škoda 2024

1/2008

Spanish High Speed Tentacles Spread
The winter of 2007/8 saw a significant expansion of Spain's 1,435 mm gauge high speed network - north, south and east - to serve Valladolid, Málaga and Barcelona.
Velaro 103-003 at Barcelona-Sants following an afternoon test run over the recently-completed 4.3 km section of high speed line from L'Hospitalet.
Photo: Siemens
FLIRTing Across Europe ... And Beyond
The start of 2008 coincided with the opening of a number of new chapters in the success story surrounding Stadler's highly popular FLIRT EMUs. Trains for DB Regio entered service, various new contracts were awarded, and in late January the first units for Polish and Algerian clients were outshopped.
A view inside the assembly hall in Siedlce, with the FLIRTs for KM and PKP.
Photo: Stadler
Hrebienok Cable Railway Renovated
In late 2006 Tatranské lanové dráhy (TLD) announced plans to modernise its cable railway which links Stary Smokovec with Hrebienok, together with the replacement of the two cars which provide services on the line. The work was realised in autumn 2007, and in this short feature we take a look at this unusual railway and its new rolling stock.
Lomnicky Stit, the second highest peak in the High Tatra, is looking down at one of the new cars for the Hrebienok cable railway.
Photo: Stanislav Zapletal
Posezenie DMZ
About 90 km to the east of Moskva, on the main line to Nizhny Novgorod, lies the city of Orekhovo-Zuyevo. In this region we can find a small village - Demikhovo which is the home of Russia's (and Europe's) leading EMU builder, DMZ - Demikhovsky mashinostroitelny zavod (Demikhovsky Engineering Works), which produces over 80 % of all such 1,520 mm gauge trains for local and middle-distance services on both AC- and DC-electrified lines.
The delightful rural surroundings of the DMZ works can be appreciated in this view taken from a roof of one of the buildings, showing the long lines of vehicles - end cars, powered intermediate cars, and non-powered intermediate trailers, of a DC and AC types and in diverse liveries, awaiting formation into EMU trainsets, most of which will be composed of no fewer than ten cars.
Photo: TMH
Title 253
The ZOS Vrútky works is situated in northwest Slovakia at the confluence of the Váh and Turiec rivers, just north of the town of Martin, and in the suburb after which it is named. In addition to repairing and modernising rolling stock, it also builds new trains, and in 2005/6 was awarded contracts to build push-pull rakes for the Zil-lertalbahn (ZB) and Pinzgaubahn (PB) in Austria and a batch of IC-carriages for ZSSK.
ZSSK's Bmpeer 61 56 20-70 201-4 is 26,400 mm in length over buffers, 2,825 mm wide, 4,050 mm high over TOR, and has a within-bogie wheelbase of 2,500 mm. It weighs 44,000 kg tare and 50,000 kg gross, its wheels have a diameter of 920 mm (new) and 860 mm (worn), and when running at speed it can negotiate curves as tight as 150 mm radius.
Photo: Jaromir Pernicka
Still On The "TRAXX"
No matter of double-page photoreport in R 6/07 (pp. 44 - 45), there is still something to report about on the topic of newcomers from the TRAXX family.
The photo shows 186 150 at the head of an intermodal train bound from Rotterdam to Sládkoviãovo in Slovakia. accompanying this news item was taken on 16 February 2008 near Hulten, near Tilburg, and
Photo: Hanno Feth
And much more!
Cover of 1/2008
Poster

Features: a 'before and after' comparison between 770.513 (on the left) and 774.701 (on the right, rebuilt from 770.512). The two diesels belong to the Czech industrial concern Sokolovska uhelna (SU), and are seen here at the company’s depot in Nove Sedlo.