Week 37 - September 2002

As from the 2 September the Swedish rail freight operator Green Cargo has taken over the total responsibility for the rail operations in the Volvo Logistics rail system between Sweden and Belgium. Green Cargo has won the tender of the traffic with a new concept where the different flows from and between the Volvo factories in Göteborg, Olofström and Umeå in Sweden are connected with the factories in Ghent in Belgium and coordinated in a new train system.

The new system includes a change of wagons; from some 240 wagons of different types the number is reduced to 185 newer wagons where the main part carries 3 containers each. The wagons are leased by the largest European wagon leasing company for intermodal wagons, AAE in Switzerland. The time tables are also better than before with reduced times for terminal handling and hereby also shorter lead times for Volvo and more efficient use of the resources and this all should lead to reductions in the Volvo logistic costs. With 2 daily train departures with 12 hours between the departures, the fluent operation for the rail flows in all the concerned Volvo factories is made optimal.

From the Volvo Truck factory in Umeå in Northern Sweden the truck cabins are sent in trains to Göteborg and Gent in Belgium, and from the Volvo Car Body Components factory in Olofström the cargo has the same final destinations, all in all some 900 trains per year, five days per week. Before this was operated in 2 different systems by different operators.

The trains will be under surveillance 24-hours per day by the Green Cargo operations in co-operation with the Danish, German and Belgian freight railways (Railion Denmark, DB Cargo and B-Cargo). This is to make sure the operation is smooth and that the trains are on time. Should there be a threat of deviations from the timetables, the operations office will act and take measures as well as report the discrepancies.

The Volvo Logistics train system is an integrated part of the Volvo production, whereby the correct parts are delivered directly into the production on the exact foreseen time. The shorter lead times was the main reason for Volvo Logistics to choose to work with the Green Cargo in this very large logistic system. Pia Ljunggren, Contract Manager by Volvo Logistics AB said:

“Green Cargo has merged 2 transport systems together to one and we here see a chance for development to put more of our cargo on the railway. The lead-times are shortened and with a better timetable and a more efficient utilisation of the resources by means of wagons, locomotives and personnel, the total costs are naturally reduced. And a total logistic economical transport system is important to us.”

Volvo has transported car body components between Olofström and Ghent for many years and the volume reached some 21.000 TEU (roundtrips) in 2001. On the route Göteborg – Olofström some 22.000 TEU (roundtrips) are transported on rail annually and between Umeå and Ghent some 25.000 truck cabins are transported in multipurpose freight wagons per year.

The Community of European railways (CER), wishes to underline the initiative taken by two of its members, the German Railways Deutsche Bahn AG (DB AG) and the French Railways (SNCF), in order to dramatically improve rail freight traffic between the two countries.

Harmut Mehdorn, CEO of DB AG, and Louis Gallois, Chairman of the SNCF, have symbolically tested yesterday the new freight service without a border stop between the marshalling yards of Mannheim (Baden – Württemberg, DE) and Woippy (Moselle, FR).

Conducted in several phases, this project will lead, by the end of 2003, to 70 trains passing daily through the transit points of Forbach and Apach, without a stop at the border, without change of traction equipment or crew, thanks to interoperable locomotives and personnel specially trained for driving on both networks.

This initiative aims at developing the market share of rail freight between Germany and France, which currently represents only some 12% of the total volume of exchanges between the two countries. The new system will considerably enhance rail freight traffic on a European scale.  When the project is completed, marshalling yards in Gremberg (near Cologne) and Sibelin (near Lyon) will constitute with Mannheim and Woippy a comprehensive system of hubs for the European rail freight traffic.

Highlighting the benefits of this project, Dr. Johannes Ludewig, Executive director of the CER, stated: “this far-ranging project carried out on a key segment of the European rail freight network is absolutely exemplary. It demonstrates the European Railways’ determination to develop concrete and effective solutions towards an integrated railway area. This meets the pressing demands both of political-decision makers and customers of freight transport.”

The project implements at grass-roots level interoperability policies for railway equipment, personnel training, safety procedures and electronic data exchange.  Its importance is compounded by the fact that international traffic flows now account for approximately half of the total fright traffic of CER member companies and have the highest growth potential.

The total traffic flows in 2000 were 67,5 mollion tonnes between the 2 countries, whereof 7,8 million tonnes on rail – or 12%.

The Swiss state-owned rail freight operator SBB Cargo invests in 40 new locomotives of the type Re 482, enabling the border-crossing operation, and at the same time, 40 of the until now utilised locomotives of the type Re 460 will be transferred to the passenger traffic at the start of the Rail 2000 (Bahn 2000) at the latest.

