari

Olbia Naples

Salerno

Brindisi Taranto

SARDINIA

Lecce Tyrrhenian Sea Cagliari

Palermo Trapini N 0

km

SICILY 100

Messina Reggio Calabria Catania

Agrigento Siracuse

41

Middle East | UAE

Etihad Rail DB exceeds customer expectations Commercial operations officially began on the UAE’s inaugural main line railway at the start of the year.

Kevin Smith spoke exclusively with Shadi Malak, acting CEO of Etihad Rail DB, and Niko Warbanoff, CEO of DB International, about the challenges of operating this remarkable line.

R

AIL transport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has come a long way in the past 10 years. From an ambitious vision to extract mineral wealth from its desert interior, history was made in October 2014 when the first train operated on a section of what is now the 264km line from Shah to Habshan and the port at Ruwais.

Trial operations were gradually stepped up and the line had carried more than 4 million tonnes of granulated sulphur for its sole customer, Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) by the end of 2015.

Commercial operations officially began on January 1, and two 1600m-long trains are now running per day, each carrying 11,000 tonnes and taking the cumulative total to more than 5 million tonnes of product shipped.

“We have exceeded the expectations of our client,” says Mr Shadi Malak, acting CEO of Etihad Rail DB, the

42

operator and infrastructure manager of the line. “When we decided to build the railway we had a tough task to convince Adnoc that it would be suitable because they have never used rail before, they have always used pipelines or trucks. But we managed to do that and they are very happy with the result.”

Malak has been involved with the UAE’s railway project, and the country’s national railway Union Railway, which was rebranded as Etihad Rail in 2011, since the very beginning. He initially worked on the feasibility study for the project nine years ago and is now overseeing operations.

Etihad Rail DB is actually a joint venture of Etihad Rail (51%), and German Rail (DB) subsidiaries DB Cargo and DB International (49%), and Malak says that having the backing of a respected operator and railway was

important in selling the idea of rail to its customer.

“To have one of the largest European rail operators working alongside you is an add on to your capability,” Malak says. “DB transports millions of tonnes of freight across Europe so it brings that experience. The German name is also associated with quality – you think of Mercedes Benz and BMW for example.

It was very important to provide this confidence, particularly in the first couple of years.”

DB’s involvement in the project dates back to 2008-09 when Mr Niko Warbanoff, chairman of the board of directors of DB International, says the company began consulting with Union Railway on the operational model for the project. Three options were considered: a concession model, insourcing everything into Etihad Rail, or establishing a joint venture.

Warbanoff says the feeling was that

the joint venture model was right for the project and this proposal was ultimately presented by Etihad Rail to the UAE government. “We believed at the time it was the best option to master the challenges the project faced,” he says.

A tendering process subsequently took place and DB Cargo was selected as the joint venture partner in March 2014 to operate and maintain the first phase of the network, with the company also acting as a consultant for future phases of the UAE’s planned 1200km network.

“We are already working in Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region so we have local experience which we are bringing here,” Warbanoff says.

“For us, it is about being one of the leading companies and railways in the world. The Middle East, the GCC, and the UAE are developing this transport system and we are working as a good partner to do that together.”

Opening the new line has established the UAE as the world’s leading producer of granulated sulphur, a byproduct of gas production and a primary ingredient in fertiliser production. It is an unstable material, which if it is not of a certain quality, can combust when exposed to the atmosphere.

A key reason therefore for Adnoc to choose rail as its primary transport method was the high availability on offer. Indeed the operator currently has a 91.5% punctuality rate. Yet given the remote and hostile environment in which it is operating, Etihad Rail DB has and continues to combat a variety

of challenges to maintain this high standard of performance.

Malak says during development the operator consulted extensively with other railways in Saudi Arabia and China, and from other projects in the region, including road. The company has also learnt a lot from its own experiences during its short time in operations and is continually adapting to the various challenges it faces.

Sand One major issue is sand. Malak says that this has been a challenge since day one and that the railway was designed to mitigate the impact as much as possible; from choosing a certain track geometry to the specific design of the track structure. Ditches and sand traps were also built alongside the railway, while the railway’s seven EMD SD70ACS locomotives are fitted with sand filtration systems.

He says that while not every day, and not all of the railway is affected, sand problems are at least a weekly occurrence, and maintenance-of-way equipment is utilised to clear sand much like it is in other countries to clear snow. There is also an emphasis on preventative work. Etihad Rail DB monitors the movement of sand dunes so they are dealt with before they reach the track while trials are underway of alternative methods to reduce the impact such as planting vegetation in the vicinity of the line.

“One thing we have learnt is that you cannot fight nature,” Malak says. “You cannot keep all of the sand away, some

will come in no matter what you do, and as long as it does not cover the entire track then that is fine. What you can do is adapt to it and design and build your railway in such a way that it does not challenge it.”

