IRJ

December 2023 | Volume 63 Issue 12

www.railjournal.com | @railjournal

,QWHUQDWLRQDO5DLOZD\-RXUQDO

Young Rail Leaders

Celebrating the industry’s best and brightest
Designing the station of the future = Brazilian track renewal
IRJ
December 2023 | Volume 63 Issue 12
www.railjournal.com | @railjournal

,QWHUQDWLRQDO5DLOZD\-RXUQDO

Young Rail Leaders

Celebrating the industry’s best and brightest
Designing the station of the future = Brazilian track renewal
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Contents
December 2023 Volume 63 issue 12

Post 46 Killigrew Street News

Falmouth 4 This month
Cornwall, TR11 3PP, UK 6 News headlines
Tel +44 1326 313945
14 Transit news
Web www.railjournal.com
16 Financial news
Editor-in-Chief

7
Kevin Smith
ks@railjournal.co.uk
Consulting Editor/
Associate Publisher IRJ’s Young Rail Leaders Award 2023
David Briginshaw
db@railjournal.co.uk
The industry’s best and brightest
Associate Editor
20 Profiling the 16 winners of this year’s
Robert Preston Young Rail Leaders Award
rpreston@railjournal.co.uk
Business Development Manager
Ann Gamble
South and Central America
20
anngamble@railjournal.co.uk
Production Manager 32 Metro slowly but surely shows its worth
Sue Morant
Metrô Bahia in Salvador goes from strength to strength
sm@railjournal.co.uk
35 Getting Guatemala’s goods to market
Political and administrative issues delay ambitious project

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Post 1809 Capitol Avenue,
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Optimising experiences at all points in the modern station

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Track and Infrastructure
Print magazine subscriptions hotline
40 A machine vision for rail surface inspection
Tel +1 402 346-4740
Ensco presents its Rail Surface Inspection System
Fax +1 (847) 291-4816
41a Putting Vossloh’s new fastening to the test
Online only: Research underway at the University of Munich
42 Behind the scenes of a track renewal project

42
Brazil’s MRS Logistics reveals its track renewal strategy
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45 Full contact list Christoph Seffrin, a project ,QWHUQDWLRQDO5DLOZD\-RXUQDO

director at Siemens Mobility,

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Email: internationalrailwayjournal@omeda.com or
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Journal, Simmons-Boardman project with German Rail
Publishing Corp, PO Box 239, (DB), which at €3bn is one of
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Siemens’ largest ever Young Rail Leaders
Celebrating the industry’s best and brightest
USA
industrial projects. Designing the station of the future = Brazilian track renewal

IRJ December 2023 3

 This month | Kevin Smith

People: the railway’s most

SWR’s emphasis on improving Staffer project, which is
the performance of its people is reforming rail’s relationship

valuable asset
something the wider industry with European educational
should take note of, particularly institutions to deliver training
as it looks to combat the well- and instruction better suited to

T HE Covid-19 pandemic,
unprecedented industrial
action, delays to the delivery of
a new fleet and uncertainty
over future industry reform are
among the challenges that
British passenger operator South
Western Railway (SWR) has
endured over the last few years.
Many of these issues have
been out of the operator’s control.
And as SWR managing director,
Ms Claire Mann, revealed to
the Rail Industry Association
(RIA) annual conference in
London on November 2, it
would have been easy for SWR
to roll over, and for performance
and company morale to
update senior management on
the situation on the ground.
Building a greater sense of
belonging extends to the customer.
Mann said there has been
increased engagement with the
more than 100 volunteer
organisations that help to
maintain stations across the SWR
network. The operator has also
built partnerships with charity
organisations, including to install
defibrillators at stations, and has
secured funding to improve the
appearance of many stations on
its network. “It’s made a
difference to how people feel
about the railway,” Mann said.
publicised skills and recruitment
challenges that threaten to hold
back much-needed progress in
the coming years.
Industry leaders regularly
refer to rail’s image problem as
posing a challenge to its future
sustainability. Yet too often it
feels like the sector hides
behind this perception rather
than finding ways to overcome
it. As SWR has shown, one
way is to invest in and
champion the talented people
already working in the sector
who are doing remarkable
things to improve rail’s
performance every day.
the needs of the modern
railway (IRJ November p34).
Interestingly, Marleen chose
to pursue a career in the rail
industry due to its sustainability
credentials. She cares about the
future of the planet, and she is
not alone among young people
in wanting to make a difference.
This is something that should
and could work to rail’s
advantage when attempting to
attract talent. How about
launching a recruitment
campaign that really spells out
the important role that rail is
playing, and will play, in
decarbonising transport, and
challenges talented young

dwindle. Instead, she focused
on what the operator could
control and improve: its
people.
SWR has implemented a new
strategy in the last two years,
which focuses on the
performance of its staff and
their relationship with
customers. The objective is to
restore both trust among
passengers and pride in the
railway as a good place to
work, which Mann feels has
been lost. New leadership
training was central to these
efforts. Mann said that many of
SWR’s managers have simply
risen through the ranks by
default, meaning that they did
not necessarily possess the
people skills integral to
effective leadership. Specialist
workshops attended by 750
SWR managers attempted to
address this. “They are good at
the technical side of their job,
but they have never had the
training to effectively deliver
and lead people,” Mann said.
The strategy also emphasises
improving inclusiveness.
SWR’s Step Up programme is
offering support for talented
women who want to advance
to more senior roles. Assistance
for people from black, Asian and
minority ethnic communities
who want to move up into
management roles, but perhaps
lack the confidence to progress,
is similarly available. Mentoring
programmes are also in place
throughout the company,
including reverse mentoring
where frontline staff regularly
“
SWR’s Step Up programme is offering
support for talented women who want
to advance to more senior roles.
Recruitment processes have
also been revised, with Mann
saying that SWR has altered its
job descriptions, objectives and
the way new recruits are
onboarded. Even apprenticeship
programmes are seeking to
deliberately encourage young
people who love the railway to
play a part in making it even
better.
The results are impressive
with the lowest level of absence
due to staff sickness the operator
has even seen as well as
improvements in train
punctuality. Mann also reports
strong buy-in from staff for the
group’s sustainability plan and
road map to net zero. Feeling
part of something bigger than
themselves has similarly
instilled a sense of purpose in
maintenance crews who Mann
said are continuing to beat the
odds and get ageing trains into
service, day after day.
“We’ve had industrial action
for 18 months now but the
people in my organisation still
feel engaged because we talked
to them,” Mann says. “We’re
open, we’re honest… it’s
important to get people to come
into work every day and to feel
proud of what they do.”
people to sign up?
Rather than hide behind the
negatives and the excuses, it is
time to be proactive and sell
the industry as a place where
ambitious and smart people
can achieve great things. The
experiences of our Young Rail
Leaders certainly show the
This is the idea driving our positive impact these people
Young Rail Leaders Award are having. SWR’s work also
(p20). This year’s award feature demonstrates what is possible
when you invest in rail’s most
profiles of 16 remarkable
people working in a variety of important asset: its people.
roles across the global rail
industry. Among our winners
are Christoph Seffrin, a project
director at Siemens Mobility,
who has successfully led the
ICE 3neo fleet project with ks@railjournal.co.uk
German Rail (DB); Nicholas
Dryer who has pioneered the
use of drones at BNSF; Mehdi
Gib, who is advancing the use
of IoT technology to maintain
ageing assets in Algeria; and
Kateryna Izmailova, who has
worked tirelessly to bring
veterans back into the workforce
at Ukrainian Railways.
Marleen van de Kerkhof also
stands out as a Young Rail
Leader who is tackling the
recruitment challenge head on.
Marleen is leading a group
of young people
working in the
rail sector in the
Netherlands.
She also is an
advocate for
the wider
adoption of the
work of the
European

4
 Shape the future.
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We support all those investing in the future of mobility.
For private companies and the public sector: we work with you to develop solutions that meet your particular
needs. We offer you know-how and experience gained from current projects in your industry all over the
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Source: Verkehrsverbund Mittelsachsen

Because the future belongs to those who think ahead. Let’s shape it together.
 News | headlines
Transnet unveils recovery plan to reverse freight decline
Photo: David Gubler
T HE board of South Africa’s
national transport company
Transnet has presented the
ministers responsible for public
enterprises and finance with a
recovery plan to drive traffic
recovery and enhance rail
operations.
Under the Transnet Recovery
Plan, Transnet Freight Rail will
be divided into two separate
divisions, Transnet Freight Rail
Operating Company (TFROC)
and Transnet Rail Infrastructure
Manager (TRIM).
TRIM will focus on protecting
and restoring rail network
capacity for commercially
viable high-volume traffic,
helping TFROC to deliver the
highest possible tonnage for
each six-month component of
the plan. At the same time, the
national rail network will be
opened up to third-party freight
operators from April 1 2024.
Operational underperformance
has resulted in a significant
decline in rail freight traffic. In
2017-18, Transnet carried 226.3
million tonnes of freight,
Trans-Arabian railway to be completed by 2030
T HE Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) has agreed
to breathe new life into the
stalled project to connect
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain,
Qatar, the United Arab
Emirates (UAE), and Oman by
rail by confirming a new
completion date for the GCC
Railway of December 2030.
Meeting in Muscat, Oman,
on November 16, the
committee of GCC transport
ministers expressed its
renewed commitment to the
6 IRJ December 2023
comprising 90.9 million tonnes
of general freight, 77 million
tonnes of export coal and 58.6
million tonnes of export iron ore.
However, by 2022-23 freight
traffic had declined to 149.5
million tonnes, comprising 49.7
million tonnes of general freight,
48.7 million tonnes of export
coal and 51.1 million tonnes of
export iron ore.
Revenue declined from Rand
72.9bn ($US 3.9bn) in 2017-18
to Rand 68.9bn in 2022-23.
Over the same period,
operating expenses increased
from Rand 40.4bn to Rand
45.9bn, with operating profit or
Ebitda falling from Rand
32.5bn or 45% of revenue to
Rand 23bn or 33% of revenue.
Worsening profitability
forced Transnet to increase its
borrowing from Rand 123bn in
2017-18 to Rand 130bn in 2022-
23, while over the same period
capital investment fell from
Rand 21.8bn to Rand 13.9bn.
Under the recovery plan,
TFROC’s objectives will
include growing freight traffic
project, as well as agreeing a
2024 budget for the joint GCC
Railway Authority, set up in
2022.
The railway would connect
the entire east coast of the
Arabian Peninsula, running
from Kuwait to Oman for over
2000km, and would cost over
$US 200bn to build. The non-
electrified railway would be
primarily used by freight trains
operating at up to 120km/h
and later by passenger services
running at up to 220km/h. The
through more effective
allocation of existing rolling
stock and fleet optimisation,
focusing on the highest-margin
traffic and “low-hanging fruit.”
This will be supported by
Transnet Engineering which
has been set the task of
delivering more effective fleet
maintenance, focusing its
attention on rolling stock
which has greatest impact on
delivering increased freight
volumes. Clear targets have
been set for the “timely return
to service” of locomotives that
are currently awaiting repair.
As infrastructure manager,
TRIM will concentrate on
protecting the national rail
network, which has suffered
from high levels of theft and
vandalism in recent years. It
has also been set the objective
of restoring lost capacity on the
commercially-viable Tier A
network through an effective
maintenance programme,
enabling more train paths to be
provided.
Implementing the measures
GCC predicts that 95 million
tonnes of freight and eight
million passengers a year will
be carried by 2045.
The six countries originally
agreed on the project in 2009,
when completion was expected
in 2018. Saudi Arabia was the
only country to have a railway
in 2009, and falling oil prices
and the resulting strain on
government finances during
2014-16 brought the project to
a halt. In 2017, Qatar found
itself ostracised by its
set out in the recovery plan is
forecast to grow freight traffic
from 149.5 million tonnes in
2022-23 to 170 million tonnes
in 2023-24, and 193 million
tonnes in 2024-25. This would
produce revenue of Rand 85.2bn
and a net profit of Rand 700m.
However, between Rand 26.7bn
and Rand 28.2bn will be
required in 2024-25 for the
maintenance and renewal of
operating equipment and assets
including rail infrastructure
and rolling stock. Finance and
depreciation costs are forecast to
be around 35% of revenue in
2024-25 and will still “significantly
erode the financial performance
of Transnet,” according to the
company.
Transnet has therefore asked
the national treasury to
provide an equity injection in
order to support the recovery
plan, reduce debt and achieve
the required financial ratios for
participation in the debt capital
market.
Meanwhile, Transnet
announced on November 1
that it had set up an interim
infrastructure manager in
preparation for establishing
TRIM once the Economic
Regulation of Transport (ERT)
Bill is passed by parliament.
The government’s rail
reform programme also
includes the creation of a
Transport Economic Regulator
(TER) that will set prices for
train paths, regulate the access
regime, enforce compliance
through a system of penalties
and provide resolution for
disputes between operators
and the infrastructure
manager.
neighbours over its relationship
with Iran and alleged support
for Islamist extremism.
However, having resolved
their differences, the countries
were able to agree in 2021 to
resume work. By that time, the
UAE had completed most of its
section of the GCC Railway,
and Oman is now pushing
ahead with its new line to Abu
Dhabi in the UAE. Bahrain,
Qatar, and Kuwait remain
without any operational
mainline railways.
India’s Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor completed
C OMMERCIAL operation
began on India’s
completed 1337km Eastern
Dedicated Freight Corridor
(EDFC) on November 1.
After a decade and a half of
construction, the completion of
the entire EDFC connecting
Ludhiana in Punjab to Sonnagar
in Bihar was announced by
Dedicated Freight Corridor
(DFC) managing director, Mr R
K Jain. The estimated cost of
the World Bank-funded EDFC
is Rs 550bn ($US 6.6bn).
The EDFC has capacity for
up to 250 trains a day, and will
largely cater for coal traffic,
serving the thermal power
plants in the states of Uttar
Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and
Rajasthan. The line will reduce
the transit time for freight
between Ludhiana and
Sonnagar from 35-50 hours on
existing main lines to 18-20 hours.
The EDFC is initially
expected to carry 153 million
tonnes of freight, rising to 251
million tonnes by 2036-37.
The 1506km Western
Dedicated Freight Corridor
(WDFC), funded by the Japan
International Cooperation
Agency (Jica) and connecting
Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to
Jawaharlal Nehru Port in Navi
Mumbai, is still under
construction and due to be
completed early next year. On
October 30, Indian prime minister,
Mr Narendra Modi,
inaugurated the 77km New
Bhandu - New Sanad section in
Gujarat.
Both the EDFC and WDFC
have missed several completion
deadlines, leading to an
estimated 54% escalation in
costs. In March last year,
railways minister, Mr Adhwani
Vaishnaw, announced plans to
build the East Coast Corridor,
East-West sub corridor and the
North South Corridor, but IR is
now considering alternatives
such as adding additional
tracks to existing lines, which
is likely to be a more cost-
effective and faster option.

Kazakh railway project to Russia builds railway on occupied

bypass Almaty bottleneck
K AZAKHSTAN Railways (KTZ) has begun construction of a
line that will bypass the country’s largest city, Almaty, to
support steadily growing trans-Eurasian rail freight volumes.
The country’s prime minister, Mr Alikhan Smailov, marked the
start of work in a ceremony on November 14.
The new 130km, 1520mm-gauge line will run north of Almaty
between Zhetygen in the northeast and Kazybek Beka in the
northwest.
The cost of the new line and its expected completion date have
not been disclosed. It will require 228,000 sleepers, 16,000 tonnes
of rail, and the construction of three junctions and 13 bridges.
KTZ also intends to open a new railway connection with China
by building a branch from the Almaty - Pavlodar line to the
border, between Ayagoz and Bakhty. Meanwhile, the existing
connection between Dostyk and Moyntyy will be widened to
double track, with completion expected by 2025.
Soaring e-commerce in recent years has driven growth in cross-
border rail freight, but the main boost has been provided by grain
traffic. China has quadrupled its imports of Kazakh grain over
the last year, and KTZ believes this will double again by the end
of this year, requiring 2.2 million tonnes of grain to be moved to
China during 2024.
Ukrainian territory - reports
R USSIA has reportedly begun building a railway line between
Rostov-on-Don in Russia and Yakymivka, about 10km north
of the Crimean Peninsula, the Russian-appointed governor of the
Zaporizhzhia oblast, Mr Yevgeny Balytsky, has told the Russian
news agency RIA Novosty. The new line would run mainly
through occupied Ukrainian territory.
Details on the new railway are sparse, and it is uncertain
whether construction has actually started.
The head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Administration,
Mr Yury Malashko, later said that only preparatory work had
started. Mr Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the exiled mayor
of Mariupol in Ukraine, near where the new line would run, said
on September 27 that construction work had begun and
provided pictures allegedly proving this.
According to Andriushchenko, Russia wants “to build and
unite the entire coast of the Sea of Azov into a single ring. This
branch would start in Rostov-on-Don, go through Mariupol,
then Berdyansk, Melitopol district, and end in Crimea.”
Russia traditionally relies heavily on rail for military transport,
and since its invasion of Ukraine has made heavy use of the Kerch
Strait bridge, which it built after annexing Crimea. However, Ukraine
has targeted the bridge, managing to damage it severely last summer.

Bangladeshi premier opens Chattogram - Cox’s Bazar line

B ANGLADESH’S prime
minister, Ms Sheikh
Hasina, formally opened the
new 102km railway between
Chattogram and Cox’s Bazar in
the eastern part of the country,
near the border with Myanmar,
at a ceremony on November
11.
“The long wait for Cox’s
Bazar residents has finally
come to an end,” Hasina said
outside the new station at
Cox’s Bazar. Completion of the
current project has been
delayed by around 10 years,
but the new line was first
proposed 133 years ago under
British rule.
The completed single track,
dual 1000mm and
1676mm-gauge line has cost
over Taka 180bn ($US 1.63bn).
It was originally planned to
run from Chattogram to
€368m loan from the Asian
Development Bank (ADB) and
the Bangladeshi government.
Bangladesh’s first deepwater
port which is now under
construction. This is expected
Bandarban, about 70km to the As well as connecting to greatly increase export
southeast, but the project was Chattogram and the capital opportunities for local textile
altered after Myanmar backed Dhaka with the popular tourist manufacturers, while import
out of continuing the railway resort of Cox’s Bazar, the new traffic could include raw
on its side of the border. line will also serve Matarbari, materials such as iron ore.
Built by the China Civil
A trial run ahead of the line’s
Engineering Construction opening. Photo: Shutterstock/
Corporation (CCECC), China Vector Photo Gallery
Railway Group, and local
contractor Max Group, the new
railway is the first completed
joint venture project between
Chinese and Bangladeshi
companies.
China originally also wanted
to finance the project, but the
Bangladeshi government
rejected the offer in 2015. The
line was financed jointly by a

IRJ December 2023 7

 News | headlines

Australian government axes major infrastructure projects

A N independent review of
major Australian rail and
road infrastructure projects,
launched by the federal
government in May, has called
for the axing of 50 high-risk
projects. The estimated $A 7bn
($US 4.6bn) of savings will be
put towards other “nation-
building” schemes.
The review found that the
$A 120bn infrastructure
pipeline was facing $A 33bn in
cost increases and delays.
Federal infrastructure minister,
Ms Catherine King, says that
some of the former coalition
government’s plans were
undeliverable due to cost
increases and a lack of clear
benefits.
In a major change, the review
recommends a shift in how major
projects are funded, with the
federal government adopting a
default 50:50 funding split
between itself and the states in
order to share more
accountability for delivery,
including cost overruns.
One of the major rail projects
facing cancellation is the
$A 4bn Geelong Fast Rail
scheme announced in 2020,
serving the busiest corridor in
Victoria. Also facing the axe is
$A 1bn in funding for a faster
passenger service between
Newcastle and Sydney in New
South Wales.
Melbourne’s Suburban Rail
Loop was excluded from the
review, but the latter nevertheless
calls for proof that it is a
project of national significance.
The Victorian state government
will now need to provide
annual spending updates.
Pressure is also on Victoria to
resume work on the $A 13bn
Melbourne Airport rail link,
suspended while the review
was in progress and now cleared
to proceed. Work has also been
delayed due to a dispute between
the airport operator, which
wants an underground station,
and Victoria which favours a
cheaper, surface option.
Negotiations between the
state and Melbourne Airport
had been ongoing for over
three years, but have collapsed
due to the airport’s “unreasonable
requests,” according to the
state government.
Both Victoria and the federal
government have provided
$A 5bn for the $A 13bn project,
but neither had agreed to
contribute more money before
the review was announced.

EC proposes update to Combined Transport Directive

T HE European Commission (EC) has
presented a proposal to update the
Combined Transport Directive, which
aims to improve the efficiency and
competitiveness of intermodal freight
transport in Europe. The update will also
support the objectives of the Green Transport
Package presented by the EC in July.
The Combined Transport Directive aims
to increase the uptake of intermodal
transport by offering a clear definition of
intermodal operations and by establishing
a framework of regulatory and non-
regulatory support. It is the only current
European Union (EU) legislation relating
to intermodal transport but has undergone
no significant revisions since it was
introduced in 1992.
With some elements of the directive now
considered outdated, and the European
Green Deal calling for a shift to rail from
more polluting road transport for long-
Photo: Quintus Vosman
distance freight, the commission is now
proposing an update.
The EC favours combined transport for
its economic, environmental and safety
benefits. Yet rail struggles to compete on
medium and shorter distances due to
administrative hurdles, transhipment
costs, and a complete internalisation of
external costs. “The Combined Transport
Directive creates a support framework to
increase the competitiveness of intermodal
and combined transport and thereby
promote a shift away from road-only
transport,” the EC says.
Under the proposal, the EC says the
currently partly ambiguous definition,
which is problematic for some operators,
will be replaced with a completely new
approach that will ensure support will
focus on combined transport operations.
These are defined as intermodal operations
that “reduce by at least 40% the negative
externalities” compared with road transport.
Digital platforms established under the
Electric Freight Transport Information
Regulation (eFTI) will provide a tool to
enable transport providers to prove
whether their operation is eligible for
specific combined transport support. This
will help to eliminate previous issues at
national and international level concerning
eligible operations.
The revised directive will also set a
specific target for EU member states to
improve the competitiveness of combined
transport by providing an assessment of
the barriers to uptake. They will also
ensure that national policy frameworks
allow for an overall reduction of the
average cost of door-to-door combined
transport operations by 10%. Information
about national support measures must be
easily accessible.
The EC has also proposed three
provisions for promoting intermodal

transport in general. It reiterates that like

single-mode transport, all intermodal
transport is free of authorisations and
quotas, and establishes a new obligation
on member states to adopt a national
policy framework for facilitating the
uptake of intermodal transport. A
transparency requirement would be
introduced for intermodal transhipment
terminals, to ensure that potential
customers can easily find out which
services and facilities are available.
Two additional support measures would
include a new EU-wide exemption from
weekend, holiday and night driving bans
for the short road legs of intermodal
movements to ensure better use of
terminal and non-road infrastructure
capacity, and a target for member states to
reduce the average door-to-door cost of
intermodal operations by at least 10%
The EC wants to increase intermodal transport to reduce the dependence on road for long-distance freight. within seven years.

