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behind all major projects in Europe & further afield

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RHINE-RHONE HSL SPARKS 2012 TIMETABLE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE

ARTICLE - ISSUE 21 - by Giuliano Montanaro, CEO, Eric Cosandey & Luigi Stähli, SMA & Partners

RHINE-RHONE HSL SPARKS 2012 The high-speed line linking the Rhine and Rhone river valleys is introducing a new type of infrastructure to rail in France. What makes it unique is not so much the civil engineering or technology involved, but rather the role this line is playing in sparking a revolution in the realm of rail planning.

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ASSOCIATED CONTENT

LISBON & PORTO SET TO JOIN MADRID
The introduction of the Lisbon-Porto and Lisbon-Madrid high-speed rail axis is expected to increase the market share of rail…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 16 - by Tiago Rodrigues, RAVE
FIRE TESTING AND REQUIREMENTS FOR PASSENGER SEATS
According to the new standard PRCEN/TS 45545-2, various methods are used to test the burning behaviour of passenger seats with regards…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 18 - by Michael Halfmann, head of fire technology, Currenta
HIGH-SPEED & MIXED TRAFFIC LINES
Mixed traffic – high-speed and freight trains – operates on high-speed lines (HSL) throughout France. The defining characteristics of such mixed lines…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 25 - by Jean Coumel & Francis Amans, honorary senior executives, SNCF
GAUGE CHANGEOVER FACILITIES FOR ALL
The coexistence of different track gauges and electric voltages creates a considerable barrier to optimising rail infrastructure and achieving modal shift. To…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 24 - by Dr Ignacio Jorge Iglesias Díaz, director, research & development, Adif technical coordinator, UNICHANGER
REMOVE OR IMPROVE? LEVEL CROSSINGS IN SPAIN
Although the general tendency among eEurope’s rail infrastructure managers is towards removing level crossingswherever physically and financially possible, the alternative…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by EURAILmag
LLEIDA-TARRAGONA EXTENDS HIGH-SPEED EUROPE
The high-speed Madrid-Barcelona-French border line is one of the most important in the world. First in terms of performance…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 16 - by Antonio Berrios Vallalba, Adif
HIGH-SPEED/ HIGH CAPACITY – THE NEW RAIL EXPERIENCE
Italy is drawing closer to its high-speed goal. On December 16, 2007, the countdown began for the opening of the Milan…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 17 - by Mauro Moretti, Ferrovie Dello Stato
RFF SIZES UP CARBON FOOTPRINT
As a major part of its sustainability policy, in 2009 Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) launched its carbon-oriented initiative to explore…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 20 - by Anne Petit & Sébastien Gourgouillat, RFF
SELCAT – A EUROPEAN CONTRIBUTION TO LEVEL CROSSING SAFETY
This paper presents the preliminary results of the SELCAT project, funded by the European Commission. Its main objective is the collection and…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 18 - by Technical University of BraunschweigFrench National Institute for Transport and Safety ResearchUIC. Rail Safety and Standards Board
GAINING APPROVAL FOR RAILHEAD CONDITIONING
In recent years, a growing number of tram and railway operators has been testing and implementing a separating agent on the railhead…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by André Kofmehl, Igralub
DEMOORT REPOSITIONS TRAINS WITH SATELLITE
This article presents an innovative approach to a vehicle-autonomous, localisation system for railways, providing cost-efficient position information for various safety…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 18 - by Braunschweig Technical UniversityBombardier TransportationUniversity of KarlsruheDeutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt/German Aerospace Centre
STATIONS GROW ORGANIC ON RHINE-RHONE HSL
The Rhine-Rhone High Speed Line is the biggest civil engineering project underway in France today. Works are progressing on the 140km…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 17 - by Frédéric Ballay
TSI FOR TUNNEL SAFETY IN ACTION ON BOLOGNA-FLORENCE HSL
The Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI) directive 2008/163/EC[1] ‘safety in rail- way tunnels’ defines a set of measures for various…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 21 - by Guido Guidi Buffarini & Antonio Colla, Italferr
CHANGEOVERS BETWEEN SECURITY EQUIPMENT AT BORDERS – A KEY TO INTEROPERABILITY
With different signalling systems in use on Europe’s networks, there is an urgent need to define changeover concepts between on-board…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 23 - by Matthieu Thibault, SNCF Centre d’Ingénierie du Matériel
WHEN THE PLATFORM MOVES
The big problem with high-speed trains is that they are not very fast,” says Paul Priestman from multidisciplinary design group Priestmangoode…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 26 - by EURAILmag
SWEDEN SET TO BOOST CAPACITY WITH HALLANDSÅS
The Hallandsås tunnel has been a long time coming. Back in the 1980s, the European Round Table of Industrialists and the Swedish…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 25 - by EURAILmag
DIABOLO PUTS NEW SPIN ON AIR-RAIL RELATIONS
Making the connection. Now that the Diabolo is open for commercial service, rail capacity and access to and from Brussels airport are…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 26 - by EURAILmag
NEW OPENINGS FOR BLS CARGO
On June 15, 2007, BLS Cargo launched the first commercial freight train through the Lötschberg base tunnel. Under construction for just eight…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 17 - by Stefanie Pfander, BLS Cargo
SWISS FEDERAL OFFICE OF TRANSPORT TO SLASH NOISE BY 2015
Switzerland is a country of railways. It has an extremely dense and widely-used rail network. In several referenda, the population has…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 19 - by Christoph Dürig, Swiss Federal Office of Transport
COMMUTERS ON THE SLIPPERY SLOPE
Crumbling concrete stairs in the shadow of post-war high-rises – Utrecht Overvecht station was a dreary part of the daily commute…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 24 - by EURAILmag
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE FOLLO LINE
Elsewhere in Europe, another large-scale project is just gearing up to get underway. Norway’s national rail administration Jernbaneverket is preparing…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by EURAILmag
INNOTRACK – CUTTING COSTS & BOOSTING PERFORMANCE
Greater efficiency and sustainability of track infrastructure were the driving goals of Innotrack. With the four-year project now at an end…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 22 - by EURAILmag
INFRABEL GOES WITH THE WIND. INTERVIEW WITH LUC LALLEMAND, CEO
I strongly believe in PPPs for rail because each partner brings its expertise to the table. In the case of Infrabel, we…

INTERVIEW - ISSUE 19 - by EURAILmag
BUILDING CORE REDUNDANCY TO INCREASE RELIABILITY
Jernbaneverket (JBV), Norway’s national rail administration, is responsible for managing the country’s railway network, on behalf of the ministry of…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 27 - by Mr Torbjørn Berger, telecom director, Jernbaneverket
RHINE-RHONE – MONUMENTAL FIGURES FOR EAST BRANCH
Work is underway to equip the tracks of the first phase of the Rhine-Rhone high-speed line, east branch, in France…

ARTICLE - ISSUE 22 - by EURAILmag