The tough environment in which the railway is operating and the hazardous material that it is carrying necessitated the deployment of sophisticated equipment. For example the 240 covered wagons manufactured by CSR are very sophisticated in their design but Malak says this has come with issues. For instance, the fleet team and technicians have had to optimise the wagons’ sensors and changed the locking mechanism on the hatches since they were delivered.

Other challenges are posed by wildlife in the area. Problems with camels were foreseen but Malak admits no-one predicted the difficulties that gazelles might pose to the railway. He says the company is now working with the UAE’s environment agency to deal with the situation. People too are a problem for operations. Campers, which head out into the desert at weekends, often hundreds of kilometres from civilisation, have presented difficulties, mostly because they have never seen a railway before and are not aware of the potential dangers. “You have to literally visit their houses, farms, and schools to warn them about the danger of going on the track,” Malak says.

The remoteness of the project meant that providing a suitable environment for its employees to live and work was another major consideration. Etihad

43

Middle East | UAE

“

To have one of the largest European rail operators working alongside you is an add on to your capability.

Shadi Malak

Shadi Malak (centre) and Niko Warbanoff (right) speak to Kevin Smith in Berlin.

“We hit two birds with one stone,” he says. “First we are providing proper accommodation and something we like for our employees, and secondly we are giving back to society because we are doing it through investors in the region where the railway is located so it benefits their situation.”

Workforce development is a major

Rail DB employs approximately 200 people and Malak says work is underway through a private partnership to build an accommodation complex, including schools, for its employees and their families, which will make it more attractive for those currently commuting from Abu Dhabi to live closer to their place of work.

United Arab Emirates Line in service Planned lines Ras Al Khaiman QATAR Khor Fakkan Doha

Dubai

Persian Gulf

Fujairah

Jebel Ali Khalifa Port Ghweifat

Abu Dhabi Airport Ruwais

Al Ain

Al Mirfa

Strong position

Tarif Musaffah N SAUDI ARABIA

0

km

Habshan

OMAN

100 Mezaira’a Shah

44

focus for the UAE’s railway programme because of the lack of domestic railway experience. The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training signed a memorandum of understanding with Thales in 2014 to develop a new training academy to provide Emiratis with high-level professional and academic training programmes. In addition, as part of the joint venture agreement, DB is allowing access to courses at its training academy, while Etihad Rail DB established a human resources excellence programme which is enabling UAE nationals to gain onthe-job experience.

“In this programme they come to Germany and we teach them different disciplines, including in technical and administrative areas,” Warbanoff says.

“They team up with the people in the DB group and they get to know exactly how we work. Many of them who have returned to the UAE are still in touch with DB and are continuing to exchange knowledge.”

IRJ

Malak says such initiatives are critical for the UAE as it begins its railway journey and he says in the long-term it will place Etihad Rail DB in a strong position to secure additional business.

Indeed Malak says the company has ambitious plans for development and has identified three key areas for

IRJ April 2016

expansion: carrying additional commodities on the existing line, operating other services and lines as the UAE network grows, and operating services in other GCC states as they come online.

“Etihad Rail DB as a joint venture is very well-positioned to win some of these things over the next three or four years,” he says. “We understand what we need in the Middle East and North Africa as much as anyone else, and obviously DB demonstrates that it understands other countries. It will require a lot of work, but that’s the vision and the ambition.”

Despite recent slowdowns in some key projects, most notably the second phase of the UAE network, and in Oman, the Middle East rail market is estimated to be worth around $US 80bn. As well as presenting opportunities to Etihad Rail DB, this is a potential boon for suppliers.

Yet this remains potential. For existing operators the relative small size of the industry in the region means that many manufacturers have yet to commit to establishing local facilities, meaning that there is a very limited supply chain.

“In Europe if you are missing a spare part, or if you are missing a technician, there are plenty of places to get one,” Malak says. “In the UAE, where the railway always has to be available because of the commodity that we are carrying, and because we have a demanding customer, we have to procure things in advance and have higher stocks than you normally would have because we don’t have the suppliers here, even for the smallest pieces of equipment. Everything has to

Etihad Rail DB’s seven EMD SD70ACS locomotives are fitted with special sand filtration systems.

be done in-house or you have to import it.”

Clearly this is not just a challenge for Etihad Rail DB but for all of the railways currently or planning to operate in the region and must be addressed.

While Malak says he regularly attends conferences and events to talk with and establish relationships with suppliers, he is keen to develop these connections with the backing of the entire region.

“With the current project we may attract some suppliers and get them interested despite what they may view as limited demand compared with what you have in Europe,” he says. “But we can add on the Dubai RTA, the operator

of the metro and tram, SRO and SAR in Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, which is also building a railway. If we can get all these companies to come together we could end up convincing lots of suppliers to locate offices here and take the Middle East a lot more seriously.”

Malak laughs off suggestions that he is a champion for rail, saying that people can call him what they like. Yet he is adamant of the importance of seeing the bigger picture and trying to secure a better working environment, not just for Etihad Rail DB, but the entire Middle East.