8 IRJ December 2023


First German BEMU fleet enters service: Germany’s first fleet of new battery EMUs (BEMUs)
entered passenger service in the northernmost state of Schleswig Holstein in late October. The first
trains are operating in Kiel on the non-electrified suburban route between the main station and
Kiel Oppendorf, operated by Errix Holstein. Photo: Keith Fender
STB approves modifications to Brightline West
T HE US Surface
Transportation Board
(STB) has authorised the
construction and operation of a
modified alignment of the
planned high-speed line
linking Victorville, California,
and Las Vegas, Nevada,
proposed by Brightline West,
subject to environmental
mitigation measures.
The modifications include
relocating the rail alignment on
certain sections from the east
side of the I-15 highway to the
median strip; revising the
design of Apple Valley station
to locate the platforms within
the median strip; and raising
and moving east a portion of
the existing I-15 northbound
lanes to provide the necessary
land and access to the platforms.
The STB says the modified
alignment will lessen or avoid
Polish leasing company to purchase 100 high-speed trains
P OLAND’s government has
approved the creation of a
rolling stock leasing company,
which will purchase more than
100 trains for the country’s
planned high-speed network.
The Central Communication
Port (CPK) project will see the
construction of a new airport,
12 new high-speed lines
totalling 2000km, and the
modernisation of 3700km of
existing mainline railway.
The rolling stock leasing
company will be set up as a
subsidiary of CPK to purchase
the trains, which will then be
leased from a pool to operators
using the new high-speed
network.
IRJ December 2023
several potential environmental
impacts by placing much of the
new line in the I-15 median.
“The merits of a high-speed rail
passenger line connecting Las
Vegas and Southern California
are substantial,” the STB says.
“Moreover, providing a rail
alternative along the I-15
corridor would not only create
a transportation benefit for
passengers; it would also create
environmental benefits in
replacing highway vehicle traffic,
and its associated emissions,
with more environmentally-
friendly rail travel.”
The STB also authorised
DesertXpress Enterprises (trading
as Brightline West) to construct
and operate approximately
80km of new railway from
Victorville to Rancho Cucamonga
in Los Angeles, subject to
environmental mitigation
The new company will be
able to attract minority
investors, both private and
public such as banks,
investment funds, insurance
companies and pension funds.
The leasing company is
expected to spend Zlotys 8.7bn
($US 2bn) on new rolling stock
vehicles by 2030, rising to
Zlotys 16-20bn by 2035.
According to the resolution
adopted by the government,
the new trains must comply
with European Technical
Specifications for Interoperability
(TSI). They must also have a
maximum speed of up to
250km/h, take traction current
at 3kV dc and 25kV ac, and be
conditions.
The extension will be entirely
within the I-15 right-of-way
except for the final 1.5km at
Rancho Cucamonga, which
will proceed west along 8th
Street and terminate adjacent
to Los Angeles commuter
operator Metrolink’s Rancho
Cucamonga station.
The new line will be built on
a dedicated, fully grade-separated
right-of-way without level
crossings. The single-track line
with passing loops will be
dedicated exclusively to high-
speed trains. The current plan
is to operate 25 trains in each
direction between Las Vegas
and Rancho Cucamonga every
day. Trains will depart from
both Las Vegas and Rancho
Cucamonga at 45-minute intervals
and will operate at up to
290km/h.
equipped with ETCS.
Onboard amenities must
include facilities for passengers
with reduced mobility (PRM),
a passenger information system
displaying airport information,
multi-functional areas,
individual at-seat lighting and
USB charging points.
Priority will be given to the
purchase of rolling stock for
the Warsaw - CPK - Łódź line,
which is due to open alongside
the CPK airport in 2027.
CPK says a leasing company
model reduces the capital cost
for operators, while the project
will also stimulate demand in
the Polish rolling stock and rail
vehicle subsystems market.
In brief
Argentina
CRRC will supply Argentinean
Trains with 50 DMUs,
comprising 25 1676mm-gauge,
15 1000mm-gauge and 10
1435mm-gauge trains. CRRC
International and CRRC
Tangshan will fulfil what the
Chinese manufacturer
describes as Argentina’s
largest-ever order for DMUs.
Australia
Hitachi Rail is due to begin the
third and final phase of
upgrading the interlocking
system on Rio Tinto’s fully
automated heavy haul network
in the Pilbara region. Following
phases 1 and 2, which replaced
interlockings and wayside
equipment on 100km of the
Tom Price line and 200km of
the Yandi line, Phase 3 will
cover the Paraburdoo line and
is due for completion in 2025.
Austria
Open-access operator Westbahn
will extend its Vienna - Innsbruck
service to Bregenz on the
German border with the
timetable change on December
10. The company will then
operate along the entire length
of the entire Western Railway
in competition with Austrian
Federal Railways (ÖBB).
Britain
At the instruction of the
Department for Transport, 11
passenger operators have
withdrawn proposed changes
to station staffing that were
expected to result in the
eventual closure of most ticket
offices in England. Public
consultation on the proposals
generated a total of 750,000
responses, with passenger
watchdog London TravelWatch
reporting that 99% of those it
received were objections.
= London North Eastern
Railway (LNER) has selected
CAF to supply 10 tri-mode
trains for the East Coast Main
Line (ECML), equipped with
pantographs as well as battery
and diesel traction for
operation on non-electrified
lines and in battery-only
mode. The contract includes
maintenance over eight years
and the 10-car trains will be
assembled at CAF’s plant in
Newport, South Wales.
9
 News | headlines

Heuro plots market entry to compete with Eurostar

P LANS to launch high-
speed services from
Amsterdam to Brussels, Paris
and London in competition
with Eurostar have been
announced by Dutch company
Heurotrain.
Heuro says it is aiming to
offer an “ambitious schedule”
of 16 Amsterdam - Paris and 15
Amsterdam - London services
every day. The new Heuro
service would have intermediate
stops at Schiphol Airport,
Rotterdam Central and Antwerp
Central. Two of the Paris trains
would also serve Groningen,
Assen, Zwolle and Almere.
Each high-speed train would
have capacity for 550
passengers, according to the
company, which says that it is
in discussions with “several
manufacturers.”
Heuro is led by its founder
and Dutch entrepreneur, Mr
Maarten van den Biggelaar,
and his son, Mr Roemer van
den Biggelaar. The company
says the team also includes
former Netherlands Railways
(NS) board members while it is
supported by American and
Swiss investment firms. The
founders are currently seeking
candidates to manage the
operations business.
“We ourselves are better at
building a brand and selling
tickets,” says Roemer van den
Biggelaar. “For buying trains,
we are advised by former
board members of NS, and
several industry experts from
the relevant countries are
involved in the project.”
The Heuro project has been
informed by market analysis
conducted by Amsterdam-based
data research and marketing
company Marveltest, which
says that online interest in train
travel has grown by 32% a year
over the last five years.
Over 50% of Europeans now
prefer rail as a greener option
for journeys under 2 hours,
according to Heuro. With high-
speed services 98% full at peak
times, the company points out
that introducing new services
in competition with incumbent
monopoly operators “boosts
demand by 45%.”
As well as Heuro, Eurostar
also has a potential competitor
in the form of Evolyn (IRJ
November p12) while reports
in the British media suggest
that Virgin Group founder, Sir
Richard Branson, is also
preparing to challenge
Eurostar’s monopoly, working
with former Virgin Trains and
Avanti West Coast managing
director, Mr Phil Whittingham.
Eurostar has yet to face
competition since it began
operating through the Channel
Tunnel on November 14 1994.

Trenitalia plans Amsterdam -

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Frankfurt high-speed service
T RENITALIA has applied through its Dutch subsidiary QBuzz
for permission to operate a new high-speed service in the
Netherlands from Amsterdam via Utrecht and Arnhem to the
German border as part of a new service linking Amsterdam, Cologne
and Frankfurt am Main, which would start on January 1 2027.
The Dutch Consumers and Markets Authority (ACM) will
assess whether the new initiative poses a threat to Netherlands
Railways (NS) under its Main Line Network (HRN) concession.
Although international services can be operated on an open
access basis, the new service will carry domestic passengers in the
Netherlands, therefore requiring ACM approval. The trains will operate the new
Amrit Bharat Express service.
Trenitalia plans to operate six round trips per day between
Amsterdam and Frankfurt calling at Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Indian Railways unveils new 130km/h
Cologne main station or Cologne Messe/Deutz, Siegburg/Bonn
and Frankfurt Airport with a journey time of 3h 53min. long-distance EMUs for low-cost market
This would almost double the frequency between Amsterdam
and Frankfurt as NS and German Rail (DB) currently operate seven
round trips per day on the route using jointly-owned ICE trains.
I NDIAN Railways (IR) has
unveiled a variant of the Vande
Bharat EMU targeting the low-
Bunder yard on October 29 for
trials on the 169km Mumbai -
Nashik corridor, with a
The Trenitalia service would be operated by multi-system ETR income passenger market. particular emphasis on
1000 Frecciarossa trains. Trenitalia has recently ordered 30 The new 22-car Vande performance over hilly terrain.
additional trains from Hitachi Rail with an option for 10 more (p14). Sadharan (Vande Ordinary) Commercial operation is likely
has capacity for a total of 1800 to begin on the New Delhi -
passengers, with 18 unreserved Mumbai route.
Photo: Moscow Metro

and four reserved non-air- Additional Vande Sadharan

conditioned coaches. The
maximum speed is 130km/h,
lower than the 160km/h Vande
Bharat.
While each Vande Bharat
train costs Rs 1.2bn ($US 14.6m),
the Vande Sadharan reportedly
costs Rs 600m. The new train has
a 4.4MW power car at each end,
manufactured at a cost of Rs
280m at Chittaranjan Locomotive
Certification of Ivolga 4.0 EMU underway in Moscow: The Works (CLW) and moved to the
prototype Ivolga 4.0 EMU built by Transmashholding (TMH) Chennai-based Integral Coach
and featuring 97% domestic content has undergone certification Factory (ICF) to be formed into
testing at the Russian Railways (RZD) test circuit at Scherbinka. trains with German-designed
Moscow Metro ordered 18 Ivolga 4.0 trains in 2022, and up to 95 LHB coaches.
will be purchased by 2025 to operate on the Moscow Central Two Vande Sadharan trains
Diameters (MCD) network. arrived at Mumbai’s Wadi
trains are expected to be
introduced depending on
demand, IR officials said.
Compared with conventional
passenger trains currently in
operation, the Vande Sadharan
will have improved interiors
and amenities including
automatic doors, bio-toilets
and modern radio
communications systems. The
cost per seat of the Vande
Sadharan would be 25% less
than fares for the premier
Vande Bharat trains. However,
they are not equipped with air-
conditioning, which has been
criticised.

10 IRJ December 2023

 In brief
Canada
Via Rail is in discussions with
its US counterpart Amtrak and
other operators over a proposal
to extend Amtrak’s Chicago -
Detroit Wolverine service to
Toronto. Under the plan,
passenger trains would return
to the Detroit River Tunnel
owned by CPKC, which is
required to provide access to
Amtrak as a condition of the
US Surface Transportation
Board’s approval of the
merger to create CPKC.

Photo: Wabtec
Europe
Online ticketing retailer Rail
Europe and Fairlyne, a French
developer of a resale-as-a-
Wabtec unveils first 100% battery-powered heavy-haul locomotive: Wabtec has unveiled the first
service platform for the travel
FLXdrive battery locomotive, which it says is the first 100% battery-powered heavy-haul
industry, have announced a
locomotive for mainline duties. The launch customer is Australian iron ore mining company
memorandum of understanding
Roy Hill, which operates a 344km line in the Pilbara region.
(MoU) to develop a ticket
resale platform for Rail
DB awards high-performance network upgrade contract Europe’s customers. Rail

G ERMAN Rail (DB) has
awarded four contracts to
upgrade the 70km Riedbahn
between Frankfurt am Main
and Mannheim, the first line to
be upgraded under a new
accelerated process to create a
high-performance network.
The strategy announced by
the federal government and
DB in June 2022 involves the
full closure of lines to allow
sufficient work to take place in
order to eliminate the national
renewals backlog.
The Riedbahn will be closed
for five months for work
including the renewal of
120km of track, 150 points and
140km of overhead line, as well
as signalling and train control
systems. DB is also modernising
all 20 stations along the route
and constructing 15km of noise
barriers.
The contracts have been
awarded to Leonhard Weiss,
Spitzke, Swietelsky
Baugesellschaft and Siemens
Mobility. The work has been
divided into two lots, for the
Frankfurt/Main - Biblis and
Biblis - Mannheim sections.
DB has significantly
increased the scope of the
project to include conversion to
electronic interlockings, which
began in February 2022, while
the cost of the station upgrades
and an increased price buffer
have also added to the overall
project cost. DB has therefore
increased the funding required
to €1.3bn, of which €1.1bn has
already been secured in the
federal budget.
In order to manage the
construction workload and to
avoid closing the line during
the UEFA Euro 2024 football
championship, which Germany
is hosting from June 14 to July
14, DB is concentrating
preparatory works to take
place in January 2024, which
will result in the closure of the
line between January 1 and 22.
DB says this “dress rehearsal”
will also allow it to test
processes and further optimise
concepts ahead of the full
closure later in the summer.
The full high-performance
network programme is targeting
completion of upgrades on 40
route sections by 2030.
tickets are not typically sold
between third parties as the
ticket issuer is usually
responsible for arranging any
exchanges or refunds.
France
Rolling stock leasing company
Railpool has created a new
subsidiary, Railpool France, to
increase activities in what it
says is a growing rail leasing
market in the country. The 50
Traxx Universal multi-system
locomotives ordered by
Railpool earlier this year are
expected to obtain approval to
operate in France by mid-2025.
Mexico
Mayan Train director general,
Mr Óscar David Lozano
Águila, says that the first

GBRfr pioneers digital real-time wagon monitoring section of the new line
construction project will open

B RITISH rail freight operator GB Railfreight has

completed a four-week trial of battery-
powered sensors monitoring wheelset and brake
condition in real time, linked via the Internet of
Things (IoT) to both train drivers and control centres.
The new technology enables battery-powered
sensors to transmit status and out-of-tolerance
alerts via long-range, wireless networks while
freight trains are being prepared.
The system was developed by GB Railfreight
in collaboration with internet connectivity
company Icomera, its own DG8 design consultancy
and IoT specialist Sensei.
According to GB Railfreight, the trial
demonstrated that the system offers a means of
creating a safer and more efficient rail network
by reducing the number of incidents relating to
wheel and brake faults. It says that no known
method has previously existed for delivering
freight wagon brake sensor data to the driver in
the locomotive wirelessly, via a closed system.
on December 15. The 234km
Section 2 from Escárcega to
Calkiní has five new stations,
Drivers receive sensor data directly to an located at Carillo Puerto-
application on a tablet in the cab. This allows Champotón, Edzná, San
them to take immediate action to mitigate Francisco Campeche, Tenabo
potential risks as well as respond to real-time and Hecelchakán.
feedback on the results of their actions.
Spain
Under an agreement with
high-speed infrastructure
manager Adif AV, the Basque
regional government will execute
a €226.5m project to connect
Bilbao Abando station with the
Basque Y high-speed network.
Adif AV will be responsible for
tracklaying, electrification,

IRJ December 2023 11

 News | headlines

India - Bangladesh cross-border line reopens KTCS-2

T HE 12.24km link connecting Agartala, India,
with Akhoura, Bangladesh, has reopened for
the first time since the Partition of India in 1947.
1600km to 500km, cutting journey times by 22
hours. Bangladesh has authorised the Indian
government to move freight from the ports of
enters service
The cross-border project was inaugurated by
Indian prime minister, Mr Narendra Modi, and
Chattogram and Mongla in Bangladesh to West
Bengal and the northeastern states. in Korea
H
his Bangladeshi counterpart, Ms Sheikh Hasina, Funding for the project was included in YUNDAI Rotem has
on November 1. The link comprises a 6.78km India’s 2012-13 rail budget, increasing from an announced that the LTE-
dual 1676mm and 1000mm-gauge section in initial Rs 3.9bn ($US 46.8m) to Rs 12.6bn. based wireless Korean Train
Bangladesh and a 5.46km broad-gauge section Links to Mongla, the second largest port in Control System 2 (KTCS-2) has
in the Indian state of Tripura. Bangladesh, have been improved by the opening been activated on a 180km
The new line via Bangladesh will reduce the of a 65km broad-gauge line from Khulna in section of the conventional
distance by rail between Kolkata in West Bengal Bangladesh, built at a cost of $US 388.9m with Jeolla Line between Iksan and
and India’s seven northeastern states from financial support from the Indian government. Yeosu.
The Korean supplier has been
Seven signatories for Lobito corridor extension MoU participating in the Ministry of
Land, Infrastructure and
T HE African Development
Bank (AfDB) and Africa
Finance Corporation (AFC)
with the existing network at
Chingola, which runs across
the border to the DRC.
“The new line, connecting
northwest Zambia to the
Lobito Atlantic Railway and
Transport’s (Molit) train
control system standardisation
research and development
have joined the United States, The MoU, signed on the the port of Lobito, represents
project since 2012.
the European Union (EU), margins of the Global Gateway the most significant transport
The ministry selected the
Angola, the Democratic Forum in Brussels, Belgium, on infrastructure that the United
Jeolla Line as the KTCS-2 pilot
Republic of Congo (DRC), and October 26, says that the States has helped develop on
route in December 2020, and
Zambia in signing a signatories will collaborate to the African continent in a
entry into service of the new
memorandum of understanding realise the full economic potential generation and will enhance
signalling system marks the
(MoU) to develop the Lobito of the corridor, building on the regional trade and growth as
final step before it can be put
Corridor and the new Zambia - Lobito Corridor Transit well as advance the shared
on the market, according to
Lobito line. Transport Facilitation Agency vision of connected, open-
Hyundai Rotem.
AFC has been appointed lead agreement signed by the three access rail from the Atlantic
The trials have involved
project developer. The proposed African governments in Ocean to the Indian Ocean,”
installing KTCS-2 equipment
line runs from Luacano in January and anchored by says the US State Department’s
on Korail KTX1 trains.
Angola to Kalumbila in previous investment in the PGI special coordinator, Ms
Two-way wireless
Zambia, continuing to connect new Zambia - Lobito line. Helaina Matza.
communication in real time
between the train and the
control centre will enable
service headways on both
conventional and high-speed
lines to be reduced by as much
as 23%, increasing capacity
while improving both safety
and operational efficiency.
By removing the need for
track-mounted balises, KTCS-2
is expected to reduce installation,
operating and maintenance
costs. It would also enable a
Gotthard repairs will not be completed until September standard signalling system to

S WISS Federal Railways

(SBB) has announced that
work to repair the damaged
western bore of the 57.1km
Gotthard Base Tunnel and
restore the world’s longest rail
tunnel to full capacity will take
until September 2024.
SBB says that the freight
train derailment on August 10,
caused by a cracked wheel,
resulted in much more damage
than was first expected. This
will require 7km of concrete
slab track to be entirely
replaced at a cost of between
SFr 100m ($US 110.65m) and
SFr 130m, which SBB says will
be covered by its insurance.
Track repairs will involve
replacing the concrete track
bed, over 20,000 twin-block
sleepers and the running rails,
work which SBB says is
currently being delivered at
rate of 300m of new track per
week.
The derailed freight train
also damaged the safety door
in one of the diagonal tunnels
connecting the two bores of the
Gotthard Base Tunnel, two
high-speed turnouts at the
Faido multifunctional site, and
other safety and operating
equipment.
As repairs continue,
passenger services will return
to the Gotthard Base Tunnel
for the fist time since the
accident with the timetable
change on December 10.
Subject to approval by
Switzerland’s rail safety
regulator, the Federal Office of
Transport (FOT), there will be
a total of 31 passenger trains
running through the
undamaged eastern bore from
Friday to Sunday, with 17
operating from north to south
and 14 from south to north.
Freight services during the
week will also be increased,
offering full access to freight
trains from Monday to Thursday.
At weekends when passenger
demand is at is peak, freight
services will share the route
with passenger trains.
be rolled out across the Korean
rail network, where
interoperability has been hard
to achieve as high-speed lines
and other railways have been
equipped with different
signalling systems from
overseas suppliers.
As the new system meets
ETCS standards, it will enable
Hyundai Rotem to target export
customers. The company will
continue to develop KTCS-3,
which features train positioning
without track circuits, for both
the domestic and overseas
markets, and plans to
complete the development of
the KTCS-3 onboard unit by
the end of 2024.