Hereby the SBB can achieve better economics and better efficiency in both freight as well as passenger traffic. The investment volume is some 181 million CHF. 10 locomotives are already in operation since June this year. The more-frequency locomotives are foreseen for border-crossing operation and are mainly in duty on the Köln–Basel–Erstfeld (–Chiasso) line. The SBB Cargo clear aim of more rail freight cargo from the road sector in the North-South axis is hereby carried through.

Between 2002 and 2005 SBB Cargo will order further 40 locomotives at the price of some 4,5 million CHF each. With a top speed of 140 km/h the locomotives type Re 482 are typical rail freight locomotives, and they replace the older fleet of locomotives of the types Ae 6/6, Re 6/6 and Re 4/4.

The SBB Passenger traffic at the same time is taking over 40 locomotives from SBB Cargo of type Re 460 which will suitable for the new line between Mattstetten and Rothrist as from the end of 2004.

The British Rail Industry has unveiled new plans for the West Coast Main Line to accelerate current delivery of the multi billion pound programme by up to two years. Led by the SRA, in conjunction with Railtrack and the passenger train and freight operating companies using the route, the restructured programme will move from a prolonged series of weekend works to dedicated line possessions, with diversionary routes and high quality alternatives to minimise disruption to passengers.

The new programme is based around a series of strategic projects, including two 17 total week line possessions, the first from Colwich in Staffordshire via Stoke-On-Trent to Cheadle Hulme, just south of Stockport, in Summer 03. The second is currently scheduled for the beginning of 2004, running from Crewe to Cheadle Hulme.

During both periods we will be maintaining through services. Diversionary routes will be provided. In addition there will be a high quality coach service linking those stations, which are affected with those, which are not during both four-month closures of that section of line.

Benefits on completion include greater frequency and capacity, with improved journey times and extra train paths available, one example including a half-hourly service from London to Stoke.

By adopting this new approach, more than 60 miles of new railway is delivered collectively from Colwich to Cheadle Hulme and Crewe to Cheadle Hulme in a little over four months for each project, when under the existing delivery programme it would have taken up to two years. Coupled with a series of additional work programmes on the route south of Crewe, this will provide the much needed extra capacity and increased line speeds of up to 125 mph on this vital north to south route by 2004.

As of 1 September the Danish infrastructure manager Banestyrelsen has a new organisational structure. The change has been under preparation during some time and it is built on the last years efficiency work with processes and work methods. The new organisation and management will be part of the development of Banestyrelsen towards a net company (independent public company).

The new organisation will especially strengthen the following 3 areas:

• Business Area Market, where the coordination and the relation to the train operators is followed. With the increasing number during the last years now on the passenger side DSB, SDB S-tog and Arriva and on the freight side Railion Denmark, IKEA Rail and TraXion etc. Headed by Jakob Christensen.

• Business Area Rail network handles the planning, project management and tendering of assignments I connection with new construction, exchanges and maintenance of the rail network. Headed by Erik Haldbæk.

• Business Areas Railway Technique, headed by Peter Horup Sørensen and Logistics, headed by Erik Meier Girke take over large parts of the former Service Division. Railway Technique includes the competencies to lead and carry through railway technical enterprises, which as until now are to be won by offers. Logistics includes procurement, warehousing and machines.

The remaining business areas are; Traffic headed by Eigil Sabroe, Resources headed by Anne Jøker, Business Development headed by Henrik Jørgensen and Sector Planning headed by Ulrik Winge.

Union Railways (North) Ltd has awarded a contract for the design, procurement, installation, testing and commissioning of the track and overhead catenary systems for Section 2 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL). The ACT Joint Venture - comprising Alstom Transportation Projects Limited, Carillion Construction Limited and Travaux du Sud-Ouest - have been awarded Contract 576, worth approximately GBP 120 million.

Contract 576 includes the track and overhead catenary systems for the 39 km of CTRL Section 2, including over 20kms of tunnels under the Thames and urban London and new international stations at Ebbsfleet and Stratford. The contract includes the provision and operation of construction railheads at Barking and Ebbsfleet and the coordination of testing and commissioning of all of the railway systems.

The Contract 576 will start immediately with the design phase. Construction works will commence on site in 2004 and testing and commissioning is due to be complete at the end of 2006.

The major civil engineering of CTRL Section 2, the 24 miles between Southfleet in north Kent and St Pancras station in central London, is now over 27% complete after works began in July 2001.