“We are not just building a railway we’re building an industry and everything we do now sets a precedent for the future,” he says. IRJ

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High speed | Spain

Spain pushes ahead with high-speed plans With several line extensions set to open this year and further projects underway, high-speed rail remains the major priority for the Spanish government’s infrastructure budget. Fernando Puente charts recent developments and the next steps in Spain’s high-speed story.

M

ANY things have changed in Spain’s economic and institutional landscape since the Great Recession hit the country hard in late 2008 and brought its banking sector to its knees in 2012. But a single trait has remained steadfast through the avalanche of structural reforms of the last few years: the tireless extension of a state-of-the-art high-speed rail network, which is planned to reach every corner of the Iberian Peninsula.

With the latest line openings in 2015, Spain’s 2900km high-speed network is now the world’s second largest after China, just ahead of Japan, and Europe’s largest, with plans in place to eventually develop 5000km of lines.

The first project, the Madrid - Seville line, opened in 1992 using 1435mm standard gauge instead of Spain’s conventional 1668mm Iberian gauge. This was intended to allow straightforward integration with the European network via France but has multiplied the number

Photo: David Gubler

46

of internal interoperability border points.

This problem was solved through the extensive deployment of variable-gauge trains and standardised gauge-changing facilities using Talgo and CAF technology.

They are in effect movable border points: once work to extend a new line is complete, the gauge-changer which was serving its former end section is disassembled, transferred to the new extremity of the route and reassembled again.

Renfe’s high-speed services carried more than 35 million passengers in 2015 and are marketed in three different categories: AVE and Avant brands are used for long-distance and regional routes respectively, and reach most of the major cities with four main lines radiating from Madrid to Barcelona and France, Valencia and Alicante on the east coast, Seville and Malaga in Andalusia, and Valladolid, Leon and Zamora in the north west quadrant which is still severed from the rest of

the network. Finally, dual-gauge Alvia services are routed over both the new lines and the conventional network to reach destinations still not served by high-speed rail.

The character of Spanish high-speed is defined not by its length or the volume of the resources mobilised, but the frantic rate of development. It took Japan three decades to surpass the 2000km mark, but Spain reached this milestone in just 18 years. With a gross average of 114km of high-speed lines entering service every year up to October 2014 since its first opening, Spain’s construction pace is second only to China’s, and lies well ahead of France, Germany and Italy, the other three European countries with comparable systems. As a result, Spain’s lines are also the youngest on the continent: a weighted mean of nine years, compared with 18 in France, 15 in Germany and 13 years in Italy.

The same has happened with its high-

High speed | Spain of the total investment in the completed lines - around É10bn - has been funded directly by the European Union through different transfer programmes.

A study by AT Kearney, commissioned by construction companies association Seopan and published in September 2015, concluded that Spanish high-speed rail has come not only at a lower cost in absolute terms, but also compared with other countries. With a price tag of É14m per kilometre, its average cost is the same as France, and lies well below that of Germany (É22m per-km), Italy (É40m) or Japan (É30m).

“

return for the Treasury through taxation at 50 cents.

While the expansion plans have recently attracted some criticism because of their ambitions for development, high-speed rail is favoured by a clear majority in the Spanish parliament and remains a must-have for major municipalities not already on the network. However, this massive investment programme’s momentum has had to confront the stark reality of public debt and deficit.

Constrained by a thorough reform programme agreed with the EU four

High-speed rail is favoured by a clear majority in the Spanish parliament and remains a must-have for major municipalities.

The reasons for this relatively inexpensive cost structure are varied, but include low land acquisition costs because of a low population density in most areas, cheaper financial guarantees for Spanish companies, and according to the report, “a workforce at a lower cost than in the Nordic countries and more productive than that of the emerging markets.” It also estimates the total impact of infrastructure for the Spanish economy as a whole at É1.90 per one euro invested, and its final

years ago, the central government has made several concessions and adapted its ambitious projects. Indeed, while high-speed rail has continued to appear year-after-year as the infrastructure investment budget’s top priority, some corridors have been postponed, works have been delayed and central planners are now taking a more pragmatic and phased approach to network growth.

This is the case with two new highspeed lines which opened last year.

After inaugurating the Ourense -

Photo: José Ramón Ampudia

speed train fleet, comprising 230 trains with an average age of just 11 years. Of these 101 are dual-gauge capable and 14 also have hybrid traction to run on lines without electrification. Renfe has invested É5.5bn since 1992 (adjusted for inflation), with five manufacturers Talgo, CAF, Alstom, Siemens and Bombardier - supplying 11 different train series.

In late 2015 Renfe launched a tender to buy a minimum of 15 more highspeed trains for É1.1bn. This was the first contract of this kind for a decade and will include 15-years’ maintenance, with an option to buy up to 30 additional units and extend maintenance to 40 years. With 400 seats each and a maximum commercial speed of 320km/h, the new trains will be multi-system (25kV 50Hz ac/1.5kV dc/3kV dc) and some of them will be equipped with TVM 430 to enable operation in France. The contract is expected to be awarded this year.