12
12 IRJ ???????? 2015 IRJ December 2023

Photo: Alstom
Alstom rolls out first new RER NG commuter EMU: Alstom has
unveiled its RER New Generation (NG) double-deck commuter
train for the Paris RER network, which made its first journey
between Haussmann Saint-Lazare and Chelles-Gournay on Line
E on November 13. The manufacturer is supplying a total of 131
RER NGs in 112m-long six-car variants for Line E and
130m-long seven-car trains for Line D.
Pakistan reopens Sibi - Harnai line
P AKISTAN Railways (PR)
has restored passenger
service to the Sibi - Harnai line,
following the completion of
work to replace bridges
damaged by separatists
seeking independence for the
province of Balochistan.
Passenger services had been
withdrawn in February 2006.
In March 2016, a contract to
replace bridges, track and
other damaged infrastructure
was awarded to the state-
owned National Logistics Cell,
now the National Logistics
Corporation (NLC).
According to media reports,
other contractors were
unwilling to participate due to
the scale of the task and the
security situation prevailing in
Balochistan.
“The track was made
dysfunctional after a series of
Rail Reform Bill planned to create Great British Railways
T HE British government has
included a draft Rail Reform
Bill in the King’s Speech
delivered on November 7,
outlining its priorities for the
next parliamentary session, the
last before a general election
which must take place before
January 28 2025.
As a draft bill there is no
guarantee that parliament will
have sufficient time to debate
and pass the proposed legislation
to establish Great British
Railways (GBR) as a new
arm’s-length body overseeing
IRJ ????????
IRJ December20152023 13
bomb blasts which damaged
22 steel bridges in this highly
rugged and inaccessible area,”
the Ministry of Railways said
in a statement.
“The restoration of the railway
between the two historical
cities of Sibi and Harnai will
have a positive impact on the
economy and agriculture of the
entire region,” according to the
ministry.
“The rail link will not only
enable students of the Harnai
and Ziarat district to acquire
higher education but will also
boost economic and
commercial activities in the
region.”
PR is also due to resume
operating the Bolan Mail
between Sibi and Harnai on
December 25, followed by the
Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti
Express at a later date.
the railway sector.
The government says the bill
must be scrutinised by
parliamentarians and industry
experts due to the scale and
complexity of the changes
being made. It also points out
that many of the reforms
proposed, such as simplifying
fares and more pay-as-you-go
ticketing, can be introduced
without legislation.
Rail Partners, which represents
private-sector operators and
freight companies, called the
draft bill a “missed opportunity”
Korea to support
reconstruction of
Ukraine’s railway
U KRAINE’s reconstruction
of its war-torn railways
will get a helping hand from
Korea, Korea’s Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure, and Transport
(Molit) has announced.
On November 20, at the start
of a three-day visit to Ukraine,
a delegation from Molit, Korail,
and Korean National Railway
(KNR) signed a memorandum
of understanding (MoU) with
Ukrainian Railways (UZ) to
assist with seven reconstruction
projects. The One Team Korea
delegation also toured damaged
lines and facilities in and around
Kyiv to assess possible further
needs.
While full details have not
been disclosed, including how
the work will be financed, the
projects under the MoU
include a new high-speed
railway to link Ukraine with
Poland, increasing capacity of
the existing line between
Odesa, Izmail, and Reni in the
southwest, and building a new
railway traffic control centre.
They are also said to include
joint training for high-speed
railway operation and fleet
maintenance personnel, rolling
stock maintenance, and the
construction of a rolling stock
repair facility base, according
to Korean news agency Yonhap.
KNR will undertake preliminary
studies for construction, while
Korail will assist with operation
and maintenance. In addition,
Korea’s Hyundai-Rotem will
build and maintain the rolling
stock required, as well as a
maintenance facility.
to legislate within the next
session of Parliament.
“The rail industry has been
awaiting progress on reform
since the Williams Review
started over five years ago,
culminating in the Plan for Rail
being published in 2021,” says
Mr Andy Bagnall, Rail Partners
chief executive. “Delivering
that plan remains the best
foundation to build a better
railway for Britain, and not
seizing the moment now means
continuing uncertainty until
after the next general election.”
In brief
signalling and other railway
systems work, which is expected
to cost €53.6m. A 6.2km tunnel
will also be constructed from
Basauri to Abando.
= National operator Renfe has
awarded a joint venture of
Accenture and Evolutio Cloud
Enable a €78.6m contract to
design, install, maintain and
operate a new ticket sales and
reservation system. A second
contract worth €85.5m
awarded to Sqills Products
covers the implementation,
configuration and operation of
a passenger service system.
Singapore
The Land Transport Authority
(LTA) completed the first phase
of building the Singapore Rail
Test Centre (SRTC) on November
2, with the opening of a 3km
tangent test track for metro
trains which has a maximum
speed of 100km/h. Two looped
test tracks will be built under
Phase 2, a 3km endurance
track and a 2.8km performance
and integration track with a
maximum gradient of 3%.
Switzerland
Metre-gauge railway
Zentralbahn (ZB) is carrying
out trials to determine whether
adhesion operation could be
used on gradients of up to
12.5%, testing a combination of
air and magnetic track braking
systems that would enable
trains to stop safely even in
adverse weather conditions.
Eliminating the need for rack
operation on mountain railways
would reduce construction and
operating costs.
United States
California High-Speed Rail
Authority (CHSRA) has
released a Request for
Qualifications (RFQ) for a
contract to design track and
overhead line systems for the
Central Valley high-speed line.
= The San Diego Association
of Governments (Sandag) has
appointed HDR to lead
environmental clearance work
and advanced conceptual
engineering for the project to
relocate an 8km section of the
Los Angeles - San Diego line
within the City of Del Mar.
This single-track section runs
along coastal bluffs threatened
by rising sea levels. IRJ
13
 News | transit
SJ awarded emergency Stockholm commuter contract
G REATER Stockholm Local
Transport (SL) has signed
an emergency contract with SJ
to operate Pendeltåg commuter
services in Stockholm, replacing
MTR Nordic, a subsidiary of
Hong Kong operator MTR.
MTR Nordic commenced a
10-year contract to operate the
network on December 11 2016,
which included an option to
extend to 2030. The contract
includes train operation,
station management and
rolling stock maintenance.
However, SL announced in
May that it would not be
exercising the extension option
and would launch a tender to
find a new operator from 2026.
At the time, SL said there had
been “serious problems” since
autumn 2022, and the current
contract meant the operator
Vienna’s €2.4bn S-Bahn upgrade project begins
had difficulty earning
sufficient revenue to deliver
high-quality services, while
rolling stock issues were also
being neglected, which affected
service reliability.
MTR says that since June,
Stockholm commuter services
have continued to suffer serious
disruption caused by a shortage
of drivers and maintenance
issues, resulting in cancellations
and irregular and delayed
departures. However, the
company, which had been
operating at a loss, was said to
be working hard to improve its
financial performance.
On November 1, SL announced
that following discussions with
MTR and SJ, it has signed a
contract for SJ to take over
responsibility for operating the
network from MTR for a two-
Prague selects
year period with two one-year
extensions from March 3 2024. Škoda for big
As part of a supplemental tram contract
P
agreement, MTR Pendeltågen
RAGUE Transport (DPP)
will pay SL SKr 580m ($US
has selected Škoda Group
51.6m), comprising an exit fee
as the winner of a tender to
of SKr 280m and SKr 300m to
supply up to 200 uni-
settle other outstanding issues.
directional low-floor LRVs
MTR Pendeltågen will also
under a framework contract
transfer inventory, spares and
worth Koruna 16.6bn ($US 720m).
assets to SJ. MTR estimates that
DPP will initially order 40
it will need to recognise a
ForCity Plus trams from this
charge of approximately SKr
contract, with the first 20
1bn in its 2023 financial results.
scheduled for delivery in 2025
“Close cooperation between
and another 20 in 2026.
SL and SJ is a prerequisite for
The 32m-long, double-
this to be successful,” says SL
articulated vehicles have
CEO, Mr David Lagneholm.
capacity for 220 passengers,
“The signing of this agreement
including 60 seated.
marks the start of work to
The contract also includes
restore stable and reliable
support and development of
commuter train services. It will
the vehicle’s onboard software,
take time, but conditions are
licensing of the onboard fault
now improving.”
diagnosis software, technical
documentation, training of
DPP employees and 10 sets of
spare parts.

W ORK has begun on the €2.4bn Vienna

S-Bahn upgrade project, starting with the
13km section between Meidling and Floridsdorf
groundbreaking ceremony was held at the
Handelskai S-Bahn station, attended by Austria’s
climate protection minister, Ms Leonore Dubai advances
which carries around 700 trains a day.
To mark the start of work to upgrade the
Gewessler, Vienna city councillor for mobility,
Ms Ulli Sima, and ÖBB Infrastructure board Blue Line metro
“Pink Line,” the busiest in Austria, a member, Ms Judith Engel.
The project will meet growing demand on the
eastern section of the S-Bahn network, which is
D UBAI’s Roads and
Transport Authority
(RTA) has called for
experiencing the fastest increase in ridership in expressions of interest for a
Austria. design and construction
The line and structural engineering systems contract for the 30km Blue
will be comprehensively modernised by Line metro, comprising a
December 2027, while the implementation of 15.5km underground section
ETCS Level 2 will allow services to operate at and 14.5km elevated section.
2min 30s intervals during peak periods. Services The scheme is one of Dubai’s
will also be able to recover from delays and largest planned infrastructure
disruption more quickly. projects, and will require
Platform extensions will allow the operation international contractors to
of longer trains, increasing capacity by 40% by work in a joint venture with
2028, while investment in new track, points, local partners. The contractor
catenary and the construction of new stabling will be responsible for all civil
and turnback facilities will ensure safe and and electromechanical works,
Ulli Sima, Leonore Gewessler and Judith Engel at the ceremony. punctual operation in the long term. rolling stock and rail systems,
as well as assisting with

Coventry Very Light Rail vehicle tested on new slab track maintenance and operation for
an initial three-year period.

T HE battery-powered
Coventry Very Light Rail
(CVLR) vehicle under
development in the West
Midlands in Britain has been
successfully tested on a new
design of slab track that avoids
the need for expensive and
time-consuming utility diversion.
The new slab track has been
designed by engineering
consultancy Rendel, working
in conjunction with the WMG
international manufacturing
research centre at the University
of Warwick.
Thinner than conventional
light rail track, the new design
can be laid just 300mm deep into
the road surface, reducing the
need to divert all underground
utility pipes and cables, which
can add significant cost and
delay to light rail projects.
The new track design was
installed at the Very Light Rail
National Innovation Centre
(VLRNC) in Dudley in a few
weeks by civil works contractor
Galliford Try. The VLRNC test
track includes a tight curve and
a 250m vertical hump, as both
are significant challenges for
traditional slab track designs
that add to the cost and delivery
time of light rail projects.
Combined with the battery-
powered CVLR vehicle, it is
hoped that the new track system
will enable cities to install rapid
transit systems much more quickly
and at a significantly lower cost.
The line will have 14 stations,
including seven elevated and
five underground, and will
interchange with the existing
Centrepoint and Creek
stations, the termini of the Red
and Green lines, respectively.
The contract also includes
the supply of 28 driverless
trains, the construction of a
depot to accommodate up to
60 trains, and the construction
of all associated roads, facilities
and utility diversion works.

14 IRJ December 2023


First new London Underground Piccadilly Line train presented:
Transport for London (TfL) and Siemens presented the first of
the New Tube for London trains being built for the Piccadilly
Line at the Wildenrath test centre in western Germany on
November 16. The 94 nine-car Piccadilly Line trains are being
supplied under a £1.5bn contract awarded in 2018. They will
replace the existing fleet of 86 six-car trains introduced between
1975 and 1977. Each train is formed of five long and four short
cars with the short cars cantilevered between the five long
vehicles which are mounted on bogies. Photo: Keith Fender
Helsinki - Espoo light rail line opens
H
ELSINKI’s light rail Line
15 opened on October 21
ahead of schedule, providing
an alternative to the congested
bus route 550, the busiest in
Helsinki. The 25km line runs
from Itäkeskus in Helsinki to
and Keilaniemi in Espoo, with
16km in Helsinki and 9km in
Espoo.
Line 15 runs mostly on a
dedicated right of way and has
34 stops located on average
every 800m. The line serves
Itäkeskus, Aalto University
and Keilaniemi metro stations
and Oulunkylä, Huopalahti
and Leppävaara railway
stations.
Construction began in 2019
and the project was
implemented using an alliance
model based on a contract
Singapore line upgrade projects completed
S INGAPORE’s Land
Transport Authority (LTA)
has completed a project to
renew and upgrade the North-
South and East-West lines
(NSEWL).
Starting in 2012, the renewal
and upgrade of the NSEWL’s
six core systems was
conducted in phases, in close
collaboration with operator
SMRT. The replacement of
wooden sleepers with concrete
sleepers was completed in
IRJ December 2023
between the two cities, the
construction consortium, and
the project design team, which
comprised Ramboll Finland,
Sito, and VR Track.
Services will initially operate
every 12 minutes, with this
increasing to every six minutes
following the delivery of more
LRVs. HKL ordered 29 LRVs
from Škoda subsidiary
Transtech in 2016, exercising
an option from a contract for
up to 90 LRVs that was
awarded in December 2010.
Up to six more light rail lines
are planned in the Helsinki
region by the mid-2030s, with
the Kruunusillat line the next
to be implemented. The city
council of Vantaa also voted in
favour of building a light rail
line on May 22.
December 2016, while the
replacement of the third rail
and installation of CBTC were
completed in September 2017
and 2018, respectively.
Since then, work has focused
on the renewal of track circuits,
power supply, and trains. All
three systems have been
equipped with condition
monitoring to allow faults to
be pre-emptively addressed.
LTA says that work has
improved the reliability of the
Dhaka opens
latest extension
to MRT Line 6
T
HE 8.7km Agargaon -
Motijheel section of MRT
Line 6 in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
opened on November 5, with
trains operating every 10
minutes from 07.30 to 11.30.
Only two intermediate
stations at Farmgate and
Secretariat (Press Club) are
currently open, with the
remaining intermediate
stations at Karwan Bazar,
Shahbag and Dhaka
University expected to be
completed in February 2024.
The first 11.7km section of
Line 6 opened on December 28
2022 from Uttara North to
Agargaon. According to Mr M
A N Siddique, managing
director of Dhaka Mass Transit
Company (DMTCL), Line 6 is
currently used by 90,000
passengers a day, which is
expected to rise to 500,000
passengers a day when all
stations are fully operational.
Each train on Line 6 can
accommodate up to 2300
passengers. The maximum
speed is 110km/h.
A further 1.16km extension
from Motijheel to Kamalapur
railway station is expected to
be completed by June 2024,
taking Line 6 to its full length
of 21.26km. In total, the
elevated Line 6 is expected to
have cost Taka 334.72bn ($US
3.04bn) to build.
Construction of Dhaka’s
first underground metro line,
MRT Line 1, was inaugurated
on February 2, and work
started on the 20km MRT Line
5 on November 4.
NSEWL significantly. The
NSEWL has recorded a mean
kilometres between failure
(MKBF) performance of more
than 1 million train-km since
2019, compared with 70,000
train-km and 60,000 train-km
on the NSL and EWL
respectively in 2012.
In July 2018, LTA awarded a
contract to Bombardier, now
Alstom, for the supply of 66
trains. Another 40 trains were
purchased in 2020.
In brief
Bern
Bernmobil has begun using the
first of 27 Tramlink LRVs
supplied by Stadler under a
contract awarded at the end of
2019. The introduction of the
new vehicles follows a test
phase lasting several months.
Edmonton
The much-delayed 13km
Valley Line Southeast light rail
line opened on November 4.
The line runs from downtown
Edmonton south to Mill
Woods. LRVs are operating at
five-minute intervals at peak
times and 10 minutes off-peak.
The line serves 11 stops and is
operated with a fleet of 26
Flexity LRVs supplied by
Alstom.
Manila
Loan agreements and further
consultancy contracts for the
Metro Rail Transit Line 4
(MRT-4) project in Manila will
now be signed next year. This
is a year behind the initial
target for concluding funding
agreements.
Paris
RATP, French National
Railways (SNCF) and Île-de-
France Mobility have awarded
Alstom a 12-year framework
contract worth almost e300m
to equip RER lines B and D
with NExTEO CBTC. Alstom
will equip a total of 350 trains
and 100km of the two lines.
Rome
Construction is now in full
swing of Piazza Venezia
station, which will become a
central hub of Line C, Rome
Metro’s first fully automated
metro line. Piazza Venezia is
at the western end of the 3km
Section T3 of Line C which
will run via Colosseo/Fori
Imperiali and Porta Metronia
to San Giovanni. Section T3 is
currently 91% complete and is
scheduled to open in 2025.
Toronto
Alstom has delivered the first
of 60 low-floor Flexity LRVs to
Toronto Transit Commission
(TTC) as the first step in
fulfilling a contract signed in
June 2021. The remaining
LRVs will be delivered by
2025. IRJ
15
 News | financial
Alstom announces tough measures after cash flow warning
A LSTOM’s share price
plummeted by almost one
fifth to €11.98 at 17.00 on
November 15 as news of the
company’s plans to address a
cash flow warning were
published in its half-year results
for the 2023-24 financial year.
Although Alstom achieved
sales of €8.4bn, a book-to-bill
ratio of 1.0, an order backlog of
€90.1bn, adjusted Ebit of
€438m and an adjusted net
profit of €174m for the first half
of 2023-24, it had a negative
free cash flow of €1.12bn. This
compares with a negative free
cash flow of just €45m for the
first half of 2022-23.
“The negative free cash flow
of Alstom during this first half
Siemens Mobility reports strong growth in 2023 Trenitalia signs
S IEMENS Mobility achieved
a 23% increase in orders to
€3.15bn in the fourth quarter of
the 2023 financial year, which
ended on September 30, and a
7% growth in fourth quarter
revenue to €2.88bn.
Nevertheless, fourth quarter
profit fell by 2% to €323m and
the division’s profit margin
dropped from 8.8% to 8%.
Siemens attributes the strong
increase in orders to higher
volume large orders, among
them two contracts for
commuter trains in Germany
worth €700m and a substantial
increase in rail infrastructure
orders. Siemens Mobility had a
book-to-bill ratio of 1:1 and an
order backlog of €45bn at the
end of fiscal 2023, while free
cash flow exceeded €1bn.
“Revenue increased to its
highest quarterly level ever
16
Southwestern Railway is still unable to confirm a date for entry into
service of its new fleet of 90 Arterio EMUs built by Alstom.
is a clear call for change,” says
Mr Henri Poupart-Lafarge,
Alstom’s chairman and CEO.
“While demand remains
sustained, despite some
volatility, our commercial
performance has been soft. The
Bombardier Transportation
integration continues to progress.
However, the delivery of the
Aventra programme [in Britain]
has been more complex than
anticipated. Production and
sales growth is accelerating.
“We are undertaking a
comprehensive action plan to
maintain our investment grade
rating and secure our mid-term
objectives. Confident in the
strength of our backlog and on
the solid business foundations
including comparable growth
in all businesses; the strongest
growth contribution came from
the rolling stock business,”
Siemens says. “Profit came in
close to the prior year level,
while profitability declined
due to a less favourable
business mix.”
Overall, Siemens reports a 7%
increase in orders to €92.3bn in
2023, an 11% increase in revenue
on a comparable basis to €11.4bn,
an almost doubling of net
income to €8.5bn, and a record
level of free cash flow at €10bn.
“Our continuously stellar free
cash flow confirms, above all,
our outstanding operational
performance - also compared
with our competitors,” says Dr
Roland Busch, president and
CEO of Siemens.
“Our shareholders will
benefit from this success, with
• cutting up to 1500 jobs, 1300
Photo: Shutterstock/Jeang Herng
of which would be at Alstom’s
factory in Derby, Britain.
In addition, Alstom will
reinforce the company’s balance
sheet and reduce its net debt of
€3.4bn by €2bn by March 2025.
Alstom is also considering:
• an assets disposal
programme, which has already
been launched generating
proceeds of between €500m
and €1bn
• equity and equity-like
issuances, including refinancing
certain assets, and
• a capital increase with pre-
emptive rights for shareholders.
of Alstom, I’m fully committed
to take up this challenge.”
Alstom has drawn up a five-
On October 31, Alstom signed
a new liquidity line of €2.25bn
with an international bank.
point plan to accelerate the Alstom is forecasting negative
third phase of the Bombardier free cash flow of between €500m
Transportation merger and €750m for the financial
integration: year to March 2024. The company
• continue growing the margin also forecasts a book to bill
in backlog through quality ratio above 1, organic sales
order intake (+0.5% per year in growth above 5% and an
the next three years) adjusted Ebit margin around
• delivering a production 6%. However, Alstom does not
ramp-up (currently an over expect to pay a dividend for
10% increase in cars produced the 2023-24 financial year.
per year) Mr Philippe Petitcolin, former
• improving on-time delivery CEO of Safran, is expected to
back to Alstom’s previous level become chairman in July 2024.
in 2024-25 As a result, the role of chairman
• reduce inventory days of and CEO will be split with
sales (back to 75 days as a mid- Poupart-Lafarge continuing as
term target), and CEO.
€861m contract
a proposed dividend increase
to €4.70, a corresponding
dividend yield of 3.5% and our for 30 HS trains
expanded share-buyback
programme,” says Dr Ralf
Thomas, CFO of Siemens.
I TALIAN State Railways (FS)
subsidiary Trenitalia has
signed an €861m contract with
Siemens expects its Mobility Hitachi Rail for the supply of
division to have comparable 30 new ETR1000 high-speed
revenue growth of 8-11% in the trains. The contract includes
2024 financial year, compared an option for a further 10
with growth of 4-8% for the trains for an additional €287m.
company as a whole, while Delivery is expected to start
Siemens Mobility’s profit in spring 2026, at a rate of
margin is expected to be eight to 10 trains per year.
between 8% and 10%. The 350km/h 200m-long
“Mobility’s sales funnel for trains will predominantly be
fiscal 2024 continues to look used on the Italian high-speed
very promising for achieving a network, although they can be
book-to-bill ratio well above 1 equipped with multiple
across all business activities again traction and signalling systems
in fiscal 2024,” Thomas says. and certified to operate on
“However, the expected timing high-speed lines in France,
for the awarding of larger projects Germany, Spain, Austria,
indicates that the order level will Switzerland, Belgium and the
be materially below fiscal 2023. Netherlands.
IRJ December 2023
 News | financial
Lineas receives backing from Belgian mobility minister
B ELGIUM’s mobility
minister, Mr Georges
Gilkinet, has declared national
rail freight operator Lineas a
strategic asset and confirmed
that the company’s long-term
future is not in question as it
seeks a €100m capital increase
to secure its future.
Lineas’ shareholders Argos
Wityu and SFPIM realised an
Contractor works to fill $US 1.8bn funding gap in Tanzania SGR
initial capital increase of €20m
in May and the company says
discussions with potential
third-party investors are
underway.
Following the appointment
of Mr Bernard Gustin as CEO
and chairman in February
2022, the company embarked
on a restructuring plan after
successive years of poor results.
Under the plan, Lineas has
ended loss-making activities
and unprofitable contracts,
restructured its single
wagonload business to return
it to near break-even within a
year, refocused on fewer
corridors and targeted
profitable activities outside
these corridors.
The company has developed
a digital track and trace tool
and put customers at the heart
of all its activities which has
improved customer
satisfaction. Finally, Lineas has
repaid all its bank debts.
As a result, Lineas says this
year it expects to halve its
negative Ebit of €78m in 2022
and accelerate its recovery
plan, with the prospect of
being at break-even by the end
of 2024, a year earlier than
originally planned.
Hitachi secures
final approval to
acquire Thales
H
ITACHI Rail can proceed
with its €1.66bn acquisition
of Thales’ Ground Transportation
Systems (GTS) business after
receiving conditional approval
from the European Commission
(EC) on October 30.
The EC’s approval means that
the deal has now received
clearance from all 13 competition
authorities.
As a condition of securing
approval for the acquisition in
Britain and the European
Union (EU), Hitachi Rail has
agreed to divest its mainline
signalling businesses in France,
Germany and Britain. The
disposals will preserve
competition for interlockings
and automatic train protection
(ATO) wayside systems for
mainline signalling, addressing
the EC’s concerns that the

C IVIL works contractor

Yapi Merkezi is working
with the Tanzanian government
to secure additional funding for
its flagship $US 10.4bn Standard
Gauge Railway (SGR) project,
joining a delegation led by
finance minister, Mr Mwigulu
Nchemba, in talks with
potential funders in Europe.
In partnership with Mota-
Engil Africa, Yapi Merkezi was
awarded SGR lots 1, 2 and 3
covering the 1090km from Dar
es Salaam to Tabora in 2018. It
later signed a $US 900m contract
in July 2022 to build the 165km
Lot 4 from Tabora to Isaka
With $US 1.5bn secured to
finance lots 1 and 2, efforts are
now underway to find an
additional $US 1.8bn for lots 3
and 4, where $US 400m has
already been secured.
“As the facilitator of SGR
project financing, we were part
of the visiting group for
financing discussions that took
place in Spain, Poland and
Sweden,” Yapi Merkezi’s vice-
chairman, Mr Erdem Arioglu,
told The East African.
Lots 1 and 2 are 98% and
95% complete respectively, and
work on both sections is
expected to finish early next
year. Completion of lots 3 and
4 is expected in early 2026,
with these sections now 67%
and 17% complete respectively.
Lot 5 of the SGR project,
covering the 234km from Isaka
to Mwanza, has been awarded
to China Civil Engineering
Construction and China Railway
Construction Corporation and
is 36% complete.
The African Development Bank
(AfDB) has agreed to contribute
$US 3.05bn towards Lot 6 from
Tabora to Kigoma, and Lot 7
from Uvinza to Malagarasi to
improve connections with the
Democratic Republic of Congo.
transaction would have reduced
competition and led to higher
prices and less innovation in
the mainline signalling market.
The EC says the commitments
made by Hitachi will enable
the purchasers of the divested
businesses to run them as viable
competitors. The commission
will closely monitor the
divestment process, including
approving the purchasers of
the divested businesses.
Hitachi previously
strengthened its signalling
capabilities with the
acquisition of Italy’s Ansaldo
STS in January 2019.

