6/2009

Friday 18 December 2009 saw the start of regular passenger-carrying services bet-ween Moskva and St. Petersburg using RZD’s fleet of new Velaro RUS trains.

In 2004 the Ministry of Railways (MOR) of the People’s Republic of China announced that the existing 75,000 km railway network was by 2020 to be extended by around one third to more than 100,000 km. Most of the new railways are designated Passenger Dedicated Lines (PDLs) and are to be built for high speed operations.

6 to 8 October 2009 saw the fourth edition of Zilele Feroviare being held at the Gara de Nord in Bucuresti, the regular venue for this national railway exhibition. On the pages that follow we offer you a visit to the event, covering most of the newly introduced exhibits (with the exception of one of the two ES64F4 locomotives, we described on p. 15 of R 4/09, which had been acquired by Cargo Trans Vagon). Report was compiled by Petr Kadeřávek and Silviu Darlea, who is also author of unsigned photos.

TRAKO is the acronym for Transport Kolejowy, the railway trade fair held in Gdańsk every other year and organised by Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie. The eighth TRAKO took place between 14 and 16 October 2009, attracted 420 exhibitors (350 in 2007) from 17 countries (the same as in 2007) and around 9,200 visitors, from 30 countries. Let us take a walk around the outdoor exhibition area, to see what both Polish and foreign manufacturers had on display. (You can find a report on TRAKO 2007 in R 6/07, pp. 38 - 43.)

The Zakłady Naprawcze Lokomotyw Elektrycznych (ZNLE) establishment in Gliwice in the Śląsk conurbation in southern Poland is one of the country’s leading repair and modernisation works dealing with locomotives belonging to PKP Cargo. Although electric locomotives are the main focus of activities, diesel locomotives and components for the latter are also repaired. In 2008 ZNLE ventured into a completely new field - the design and construction of a brand new electric locomotive for main line freight duties. Designated type E6ACT, it is also brand-named Dragon.

Siemens and the Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Company (ZELC) of China are working together to build Class HXD1 heavy freight locomotives. This type was developed by Siemens and is equipped with the latest three-phase propulsion technology. It is so powerful that just two of them can haul rakes of coal wagons of over two kilometres in length - a trailing load of 20,000 tonnes!

From the city centre terminus in Helsinki frequent suburban services, under the brand name City Rail, are operated over three routes - west to Leppävaara Alberga on the coastal main line to Turku, north to the branch line terminus at Vantaankoski Vandaforsen, and northeast to Kerava Kervo on the main line to Riihimäki. Work is now under way to extend the second of these routes eastwards, under the Finnish capital’s airport, to Tikkurila on the Riihimäki line, thus creating a great out-and-back loop.