To become the world’s second longest network, Spain has invested more than É45bn in completed infrastructures and has allocated É12bn more to lines currently under construction. That may seem a big sum given the size of the country, equating to around 4% of GDP. But it is a modest amount when compared with the per-km cost of other high-speed networks around the world.

It should also be taken into consideration that more than one fifth

The Burgos - Vallodolid high-speed line is due to open later this year and is designed for a future upgrade to double-track.

48

IRJ April 2016

Santiago (2011) and Albacete - Alicante (2013) lines, in 2015 the Madrid Valladolid trunk was extended towards León and Zamora. The latest stretches consist of two single-track sections but which were designed and constructed for double track, with passing loops installed in some sections and in major towns. This approach cut some superstructure installation and maintenance costs while adjusting actual line capacity to demand.

The same option was chosen for the Valladolid - Burgos and Antequera Granada lines, both of which are in the final stages of construction and are expected to open in 2016. For the Extremadura corridor from Madrid to the Portuguese border, a different approach was taken. The western portion of this line will open several years before the eastern section, but without electrification with diesel traction the only option to connect Madrid with Badajoz and Portugal. As a consequence, the newly-built section will consist of a single track of Iberian gauge, and without electrification or ETCS.

Heavy upgrades This approach also implies that new infrastructure planned for some links will be replaced by a mere refurbishment of the existing line. Spain has already tested the heavy upgrade approach taken on the Iberian gauge lines from A Coruña to Vigo and from Sevilla to Cadiz, where works started in the early 2000’s and finally completed in 2015.

However, the idea now is to make small, fast and cost-effective improvements on conventional sections in order to enhance interoperability, as it has on the existing Medina del Campo - Salamanca line. This has been electrified at 25kV ac and since December is used by daily Alvia services connecting Madrid and Salamanca via the new Madrid - Zamora high-speed line. Between Palencia and Santander, modernisation of 3kV dc electrification is underway to offer higher reliability for high-speed services using the conventional network.

In addition, work is underway to electrify at 25kV ac a 27km section of the Antequera - Granada conventional line around Loja. A third rail will provide dual-gauge capability so that the new high-speed line to Granada, which is almost complete, can open despite a delay to the construction of the Loja bypass which is expected to take several years to complete. Dualgauge track and 25kV ac electrification has also been chosen for the

IRJ April 2016

Spain A Coruña

Gijon

Ferrol

Santiago de Compostella

Lugo

to Paris

Santander

Oviedo

Vigo

Vitoria

Pamplona

Cèrbere Figueres

León Lubian

Ourense

Burgos Logroño Castejón Venta de Baños Sória Valladolid Segovia

Medina del Campo

Braga

Zamora

Oporto

Salamanca

Huesca

Lérida Calatayud

Olmedo Avila

Coimbra

Navalmoral de la Mata

POR TUGAL

Toledo

Badajoz

Murcia

Broad-gauge lines Cartagena

Seville

* Cádiz

Standard-gauge high-speed lines Open Under construction Alicante Planned/proposed

Jaén

Bobadilla

100

La Encina

LinaresBaeza

Córdoba

km

Xátiva

Albacete

Puertollano

Atlantic Ocean

0

Valencia

Mérida

Faro

N

Alcazar de San Juan

Ciudad Real

Huelva

Tarragona

Cuenca

Cáceres Lisbon

Barcelona

Vandellós Castellón de la Plana

Teruel

Madrid

Girona

Zaragoza

Aveiro

IRJ

to Montpellier FRANCE

Irun San Sebastián

Bilbao Miranda de Ebro

Granada

Almeria

Málaga

Algeciras

refurbishment of the conventional line from Murcia to Cartagena.

The extension of standard gauge from Barcelona to Valencia and Alicante is also underway in an effort to foster international freight and passenger traffic between France and major destinations on Spain’s Mediterranean coast. This complex project includes finishing the long-awaited Vandellós bypass, where work first began in 2000, installation of third rail on some existing sections, and the migration of Iberiangauge tracks to standard-gauge on others between Vandellós and Valencia.

In the mid-term the plan is to reopen a disused section from Xátiva to La Encina junction to Iberian-gauge traffic while standardising the current line.

Deploying dual-gauge systems over the Mediterranean Corridor has proven more difficult than expected because all work must be carried out without disrupting existing traffic. As a result, a project completion date is still not specified for this section. The pace of expansion has also slowed south of Murcia, although the geologicallycomplex Pajares bypass between Leon and Oviedo in northern Spain, which includes a 25km twin bore tunnel, is nearing completion.

Despite these problems, Spain expects to open no less than four new line extensions - Venta de Baños - Burgos, Zamora - Pedralba, Antequera Granada, and Alicante - Murcia - in the coming months, although no specific

Mediterranean Sea

*

New line open Being built Upgraded Being upgraded Upgrading planned Other lines Gauge undecided

opening dates have been announced and some will not see trains until 2017.