ORR approves Network Rail’s £43.1bn five-year plan

B RITAIN’s Office of Rail and Road (ORR)
has set out its final determination of
infrastructure manager Network Rail’s (NR)
£43.1bn five-year plan from April 1 2024,
known as Control Period 7 (CP7).
ORR says NR has responded positively
since issuing its draft determination on the
plan in June. This includes increasing
spending on core infrastructure by
approximately £600m to bolster asset
sustainability, safety and performance.
The 2023 periodic review (PR23) determines
what NR is expected to deliver with respect
to its operation, support, maintenance and
renewal (OSMR) of the network during CP7.
Total expenditure includes:
• operations: £4.3bn, up 9% from £4bn in CP6
• support: £5.06bn, down 14% from £5.89bn
• maintenance: £11.39bn, up 7% from £10.67bn
• renewals: £19.733bn, down 7% from £21.19bn
• industry costs, rates: £1.89bn, up 11%
from £1.7bn
• electricity for traction (EC4T): £4.96bn,
up 62% from £3bn
• adjustment to operation, support,
maintenance and renewal (OSMR)
expenditure: £1.12bn
• risk provision: £1.74bn
• total expenditure: £48.031bn, up 3%
from £46.54bn
• total expenditure (less EC4T): £43.07bn,
down 1% from £43.5bn.
ORR says the final determination sets
specific train performance requirements
that are more challenging than originally
proposed but are still realistic. Meeting
these targets will require NR to work with
operators to ensure that train cancellations
are cut and punctuality is maintained.
ORR says it has set NR “appropriately
challenging” targets for freight operators,
and it will be required to reduce freight
train cancellations. ORR has also set rail
freight growth targets for the first time
and says NR will need to support growth
of 7.5% for England and Wales and 8.7%
for Scotland.
ORR has also reviewed NR’s efficiency
targets for the next five years which would
see NR deliver efficiencies of at least
£3.6bn and found these to be “stretching
but achievable.” NR says it has achieved
efficiencies of £4bn in CP6 compared with
a target of £3.5bn.
ORR will also hold NR to account over
its target to reduce carbon emissions by
20%.

18 IRJ December 2023

 In brief

Northeast Corridor secures Britain high-speed project has been

extended to January 15 2024.
$US 16.4bn in US federal funding
Alstom has been awarded an
eight-year contract extension MyHSR says more than 60% of

T HE United States’ Federal
Railroad Administration
(FRA) has awarded $US 16.4bn
in funding for 25 passenger
rail infrastructure
improvement projects along
the Northeast Corridor (NEC)
through the Federal-State
Partnership for Intercity
Passenger Rail Programme
(Fed-State NEC). Amtrak will
receive nearly $US 10bn for the
12 projects it will lead.
The 735km NEC links Boston,
New York and Washington,
DC, carrying approximately
2200 Amtrak, commuter and
freight trains on some portions
of its route each day.
FRA funding will support
the replacement or upgrade of
12 major bridges and tunnels
on the NEC, as well as
renewals and upgrades to
track, traction power supply,
Austria to invest €21.1bn in rail
infrastructure in 2024-2029
signalling and stations.
Amtrak CEO, Mr Stephen
Gardner, says the funding will
help to advance its plans to
modernise the NEC “and unlock
major bottlenecks on the busiest
rail corridor in America.”
The new funding is part of
the $US 66bn allocated to
passenger rail in the Biden
administration’s Infrastructure
Investment and Jobs Act. The
FRA awarded Amtrak nearly
$US 200m through the
Consolidated Rail Infrastructure
and Safety Improvements (Crisi)
grant programme in September.
Amtrak expects to receive further
grants to improve its long-
distance and state-supported
services outside the NEC
through the FRA’s Corridor ID
Programme and the Fed-State
Partnership Programme by the
end of this year.
worth €950m to maintain,
overhaul, service and clean the
fleet of 34 class 220 Voyager
and 24 class 221 Super Voyager
diesel trains operated by
CrossCountry, owned by
rolling stock leasing company
Beacon Rail. The fleet will be
fitted with an Intelligent
Engine Stop Start (IESS) system
to help reduce fuel consumption,
emissions and operating costs.
Czech Republic
The European Investment
Bank (EIB) has agreed to lend
Koruna 24bn ($US 1bn) to the
Czech Ministry of Finance to
assist infrastructure manager
SŽ in the modernisation of
TEN-T lines in the Czech
Republic and facilitate the
deployment of ERTMS.
= Czech Railways (ČD) has
exercised an option from a
framework contract with Pesa
Bydgoszcz, Poland, for 30
additional Regiofox DMUs,
taking the number of trains
the companies participating in
the Request for Information
(RFI) exercise requested an
extension to the original
November 15 deadline.
= Alpha Trains has ordered 12
Euro 9000 locomotives from
Stadler, the first time it has
ordered this locomotive type.
The six-axle multi-voltage
hybrid locomotives will be
delivered in 2025 and 2026.
= Akiem has awarded a
contract to Newag for 30
Dragon 2 electric locomotives.
The contract, which includes
maintenance for eight years,
will be worth nearly €500m if
an option for another 50
locomotives is exercised.
Namibia
African Development Bank
Group (AfDB) has approved a
$US 196.43m loan to cover
51.8% of the cost of the second
phase of Namibia’s Transport
Infrastructure Improvement
Project (TIIP). The Namibian

A USTRIA’s Climate Protection Ministry will provide €21.2bn ordered from the contract
for infrastructure investment under the 2024-2029 framework signed in 2021 to 106 sets. The
plan agreed with Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) to encourage new agreement is worth
modal shift by providing more capacity on new and upgraded Koruna 3bn ($US 130m).
lines.
The delivery schedules and cost of ongoing projects will be France
The Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
adjusted, ÖBB says, but major projects such as the Semmering
(Aura) region will invest
Base Tunnel, the new 250km/h Koralm railway under construction
€5.7bn in local rail services by
between Graz and Klagenfurt, and the Brenner Base Tunnel will
2035, with the aim of increasing
continue as planned.
Investment will also focus on expanding urban rail services., service frequencies by 30% and
making regional services more attractive and electrify more growing traffic from 220,000 to
lines. 300,000 passengers a day. €3bn
ÖBB points to studies demonstrating that €1 of investment in will be spent on 130 new
rail creates value of €2 for the national economy and says that a Alstom Régio 2N double-deck
€1bn investment project will generate around 15,000 jobs during EMUs while the remaining
the construction phase. €2.7bn will be spent on
New projects include a new line between Köstendorf and infrastructure.
Salzburg, providing four tracks in the Salzburg area, increasing
freight capacity by providing more passing loops, and a Germany
marshalling yard modernisation programme. The federal government has
In addition to the €21.1bn being provided for investment projects, reached an agreement with the
ÖBB will receive €4.7bn for the maintenance of the national rail states to continue funding the
network in 2024-2029. Deutschlandticket in 2024.
The ticket, which offers
unlimited travel on all regional
and local transport for a flat fee
of €49 per month, was introduced
in May 2023 following the
successful three-month 9-euro
ticket initiative in summer 2022.
International
The deadline for the submission
of concept proposals for the
Kuala Lumpur - Singapore
government will fund the
remaining 48.2%.
Portugal
The government plans to invest
€1.34bn in rail and public
transport in 2024, a 23% increase
on the €1.09bn invested in 2023.
Romania
Railway Reform Agency (ARF)
has awarded a contract for the
supply of 62 Regio RE-R
EMUs for regional services,
worth Zlotys 3bn ($US 730m).
Switzerland
Matterhorn Gotthard Railway
(MGB) has signed a contract
worth SFr 266m ($US 295m)
with Stadler for the supply of
another 25 Orion three-car
rack EMUs. Delivery of the
metre-gauge trains will start in
autumn 2025.
United States
Voters in Cincinnati have
granted Norfolk Southern (NS)
permission to purchase the
City of Cincinnati-owned
Cincinnati Southern Railway
(CSR) for $US 1.62bn. The
532km line connects Cincinnati
and Chattanooga and has been
operated under a lease from
the city since 1881. IRJ

IRJ December 2023 19

 IRJ Young Rail Leaders Award
The industry’s best and brightest
Kevin Smith profiles the 16 winners of our second Young Rail Leaders Award.
T
HE global rail industry is
experiencing two concurrent
human resources challenges: the
impending retirement of a significant
proportion of its experienced and
knowledgeable workforce; and an
ongoing battle to secure a new
generation of talent versed in the digital
skills the sector requires to progress.
Losing years of experience and
industry know-how could set the sector
back by many years just when it is
under pressure to get more trains onto
track. Rail also has a reputational issue.
It is often perceived as a dirty and
dangerous working environment that is
Kateryna Izmailova
Head of Social Policy,
Ukrainian Railways
Age: 36. Years in the industry: 12
U
KRAINE’s national railway has
experienced significant hardship
since the Russian invasion of
2022. However, the enduring spirit of
its employees helped Ukrainian
Railways (UZ) to successfully support
the evacuation of thousands of people
in the early days of the conflict, and to
keep the railway operational as the war
has continued, despite ongoing damage
to infrastructure and assets.
Kateryna Izmailova has played an
active role in helping to evacuate
Ukrainian citizens by rail to safety
during the early weeks of the conflict.
She helped coordinate efforts to provide
food to passengers and conductors
onboard trains while also supporting
20
not particularly innovative, meaning
attracting the most talented people is
proving difficult.
Scratch below the surface of these
perceptions and you find a growing
cohort of talented and highly regarded
young people who are doing remarkable
things. In IRJ’s second Young Rail
Leaders Award we aim to bring many
of these individuals to light by telling
the stories of their careers and most
noteworthy experiences.
Our 16 award winners work in a
variety of roles across the industry -
from project management and track
engineering to advanced signalling and
the movement of humanitarian supplies
into the country. In addition, she
supported efforts to provide meals to
employees during the lockdown in
Kyiv and to equip workplaces with
bomb shelters.
As the war progressed, Kateryna was
the initiator of the “Return to the Iron
Family” project, which involves
retraining employees injured during the
war and adjusting the workplace so it is
suitable for them to return to work. UZ
has provided psychological support for
the veterans. UZ is working to train its
own personnel as well as full-time
psychologists to undertake this work.
An example of an employee that has
been through the Return to the Iron
Family project is Andriy Sobkovskyi, a
22-year-old who tragically lost his legs
after a Russian rocket hit the barracks
in which he was staying. He was found
12 hours later, still alive under a pile of
rubble. Sobkovskyi was discharged in
September and went on sick leave from
digital technologies - in all corners of
the world. All of our award winners are
below the age of 40 and many look well
placed to become leading figures in
their respective companies in the years
to come. We hope that bringing their
work to the industry’s wider attention
will support their progress in some way
and also inspire others to follow in their
footsteps.
Don’t see your colleague on our list?
Don’t worry, we plan to run the
initiative again in 2024. Also keep an
eye out for nominations for our Women
in Rail Award, which we will feature
next June.
UZ. As he was unable to continue his
work as a train conductor, and with UZ
not wanting to leave him unsupported,
Kateryna says the decision was taken to
requalify Sobkovskyi as a dispatcher,
with the possibility of working
remotely. “I went to his hospital,
prepared the documents and helped to
organise his training,” Kateryna says.
“These types of cases soon became
more common so we decided to turn it
into an official programme.”
Kateryna has also been a key
representative for UZ employees. As
the head of the Youth Council of the
Trade Union of Railway Workers and
Transport Builders of Ukraine she has
fought tirelessly during negotiations to
reinstate suspended payments for workers,
particularly younger employees.
Kateryna says her career objective is
to continue to campaign for fair wages,
to end discrimination in the workplace,
and for fair interactions between
colleagues. She is credited with using
critical thinking to overcome challenges,
taking her time before making sound
and consistent decisions, for being
comfortable with leading negotiations
and adept at identifying partners to
implement ideas.
“You can come to her with any
request and she will find a way to
process it and help you,” her nominator
writes. “Kateryna is the kind of person
who will always find a way out of any
situation. She made her way from being
an ordinary employee to the head of
her department. She enjoys respect
among her colleagues and management
listens to her. She is a courageous and
purposeful person.”
IRJ December 2023
Nitansh Platia
Kalpataru Projects International,
India
Age: 37. Years in the industry: 13
H
AILING from the small town of
Solan in the foothills of the
Himalayas, Nitansh Platia really
found his feet after making the bold
decision to attend a college in Bhopal, more
than 1000km away. A willingness to
throw himself into public speaking and
cultural clubs while at university helped
Nitansh overcome his natural shyness.
A presentation during his final year at
the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at
Delhi in 2007 was a critical moment and
Dr Hannah Persson
Senior Design Engineer, Crossing
Development, Engineering and
Assurance, Progress Rail, Britain
Age: 37. Years in industry: 12
A
NY visitor to Progress Rail’s
facility in South Queensferry,
Scotland, is likely to be quickly
introduced to Dr Hannah Persson, a
senior design engineer. Hannah is
described as “an engaging person who
represents the best of our company,” by
her colleagues. During site tours she
regularly offers expert insight into the
complexities of Progress Rail’s products
and processes in an engaging manner,
leaving visitors informed. She
“genuinely promotes how we add value
to our customers,” a colleague states.
Hannah has a PhD in cast crossing
design and analysis, and her academic
studies challenged existing
preconceptions in this field. Her work on
bearer spacing resulted in a change in the
next-generation of crossing design for
Network Rail, Progress Rail’s key British
client. Hannah also makes daily decisions
on whether a crossing should be
scrapped and balances product needs
IRJ December 2023
proved the foundation for his desire to
pursue work placements and enter the
rail industry.
Nitansh has worked at Alstom, Jindal
Steel & Power (JSP), and Kalpataru
Projects International (KPIL) over the
past 13 years. At JSP, he worked to
optimise the rail production line to
increase output for Indian mainline and
metro projects. At KPIL he has played a
prominent role in leading the company’s
railway electrification activities, which
have contributed significantly to the
Indian government’s objective of
achieving complete electrification of the
national railway network.
KPIL has delivered 20% of lines
electrified in India over the last three
years, including during the Covid-19
pandemic when Nitansh was overseeing
more than 20 KPIL railway projects. He
worked to ensure sufficient availability
of both manpower and materials so this
work could continue during Covid
restrictions. He initiated online meetings
to keep teams connected and accessed
special funding to pay for sanitising
workplaces and to provide protective
clothing and equipment where required.
Rather than hindering project delivery,
the pandemic proved an opportunity to
accelerate work, as fewer train
movements provided more time on the
track to complete electrification. Nitansh
with in-service performance of safety-
critical components.
Hannah transitioned from a graduate
employee to becoming a key member of
the company’s technical team. She
successfully combined her full-time job
as an engineer with completing her PhD
on a part-time basis. She has also spent
a considerable amount of time away
from home in the past 14 months while
she qualified as a flash butt welder.
Hannah is a passionate advocate for
greater inclusion in the rail industry, in
particular for women. She is currently
involved in the Unblocking the Equality
Pipeline in Mechanical Engineering
project with her alma mater, Heriot-
Watt University in Edinburgh, and Nile
University in Giza, Egypt. The two
universities are establishing networks of
mechanical engineering students and
alumni to raise awareness of gender ratios
from early education to the highest levels
in the profession, to assess whether these
ratios are changing, and if not, what can
be done to accelerate the pace of change.
Other outreach work includes assisting
with school, university engineering site
visits tto help raise awareness of Stem
careers in the rail industry. She also serves
as the vice-president, Scotland, of the
contacted previous labour suppliers to
secure sufficient personnel to complete
this work while meeting necessary
safety protocols.
Nitansh is described by his nominator
as being very humble and extremely
polite with his subordinates as well as
senior management. He has served as a
mentor to summer interns at Alstom,
JSP and KPIL. Nitansh has also actively
participated in KPIL initiatives focused
on the preservation of water and natural
resources, leading the planting of 50,000
saplings as part of a project in the state
of Jharkhand. As part of the company’s
community service engagement, he has
collected food, clothing and essential
supplies for the Sida Sudarshan Sakshi
Dham orphanage in Ghaziabad. He also
provides support to several self-help
groups and has helped to improve child
education in the state of Jharkhand.
Nitansh’s short-term objectives include
working to expand KPIL’s activities
beyond India. He has already identified
areas where it could deliver railway
projects and a dedicated team, established
by Nitansh, is now meeting the necessary
technical requirements and bidding for
contracts. He hopes that this work will
further establish the company as a major
presence in the global railway industry
and reinforce his position as a
prominent Young Rail Leader.
Permanent Way Institute (PWI). Among
her duties is overseeing the Edinburgh
and Glasgow sections and representing
PWI at international conferences.
“Hannah is an exceptional employee
and her list of achievements and
contributions is equally exceptional,”
her colleagues state. She is a worthy
recipient of IRJ’s Young Rail Leaders
Award.
21
 IRJ Young Rail Leaders Award
James Zhang
Technical Director, Bridges and
Civil Structures,
Aurecon, Hong Kong
Age: 38. Years in the industry: 15
J
AMES Zhang has been involved in
a range of railway infrastructure
projects during his career, including
in his early years in the industry while
working in his home country of
Australia, and later in Hong Kong and
Thailand. Two major highlights are his
work to lead design of the Tung Chung
East station on the MTR Tung Chung
Line in Hong Kong and OR19 station on
the Orange Line metro in Bangkok.
These complex projects have showcased
James’ capability to effectively design
both surface and underground stations.
On the MTR project, James served as the
design team lead and introduced
innovative design solutions to enable
delivery under a fast-track construction
programme. He implemented the
reduction of station length, the adoption
of modular and precast construction
methods, and established a robust system
for managing design coordination
throughout the project.
In addition, his use of Building
Information Modelling (BIM) throughout
Marleen van de Kerkhof
International Affairs Manager,
Dual Inventive, The Netherlands
Age: 31. Years in the Industry: 6
22
the design and delivery of the project is
a testament to his commitment to
incorporating advanced technology in
his work.
Indeed, James’ career objectives and
goals are rooted in his passion for solving
complex engineering problems and
delivering innovative railway solutions.
His nominator says he is committed to
further integrating cutting-edge
technologies such as BIM and modular
construction techniques to improve
project efficiency and quality. He also
wants to implement sustainable practices
in his projects, raising the standards of
railway infrastructure development.
James’ status as a Young Rail Leader
is emphasised by his success in leading
a multi-disciplinary team to deliver the
design of the entire Tung Chung Line
station project. A notable initiative was
bringing his design team together with
engineers on the ground to improve
project delivery. He also regularly made
high-level decisions, liaising with
government authorities for approvals,
and coordinating with the end client to
ensure timely delivery. The project is
now in the detailed design and
construction phase, and key milestones
including the start of piling work have
been met ahead of schedule.
“James possesses several qualities that
M
ARLEEN van de Kerkhof
plays a key role in the
international activities of
Dutch supplier Dual Inventive, which is
a developer of wireless technology
products that are designed to make
working on the railway safer and more
efficient while also boosting the capacity
of existing infrastructure.
Marleen has supported the company’s
growth. However, she is also steadily
building a profile as a passionate rail
ambassador in Europe, particularly to
support growing rail’s market share to
achieve carbon neutrality.
Indeed, Marleen says she was
inspired to enter the rail sector by the
need to address climate change. She
worked on a Hyperloop project while
studying systems engineering at Delft
University of Technology. And while
impressed by the concept, she felt work
to reduce transport emissions should
focus on improving the extensive
infrastructure that we already have,
including Europe’s railway network.
Marleen believes that growing rail’s
market share is crucial for helping
Europe achieve carbon neutrality and is
a strong proponent of the Single
European Railway Area, delivery of
make him an exceptional asset to any
project,” his nominator writes.
“Foremost among these is his
proactivity. He doesn’t just react to
challenges as they come; he anticipates
potential issues and addresses them
before they become problems. This
proactive mindset has been instrumental
in maintaining project timelines and
ensuring the smooth execution of tasks.
“James is also highly engaged in his
work. He’s not just interested in ticking
off tasks on a checklist; he genuinely
cares about the projects he works on
and the teams he leads. He takes the
time to understand all aspects of a
project and is always willing to go the
extra mile to ensure its success.”
which she says is critical to achieve
these ambitions. She is convinced this
can be facilitated by accelerating the
cross-border implementation of digital
technologies. For example, she cites
Dual Inventive’s digital systems for safe
track access, which enable infrastructure
managers to offer instant and safe track
access, minimising disruption to rail
operations by reducing the duration of
temporary capacity restrictions.
Among the company’s innovative
approaches to encourage innovation is
the opening of research and development
centre, FieldLab Rail. Here young
graduates are encouraged to pursue
their own projects often in the digital
technology space but with a focus on
rail using the facilities at their disposal.
The company has also established a
partnership with the National Rail
Educational Centre (Railcenter) based in
Amersfoort where new innovations are
tested and advice can be sought from
experts.
Unfortunately, Marleen has found that
Dual Inventive’s approach is the exception
rather than the rule and believes that such
initiatives should be extended more
broadly to other European research and
educational institutions. (Continues on p24)
IRJ December 2023
 HANNAH PERSSON
CEng PhD MIMechE MPWI
Senior Engineer – Crossing Development,
Engineering & Assurance of Trackwork
for Progress Rail in South Queensferry, UK

CONGRATULATIONS TO HANNAH
AND TO ALL OF THE WINNERS OF THE
IRJ YOUNG RAIL LEADERS AWARD.
230058

We keep you rolling.

Interested in joining our team?