When the entire new line is complete in 2007, the GBP 5,2 billion CTRL will halve journey times from central London to the Channel Tunnel. The CTRL will also create three new international stations at St Pancras, Ebbsfleet and Stratford, in addition to connecting with the existing Ashford International.

The Channel Tunnel Rail Link has been partly funded by the European Union through the Trans European Network programme.

ScotRail and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway, EWS have reached a new agreement which sees improved reliability and performance for ScotRail's Caledonian Sleeper. To mark the agreement, which cements the use of the state-of-the-art powerful class 67 locomotives on the Caledonian Sleeper in Scotland, Inverness Provost William Smith on 5 September named a class 67 locomotive "Rising Star" in a special ceremony at Inverness station. The locomotive hauled the Sleeper through the early hours of this morning from Edinburgh into Inverness.

The class 67 locomotives will now haul the Caledonian Sleeper between Inverness and Edinburgh and Aberdeen and Edinburgh offering superior pulling power and greater reliability compared to the 30-year-old class 47 locomotives, which have been used in the past. The agreement between ScotRail and EWS also sees a refurbishment and improvement programme for the class 37/4 locomotives, which are used to haul the Fort William Sleeper service.

The name "Rising Star" is an echo of the past and a tribute to the powerful steam locomotives used 40 years ago. The class 67 locomotive (numbered 67027) has been named after a British Rail Britannia Pacific locomotive (numbered 70027) built in the 1950s to do the same job as today's class 67. 

On 3 September 2002 in Berlin, the international intermodal company, Transfracht Internationale Gesellschaft für kombinierten Güterverkehr mbH (TFG), Frankfurt am Main, announced the sale of its CIS business unit to InterRail Services GmbH (IRS), Berlin, the Intercontainer-Interfrigo (ICF), Basel, and Transasia Holding AG, St. Gallen, joint venture. The transfer, at a voluntarily undisclosed price, is backdated to 1 September 2002.

Following its decision to concentrate on its combined transport activities between German seaports and their hinterland, TFG is pulling out of those areas no longer part of its core business. Among these is intermodal traffic with the CIS, which will in future be handled by IRS. Part of the process also involves transfer to IRS of the staff manning the former TFG CIS business unit.

ICF and Transasia founded IRS on 1 January 2001, with each partner putting up 50% of the company’s 350.000 EUR share capital. Volker Tommack and Ulrich Koch are managers.

IRS’ main tasks are those of purchasing freight services in the CIS, actively monitoring transport movements, fulfilling an agency function for west-bound traffic, hiring and providing containers. With the take-over of TFG’s CIS business unit, sales activities will de added to this list.

• 16^th and 17^th of September in Berlin: “Competition framework and competition strategies in local rail passenger traffic” organised by Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen Akademie e.V. (VDV Academie). For more information have a look at: http://www.vdv-akademie.de 

• 24th – 27th of September in Berlin: InnoTrans 2002 - International Trade Fair on Transport Technology. Hosted by the Association of German Railway Engineers (Verband Deutscher Eisenbahningenieure e.V., VDEI). The international fair for transport technique and the weight is on rail transport technique. More than 1.000 exhibitors are expected from more than 30 countries. Some 25.000 visitors are expected. Please find more information about the fair on Web: http://www.innotrans.de.

• 25 September in Brussels: Lunch Meeting with James Evans, Secretary General of European Rail Infrastructure Managers – EIM. Organised by the European Rail Circle. For further details please contact André Clodong on Tel: +32-2-501 08 23 or email: andreclodong@prismaconsulting.com

• 23^rd – 26^th of October in Madrid: EURAILSPEED 2002 – 4th World Congress on High Speed Rail organised by the International Union of Railways –UIC, The Union of European Railway Industries - UNIFE , the Spanish state-owned railway RENFE and the Spanish infrastructure manager Gestor de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias – GIF. For more information please have a look at:  http://www.eurailspeed.com

• 30^th of October in Copenhagen – DK: European Intermodal Association – EIA, Round Table “Development North-South Freightways’. Speakers are among others the Danish Minister of Transport Fleming Hansen and the President of EIA, Mrs. H. Maij-Weggen (Member of EU Parliament). For further information please contact Peter Wolters, EIA Tel: 0032 2 514.56.54, email: peter.wolters@eia-ngo.com

• 12^th – 13^th November in Barcelona - ES: “2nd Conference on Energy and Transport” organised by the European Commission. This year with focus on Infrastructure issues.

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