In addition, a crucial link to connect the two halves of the Spanish high-speed network for the first time is expected to enter service in 2016.

This 35km line includes a 1435mmgauge tunnel beneath Madrid, and will allow new through services between destinations in the north and the southern and eastern arc of the Iberian Peninsula, multiplying commercial routes and easing high-speed operations for Renfe, although with two limitations.

Trains using Madrid Chamartin station and the new tunnel will be unable to stop at Atocha - Madrid’s main highspeed hub - or connect with the Madrid Barcelona line, as projects for the construction of a new suburban station in Atocha and a flyover south of Madrid have been postponed.

Developing rail in Spain is now a game of balancing priorities, in which the question is ‘how?’ rather than ‘when?’ If Spain kept pushing to construct an even greater high-speed network during the hardest part of the Great Recession, it is unlikely that the trend for a growing and a more integrated long-distance rail network will reverse now that the economy is expanding at a steady pace. Matching construction plans with tight budgets, while managing interoperability and looming market liberalisation, will surely keep rail planners busy in Madrid for years to come. IRJ

49

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IRJ April 2016

50

Track | lubrication

New approaches to top-of-rail friction management

TOR treatment can prevent switchblades from suffering premature damage.

Effective rail lubrication strategies play an important role in optimising wheel and rail life, but developments in rail and rolling stock technology in recent decades have shifted the goalposts for friction management.

Barnaby Temple, head of technology with LB Foster Rail Technologies, explains how research into the issue in Britain is redefining top-of-rail friction management

O

N today’s railway infrastructure, managing friction in the wheel/rail interface includes considering the top of the rail-wheel tread interface, as well as the more traditional gauge face-wheel flange contact. The former is still a relatively new concept, despite a history of treatment that goes back well over 10 years.

Top of rail (TOR) treatment by friction modifiers or traction enhancers is not yet covered by British or international standards, although it is accepted and practiced by both Network Rail and London Underground and many other infrastructure managers and railway operators around the world.

IRJ April 2016

The primary reason for lubricating the wheel flange is to reduce wear, but it can also treat flanging contact noise in curves. In Britain, TOR friction modifiers are primarily used to reduce noise and rail head corrugations. They are also known to improve curving behaviour, as well as reducing wear and damage to both wheel and rail. In North America one of the main drivers for use is to improve fuel efficiency.

In simple terms, a friction modifier adjusts the friction between the TOR and the wheel tread to an intermediate level that is lower than dry rail but significantly higher than lubricated conditions. This latter criterion is to

ensure that the traction and braking capabilities of the vehicles are not compromised.

Over the last year, LB Foster has been working with Network Rail to improve the function and benefits of its various applications of friction management systems.

Lubricating wheel flanges has been practised for many years. So what is new and how hard can it be? Not surprisingly, the challenge is not how you start doing it, but how you keep it going and maximise the benefits. Recent decades have seen both evolution of rolling stock and the grades of steel used for wheels and rails. This has

51

Wheel-rail displacement

Wheel-rail displacement

Track | lubrication

Distance Figure 1: The calculated deviation from the track centre-line of an axle running on a typical track geometry.

altered some of the operating parameters quite significantly.

In Britain lubrication has traditionally been provided as part of the infrastructure. Mechanical and hydraulic lubricators were placed in curves at the point where wheels commenced flanging contact. Improvements in steering made possible by advances in modern suspension mean that this point of contact is now less predictable, varying considerably between a typical freight wagon and a multiple unit

“

Mixed traffic operation means that one train type naturally deviates more than others, taking up most, if not all, of the available grease.

passenger train.

Modern lubricator equipment typically comprises electrically-powered cabinets with large grease reservoirs and the potential to provide sufficient grease at one point of pick-up to suffice for several curves, thereby covering considerable distances. Placement of the application bars in straight track enables more convenient and safer location of equipment. Pick-up of grease in this situation relies upon the

52

grease building up to the extent that a train which is not in flange contact with the rail will still pick up lubricant through its natural oscillating deviation from the track centre line.

The advantages of modern rolling stock come with a downside. Mixed traffic operation means that one train type naturally deviates more than others, taking up most, if not all, of the available grease. This phenomenon has been observed with freight trains taking large quantities of lubricant.

Work is currently underway to determine what needs to be done to ensure modern multiple unit passenger trains pick up the right amount of grease. This is a collaborative effort between Network Rail, LB Foster and the University of Sheffield, which has involved measuring the size and shape of grease ‘bulbs’ on the rails and using a scale test rig at the laboratory in Sheffield.

Figure 1 shows a calculated deviation

from the track centre-line of an axle running on typical track geometry and illustrates how much a typical freight wheelset is predicted to deviate compared with a passenger wheelset.

The investigations have considered and compared passenger train grease pick-up at several sites, as well as grease output and settings, and how to evaluate the in-curve performance.