Scan the code to visit our careers page.
 IRJ Young Rail Leaders Award
As well as boosting the uptake of new
technology, she believes that such an
approach will help the rail industry
increase its appeal to young people,
helping to address a looming skills
shortage. At present she does not see
enough people making the same career
choice as herself, despite rail being
environmentally-friendly, now an
important criterion for young people
selecting a career. She says that rail
should promote itself to the next
generation by pushing the sustainability
message much harder, alongside
promoting itself as a place where digital
skills and expertise can flourish.
Marleen has positioned herself at the
vanguard of this cause by chairing the
board of Jonge Veranderaars (Young
Changemakers), a Dutch networking
group for young people working in the
public transport sector. The group
promotes cooperation between
organisations, arranging company
Christoph Seffrin
Project Director, Siemens
Mobility, Germany
Age: 39. Years in the industry: 12
T
HE new ICE 3neo is a central
component of German Rail’s (DB)
future long-distance fleet. DB
signed a framework contract with
Siemens Mobility for 90 of the multi-
system, 320km/h trains in July 2020,
initially ordering 30 eight-car sets and
placing further orders for another 43 in
January 2022 and 17 in May 2023. The
first four class 408 trains entered service
on time in December 2022, a major
achievement for Siemens Mobility,
24 IRJ xxxxx 2016
visits, study trips and conferences.
In addition, Marleen is a board
member of Rail Cargo Information
Netherlands, a public-private initiative
aimed at promoting rail freight. The group
also works to improve rail freight’s image
and inspire the next generation with its
campaign Rail Freight: the Future is
Ours.
Marleen’s extracurricular work has
had extra resonance during 2023, the
European Year of Skills. She brought
rail’s skills challenge into the limelight
with her address to the European
Parliament last month where she
identified three actions critical to secure
future industry skills and diversity:
• keep increasing visibility and
improving rail’s image. “We must boost
visibility by promoting diverse role
models,” she says
• the need for a European skills
strategy following the outcome of Rail
Staffer, the European programme to
which describes the order as one of its
largest ever industrial projects.
The person responsible for overseeing
the programme is project director,
Christoph Seffrin. Christoph has worked
in various high-speed rolling stock project
management roles during his 12-year career
with Siemens Mobility. The ICE 3neo,
however, was his first as project director.
Christoph says he has followed the
typical career path for a project manager
at Siemens Mobility, beginning as a sub-
project manager, where he was
responsible for one area of the train, before
taking a major step up to become deputy
project director for the ongoing ICE 4
project to supply 137 trains to DB in 2016.
This project was delivered by Siemens
Mobility and Bombardier (now Alstom)
as a major subcontractor. Christoph
worked on it for three-and-a-half years
and was responsible for the Bombardier
element of the project, for change
management, the entire production side,
and supplier management.
“I had time to learn what is important
in a big project like this,” he says.
“Especially of how to work with DB and
also working with Bombardier. As you
can imagine, it’s not always easy when
you have to work so closely with one of
your competitors. I really learned a lot,
including how to solve conflicts and
how to manage critical situations.”
Consortium projects are always very
challenging. Especially when the share
of scope between both parties is very
large. He says effective communication
was essential to overcome this challenge
as a well as good understanding of each
enhance rail-related training
programmes, which is due to conclude
next year (IRJ November p34), and
• the formation of a cross-border
partnership between rail educational
institutions and infrastructure managers
in Europe, following Dual Inventive’s
approach. Marleen says that
demonstrating and sharing innovation
at an early stage allows for the early
identification of training needs.
Marleen’s nominator states that she
knows better than anyone how
important it is to build international
relationships. And her burning passion
for the cause means that it is likely that
she will become an ever-greater
presence on the European stage in the
future. “For me, Marleen is the best rail
ambassador that I have ever come
across,” her nominator writes. “She is
still young, but is super ambitious. I
really think she deserves the Young Rail
Leader Award.”
other’s situation - he spent a lot of time
at Bombardier’s bodyshell production
site in Wroclaw, Poland, which was
specifically set up for the project. “There
was a definite learning curve,” he says.
“It gave me a lot of insight of how to
manage what is important at these types
of production sites.”
Christoph was approached to work on
what would become the ICE 3neo project
as Siemens Mobility was reaching the
conclusion of the tendering process in
February 2020. Yet there was one caveat:
the strict delivery schedule of just two-
and-a-half years, the fastest-ever for a
Siemens high-speed train project.
The train is based on the Velaro D
(ICE 3), a project that suffered some
technical problems and delays. While
some doubted whether the ICE 3neo
project could be done in such a short
time, Christoph says his familiarity with
this train platform and understanding of
what went well and not so well
previously gave him the confidence to
take up the challenge.
If the strict delivery timeframe was not
enough, the project was finalised and
commenced in mid-2020 at the height of
the Covid-19 pandemic, requiring a total
rethink of how a project of this scale could
be managed and delivered effectively.
Christoph says he focused management
on three key elements: his team; the
customer; and the train.
For his team, he says he had the
freedom to choose who he wanted to work
alongside, selecting people he trusted
from previous projects. He also chose to
focus their efforts on the December 2022
IRJ December 2023
deadline. “It was very simple, very
transparent. It doesn’t matter if you’re at
home online, we have this one goal,” he
says. “It was also important to
acknowledge and celebrate success,
especially when working from home.”
For the customer, Christoph says that
normally he would try to bring the
customer and his teams together
physically so they could understand each
other better. During the pandemic this
required a creative approach: the Project
Acceleration and Coaching Teams (Pact)
Workshop. During this initiative in summer
2020, around 60 people from Siemens
Mobility and DB gathered for a day-long
workshop in an unusual location, on the
roof of a car park at Siemens’ Erlangen
site. Standing 2m apart and in the fresh
air, people working across the project
could interact and get to know each
other, which would benefit future work.
Further close collaboration was
reflected in a concept that Christoph has
pioneered called co-creation. Rather than
observe the project from a distance, DB
became an active part of the project
management team, often taking a decisive
role. “I think this is very powerful,”
Christoph says. “Every week, they knew
everything about our time schedule and
what was happening. It is very open,
and potentially very risky. But I think if
you show the customer this kind of trust,
he will show it back to you. It proved
especially useful for certification of the train.”
The train
For the train itself, Christoph says
close relationships with all managers
within the project, in purchasing,
engineering, production, commissioning,
certification, and warranty, were essential
for success. This helped to maintain a
consistent time schedule for delivery by
providing a buffer of available stock for
vital components, which became especially
important with the challenges posed to
the supply chain after the outbreak of
the Ukraine war. With the project “set
up on a really stable basis,” Christoph
says the team was able to ride out this
storm and ultimately succeed, even
exceeding expectations by delivering the
first four trains a full week early.
“With production, we have to be very
flexible,” he says. “You have to find
solutions if parts are missing. And
during commissioning, when we have had
delays, we have found new techniques
and how to implement them in our
factory. It’s natural for Siemens Mobility
to be flexible, but you still have to guide
the team, manage them, support them
and trust that they will succeed.”
Delivery of the ICE 3neo fleet is
continuing. “Every train is on time,” he
says, adding that this success is resulting
in a change in the project’s scope from
delivering 10-12 trains per year to 17 from
the start of 2025. “I think this underlines
the customer’s trust in our project, our
product, and our team,” Christoph says.
As for his own future, Christoph hopes
he might one day be able to apply his
experience and skills gained on ICE 3neo
to an international project. He says he is
particularly intrigued to see how his ideas
of co-creation would work effectively
beyond DB. Another potential avenue is
to lead other project managers at Siemens
Mobility. Certainly, Christoph’s success
is likely to prove an influential model
for future large-scale Siemens projects in
the future, in which he is likely to play a
central role.

BNSF proudly congratulates

NICHOLAS DRYER
for being chosen as one of
International Railway Journal’s
2023 Young Rail Leaders.

BNSF.com/Careers

December
IRJ XXXXX 2023 25
2016 25
 IRJ Young Rail Leaders Award
Darin Shelor
Senior Director, Advanced Train
Control, CPKC, United States
Age: 36. Years in the industry: 13
T
HE rollout of Positive Train
Control (PTC) as a universal
signalling and train control
technology was perhaps the defining
achievement for US railways in the
2010s. It is also providing the foundation
for future technological advance,
including at Canadian Pacific Kansas
City (CPKC), where Darin Shelor, is
playing a key role.
PTC has been a consistent presence
throughout Darin’s 13 years with the
railway. Indeed, he says “it is surreal to
think how deeply I now understand a
field I never imagined being part of.”
Se Yeon Won
Manager, Korail, Korea
Age: 35. Years in the industry: 7
I
N a country with a traditional
hierarchical working culture like
Korea, convincing senior leaders to
embrace a new idea might appear a
daunting if not futile task, especially if
that idea comes from a younger, less
experienced member of the team.
Yet Korail’s Se Yeon Won was not to
be deterred. He spotted an opportunity
in February 2020 to reduce the cost of
procuring spare parts and maintaining
the components and systems of Korail
rolling stock by turning to domestic
rather than international suppliers. He
subsequently made it his mission to
convince decision-makers to back his
proposal.
With colleagues initially not convinced
by his idea, Se Yeon gathered product
specification data and estimate sheets
and compared them to find the
evidence that his approach was correct.
This was a time-consuming task. But
26 IRJ xxxxx 2016
Darin’s journey with PTC began
following his selection to contribute to
various important PTC initiatives in the
early years of his career, including being
part of the team responsible for
implementing one of the first PTC-
equipped railway subdivisions in the
country.
Building relationships throughout the
railway was a key part of the successful
delivery of the PTC projects on which
Darin has worked. He has worked closely
with signalling teams to install hardware
and software; with network operations
centres to coordinate implementation;
with track crews and inspectors to
coordinate and validate installation;
with suppliers to deploy new software;
with back-office teams to validate PTC;
and with other railways to deliver
seamless integration and compatibility.
Darin says there was early recognition
in the PTC programme that despite
often being competitors, everyone was
united by a shared understanding that
“we were, and still are, in this together.”
Darin has continued this spirit of
collaboration in his work at the railway,
including in his transition to a senior
leadership role. He attempts to foster an
environment of high standards: he says
he will not ask his team to perform a
task that he would not do himself. This
approach ensures that everyone is
committed to delivering exceptional
results and upholding the integrity of
with the answer now staring them in
the face, Se Yeon convinced his seniors
to back his proposal.
A task force was subsequently
established to implement Se Yeon’s idea
and oversee the new administrative
process that has been introduced for
purchasing components. Effective
communication was again critical to Se
Yeon’s success as he brought together a
diverse group of management,
procurement and technical staff to form
the new group. And it has been a great
success. Purchasing costs have been
reduced by Won 1.6bn ($US 1.2m)
while Se Yeon has also identified
several domestic companies capable of
repairing every component.
By repairing rather than replacing
items such as transformers, traction
motors and brake cylinders, Korail is not
only saving money. It is also assisting
the expansion of Korean small and
medium-sized companies into new
areas. Se Yeon has provided these
suppliers with access to testing facilities
and technology at Korail. They are also
receiving advice on securing grants to
PTC, according to his nominator.
Darin’s transition to a leadership role
coincided with the start of the Covid-19
pandemic. While always valuing face-to-
face interaction for building
collaboration, he successfully managed
to replicate this in a remote working
environment, developing practices that
were rolled out across the railway. In
addition, Darin’s recognition of the
importance of metrics has driven high
levels of success in PTC by effectively
identifying accomplishments and areas
for improvement.
“By leading by example and promoting
a shared sense of responsibility, Darin
and his team have achieved and
sustained success with our train control
systems,” his nominator states.
Darin’s infectious leadership style also
played a crucial role in the success of
the merger to create CPKC
Among current PTC projects are the
introduction of “self-healing” technology,
proactive monitoring, and integrating IT
solutions that directly translate into
business time savings. PTC is not
standing still, and Darin believes his
team possess the necessary skills and
resources to deliver CPKC’s future
safety and operational initiatives. This
includes pushing the boundaries of the
train control technology and potentially
opening new possibilities for the railway
of the future, in which Darin is well
placed to play an influential role.
enable them to develop the necessary
technology and expertise.
Se Yeon is described by his nominator
as a colleague “that everyone wants to
work with because he is very kind and
calm even in difficult situations.” He
also works hard, even staying late at the
office when working with colleagues
overseas to achieve the optimal result. It
appears he has a bright future. “I have
high expectations for him to become a
competent executive within Korail,” his
nominator states.
IRJ December 2023
 supervisor to perform a Rule G
observation. Alex researched and
proposed the AlertMeter product from
Predictive Safety, which is now being
rolled out throughout the department.
Work is also underway to develop a
policy that will enable managers to stand
down employees identified as not fit for
work using the tool.
While not a veteran himself, Alex
recognises the value of employing
trained former members of the armed
services. The company now has a
dedicated veteran recruiter and Alex is
Alexander Clark working to launch an employer resource
Director of Human Resources, group focused on veterans, active reserve
and National Guard members and families.
Loram, United States
Like many rail industry companies,
Age: 38. Years in the industry: 7 Loram has been impacted by the
as reducing the onboarding process to
less than 10 days, these improvements
have generated a better qualified
pipeline that has exceeded demand and
significantly improved the availability of
Loram’s machines for customers. Alex’s
nominator states that for the first time in
many years, field operations positions
have been completely filled and there is
even a waiting list of candidates.
For existing employees, Alex has led
the introduction of Leadership@Loram.
This two-day training programme is
geared towards promotion-ready,
recently-promoted and existing leaders.
Alex has developed concepts and tools,
using roleplay and real-life situations that
the leaders might encounter every day

I
T is not unexpected that a director of
human resources will strive to do
their utmost to support a company’s
employees. Yet Alexander Clark goes
above and beyond what is required. A
self-starter, and someone willing to take
the initiative, Alexander has made notable
contributions to improving worker safety,
offering support for the military community,
talent acquisition and leadership since
joining Loram just 18 months ago.
To improve safety, Alex identified a
solution to assess an employee’s mental
alertness without the presence of a
ongoing challenges of recruitment,
particularly for field operations. More
than 33,000 people from across the US
applied for 350 positions with a four to
six-week onboarding process. Yet
candidate fallout exceeded 1500 people,
significantly increasing costs.
To address this, Alex and his team
completely overhauled the talent
acquisition and onboarding process.
Through better targeted recruitment
activities, the introduction of assessments
to identify candidate suitability for
safety-related roles and duties, as well
in the field, factory or office. More than
200 Loram leaders as well as those from
several of its customers have benefitted
from this training.
Among future initiatives is the use of
AI systems to improve HR processes,
including becoming more competitive in
securing and deploying talent. “Alex
embraces change and leverages
technology and process efficiencies to
support the company’s objectives,” his
nominator writes. Certainly, his work has
helped to enhance Loram’s performance
and will go a long way to delivering
improvement in the future.

Congratulations to Greenbrier’s

JAMIE
CALDWELL
and all the outstanding
recipients of the 2023
International Railway Journal’s
YOUNG RAIL
LEADERS AWARD.
www.gbrx.com

JAMIE CALDWELL
Sr. Manager, Customer Experience
IRJ XXXXX 2016 27

Jamie Caldwell_Young Rail Leaders Award_Ad.indd 1 11/15/23 12:42 PM

 IRJ Young Rail Leaders Award

Nicholas Dryer
Senior Manager, Technology
Services - UAS Programme,
BNSF, United States
Age: 37. Years in the industry: 18
T
HE use of drones by railways has
become an increasingly effective
way of inspecting assets. At BNSF,
Nicholas Dryer has been instrumental in
developing new and innovative ways of
using drones to serve the Class 1 freight
railway. For example, he recently set up
an aerial surveillance solution to help
deter and stop theft from freight trains,
with the solution responsible for several
arrests and the recovery of stolen items.
In addition, Nick developed a drone-
based solution for yard security and
inventory and has acted as the product
owner for “Uber for drones” software
that handles requests from BNSF
departments to capture imagery, perform
a service, or report results to drone-trained
BNSF employees in the field. Likewise,
Nick assisted with the development of a
software solution to manage and
disseminate imagery captured by drones.
Nick is described by his nominator as
a dedicated, reliable, innovative and
resilient employee. He works with
hundreds of employees throughout
BNSF and his strong reputation means
that other departments often come to
him for advice and support.
His dedication is reflected in how he
consistently supports the night shift
after he has completed his day shift to
ensure his team works seamlessly with
other departments.
He also works with people outside of
the railway, whether that is working on
science, technology, engineering and
mathematics (Stem) programmes at
local schools, supporting internships
and offering tours of BNSF’s operational
headquarters. He has also worked with
police departments to offer advice and
assistance as they have set up their own
drone programmes.
Nick is able to identify alternative
solutions to big problems that have
historically only been partially solved or
not at all. “Nick is an asset to not only
his team and BNSF but to the rail
industry as a whole,” his nominator says.

David Benguigui America, Bangkok, Singapore, Egypt and São Paulo.

He is described as a results-oriented person with strong
Project Engineering Director, Alstom, Canada communication and problem-solving skills. David’s strong
Age: 34. Years in the industry: 11 leadership is reflected in his redrafting of the business model

I
N April 2020, in the first weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic,
a young doctor at one of Canada’s “hot clinics,” where
medical teams were triaging Covid patients, told local media
that the clinic was so lacking in personal protective equipment
(PPE) that medical staff were forced to purchase scuba masks
from a nearby department store to continue working.
This dire situation spurred David Benguigui into action.
David at the time was the general manager of the Prototype
Centre and head of validation and verification at Bombardier’s
(now Alstom) site at St Bruno, Quebec. In just a few days he
reorganised the centre, recalled staff who were on furlough,
and developed a prototype visor. Within four weeks, David and
his team were able to deliver 40,000 certified visors to the Quebec
provincial government for distribution to medical centres.
David’s entrepreneurial spirit is reflected in his work on
more conventional projects for Alstom. He is currently
managing project engineering director for Alstom’s North
American Rolling Stock and Components division as well as
serving as the bids technical manager for the North America
and Monorail product line. He has worked on metro, light
rail, monorail and automated peoplemover contracts in North
for the Prototype Centre after taking over its leadership in
2018. He implemented a new strategy for rolling stock
component validation as well as service activities. Under his
leadership, the St Bruno centre also became Alstom’s first 3D
printing site in the Americas.
In his current role leading the entire project engineering
community for rolling stock components, David has put
together a dedicated group to support projects already in
revenue service and offer additional value to customers by
increasing reliability and warranty support.
David also is praised for his ability to empathise and listen
to his team. He also extends this to commitments outside work,
including as a director of Le Transit crisis centre, a facility for
people with severe mental health issues, and as a voluntary coach
of a children’s rugby team. “His project management and delivery
skills are exceptional, and he has a talent for synthesising
information to provide clear and concise insights that help
people make decisions quickly,” his nominator writes.
“David’s business acumen and understanding of operations
have been invaluable. Overall, he is an exceptional leader with
much to offer any organisation.”

Med Mehdi Dib he was drawn by a friend back in Algiers

Chief Technology Officer,
EPE Rail Electr, Algeria
Age: 32. Years in the industry: 9
into a project to update a split-flap
passenger information display at the city’s
main railway station.
While the display manufacturer offered

M
EHDI Dib’s journey into the
railway industry is perhaps
slightly unconventional. His
academic background is in robotics and
industrial computing, and while a native
of Algeria, he won a scholarship through
the Swedish Institute’s Young Leaders
Visitors Programme. While in Sweden,
28 IRJ xxxxx 2016
to replace the entire system, his friend
asked him to come up with a more cost-
effective solution that would retain the
existing display. Mehdi says he reverse-
engineered all the mother board and
server cards, to come up with a solution.
When attending the station’s grand
reopening, an event attended by the
minister of transport and the CEO of
IRJ December 2023
Algerian National Railways (SNTF),
Mehdi recalls how the old-fashioned
appearance of the split-flap display was
criticised. He quickly passed the SNTF
CEO his mobile phone and told him to
write whatever he liked into it. What
was written suddenly appeared on the
display, leaving the CEO extremely
impressed.
He was subsequently approached by
the CEO of EPE Rail Electr about joining
the company as an IT assistant. He has
since risen to become the firm’s chief
technology officer (CTO).
EPE Rail Electr provides maintenance
services for railway electrification
equipment in Algeria. Much of Mehdi’s
work has focused on using IoT and other
technologies to support SNTF with
maintenance of its ageing infrastructure.
Mehdi says that this has become especially
pertinent as budgets for maintenance
have been slashed and the railway has
had to use its resources more wisely. He
has also helped develop software for
stock management, and geolocation
solutions for rolling stock.
A key recent project for SNTF is the
development of preventative maintenance
techniques for pantographs. Mehdi says
around 40 pantographs were being
damaged each month on the Algiers RER
due to maintenance issues. He
subsequently developed an IoT-based
Congratulations to Darin Shelor,
CPKC Sr. Director Advanced Train Control,
on being honoured as one of IRJ’s
Young Leaders in Rail.
Connect to an exciting career at cpkcr.com
IRJ XXXXX 2016 29
system equipped with cameras and
sensors and worked with Stadler to install
this on a Flirt EMU operating on the RER.
The system can precisely locate
infrastructure faults, issuing notifications
to maintenance teams that are able to visit
the location and correct the issue at the
next available opportunity.
The technology succeeded in reducing
the number of incidents to almost zero,
Mehdi says. Further updates include the
addition of Lidar sensors to identify in
3D objects that are or could potentially
interfere with catenary such as trees.
Contrasts
Mehdi says that EPE Rail Electr’s
approach contrasts with traditional
railway suppliers. He says that while
major firms are keen to offer more
sophisticated technologies to SNTF to
replace outdated equipment, including
signalling that relies on more than
40-year-old relays, EPE Rail Electr is
focusing on developing new maintenance
techniques using IoT to prolong asset life.
Mehdi believes this is more suited to
rail and the capabilities of SNTF, which
does not necessarily have the expertise
in-house to adopt the latest technology.
“We can be competitive, especially in
our region,” he says. “We are developing
the products, and we are using cheap
and accessible technology to do so.”
Looking ahead, Mehdi believes that
greater availability of data now readily
collected from railway assets could prompt
further improvements in infrastructure
performance. His new pet project is his
most ambitious yet: the development of
an open-source platform for asset
information. He hopes that this can
channel experience, especially from IT,
to have a tangible impact on railways in
North Africa and beyond.
His belief is that wider access to this
information will prompt the development
of small and medium-sized upgrade
projects. He reports receiving an
encouraging response from railways in
Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan to his
proposal. Yet there are challenges still to
overcome, namely accessing data held
by major private-sector players who he
says are reluctant to share their
information. “Some private players in
some countries do not share even the
basic stuff,” he says.
Yet if there is one thing that his career
has shown, this difficulty is only likely
to spur Mehdi on. It is certainly an idea
and an initiative to keep an eye on.
“It’s a project that is eating me alive,”
he says. “I really want to do this and
make something that is accessible to
more people so we can help solve these
problems in more places.”
 IRJ Young Rail Leaders Award
Jamie Caldwell
Senior Manager, Customer
Experience, The Greenbrier
Companies, United States
Age: 38. Years in the industry: 9
Nick Langel
Director of Intermodal Sales,
Union Pacific, United States
Age: 38. Years in the industry: 16
N
ICK Langel credits the darkest
moments of his life - the tragic
murder of his mother-in-law by
his father-in-law and the later breakdown
of his family around eight years ago -
for spurring him on to become the
successful person he is today.
“Instead of internalising the issue and
going down a similar dark path, I
channelled that energy and poured it
out positively by starting to get involved
in the community,” Nick says. “I began
volunteering on a small basis, taking my
son with me, while meeting new people.
I eventually started taking on more
responsibility, was accepted onto
multiple boards in the Omaha non-profit
community, and also started to thrive in
my career at Union Pacific (UP).”
Among his achievements at UP are
the establishment of the first on-dock
intermodal service in Portland, Oregon,
convincing traditional ocean shippers
ONE and SM Line to also use rail, and
facilitating the purchase of 980 refrigerated
wagons for UP. He also led an initiative
30 IRJ xxxxx 2016
J
AMIE Caldwell is described as a
current and future leader at
Greenbrier and a “beloved and
highly-valued employee.” She works on
Greenbrier’s management services team,
leading the customer service and contract
administration group, and holding an
account representative position that sees
her work closely with many of the
company’s key customers. Her team
oversees critical customer-facing
communications and coordination to
ensure effective management of wagon
fleets and that contracts are reviewed,
implemented and adhered to.
A motivational leader, Jamie was a
significant contributor to creating and
managing Greenbrier’s current customer
service approach. She did this by initiating
a scalable process that includes cross-
functional questions, issue tracking, and
best practice knowledge transfer. Her
nominator credits Jamie’s diligence and
attention to detail for improving the
customer experience team’s internal and
external communications, which is
providing better support for customers
and their individual requirements. She
has also twice been the recipient of
Greenbrier’s Integrated Business Model
Recognition Award, which recognises a
team member that exemplifies
to upgrade 14 grain elevators in Iowa and
Minnesota to support 110-wagon trains.
Nick says his biggest achievement was
leading negotiations and successfully
bringing a new customer to UP, which
offers potential business of up to $US 1.2bn.
“The account we were bidding for was
too large for one person to target alone,
so I strategically formulated a team to
proactively court the customer,” he says.
“I leveraged the skills of the individuals
that I pulled into the team, so that we
had the most well-rounded package. I
had functional owners give presentations,
overviews, and tours of UP processes
and facilities to ensure the customer had
full comfort and trust in our company.
After we won the business, I hosted
weekly onboarding calls and brought in
every group from UP to ensure a
smooth transition for the customer. In
the end, we had 103 people that were
able to make a positive impact on the
team and help negotiate and onboard
the customer.”
Among his philanthropic work is
leading the community investment
review team for the United Way of the
Midlands, and serves as a board
member for the Christ Child Society of
Omaha. He has also led various charity
fundraising efforts in the local community.
cooperation between commercial
business units, creates meaningful
customer benefits, and increases cross-
functional capabilities.
The high regard in which Jamie is
held is reflected in her selection to lead
a stretch assignment, directly sponsored
by the CEO and management team. This
project includes managing, coordinating
and tracking a large, multi-business unit
project, which will lay the groundwork
for how Greenbrier manages work for the
new programme in the future. Jamie was
chosen to head-up the project due to her
ability to reach every business unit
within the company and to make sure
that smooth and efficient processes are
in place at the programme’s inception.
Her nominator writes that Jamie
overcomes challenges through self-
awareness, empathy and a willingness
to drive the team towards excellence.
Her managers also describe her as a
passionate and dedicated worker who
doesn’t back down from a challenge.
“She enjoys solving problems and is
dedicated to continuous improvement
by holding her team to high standards
while ensuring that she remains
accountable,” they say. “We look
forward to seeing Jamie’s continued
growth and leadership at Greenbrier.”
Nick says his career objectives centre
around making the rail industry a more
healthy and sustainable part of the
economy, citing his goal to build a new
intermodal area in an up-and-coming
city such as Austin, Texas, or Boise, Idaho.
He also wants to establish UP as a leader
in the Omaha philanthropic community.
“I have been deliberate about pushing
my fellow co-workers to get involved
and make an impact in our community,”
he says. “I hope that when I’m in an
executive role someday, that I can create
even more change and positive impact
on UP’s stake in the communities we
serve.”
IRJ December 2023
Yannik Thomas
Vice-President, Intermodal &
Automotive Operations, Norfolk
Southern, United States
Age: 38. Years in the Industry: 8
Y
ANNIK Thomas is responsible
for managing a network of 85
terminals and ramps across the
eastern United States to offer a high-
quality customer experience. He is also
responsible for developing design
engineering solutions for what are
described by his nominator as the
“most complex challenges to achieving
Norfolk Southern’s goals for safety,
service and productivity” in its
intermodal and automotive businesses.
Yannik’s leadership philosophy is based
on judging when it is best to listen and
when to direct. He approaches
challenges armed with data to identify
the best path forward for his team. He is
also a believer in getting buy-in from as
many stakeholders as possible.
However, he is also willing to drive the
team to “disagree and commit” if there
Florina Hoza
Systems Project Manager/
Maintenance and Depots Expert,
Systra, France
Age: 33. Years in the industry: 10
A
MONG the highlights of Florina
Hoza’s varied career at Systra is
her work to effectively lead and
coordinate a team of senior engineers to
interface with the client and deliver major
metro depot projects in Santiago,
Jakarta, Buenos Aires and Bogotá. She
has been helped by her ability to speak
four languages, while her expertise
contributed to the efficiency, safety, and
cost-effectiveness of these major depot
projects.
She is also playing a key role in the
Grand Paris Express project. Here
Florina is supporting work on four
depots that will provide maintenance
services for three automated metro lines
totalling 230km, which will be served by
more than 100 trains.
As an interface manager, Florina
managed to solve an issue that was
holding up the project, avoiding six
months of potential delay and enabling
the testing schedule to begin on time.
On another occasion she stepped in after
realising that work was not progressing
as planned due to a major dispute
between two stakeholders. Florina took
it upon herself to solve the conflict by
IRJ XXXXX
December 2023 31
2016
are unresolved differences of opinion
after all practical analysis has been
exhausted. Yannick subscribes to the
view that the best operational leaders
are at least a little paranoid, always
asking what could go wrong and
preparing for it.
Yannik possesses particular expertise
in engineering and improving processes.
This helped him to successfully lead a
cross-functional team in NS to establish
a high-frequency corridor between
Chicago, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and
Croxton, New Jersey, in the second half
of 2022, a project that has proven a
major success for NS.
The challenge was to redesign an
inefficient operating plan to increase In addition, the rate at which NS moves
both service quality and capacity. The containers and road trailers has improved
result was a complete recast of the dramatically, resulting in more capacity
operating and terminal plans for all and better asset utilisation for customers
trains to and from northeastern states to on these key routes.
originate and terminate at the 47th The success of this project is testament
Street intermodal facility in Chicago, to Yannik’s passion for contributing to
the busiest on the NS network. This the growth of the North American rail
new high-frequency plan has since freight sector. Indeed, he has set himself
improved service performance by over a target of doubling NS intermodal
30%, achieving over 90% reliability. shipments by 2030.
finding common ground between the
two groups by focusing on the facts and
finding an agreed way forward.
Another highlight of Florina’s work has
been her leadership of the Maintenance
Technical Network at Systra. The network
has a global reach, connecting more than
40 experts in her field. Florina’s leadership
helped to double the budget for the
initiative this year, doubling the number
of projects delivered by the network.
She also recently led a webinar on “all
you want to know about maintenance,”
sharing her passion for the topic with
colleagues working throughout Systra,
and explaining complex concepts in a
clear and comprehensible manner.
In the future Florina wants to develop
the next generation of engineering
experts by taking on a leadership role Her willingness to push the
where she can influence the growth of boundaries of her work and skills is
Systra’s maintenance teams. Florina is a reflected in Florina’s desire to always
passionate advocate for advancing look for further ways to improve. She
opportunities for young people and recently started studying psychology to
women into the industry. She is a native better understand human behaviour,
of Romania, and after moving to France motivation and communications, so that
to study she became president of a she might provide more effective
youth association that led intercultural leadership and improve her problem-
humanitarian and educational projects. solving skills.
She is also a member of an association that “Florina likes to go above and
works in senior schools to encourage beyond, even when activities are not
young women to pursue careers in part of her job description,” her
science. Florina often talks about her nominator writes. “She is passionate
passion for her career in rail engineering, about creating a space where knowledge
encouraging other young women to is shared and her motto is Team:
follow a similar path. together each achieves more.” IRJ
31
 South America | Salvador
Metro system slowly but surely shows its worth
After taking more than a decade to open its first route, and then opening with only limited service, Metrô
Bahia in Salvador is now a modern system carrying thousands of passengers each day. David Burroughs visits
the network to learn how the project was turned around.
T
HE metro in Salvador has been a
long time coming. More than a
decade after construction began
in 2000, limited public services began
on the first phase of the network on
June 11 2014, just two days before the
city hosted its first fixture in the 2014
Fifa football World Cup.
The project suffered repeated delays
to its original schedule to open in 2003
as a result of contractual disputes and
political wrangling, which ultimately
resulted in the Bahia state government
taking over responsibility for
completing the line in 2013. When
services finally began, they initially
operated on the 7.6km five-station Lapa
- Retiro section of Line 1 between 12.00
and 16.00 with trains running at
10-minute intervals with free travel for
passengers. However, on match days,
access was limited to football fans with
tickets for the game.
Fast forward nearly a decade from
that first opening, and it’s a very
different story in the capital city of the
state of Bahia in Brazil.
The opening of the 1.5km Pirajá -
Campinas section of Line 1 on June 14
of this year took the total length of the
line to 13.4km, including 1.4km in
tunnel and 5.8km elevated, with nine
stations.
Construction on Line 2 began in
February 2015, and the first 2.3km
Acesso Norte - Rodoviária section
opened on December 5 2016. Following
the opening of the 3.5km Mussurunga -
Airport section on April 26 2018, Line 2
is now 19.6km long with 12 stations.
Services on both lines operate from
05.00 until 00.00, with the service
frequency adapted to meet demand.
Work is also continuing to further
expand the network.
In May 2019, a consortium led by
Camargo Corrêa, Brazil, was awarded a
contract to construct the 4.7km
extension of Line 1 from Pirajá to Águas
Claras, including the now-open Pirajá -
Campinas section. The consortium
submitted a bid of Reais 424.7m ($US
105.4m) for the two-station extension,
the lowest offer in the tender.
The network is operated by CCR
Metrô Bahia under a 30-year Public-
Private Partnership (PPP) contract
awarded in February 2014.
32
After opening just in time for the Fifa When installing the telecommunications
World Cup, the metro is continuing to system, Siemens integrated data
serve football fans, with Campo da transmission, fixed communications,
Pólvora station located near the Fonte multimedia, message panel and timing,
Nova arena in Itaipava. The station as well as the electrical monitoring and
plays an important role in ensuring radio subsystems. Siemens was also
people arrive and leave the game safely responsible for the installation of the
with tens of thousands of fans passing 3kV dc catenary.
through the system on a match day. Bahia Metro has also put its own
“Normally when we have a soccer stamp on Siemens’ CBTC system. With
game, this is very crowded,” says Metrô standard CBTC systems, the signal
Bahia customer service executive aspects would usually show green or
manager, Mr Leonardo Balbino, red when operating in manual mode, or
pointing to a CCTV image of the station switch off when a train is operating in
within the Operations Control Centre CBTC mode. However, Balbino says
(OCC) showing the station platform.
However, Campo da Pólvora station is
still not as busy as Lapa station, which
is located next to Campo da Pólvora
and previously coped with 50,000
passengers in a day. “The station was
very crowded, it was very interesting,”
Balbino says.
In May 2021, Siemens was awarded a
contract by Bahia State Transport
Company to install CBTC on the Pirajá -
Águas Claras section, to match the
system installed across the rest of the
network. Siemens also provided a
software update for all onboard units
on the existing fleet of 40 trains and for
both the main and back-up OCCs. The
contract included the installation,
testing and commissioning of a radio
system, electronic interlockings, and
wayside equipment.
Siemens’ Trainguard MT radio-based
CBTC, implemented between March
2015 and July 2018, allows for automatic
operation at Grade of Automation 2
(GoA2). Even though the driver starts
the train manually, the system
automatically takes over acceleration,
braking and speed control between
stations, and controls the opening and
closing of the doors at stations. The
system also allows for automatic
driverless reversing in turnback sidings.
Line 4 in São Paulo, which is operated
by Via Quatro, in which CCR has a 75%
stake, is similarly equipped with CBTC
with full driverless operation. However,
Balbino says this is not possible on the
Salvador Metro, as unlike Line 4 in São
Paulo, which is fully segregated with
platform screen doors, some of the
Hyundai Rotem supplied 40 four-car trains for
Metrô Bahia network is at grade, with
use on the Salvador metro. Photo: Metrô Bahia
no platform screen doors at stations.
IRJ December 2023
Metrô Bahia was worried that this would
make it more difficult to detect signal
faults, and instead asked for the signal
to show both green and red aspects at
the same time when the train is
operating in CBTC mode.
“For safety, we have a driver on all of
the trains,” Balbino says. When the train
is operating in CBTC mode, the driver
must still press a button when boarding
is complete to acknowledge that they
are still alert, and that it is safe to
proceed to the next station. The driver
is also responsible for activating the
emergency brake if there is a person or
other obstruction on the line.
Peak timetable
During a visit to the main OCC on a
Monday morning in September, Balbino
explains that services are operating to a
peak timetable based on ridership
IRJ December 2023
trends monitored over the preceding
weeks. That particular week, Monday
and Friday are operating to a different
timetable to Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday, with 10 trains in service on
Line 1 and 17 trains on Line 2.
“Every week, we look at the demand
of the week before and try and predict the
coming week,” Balbino says. “Analysing
last week, we saw that Mondays and
Fridays had one type of demand and the
other days had another type, so we have
two timetables. Normally we have more
trains operating on Line 1 than Line 2.”
Services are usually quite reliable,
Balbino says, but issues can be caused
by the theft of lineside cabling, which in
turn causes communication problems
between the OCC and the trains. When
this happens, drivers switch to
operating in manual mode, but are then
limited to 30km/h instead of the normal
80km/h, impacting network capacity.
Traction current is provided by three
substations, which receive 69kV from
the grid and supply the 3kV dc required
for the overhead catenary. Each
substation normally feeds a particular
section of the network, but there is a
redundancy whereby they can provide
energy to other sections of the network
if needed.
However, the system has occasionally
been forced to deal with bigger
electrical problems, suffering a full
blackout in August for the first time in
three or four years.
This caused all trains to stop, and
resulted in passengers having to
disembark and walk along the track to
the nearest station, escorted by Metrô
Bahia staff. To provide a back-up in
case of future power failures, Metrô
Bahia is installing large generators that
would provide enough energy to move
trains to the nearest station.
33
 South America | Salvador
conditioning was not, so the equipment
Additional expansion proposed across Salvador got very hot and shut down,” he says.

A
number of other transport projects have been proposed across Salvador to A server for the radio system, for
integrate with and complement the metro network. example, shut down within 10 seconds
In August 2022, CCR Metrô Bahia presented the state government of of the power being cut, and had to be
Bahia with a study that proposed the construction of a light rail line from the Piatã manually reset.
district of Salvador to São Luiz in the municipality of Simões Filho. The new route
would be 20.4km long, running along the BA-528 road, the Avenida Orlando
Gomes and the Avenida 29 de Março, and would provide interchange with the Depot
Salvador metro network. There would be a total of 20 stops serving a local As well as the state-of-the-art control
population of 530,000 residents. The new route would be operated with a fleet of centre, Metrô Bahia has also developed
27 LRVs, each able to accommodate 400 passengers. a modern maintenance depot to ensure
Construction would be undertaken in two stages, with the first stage running trains operate smoothly.
from the proposed bus station in Águas Claras to Praia de Piatã. The second stage Services on the network are provided
is dependent on the widening of the BA-528 road and would run from Águas with 34 Bravo trains and six older
Claras to São Luiz. Alpha trains, both supplied by Hyundai
The light rail line would serve the same area as a proposed Bus Rapid Transit Rotem.
(BRT) route, which is included in the public transport development plan for The depot is equipped with gantries
Salvador but has been the subject of disagreement between the city of Salvador to allow maintenance to be performed
and the state of Bahia. on equipment mounted on the roof of
A monorail has also been proposed to replace the suburban rail line from the trains, such as the air-conditioning
Calçada to Paripe. The previous governor of Bahia, Mr Rui Costa, signed a contract system. It is also equipped with a lift to
in 2019 to launch an elevated monorail project that will link the commercial district allow the bogies to be removed, and
of Salvador with Ilha de São João in Simões Filho. two wheel lathes including one which
Skyrail Bahia, a consortium of Build Your Dreams and Metrorail, was selected to can machine the wheels while still
construct and operate the line in 2019 under a Reais 1.53bn public-private under the train. The wheels are
partnership (PPP). The 19.2km, 21-station line was to have capacity for 150,000 reprofiled every six months on average,
passengers a day. explains Bahia Metro maintenance
Originally planned as a light rail project, the line will use part of the alignment manager, Mr Caio Cardoso.
of the 13.6km suburban line from Calçada to Paripe. Buildings at the line’s 10 The depot also features a laboratory
stations will be retained and converted for other purposes. which, among other tools, is equipped
with two 3D printers. They have been
Ilha de São João Metro open used to manufacture everything from a
Metro under construction
Monorail Phase 1
box made of biodegradable material to
Paripe N Monorail Phase 2 store and transport radios or a fire
detector nozzle made with flame-resistant
0 km 3 material, through to a microphone holder,
seat lever handle, substation circuit-
Periperi breaker support, and a central pivot
calibrator for adjusting the height of the
nylon guides for the train doors.
Lauro de Freitas Cardoso explains that being able to
Águas Claras manufacture the parts on-site is a major
São João Airport time and cost saver.
“It’s very important economically to
manufacture the spare parts, and it has
f!2

Campinas
Mjo

a lower lead time compared with shipping

Pirajá
Depot
Mussurunga them from the manufacturer,” he says.
f!3
Mjo “It could be six months to buy another
Calçada Bom Juá part, while here it can be made in three
Flamboyant
to six days.”
São
Joaquim Retiro On one side of the maintenance
CAB
workshop, a model of a sliding door is
Acesso Norte
f!3 Imbul set up complete with all onboard
Comércio Mjo
!2 subsystems to enable staff to practice
M jof trouble-shooting and repairing doors on
Rodoviária
Lapa Campo da Pólvora IRJ the trains. Outside the workshop, Metrô
Bahia has installed a train washing plant
“It’s not possible to keep full operation equipment at stations, such as lighting that is able to recover 100% of the water
going but with the generators we can at and air-conditioning, as well as used.
least move one train at a time,” Balbino ventilation for equipment rooms. This is All in all, the metro is now a far cry
says. “They are working on the generators important, Balbino says, as some critical from the short section of line that
now, so for the next blackout, we’ll be equipment failed during the previous struggled to open at the start of this
ready.” blackout due to high temperatures. century. Instead, the residents of
The generators will also supply “The equipment itself was supplied Salvador have a modern transport
energy for the main systems and by energy from batteries, but the air- network that is continuing to grow. IRJ
34 IRJ December 2023
 Central America | Guatemala
Getting Guatemala’s goods to market
The start of work on Remed’s ambitious project to rebuild Guatemala’s rail network with $US 1.76bn of
private finance has been delayed by political and administrative difficulties. But as Robert Preston reports,
track is now being laid to improve freight links with North America.
O
RGINALLY due to start on
January 20, work to revive
Guatemala’s currently disused
914mm-gauge network as a modern
1435mm-gauge freight railway and
build new cross-border links to El
Salvador and Honduras (IRJ December
2022, p28) has been set back by political
circumstances and related administrative
delays, according to Remed Mexico
operating manager, Mr Mauricio De León.
Following the election of Mr Bernardo
Arévalo as Guatemala’s next president
in August, the handover of power and
the transition to a new government has
proved to be a lengthy and at times
controversial process. Arévalo is now
expected to take up office next month,
and De León hopes that work can begin
in earnest later in 2024 once the new
administration has finished “dotting the
Is and crossing the Ts” of the remaining
paperwork and complete the other tasks
that it is responsible for, such as clearing
illegal construction that has encroached
on the right of way since the last trains
ran in September 2007.
Comprising 800km of new or upgraded
railway and expected to take two years
to complete at a total cost of $US 1.76bn,
the Remed project has been divided
into three stages.
Stage 1 mainly comprises an upgrade
of the 235km running from Tecún Umán
on the Mexican border via Río Bravo and
Santa María (north of Obrero) to Puerto
Quetzal, Guatemala’s largest port on the
Pacific coast. The focus of Stage 2 is to
revive rail links to Caribbean ports,
involving the upgrade of 317km running
inland from Puerto Barrios and Santo
Tomás de Castilla, just south of Puerto
Barrios, to Zacapa and Guatemala City.
Stage 2 includes upgrading the 89km
route from Guatemala City to Santa
María, connecting stages 1 and 2. Under
Stage 3, a 91km line will be built to the
border with El Salvador from Obrero,
on Stage 1. The new 19km line to the
Honduras border runs from Entre Ríos
near Santo Tomás on Stage 2.
Pending the start of this major
construction programme, work is now
underway in Guatemala to lay track at
the freight terminal, free port and
industrial park that Remed is
developing in Tecún Umán with a view
to start moving freight by rail to Mexico,
the United States and Canada as soon
IRJ December 2023
as possible. As De León explains, this
has seen Remed acquire an adjacent site
from fertiliser company Duwest. Combined
with dedicated customs facilities at
Tecún Umán and electronic document
transfer, Remed believes that these new
rail-connected facilities have the
potential to substantially reduce the
time it takes for freight to cross the
border from Guatemala into Mexico.
With the current road crossing congested
with large numbers of small lorries, De
León says that it can take “hours and
hours” to complete border formalities,
which include the requirement for road
vehicles to change number plates from
one country to another. Combined with
the poor state of the road network, this
means that freight moving by lorry
from Guatemala to Mexico and the US
can take between seven and 14 days to
reach its destination.
The value of Guatemala’s exports was
an estimated $US 15.3bn in 2021, of which
32% went to the United States, 12% to
El Salvador, 10% to Honduras and 4%
to Mexico. Faster rail service would
therefore have significant benefits for
Guatemalan companies exporting
agricultural products such as bananas,
raw sugar and palm oil, of which a great
deal is destined for the US, according to
De León. “A massive amount rots in transit,”
he says. “The freight infrastructure isn’t
there and their output is constrained by
their ability to move it.”
Cross-border shopping trips are
popular in Guatemala, De León notes,
due to both the relative strength of the
quetzal against the Mexican peso and
Central America
MEXICO
Puerto Barrios Puerto Cortes
Entre Rios
GUATEMALA
Ciudad Hidalgo
Tecún Umán Zacapa
Puerto Retalhuleu Guatemala City
Chiapas Obrero
Puerto San Salvador
Champerico Puerto
Quetzal
Arajutia
La Union
EL SALVADOR
Puerto Corinto
Existing lines
Disused lines to be reopened
New lines Qbdjgjd!!Pdfbo
the wider range of goods available in
Mexico. “A passenger service would
make a lot of sense for tourism,” he says.
Although the focus of Remed’s project
is very much on freight, development
work has included examining the potential
for operating passenger services to serve
the 3.1 million inhabitants of Guatemala
City using battery-powered rolling stock
developed by British rolling stock
supplier Vivarail, which entered
administration in December 2022.
Deploying Vivarail’s quick-charging
technology would have offered the
potential to decarbonise local transport
in Guatemala, taking advantage of
comparatively cheap hydro-electric
power and avoiding the need to install
overhead electrification equipment
where clearances might be limited.
Remed is still working to determine
which of the 200 stations on the national
network it will require, and De León
reports that discussions are also
continuing with potential passenger
operators. No final decisions have yet
been made on what contractual shape
this would take, however. “We are open
to any possibility,” he says.
Similarly, for the core freight operations
on Guatemala’s revived national network
this issue is “not settled yet”, but as De
León points out “Remed has no operating
experience” and will probably require a
suitably qualified partner. Discussions
have been held with a number of
potential operators, but “we don’t need
an operator for a while,” he says.
“When we start building, I think we’ll
have a queue for that.” IRJ
Dbsjccfbo!Tfb
HONDURAS
N
Tegucigalpo
NICARAGUA
Managua
IRJ
35
 Stations | design

How to design the station of the future

The International Association of Public Transport has produced a report setting out how operators can
improve user experience at every stage of a passenger’s journey through a station. Robert Preston highlights
the study’s major findings.

I
N May this year the International
Association of Public Transport
(UITP) published its report How to
Make Stations Lively Hubs for Both
Citizens and Public Transport Users:
Solutions. The report has been produced
within the framework of the Stations of
the Future project, led by UITP in
partnership with lift and escalator
manufacturer Kone.
Compilation involved collecting
examples of best practice from around
the world, gathered online and at
workshops and “brainstorming sessions”
held at locations including Singapore,
Jacksonville and Delhi. Pointing to best
practice along the way, the report takes
a step-by-step journey through the station
to highlight areas in each phase of the
process where improvements can be made,
both in new-build projects and at existing
stations, to meet changing passenger
needs. These solutions fall into the
categories of technology, infrastructure
and management, and are considered
from the perspective of public transport
users as well as the operators of the
services and stations that they use.
“This handbook is about how to design
stations,” said Mr David Vitezy, CEO and
senior public transport expert at Hungarian
consultancy Transport Research Budapest,
and a former CEO of Budapest public
transport authority BKK. Chairing a
session on Stations of the Future at the
UITP Global Public Transport Summit
in Barcelona on June 6, Vitezy stressed
the need to place the passenger at the
heart of the design process.
“Our whole journey experience in
public transport is defined by the
experience we have at stations, how
they are designed, how clearly we find
our way, what the quality of the
architecture is,” Vitezy said.
“The station is the face of our public
transport systems, both rail and metros,
and I think putting the attention needed
in designing and managing them is really
very important to attract more customers
to our systems to fully recover after the
pandemic.”
The study has aimed to identify the
needs and expectations of different
groups of passengers, and explore how
stations can be made more welcoming
and inclusive for all. The report notes,
however, that the limitations of the study
include the lack of direct involvement of
passengers or station users.
To determine user requirements, two
contrasting demographic groups were
chosen, Generation Z, or those born
between 1997 and 2012, and “representatives
of the Silver Economy.” They were selected
in recognition of the fact that user
expectations change with age and to
highlight the importance of catering to
different, yet significant, segments of the
customer base.
Key challenges identified during the
analysis of user needs included
differences in speed of movement
through the station as well as digital
proficiency and autonomy. The report
says that while some passengers feel
comfortable using their mobile phones
to plan their journeys and find their way
around, and also prefer self-service
solutions, others prefer human contact
when seeking information and assistance.