Further work is still required in a range of areas, but the conclusions may not rule out consideration of onboard lubrication in certain circumstances.

One proposal that has emerged is for the wider adoption of LB Foster’s improved grease application bar, which - when deployed appropriately - is predicted to increase efficiency of lubricant pick-up and reduce waste.

The bar’s foam pad acts as a shelf, below which grease is not pushed – and thus lost - by the action of the wheel flange. Laboratory tests also showed that the amount of grease picked up could be expected to be proportionally higher and that larger grease “bulbs” could be developed.

While deployment of lubrication onboard trains is far more common in mainland Europe, a number of train operators in Britain are using LB Foster’s Kelsan solid stick LCF

IRJ April 2016

lubrication and solid friction modifier systems. London Underground represents a typical metro customer, while other deployments range from commuter multiple unit fleets to freight wagons. All have the common aim of prolonging wheel life through preserving wheel flanges.

Key reasons for deploying onboard friction management systems include cost and safety aspects associated with upkeep and refilling. In particular, as track access time becomes more restricted, the option of refilling and maintaining equipment in depots has become increasingly attractive.

LB Foster’s Keltrack On Board (KOB) technology delivers the Keltrack friction modifier to the top of the rail without compromising the traction or braking behaviour of the vehicle. The system can be controlled via GPS or directly by vehicle data, to allow application of the required amount of friction modifier in relation to speed and location. Key benefits include mitigation against rail head corrugation, combating curve squeal, and a reduction in horizontal creep forces between wheel and rail, leading to enhanced wheel and rail life.

Switch blades Switches are a vital feature of railway infrastructure and a key consideration

LB Foster’s patented GreaseGuide.

for friction management strategies.

Repair to damage caused at the thin end of the switchblade means cleaning, welding and grinding work, with a frequency that is unpredictable and often disruptive. The damage itself is also critical, as fracture of a switchblade can render a junction impassable.

Based on the observed improved steering behaviour from the application of Keltrack to the top of rails in advance of junctions, a trial application was deployed at Cemetery Junction in Nuneaton near Birmingham.

Switchblades at this location were being repaired at 3-4 month intervals and replaced every two years. Following the

Keltrack activation, no repairs were required for two years because the change to the wheel contact path on the rail and the amount of contact was significantly reduced with the switch rail.

LB Foster is currently working with Network Rail engineers to further improve understanding of how this really works and how best to deploy it elsewhere.

One key question is to establish whether the same treatment would work at other sites. If regular repairs are being undertaken at a particular location, could an improved wheel path make a difference? This can be validated with a relatively simple test application and spray paint to indicate the wheel/rail contact. LB Foster’s Sheffield-based team has also been experimenting with a range of measurement tools to help provide further answers. IRJ

The first stage of grease bulb measurements.

IRJ April 2016

53

Conference report | IRS 2016

Industry leaders express strong views in Vienna This year’s International Railway Summit offered an excellent insight to the current state of the railway industry in Europe. David Briginshaw reviews the highlights.

V

IENNA was the location for three days of meetings, networking and debate at the International Railway Summit 2016, hosted by IRJ and IRITS Events on February 17-19.

Setting the tone for the discussions that would follow, Mr Christian Kern CEO of Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) told delegates during his address at the opening dinner that ÖBB will invest É40bn during the next five years. “This is probably the most ambitious investment programme in Europe in terms of GDP,” Kern said. He also claimed that the scale of investment in the railway has helped to prevent Austria from going into recession.

Kern cited the recentlycompleted main station in Vienna as an example of what is being achieved and the potential such projects have for the wider economy. “The new main station has reduced the cost of operating trains through Vienna and has cut journey time significantly,” Kern explained. He said the project cost around É1bn, but a further É3bn is being invested by the private sector

to redevelop former railway land to provide homes for 10,000 people and work places for a further 20,000.

However, Kern is fearful for the future, pointing to the deteriorating performance of German Rail (DB), which has since announced a loss of É1.5bn for 2015, its first since 2003. “We have to ask if DB is in this situation, what will the future be for ÖBB? I feel our industry is lagging behind other industries such as automotive with the development of driverless cars. We need to speed up development and stay focussed on what we are doing. We need to have a much more efficient railway and we need politicians to back this.”

This view was echoed by Dr Josef Doppelbauer, executive director of the European Railway Agency (ERA), who said railways are in a critical situation in Europe at the moment. “Despite the benefits of rail transport, rail still has a low market share of around 7% for passenger and 17-18% for freight. Unit costs for rail are 100% more than for

other modes. The cost of the assets is too high and utilisation is low because of the poor availability of the assets and poor maintenance.”

Dopplebauer also cited a lack of standardisation as another cost driver. “If we compare air with rail, there are two big families of aircraft with around 4000 Boeing 737s and 3000 Airbus A320s in service, compared with 550 TGVs of seven different types and the Japanese Shinkansen family of 600 trains.”

Cooperation Mr Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, director general of the International Union of Railways (UIC), said that as a global organisation promoting interoperability, innovation and standardisation, including in Europe, he is keen to develop mutual cooperation between the UIC and ERA. However, he was concerned about the possibility of duplication between the UIC’s and ERA’s work, a point which Doppelbauer was keen to address.

“We don’t want to

standardise everything because it is not necessary,” Doppelbauer said. “It is important to agree with the UIC where we can cooperate and not step on each other’s toes. We are very happy that various standards are driven by the UIC and are not subjected to legal standardisation. This helps everyone to operate more efficiently.”

Doppelbauer added that it is important that the railway industry continues to push for greater competition and innovation. He pointed out that since the introduction of NTV in Italy, trains now depart between Milan and Rome every few minutes which has all but killed off air traffic between the two cities, demonstrating that competition clearly works in the industry’s favour.

Lord Tony Berkeley, board member of the European Rail Freight Association and chairman of the UK Rail Freight Group, pointed out that growth can be achieved in railfreight where there is fair competition. “Railfreight has grown by 60% in Britain, but

“

We need to speed up development and stay focussed on what we are doing.

We need to have a much more efficient railway and we need politicians to back this. Christian Kern

54

IRJ April 2016

has dropped by 50% in France during the last 10 years,” Berkeley told delegates. “The infrastructure manager must be independent and treat everyone fairly.”

Unfortunately this is often not the case, as Berkeley observed. “Single wagon freight accounts for 50% of the freight market in Europe but it is closed to private operators because they are denied access to the terminals. People love monopolies. We need a full liberalisation agenda.”

Berkeley urged customers, independent operators and others must challenge the status quo: “We need to support EC transport commissioner Violeta Bulc’s vision for the rail sector ‘to deliver the investment, efficiency, reliability and keep competitive’ with ‘new business models for passenger and freight services, and innovation such as digitalisation.’ The rail industry should stop complaining about competition with road and air and put its house in order first.”

Open-access Mr Peter Köhler, who is CEO Europe of Czech opemaccess passenger operator Leo Express, explained how it has succeeded in running a privately-financed passenger service in competition with the subsidised incumbent Czech Railways (CD). “Our occupancy rate is double that of CD, our Ebitda has quadrupled and we expect to move into profit this year,” Köhler explained. “Passenger numbers between Prague and Ostrava have increased by 50% since private operators entered the Czech passenger rail market. We were the first with a full ‘infotainment’ system on board. But we had problems obtaining attractive sites for depots and ticket offices in stations – we want access to idle resources.”

Leo Express has carried 1.1 million passengers in the first three years of operating its rail service which now connects Prague with Ostrava, as well as Kosice and Presov in

IRJ April 2016

Slovakia, supported by bus feeder routes, which it regards as a prelude to expanding its rail network.

Köhler is disappointed that the Fourth Railway Package will not usher in fairer competition as quickly as originally foreseen. “The original plan was to get rid of direct awards for concessions by 2019, but now this has been put back to 2024-2026, which with a 15-year term for some concessions means 2042.”

Dr Knut Sauer, vicepresident business development, strategy and sales, with Hyperloop Technologies, gave delegates a glimpse into the future with his presentation on the Hyperloop project which foresees passengers travelling totally automatically in pods travelling at up to 1100km/h inside a tube. “Hyperloop is not here to replace rail but to add a fifth mode of transport,” he reassured delegates.

Sauer claimed that Hyperloop will use one-third the energy of a high-speed railway, and will provide an on demand, point-to-point service with 25-35 passengers per vehicle.

“The original idea was to build a Hyperloop between San Francisco and Los Angeles, but we believe the first Hyperloop will move freight between a large port and a conurbation – it is easier to get regulatory approval for freight than for passenger,” Sauer explained.

“We should have 250 employees and we will prove full system capability before the end of the year. We are looking at passive maglev technology and linear propulsion in a depressurised tube as the air drag is a lot less. We are building a 1200m test track to test the propulsion system and we will have a 3.2km test tube by the end of the year. We are also trying to drive down the construction and operating costs.

“By 2020, we expect to have the first freight Hyperloop and the first passenger Hyperloop in 2021 but the first passenger Hyperloop won’t be in the United States,” Sauer concluded. IRJ

55

Rendezvous April 2016 19-20—Amsterdam, Netherlands SmartRail Europe Global Transport Forum, London, Britain.

Tel: +44 20 7045 0916 stephen.scott@globaltransportfor um.com www.SmartRailEurope.com 25-27—Dubai, UAE MENA Transport Congress & Exhibition UITP MENA, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +971 4 290 5584 hicham.badran@uitp.org www.uitp-mena.com/ 26-27—Chongqing, China Transport Wireless Rail 2016 NIEC Group, Shanghai, China.