The way in
The report’s journey through the station
starts with Entrance, considering how
to make it easier for passengers to find
their way when arriving at the gateway
to a public transport network.
To better manage and segregate
people flows, recommendations here
include dedicated entrances and exits,
as well as dedicated entrances from
bicycle parking areas. The report says
that at least one entrance - and
preferably all gateways to the station -
should be fully accessible to passengers
with reduced mobility (PRM), citing
here as best practice Madrid Metro’s
Accessibility and Inclusion Plan that
has seen lifts and other complementary
measures installed at stations.
Alongside such infrastructure
improvements, one management
solution recommended here is to alert
passengers in advance if station
equipment such as lifts and escalators,
or passenger facilities such as toilets, are
out of service. This could be provided
via mobile phone apps or other online
journey planners, with the websites of
both RATP in Paris and WMATA in need to be displayed in the same way
Washington DC now providing across the entire station, as at some
information on the availability of lifts locations it may be appropriate to not
and escalators. As Mr Cãlin Hera, display information about departures
Kone’s business development manager when it is no longer possible to reach
for the public transport sector, pointed the platform without rushing.
out in Barcelona, “nowadays, equipment
like lifts and escalators can be
connected to the internet. Therefore
this information is available in real
time for the system operator to
provide it to the people who need it.”
The threshold crossed, the report
goes on to consider the Concourse/
Ticket Hall in its next section. To
help passengers find their way
around, one recommendation is to
install projectors to display
information in either a static or
animated way, which is more
attention-grabbing than
conventional floor markings and
has the advantage of not causing
any physical obstruction to
passenger flows. Another
management change is to provide
an indication of the walking time
and distance to the platform.
Here, the report also notes that
train departure times do not

36

Ticketing and
customer assistance
To avoid queues at ticket offices or
ticket vending machines (TVMs), UITP
recommends that operators provide
multiple payment options, citing as best
practice payment using QR codes on
Changing zones
The next section of the UITP report
considers Ticket Gates, or more
specifically the boundary that only fare-
paying passengers can cross.
Especially at stations without ticket
gates, this boundary between public
space and the fare area should be made
highly visible and clear to all users, in
order to avoid confusion or any
dispute. Gate lines should be staffed, as
a human presence to provide assistance
here plays a crucial role in reducing
queues and congestion, according to the
report. There should always be one
wide gate available for passengers in
wheelchairs, pushing a buggy or
travelling with bulky luggage. The gate
speed can be varied to assist with
managing passenger flows, for example
by helping to reduce congestion by
increasing the length of time it takes to
pass through the gate.
Beyond the gateline, the organisation
of passenger flows is considered in the
Corridors, Stairs, Elevators, Escalators
section. Walking directions should be
defined in order to reduce points of
conflict and provide a smoother journey
for all. Physical infrastructure, floor
markings or lights can be used for this
purpose, as well as colour coding of
floor and wall markings and signage to
guide users, as colour codes such as for
individual metro lines are usually more
IRJ December 2023
mobile phones at MTR of Hong Kong,
and the first deployment of contactless
payment on a metro system in Brazil by
MetrôRio of Rio de Janeiro. Considering
the TVMs themselves, the report says that
they should be intuitive for passengers
to use, with readable displays and
clear and concise instructions in a
selection of languages. This would
reduce frustration, shorten queues
and make reliance on support staff
unnecessary. If no staff are present,
the TVM should be equipped to
enable the user to seek remote
assistance.
While some passengers are happy
to use digital tools, others need or
prefer more personalised assistance
involving human interaction. The
report therefore recommends that
customer service centres should
be accessible to the maximum
number of users at major hubs.
As best practice, UITP cites the use of
stations on the SMRT network in
Singapore as “Go To Points” for people
with dementia, providing assistance to
enable them to return home safely.
Volunteers or staff ambassadors could
readily understood than text. To remove
a potential obstacle to smooth flows of
large numbers of people, the report also
recommends installing bollards at strategic
locations to prevent passengers with
bulky luggage or luggage trolleys from
passing through, instead providing them
with an alternative route if the items in
question are allowed to be taken onboard.
Similarly, fast and slow lanes are
proposed for station corridors, enabling
slower users to proceed at their own pace.
Turning to vertical circulation, the
report says that users should be made
aware of good habits for stair and
escalator use in the interests of
passenger safety, either by using
nudging techniques or more explicit
measures. Dynamic lighting can
indicate where passengers
should and should not stand on
an escalator and when the end of
the escalator is approaching. At
the UITP summit in Barcelona,
Hera described how using different
colours on escalator step treads had
enabled social distancing to be
maintained during the pandemic,
while Kone is now piloting video
monitoring combined with AI to detect
incidents in real time and take
appropriate action. This might include
audible warnings, slowing the escalator
or even bringing it to a stop. For shorter
vertical distances, potential escalator
congestion could be averted by
provide support for those needing more
help, and the report also recommends
making trained instructors available to
help passengers understand how to use
journey planners, ticketing apps and
other digital tools.
Turning to waiting areas, passenger
wellbeing here could be improved by the
creation of silent zones, and the provision
of drinking water or entertainment such
as TV or reading matter.
Recommended infrastructure design
enhancements for the Concourse/Ticket
Hall area include clear lines of sight
enabling passengers to see exactly where
they need to go, and providing more
natural light and green space to create a
more calming and inviting atmosphere.
Charging points for mobile phones and
other devices should be provided in the
station, and a strong mobile phone signal
should be available to enable passengers
to work and access digital travel tools.
Third-party services that could be
provided include co-working areas and
parcel collection points, as well as retail
outlets, which will enable operators to
take advantage of their city centre
location and generate extra revenue.
directing passengers to stairs as an
alternative, possibly combined with
campaigns to promote stair use as part
of a healthier lifestyle.
To enable passengers to feel in control
and reduce frustration, waiting times for
lifts should be displayed or, if on a fixed
service such as stopping at all floors, an
indication provided of which lift will be
the next to arrive. As well as enabling
incidents and faults to be monitored in
real time, connecting station equipment
to the internet enables lifts to
automatically arrive when passenger
flows are heavy or when a train
arrives in the station.
37
 Stations | design
On the platform
The Platform section of the report considers
the interface between the station and the
train, and says that this should be as
safe and smooth to negotiate as possible.
To ensure even distribution of passengers,
floor markings should be used to direct
users away from the entrance to the
platform, which might also be achieved
with the “nudge” of placing services or
retail facilities further away from the
entrance. Passengers can be directed to
less busy sections of the train by
harnessing onboard load monitoring or
passenger-counting data to provide real-
time information on train occupancy.
UITP’s example of best practice here
is the Hector system developed by
French National Railways (SNCF),
which is now being rolled out across the
Paris suburban network after a successful
trial on Line H. This uses data gathered
by infrared passenger-counting sensors
located above the doors to display train
occupancy in real time at stations. At
quieter times, it can help passengers to
be closer to one another if they have
personal safety concerns about travelling
alone. Station displays and timetables
should also indicate train composition
and the location of onboard facilities,
the report says, with platforms marked
to indicate the position of specific cars
within the train.
To improve safety at the interface
between the station and the train, the
report recommends the installation of
platform screen doors, which offer the
additional benefits of reducing train
noise and
38
making station ventilation and air-
conditioning easier to control. Sensors
or CCTV cameras to detect passengers
falling onto the track are also suggested,
as part of systems that would
automatically generate an alarm, bring
trains to stand and stop any other
appropriate equipment. Help points
should be installed to enable passengers
to contact staff in the event of an
emergency or for other assistance, and
the report says that holograms and
robots could provide a more interactive
or intuitive alternative to fixed help points.
The use of robots to provide passenger
assistance and undertake other tasks as
part of a wider digital transformation
programme is now being tested by East
Japan Railway (JR East) under its own
Station of the Future project, as Mr Ippei
Nemoto, a researcher at JR East’s Frontier
Service Development Lab told the UITP
summit in Barcelona. “The concept of
the Station of the Future is to transform
the role of stations from a hub for transport robot stands still and performs what
to a hub for daily life,” he said. “By Nemoto described as “sentry duty.”
providing enhanced guidance, we can JR East is also testing AI communications
provide peace of mind to our customers.” robots to provide passengers with
A prototype autonomous robot has assistance and advice on journey
been deployed at Takanawa Gateway planning via station information points
station, whose movements and functions and mobile apps. One problem here is
are guided by passenger congestion that the current systems are not linked
data gathered using webcams and 70 in order to provide a common set of
laser sensors, Nemoto explained. When responses to the questions most
the level of congestion is low, the robot frequently asked by passengers, and
moves freely around the concourse at Nemoto said that JR East’s goal was to
speeds of up to 3km/h, undertaking bring the data together in order to
duties such as cleaning the floor or automate the process. A communications
inspecting it for defects that could cause robot would be able to contact a
passengers to trip and fall. A medium physical member of staff if it could not
level of congestion sees the provide the necessary information, and
robot operate in stop/go mode, the response used to modify the
patrolling and providing information supplied in future. Analysis
guidance at up to 2km/h. At of the questions asked by customers
times of high congestion when would also enable JR East to better
it would be hard to move, the understand their needs.
Connecting at the exit
The final section of the report’s journey through the station of the future
covers the Exit, which it points out is the beginning of another stage in
the passenger’s journey, be it a short walk to their final destination or
connecting with another service or mode that may take them much
further. Providing information on connecting services as well as on
what can be found in the immediate vicinity of the station is therefore
essential, the report says. Signage directing passengers to connecting
or alternative modes should be visible at strategic locations both inside
and outside the station, with real-time departure information
provided for connecting services.
In providing local maps and other depictions of the area, the
station’s surroundings should be visually represented in a way that is
understandable to all, with signs and other wayfinding indicating
local landmarks rather than street or area names that the passenger
might not be familiar with, particularly if they are a first-time or
infrequent visitor to the city in question.
IRJ December 2023
 Good design from first principles
T
HE need for good design that meets passenger
needs is often highlighted in the stations report,
and some insights into how to achieve this from
first principles were offered at the UITP summit in
Barcelona by Ms Zoe Green, principal designer and
director at Meld Studios in Sydney, Australia.
“Meld Studios partners with organisations to solve
complex problems using a human-centred design approach
which, simply put, is putting those who are involved in
the change at the centre of the change,” she explained.
The company’s preferred solution to achieving a user-
friendly design for anything from a push button to a new
train or even a major transport interchange is prototyping,
presenting future users with a design concept and asking
them for feedback based on their own personal experience.
“We let them tell us the truth,” Green said. “The more
you can test with customers, the more data you can
gather, developing more confidence in the thing that
you’re putting out into the world, ensuring that it’s not
just an assumed need, it’s an actual need.”
Prototyping can be done “at any scale, at any fidelity,
and at any budget,” according to Green. She defined
fidelity as “the exactness of a thing,” and low-fidelity
prototyping could involve presenting the future user with
printed 2D renderings that are then discussed, annotated and
drawn on. A slightly higher degree might involve roleplay,
which has seen future passengers walking around mock-ups
of future interchanges. “They were able to reflect in real time,
telling us what they needed in those situations,” Green said.
The next step up is to use virtual reality (VR), which offers
exciting possibilities and is “very sexy at the moment,” Green
says.
“It’s about translating these CAD models into VR reality
models where customers can put the headset on and
physically almost walk through these stations. We attempted
this with five stations and over 300 customers, and they were
able to interact with the station, the precinct and the interchange
step by step. The great thing about VR is it helps to give that
sense of scale that a 2D piece of paper can’t really provide.”
IRJ December 2023
Even closer to the real thing, an example of high-fidelity
prototyping is to build a full-scale mock-up of a new vehicle.
“We asked 80 customers to walk through these different
scenarios, boarding and alighting, and then tell us what was
working and what wasn’t,” Green said.
“
When we are experts in a field, it is
really easy to forget that we don’t know
what we don’t know. Zoe Green
“There’s a temptation to spend more, to start with a higher-
fidelity near-perfect model of what we think needs to be true,
with the assumption that that’s the only way to gather
valuable insights,” Green pointed out. “But what I’d argue and
actually recommend is starting quite the opposite way with a
low-fidelity model. And using raw customer insight to
continuously iterate feedback into the design. We can then test
it again and again, building up to these high-fidelity models.”
“When we are experts in a field, it is really easy to forget
that we don’t know what we don’t know,” Green said. “And
we are not the typical transport user which we are designing
for. There’s always something new to learn, especially from
human experiences that are very different from your own.”
To ensure that a wide range of passenger experience informs
its prototyping work, Meld Studios takes a different approach.
“We flip the typical recruitment models to make sure that we’re
asking a really diverse and inclusive group of people so that
we’re not just getting the same nine to five commuters that
generally find commuting reasonably straightforward,” she says.
In conclusion, Green quoted the great American architect
and designer Frank Lloyd Wright who said “you can use an
eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammer on the
construction site.” Green’s own advice was “test early and
test often. It removes risk for projects before it is too late.” IRJ
39
 Track | inspection
A machine vision for rail surface inspection
The Rail Surface Inspection System (RSIS) has been developed to identifiy rail surface defects before they
become a serious problem as Serkan Sandikcioglu and Samantha Kirkpatrick from Ensco, United States, explain.
R
AIL transport relies heavily on
the integrity of its infrastructure.
The Rail Surface Inspection System
(RSIS) is designed to offer a methodical
approach to improve how rail surfaces
are assessed and maintained. By
incorporating machine vision technology,
RSIS provides a more measured and
data-driven process for identifying rail
surface damage, moving away from the
more traditional, manual inspection
methods.
Historically, rail surface assessment
has relied heavily on visual inspection
and manual measurement. While these
methods have served the industry for
decades, they come with significant
limitations. Human inspectors can miss
small cracks or imperfections, especially
when they are new or hidden beneath
dirt and rust. Moreover, the subjective
nature of visual inspection can lead to
inconsistent assessments, making it
difficult to track the progression of wear
or damage over time.
The consequences of undetected or
misjudged rail surface defects can be
dire. Cracks can propagate under the
stress of passing trains, leading to rail
breaks that may result in derailments.
Similarly, undetected wear can lead to
rail head defects, compromising the
wheel-rail interface and potentially
causing accidents. Thus, the need for a
more precise, objective, and consistent
method of rail surface assessment is not
just a matter of improving maintenance
routines; it is a critical safety concern.
The shift towards advanced rail surface
assessment methodologies is driven by
the need to overcome the limitations of
traditional inspection methods.
Advanced systems like RSIS employ
Figure 1: RSIS sub-bands, allowing for
targeted analysis of specific areas of the rail.
40
sophisticated imaging technologies and
data analysis algorithms to detect and
quantify rail surface defects with a level
of precision that human inspectors
cannot achieve.
These systems use high-resolution
cameras to capture detailed images of
the rail surface as inspection vehicles
travel along the track. The images are then
analysed using specialised software that
can detect a wide range of surface anomalies,
from the smallest cracks to the early signs
of spalling and corrugation. This level of
detail enables maintenance teams to
identify potential issues long before
they become visible to the naked eye.
Data plays a central role in advanced
rail surface assessment. RSIS, for
example, generates a wealth of data on
rail surface conditions, including
measurements of crack density, depth,
and orientation. This data can be
integrated with information on rail
geometry, wear patterns, and traffic
loads to create a comprehensive picture
of rail health.
The ability to track changes in rail
surface conditions over time is another
advantage of advanced assessment
systems. By comparing data from
successive inspections, maintenance
teams can identify trends and predict
when and where defects are likely to
worsen. This predictive capability is
essential for planning maintenance
activities, allowing railways to address
issues proactively rather than reactively.
At its core, RSIS is about precision and
prevention, using high-resolution linescan
cameras to capture the minutiae of rail
surface conditions that are invisible to
the naked eye.
Linescan cameras scan the rail surface
Figure 2: Preventive RCF detection on a sub-band level, aiding the detection of specific
areas of the rail that require immediate action.
as the inspection vehicle moves along
the track. They capture images with a
minimum resolution of 0.4mm at
speeds up to 105km/h, ensuring that
even at high speeds, the system does
not compromise on the level of detail
captured. This high-resolution imaging
is crucial for detecting the early stages
of rail surface defects, which can escalate
into more significant issues if not
addressed promptly.
Once the continuous rail surface image
is captured, it is segmented into five
longitudinal bands. This segmentation
is not arbitrary; it reflects the areas of
the rail that are most susceptible to
different types of wear and damage and
comprise:
= gauge corner: the part of the rail that
comes into contact with the wheel flange
- damage here can lead to derailments if
not managed
= mid-gauge: this area is prone to
rolling contact fatigue (RCF) due to the
high stresses it experiences
= top of rail: the uppermost surface where
the wheel sits, which can be affected by
slip-stick action and can develop
corrugations or other wear patterns
= field side: the side opposite the gauge
face, which can show damage due to
wheel-rail interaction dynamics,
especially on curves, and
= full rail width: a comprehensive view
that helps in assessing the overall
condition of the rail head.
With the latter, each band is further
divided into 300mm segments, which is
a strategic choice. This size corresponds
to the data intervals of track geometry
and rail wear data, allowing for a direct
comparison and integration with
existing maintenance data sets.
IRJ December 2023
 The segmentation into bands allows
for targeted analysis of specific areas of
the rail, crucial for identifying localised
issues such as RCF and other forms of
surface damage.
For each 300mm segment, RSIS
calculates several critical parameters:
= RCF crack density: this measures the
total area of RCF cracks within a
segment, providing a density figure that
helps in assessing the severity of the
condition
= average crack width: by measuring
the average width of RCF cracks,
maintenance teams can determine the
stage of the fatigue process
= average crack angle: the angle of RCF
cracks can indicate the type of stresses
the rail is subjected to, which is vital for
determining the root causes of rail
damage
= surface damage area: this ratio
measures the area of surface damage
within a segment against the total area,
giving a clear indication of the extent of
surface degradation, and
= rail surface index: a composite index
that weighs the above parameters into a
single value, providing a quick
reference to the overall condition of the
rail segment.
Insights for maintenance
The RSIS methodology is not just
about detecting and quantifying rail
damage; it is about providing strategic
insights that can guide maintenance
decisions. For example, the detection of
RCF on the gauge face in tangent track
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sections near spirals can inform track
engineers about the dynamic behaviour
of trains exiting curves, which can lead
to targeted adjustments in track
geometry or rail profiles to mitigate
these forces.
The RSIS data integrates seamlessly
with existing rail maintenance protocols.
The strip charts generated by RSIS can
be used alongside traditional track
geometry and rail wear data, providing
a more comprehensive understanding
of rail condition. This integration is
crucial for planning maintenance
activities such as grinding, where RSIS
data can help in identifying the exact
location and extent of rail surface
damage, ensuring that grinding
operations are targeted and effective.
Two software tools - GeoEdit 8 and
Virtual Track Walk - are key elements of
the RSIS. GeoEdit 8 is used to view strip
chart data and rail profiles, while Virtual
Track Walk allows for visualisation of
the imagery. These tools are synchronised,
enabling users to simultaneously view
strip chart data and imagery at any
given location on the track.
RSIS employs a two-step algorithmic
process to quantify rail surface condition.
The first step involves detecting whether
the rail surface has been ground,
adjusting calculations accordingly to
avoid misinterpretation of grinding
marks as surface defects. The second
step involves the segmentation of the
rail surface into different bands and the
calculation of various condition values.
This visual representation in the RSIS
data highlights the extent of damage
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and aids in pinpointing areas that
require immediate attention.
Field data collected using RSIS has
led to several unique findings.
Preliminary evaluations have identified
areas of RCF and rail surface spalling
associated with track geometry
conditions. Moreover, RSIS has revealed
interesting rail surface conditions not
only within curves and spiral locations
but also in tangent sections near spirals.
For example, RSIS has detected
unground sections within curves, such
as at level crossings, where rail grinding
equipment cannot operate. It has also
identified significant RCF at tangent
sections near spirals, suggesting that
rail vehicles do not reach a steady-state
position immediately after exiting a
curve, leading to RCF damage due to
oscillating wheel flanges.
Ultrasonic rail flaw testing is a critical
component of rail maintenance. RSIS
data can be used to plan for successful
ultrasonic tests by identifying sections
with surface conditions that may
interfere with testing, such as shelled,
spalled, or corrugated (SSC) areas.
The introduction of RSIS has the
ability to transform detailed visual data
into practical analysis, aiding in the
meticulous planning of rail maintenance.
While RSIS enhances the precision of
pre-grinding inspections and the
identification of rail surface issues, its
true value lies in its contribution to the
systematic upkeep of rail infrastructure.
This should not only prolong rail life
but also help to improve the safety and
efficiency of rail transport. IRJ
 Track | fastenings
Preventing rail buckling in extreme heat
Studies by Munich Technical University and Vossloh Fastenings have found that by using two new designs of
rail fastening the risk of track buckling during very high temperatures can be reduced without the need for
expensive track modifications.*
L
ATERAL stability and durability of
continuously welded rails on
ballasted track are crucial for high
speeds and loads. Maintaining track
stability is therefore becoming
increasingly important as global
warming intensifies and the potential
for track buckling during prolonged
high temperatures increases.
Track buckling is caused by the
superposition of three adverse factors:
high compressive forces in the rail,
weak points in the ballasted track, and
the dynamic effects of the train traffic,
which reduces the resistance of the
superstructure due to the forces and
vibrations introduced.
Buckled track typically has large
short-wave lateral misalignments that
lead to derailments when a train passes
over them. For example, an average of
38 train derailments per year were
recorded in the United States between
1998 and 2002 because of track buckles.
The costs incurred during this period
amounted to $US 55m. In June 2016, a
freight train derailment also occurred in
Germany between Gaildorf West and
Schwäbisch Hall-Hessental due to track
buckling, causing total damage of €1.74m.
Figure 1: Force interaction during rail rotation on the W 14 fastening system.
41a
This is why it is even more necessary
to develop and use innovative technical
solutions that can guarantee the safety
of the track even at high rail
temperatures.
Lateral track stability during rail
heating is treated with the energy method
in the calculation procedure developed
by H Meier. The basic parameters of
lateral track stability are defined as lateral
sleeper resistance (LSR), rail profile, curve
radius, lateral track misalignments
resulting from the operational load, and
frame stiffness. The theoretical moment
of inertia ITH of the track grid
represents the frame stiffness, which
can be determined experimentally in
the laboratory and is used as a discrete
value in Meier’s formulae.
However, the theoretical moment of
inertia alone cannot precisely reproduce
actual track force deformation
relationships since the theoretical
moment of inertia is not constant in
reality but depends on the lateral
displacement (corresponding to the
lateral track misalignment or deflection
in the test) of the track grid as well as
on defect length. The theoretical inertia
moment is mainly influenced by the rail
profile, sleeper design, and sleeper type
as well as the torsional resistance of the
rail fastening system.
There are various ways to prevent
track buckling. However, the question
is which solutions are technically
effective, economical, and as simple as
possible to apply. The quickest measure
is to implement a temporary train speed
restriction to minimise the dynamic
effects. However, this leads to delays,
operational disruption, high costs, and
ultimately to a loss of image for the
railway and is therefore not expedient.
The second possibility is to increase
lateral sleeper resistance by using
heavier concrete sleepers with profiled
sides such as scallops and sleeper pads
or by using sleeper anchors. Other
possible measures include reducing
sleeper spacing, using high-quality
ballast, ballast bonding, or widening the
ballast shoulder. Such solutions are fine
on new lines or during track upgrading
but are costly and take time to
implement on existing lines.
A third possibility is to increase track
stiffness by using fastenings with a high
torsional resistance (HTR) or by laying
a particular design of sleeper such as
IRJ December 2023
Y-shaped steel sleepers or ZSX-sleepers. Moment of inertia of the track Torsional resistance of fastening
However, the installation of special, Fastening
grid in cm4 system W14
stiffer sleepers is expensive and cannot System
be implemented quickly. 5mm 10mm 15mm Average of 1st and second loading
Using heavier rail profiles increases
track stiffness due to the higher moment 2161 1663 1489 0.8kNm
Skl 14
of inertia, but higher compressive forces
Wfp 14K
are generated due to the increased 100% (reference)
cross-sectional area of the rails. Thus,
heavier rails per se do not exert a 2222 1798 1578 1.4kNm
positive effect on lateral track stability. M7
Wfp 14 K
+2.9% +8.1% +6% +75%
Stiffness
Based on this understanding, Vossloh 2730 2325 2156 3.4kNm
Skl 14
set about developing rail fastening Wfp 700 HTR
components that help to increase torsional +26.3% +39.8% +44.8% +325%
resistance, thereby improving the
stiffness of concrete sleeper track. After 3109 2497 2264 3.6kNm
several years of intensive research and M7
Wfp 700 HTR
development, Vossloh’s M7 novel tension +43.9% +50.2% +52% +350%
clamp and HTR angled guide plate have
been undergoing field testing since 2022 Table 1: Test results with a Zw 687a hard rail pad.
and are now ready for series production.
The innovative design of the new Moment of inertia of the track Torsional resistance of fastening
grid in cm4 system W14
components optimises several technical Fastening
System
properties, including greater torsional 5mm 10mm 15mm Average of 1st and second loading
resistance and lateral stiffness. The
simultaneous effect of these two main
1428 1219 1200 0.8kNm
parameters exerts a decisive, positive Skl 14
influence on the theoretical moment of Wfp 14K
inertia of the track, as shown in the 100% (reference)
following investigations.
In the event of track buckling, there is 1857 1550 1398 1.4kNm
M7
a sudden lateral movement of the two Wfp 14 K
rails. As a result, the sleepers in the +30% +27.2% +16.5% +37%
ballast are displaced laterally and the
rails rotate in relation to the rail supports 1973 1849 1862 3.2kNm
of the sleepers. The higher the torsional Skl 14
resistance of a rail fastener, the lower Wfp 700 HTR
+38.2% +51.7% +55.2% +300%
the risk of track buckling. The torsional
resistance of the fastening system can
2313 1932 1826 3.2kNm
be determined under laboratory M7
conditions according to EN 13146-2. The Wfp 700 HTR
sleeper is fixed immovably during the +62% +58.5% +52.2% +300%
test, and the fastening system is mounted
on a short rail section. A transverse force Table 2: Test results with a Zw 900 elastic rail pad.
is applied to the rail foot and rotated by new components. The exact improvements This makes it necessary to analyse this
a certain amount in both directions. The in torsional resistance are depicted in combined behaviour in large-scale tests.
resulting torsional resistance is evaluated tables 1 and 2. Compared with a The relationship between track bending
in kNm for a rail rotation of ±1°. However, conventional tension clamp and angle under defined boundary conditions and
neither the EN 13146-2 test standard guide plate, the novel M7 and HTR show the associated force leads to the track’s
nor the EN 13481-2 requirement a longer lateral resistance force lever so-called theoretical moment of inertia.
standard define values regarding the arm of 2.4 and 2, respectively (Figure 1). This is a specific value, with which the
magnitude of the torsional resistance. The extended lever arm combined with lateral stiffness of the track itself is
The torsional resistance of the W14 increased lateral stiffness due either to described, without consideration of the LSR.
rail fastener was determined by comparing the M7’s S-shaped tension clamp arms Experiments to determine the track’s
eight different superstructure types in or the specially designed edge area of theoretical moment of inertia ITH for the
Vossloh’s test laboratory in Werdohl, the HTR results in a significant increase different types of superstructures with
Germany. To ensure comparability of in torsional resistance. B70 sleepers and rails type 60E2 have
the test results, during rail fastening Torsional resistance is not sufficient been conducted under dry conditions at
tensioning a uniform torque of 250Nm as the sole comparison criterion in an the Technical University of Munich’s
was applied to the sleeper screws. evaluation of lateral track stability. Institute of Road, Railway and Airfield
The significant improvement in rail Track lateral deformation is influenced Construction laboratory where different
fastening torsional resistance is due by the interaction of the rails, rail bearing distances and their influence is
mainly to the innovative design of the fastening components, and sleepers. investigated. Fastening systems for B07