Tel: +86 21 6140 3762 Fax: +86 21 6140 3735 jason.ye@niecgroup.com www.transportwirelessrail.com 26-28—Medellin, Colombia Metro LatAm Conference & Exhibition Infrastructure Conference Network, Houston, USA. Tel: +57 30 0448 9059 simon.edwards@metroamericas. com http://metro-latam.com

27-28—Philadelphia, PA, USA Light Rail 2016 Conference Simmons-Boardman Conferences, New York, USA. Tel: +1 212 620 7208 conferences@sbpub.com www.railwayage.com/index.php /conferences/lightrail.html

May 2016 11-13—Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia NEW: Rail Solutions Asia Conference & Exhibition TDH, Cranleigh, Britain.

Tel: +44 14 8354 8290 Fax: +44 14 8354 8302 info@tdhrail.com www.tdhrail.co.uk/rsa/ 12-13—Brussels, Belgium NEW: International Conference on Railway Engineering (ICRE) The Institution of Engineering and Technology Stevenage, Britain.

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UIC, Paris, France.

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Tel: +44 800 098 8489 Fax: + 44 845 867 8109 info@london-business-conferences. co.uk www.rail-depots-workshops-mod ernisation.com/ 26-27—London, Britain World Metrorail Congress Terrapinn, London, Britain.

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29-Jun 2—Milan, Italy World Congress on Railway Research Call for papers.

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The last word | DB

Digitisation critical to DB’s future German Rail (DB) CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube outlined his company’s digitisation strategy, Mobility 4.0, at the Fourth Railway Forum in Berlin on March 1. Kevin Smith was in the audience.

D

IGITISATION is the current industry buzzword. Everywhere you go, everyone seems to be talking about “big data,” the Internet of Things, and machine-to-machine technologies, and the benefits, and threats, they pose to the industry.

DB CEO Dr Rüdiger Grube is no exception, telling Railway Forum delegates in Berlin during his keynote address that it is essential that DB take the lead on this or risk falling behind its competitors.

Indeed Grube described digitisation as the “innovation driver of the 21st century,” and stated that getting it right will make the railway “the form of transport of the 21st century.”

“Digital forces us to question everything we already do,” he said. “It also opens up new worlds to us.

“We have to question what our customers want and we are constantly looking at other industries to see what they are doing. For example, online booking has a huge hold over the hotel industry and is now effectively setting prices. My biggest nightmare is for another mobile platform to redirect our customers to other IT platforms which are very customer-friendly and over time could dictate how we run our services. It is crucial that we provide this mobile service so we decide our own fate and that the decisions are taken by our company.”

Grube says that every DB sector or company is using digitisation in some form and that the railway is currently working on 260 digitisation projects in 60 topic clusters, with work taking place in six digitisation laboratories.

Among the projects highlighted by Grube during

58

his speech was the use of 3D printing, which he said “was no longer a vision but a reality,” with test printing of 50 components taking place last summer, 20 of which have been approved for use in service.

“It can take 1.5 years to get approval for the right spare part, and this is why 3D printing is a great solution,” Grube said. “For components like a hook to hang your jacket on the train, or the handle to open a window, things that wear out easily, we can have a 3D printer on site to produce the components as when you need them. This can lower the cost of production by 50%.”

Slow progress As for an ongoing digitisation project, the rollout of WiFi on DB’s trains, Grube admitted that progress had been slower than he had hoped. While all first-class ICE coaches were fitted with WiFi by the end of 2014, the extension to second class will now be completed this year.

Grube said the issues DB has faced are because it remains dependent on third party communications providers and that it may not always be in their interest to serve the rail network. He said that Germany’s transport minister Mr Alexander Dobrindt is planning to invite service providers to discuss the issues at a roundtable this month.

“We also hope to extend this to our trans-regional trains in 2016 so we will have 5200km of track equipped with WiFi,” Grube says. “The goal is to rollout on the complete DB network by 2018.”

Grube said his hope is that digitisation can lead to greater efficiency in the rail industry,

“

It is crucial that we provide this mobile service so we decide our own fate and that the decisions are taken by our company. Rüdiger Grube

which can help DB achieve its punctuality targets, whether this is through rolling out automated trains on main lines, as he hinted Korea is planning to do for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, or introducing smart sensors which can monitor the condition of components or infrastructure, or the possibilities afforded by 5G or 6G telecommunications.

Grube said that initiatives such as the DB Talent Factory, which challenges young people to come up with ideas for apps to improve the service offered by DB, is one way the railway is contributing to achieving these goals. He also said the DB’s open data portal is available for entrepreneurs to use as leverage to develop new ideas.

Indeed, drawing on the comments of Facebook founder Mr Mark Zuckerberg, who said that Berlin is the leading place for start-ups in Europe, Grube said that he hopes that German industry, which is already in a strong position, can be the driving force behind the digital world driving the railway of tomorrow.

“Speed is decisive for competition and delivering what we need, but we say if the customer is not going to be OK with it, please refrain from developing this and focus on something else,” Grube said.

“We also think that done is better than partially done, but 80% is sufficient for a prototype. At this point we can start doing and start working together to come up with good results.” IRJ

IRJ April 2016

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