IRJ December 2023 41b

 Track | fastenings
Figure 2: Schematic and actual test setup for determining the theoretical moment of inertia of the track grid with nine sleepers.
sleepers have also been studied.
The following types of superstructure
with the W14 fastening system were
analysed, whereby every version was
examined with two distinct types of rail
clamps: common Skl 14 and innovative M7:
• Wfp 14 K with Zw 687a
• Wfp 700 HTR with Zw 687a
• Wfp 14 K 900 with Zw 900, and
• Wfp 900 HTR with Zw 900.
The determination of these
characteristic values was obtained by
using a section of track with nine sleepers.
The track’s vertical bearing is as
frictionless as possible through a track
ball bearing on top of steel plates. With
a sleeper spacing of 60cm, the spacing
between the lateral bearing results in
4.8m (see Figure 2). For a lateral
bearing, the end faces of the sleepers at
the end of the track section were used.
The rail fastening was uniformly
tensioned to 250Nm.
A centrally arranged force application
was applied to the end face of the centre
sleeper on the support-free side of the
track. During the tests, the track
deflection was continuously increased
in steps up to 25mm. In each case,
increments of 5mm were generated
three times before continuing with the
subsequent larger deflection. The tests
were evaluated using an average of
three loads with the same deflection.
In both cases (with hard rail pad Zw
687a and elastic rail pad Zw 900) the
rail fastening with a W14 angled guide
plate and a Skl 14 tension clamp was
chosen as the reference system.
41c
In general, higher values of the
theoretical moment of track inertia
occurred with the HTR angled guide
plate and the combination of HTR and
M7 tension clamp compared with the
standard angled guide plate and
tension clamp. This applies to the test
results with hard pad Zw 687a and the
test results with elastic pad Zw 900.
Variations will be compared using
measured values at a 10mm deflection,
because this deflection was measured
for every system and resembles a value
approximately in the middle of ITH.
In the case of the systems with hard
rail pad Zw 687a, the use of the M7 and
conventional guide plate shows an ITH
increase of 8.1%. Using the HTR with
conventional tension clamp leads to an
ITH increase of 39.8%. Combining the
novel HTR with M7 results in a 50.2%
increase in ITH (Table 1).
Similar behaviour appears for systems
with the Zw 900 elastic rail pad. The use
of M7 with conventional angled guide
plates results in a 27.2% increase in ITH.
The use of the Skl 14 tension clamp
together with the HTR results in a
51.7% increase in ITH. The combination
of M7 with HTR shows a 58.5% increase
(Table 2). With these values, the critical
temperature increase of the rails until
track buckling could be determined
with Meier’s Theory.
In summary, the rail fastening system
with higher torsional resistance (M7/
HTR) leads to an increase in the
theoretical moment of inertia ITH of a
track section compared with a
conventional fastening system (Skl 14/
Wfp 14). This results in higher resistance
against track buckling. With the installation
of the novel components M7/HTR, it
also could be possible to dispense with
widening the ballast shoulder in certain
cases and the necessity to impose
temporary speed restrictions.
Advantage
The M7 and HTR have a clear economic
advantage compared with other measures
for improving lateral track stability,
such as sleeper or ballast replacement.
The cost of replacing tension clamps
and angled guide plates is many times
lower and the remaining, existing rail
fastening components such as rail pads
and screws can continue to be used.
Even under the imminent danger of track
buckling, when quick action is required,
the newly developed rail fastening
components can be installed in the track
with relatively little effort during night-
time possessions when the rails are
cooling down. And finally, compared
with other temporary measures to prevent
track buckling such as speed restrictions,
line closures, and “white” rails, the M7
and HTR can provide a permanent and
sustainable solution. IRJ
*This article was written by Timo Wastlhuber
and Prof Dr-Ing Stephan Freudenstein with the
Institute of Road, Railway and Airfield
Construction at the Technical University of
Munich, and Dr-Ing Dimitre Iliev and Winfried
Bösterling with Vossloh Fastening Systems.
IRJ December 2023
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 Track | Brazil
Behind the scenes of a Brazilian
track renewal project
Brazilian freight railway MRS Logistics is undertaking its most ambitious track renewal project yet, with more
than 500km due to be upgraded over the next 10 years. David Burroughs visits the railway to learn more
about the work currently underway.
D
EEP in the Brazilian
countryside, down winding
roads, a major project is
underway to modernise part of the
country’s heavy-haul rail network that
connects iron ore mines in the state of
Minas Gerais with ports in the state of
Rio de Janeiro.
The project is one of the major
investments underway following the
long-term renewal of the concession
held by Brazilian freight railway MRS
Logistics in July 2022, which has
prompted a major programme to
improve the 1643km network operated
by the company across the states of
Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo.
MRS Logistics was created in 1996,
when the government privatised the
southeast regional rail network. The
southeast region which the network
serves is responsible for generating
about half of Brazil’s GDP, and MRS
says that approximately 20% of the
freight volume exported in Brazil and
one third of all freight transported by
rail in the country passes over its
network.
The railway operates a fleet of more
than 18,000 wagons and 800
locomotives.
The company’s initial concession was
due to expire in 2026, but the contract
signed with the federal government in
the 1990s provided for an early renewal,
which MRS applied for in 2015 before
presenting its business plan and
holding public hearings to gather input.
On July 27 2022, the board of the
National Land Transport Agency
(ANTT) approved the studies and
documents for the early renewal of the
contract to operate the network, with
the agreement extending the contract
until 2056 signed on July 29 2022. Under
the terms of the new contract, MRS
plans to double the volume of general
freight and multiply the volume of
intermodal freight by seven times over
the new contract period.
The new contract includes an
42
investment plan drawn up in September 2022, as well as replacing the
conjunction with the Ministry of wooden and steel sleepers with concrete
Infrastructure and ANTT, which is based sleepers, which began in April 2023.
on three pillars: expanding capacity to The launch of the project followed a
meet performance targets; structuring decade of planning, including research
investment in the public interest; and into which track machines would be
work to improve urban mobility and best suited to the challenging
minimise conflict with road traffic in requirements of the Brazilian network.
urban areas. Overall, MRS plans to After conducting its market research,
invest Reais 31bn ($US 6.3bn) by 2056, MRS purchased:
including an outlay of around Reais • two 09-2X tamping machines, two
11bn in infrastructure work and USP 2005 ballast profiling machines, a
purchasing promised in return for the Unimat 08/475 S 3S tamping machine,
early renewal of the concession. and a PBR 500 ballast profiling machine
MRS is now working towards from Plasser & Theurer
meeting the more than 500 obligations • an LRV Railvac rail-mounted excavating
included in the plan, which are machine and 17 MHC series material-
designed to guarantee the quality of the handling wagons from Loram, and
services provided by the company, to • a C 75-2C double-screen ballast
maintain the assets in perfect operating cleaner and a P 190 track renewal train,
condition and to improve the level of with two material handling wagons,
service for customers. from Matisa.
Track renewal
Among the company’s current
investments is a $US 500m project to
renew more than 560km of
1600mm-gauge track on the Steel
Railway and Serra do Mar lines, which
carry iron ore from mines in Minas
Gerais south to four ports in the state of
Rio de Janeiro. Full wagons are moved
along on the Steel Railway from
Itabirito, Minas Gerais, to Barra Mansa,
Rio de Janeiro, before travelling on the
double-track line from Serra do Mar to
the four ports of Rio de Janeiro, Itaguai,
Sudeste, and Guaiba. Empty wagons
are then transported back to Minas
Gerais on the Central Line of which
MRS operates the southern broad-gauge
section.
Track renewal is due to take place
between 2022 and 2033 at a rate of more
than 50km a year. Ballast on the lines
has reached the end of its useful life,
with low resistance and high variation
in stiffness causing significant dynamic Among the four track machines purchased by
impacts. The project includes MRS for the renewal project is a a C 75-2C
undercutting and renewing the ballast double-screen ballast cleaner from Matisa.
along the route, which began in Photo: MRS
 “We selected the machines according
to the maintenance needs identified for
our line, the line clearance and the
maintenance interval model proposed
for our situation,” says MRS railway
maintenance specialist, Mr Fábio Melo.
“Due to the need for complete ballast
ballast an hour and screen 1500m³ per
hour, with two free oscillating screens,
and can operate on curves of down to
150m radius. The machine has 12
powered axles, and multiple
interchangeable excavating units to
adapt to various worksite conditions.
A Catt guiding system minimises the
amount of corrections to track
geometry after ballast cleaning. The P
190 track renewal train is able to lay up
to 650m of sleepers per hour.
Training of maintenance and
operating personnel was provided by
the equipment manufacturers, Melo
says, with specialised technical support

“
staff hired to continue staff
development. Specialist experts who
We selected the machines according to the maintenance have already worked with similar
needs identified for our line, the line clearance and the models of machines were also hired.
Work is now well underway, with
maintenance interval model proposed for our situation.
Fábio Melo

cleaning of the tracks and the

replacement of sleepers, taking into
account the line clearance and the
commercial and technical proposals,
we decided on a total undercutting
machine, a Matisa renewal train and
the Loram vacuum ballast cleaner.”
The Matisa C 75-2C ballast cleaner
has capacity to excavate 900m3 of

43
 Track | Brazil
around 15km of track already renewed
in the Pinheiral region by the end of
November. In August, MRS organised a
visit to the section between Valdemar
de Brito and Vargem Alegre during the
International Heavy Haul Association
(IHHA) conference in Rio, which
enabled attendees to see the project at
first hand and to discuss with the
engineers the lessons learned so far, as
well as to provide advice on ways to
further improve the project and the
operation of the machines.
The visit
During the visit, IHHA delegates saw
how the first line had been completed,
with work underway on the second.
Trains were continuing to operate on
the completed line while work was still
underway. Both the ballast cleaning and
track renewal trains were in operation,
about 2km apart, with both followed by
a tamping machine.
Working on track that hasn’t been
renewed for more than 100 years is not
easy, Melo says.
“Because we’ve gone a long time
without cleaning the ballast, we
encountered several obstacles on the
railway line such as pieces of buried
track, which affects the reliability of the
equipment,” he says.
It was also challenging to gather a
team that was suitably qualified and
experienced to plan, schedule and
execute such a major project. The high
number of tunnels and viaducts has
caused issues with clearances, along
with the geometric alignment, with the
tight curve radius in some locations
directly interfering with planning.
The hot climate of Brazil has required
the machines to be adapted due to the
viscosity of oil used in Europe, while
radiators needed to be adapted to avoid
overheating.
The remoteness of the worksites has
also required some Brazilian ingenuity,
with MRS working with engineering
firm ANX of Paulínia, São Paulo, to
develop a maintenance wagon and staff
wagon, which can be attached to the
rear of the tamping or ballast cleaning
train. Both are built using 20ft
containers mounted on a flat wagon,
modified to include a workshop inside
the maintenance wagon, along with a
small kitchen, toilet and staff room
complete with TV inside the staff
wagon. Both are air-conditioned, with
MRS purchasing three of each.
“These wagons are necessary due to
MRS’ work model, as we often work
with night maintenance shifts,” Melo
says. “As a result, we need field
maintenance support from the
maintenance wagon, and a dining area
and space for administrative meetings
in the staff wagon.”
The project also includes the
construction of a new workshop to
support the maintenance of the more
than 26 machines and 81 wagons
purchased for the track renewal project,
a condition included in the concession
renewal.
When complete the lines will be
upgraded from maintenance class 3 to
class 4, with axleloads increasing from
32.5 tonnes to 37.5 tonnes and the
maximum speed raised to 64km/h.
This investment means that, despite
the costs and challenges, MRS is well on
its way to improving capacity and
therefore its ability to meet its
ambitious growth targets. It also means
it will be leaving the infrastructure it
took over in 1996 in a better condition
than when it received it, and ready for
expected traffic growth over the next 30
years or so. IRJ

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44 IRJ December 2023

 Contacts | editorial Letters
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Tel +44 1326 313945
The challenges of international rail travel
Editor-in-Chief Kevin Smith MA ks@railjournal.co.uk Sir - I have just read the news story on the opening of the Laos -
Consulting Editor/Associate Publisher China Railway (LCR) cross-border service (IRJ May p9). I’m a semi-
David Briginshaw CMILT db@railjournal.co.uk retired 67-year-old Australian, living six months in Thailand and six
Associate Editor Robert Preston rpreston@railjournal.co.uk months in Melbourne and like to travel to difficult and unusual
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places to get.
I was in Vientiane for the sole purpose of travelling on the LCR
train to Kunming, China. While online ticket sales are possible, they
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Regional editors do not have, so I decided to visit the official LCR booking office in
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However, the booking office only sells tickets to stations within Laos.
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Germany Keith Fender kdfender@hotmail.com When I asked where the station was the salesperson couldn’t tell
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New Zealand Richard Worrall rworrall@themainreport.co.nz small amount of vision, they could have extended the railway to
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Earlier in the day I hired a bicycle to see the main attractions of
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IRJ December 2023 45
 The last word | Britain
What future for British infrastructure without HS2 Phase 2?
The chairman of Britain’s National Infrastructure Commission, Sir John Armitt, considered the future of
major projects at the Railway Industry Association’s annual conference in London on November 1.
Robert Preston reports.
T HIS year’s annual
conference of the Railway
Industry Association, which
represents members of the
British supply chain, took as
its theme “promoting the case
for rail and investment in
uncertain times.” And there is
certainly plenty of uncertainty
facing the supply sector as it
attempts to work out the
longer-term implications of the
government’s announcement
on October 4 that it was
scrapping Phase 2 of High Speed
2 (HS2), promising to spend
the £36bn it was expected to
cost on a wide range of other
transport projects known as
Network North.
“The requirement now is that
we actually try to take what
was announced and turn that
into a proper strategy in which
we understand what needs to
be built, where it needs to be
built, how it needs to be built,
when it's going to be built and
what it's going to cost,” said
Sir John Armitt, chairman of
the National Infrastructure
Commission (NIC), in his
keynote speech. “We have a
bucketful of projects, which
have been announced without
any sort of real understanding
of how that might fit into a
plan,” he noted. “But
fundamentally, you do have to
spend more time on the why.”
Armitt described the
government’s decision to scrap
Phase 2 that would have
extended the high-speed line
from Birmingham to Manchester
as “very disappointing,” but
even more disappointing and
difficult to understand was, in
his view, its policy of disposing
of any land acquired for the
project as quickly as possible.
“There needs to be a proper
understanding of how we are
going to effectively join
Birmingham to Manchester for
the long term,” he said,
providing more capacity,
preventing the M6 motorway
between these cities from
becoming totally congested
and ensuring that the existing
West Coast Main Line (WCML)
is able to operate efficiently in
future. The HS2 project was
intended to relieve the pressure
on this busy main line, providing
more capacity for commuter
services and freight trains.
“Let's think very carefully
about what we're trying to do
here and how we can reconfigure
this into a way which is going
to make building the first part
of HS2 worthwhile,” Armitt
“
Fundamentally,
you have to have
a vision, you
have to know
where you're
trying to go. And
you have to get
people to buy in
to that vision.
said. “Because if all we're going
to do is to build from London
to Birmingham, and then get a
donkey and cart to go the rest
of the way, that is frankly not
a very good solution.”
Asked if he still believed
that the rail sector has a
tendency to goldplate projects
and push up their cost by
over-specification, Armitt’s
reply was an emphatic “yes.”
“There are an enormous
number of demands, from all
sorts of people, including
communities along the route,”
he said, noting the high
proportion of HS2 Phase 1
between London and
Birmingham that is being built
in tunnel to appease concerns
overs its environmental
impact. “There has to be a
certain irrationality at the end
of the day in project governance,
which says ‘sorry, that's how
much money I've got, I'm not
going to spend any more
money, will you go away and
think again,’” Armitt said.
“We have to push back, we
can't just spend and spend and
spend. Because at the end of
the day, we are not doing this
for ourselves. We're doing it
for the public.”
“People aren't going to
decide whether to travel to
Manchester or not on HS2
because they’re going to get
there 10 minutes quicker,” he
said. “They'll go because it's
affordable, it's reliable and it's
quick.” In addition, “the way
we used to value time savings
is different for all the people
who are getting on the train
now,” he said, noting how
many passengers were
travelling for leisure off-peak.
“The world has changed as
a consequence of Covid,”
Armitt said. “We are almost
certainly not going back to
five-day weeks. Commuters
will now buy a daily ticket,
not monthly or yearly. All
these things we have to take
onboard. We have to design
our railway to meet those
expectations. We have to be on
our guard all the time.”
For Armitt, the decision to
cancel Phase 2 was clearly a
political judgement. “We live
in a democracy and I'm afraid
in a democracy, you're not
going to get consistency in
policy for 25 years,” he said.
“At the end of the day, the
politician doesn't listen to us.
He listens to the voter.” For
this reason, “it is so important
that we try and build as much
consensus as we can, across
the different political
perspectives.”
Wrong decision
But he was clear that the
decision to scrap Phase 2 was
wrong. “We cannot continue
to hold the railway together
with steel, tape and string, you
can't continue to have a
railway which was built 150,
nearly 200 years ago. You’ve
got to invest for the future.”
However, he said the case
for continuing with HS2 in full
had been harmed by poor
project governance. “The way
that it's been handled between
project, ministers and the
public has not been as good as
it should be,” he said, noting
in particular the lack of
transparency over the cost of
the project.
“Governance comes right at
the beginning, understanding
who's responsible for what,”
he said. “Fundamentally, you
have to have a vision, you
have to know where you're
trying to go. And you have to
get people to buy in to that
vision,” he said. “There's no
magic wand. So you've got to
be realistic. But start by saying
what you are trying to do,
what’s the vision, what do we
want to do. What's the future
going to look like. How can
we make it better, because
we’re only going to make it
better together.” IRJ
 © Jacky Lannoy
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