High-Speed rail : the European network

[Fabb]

Originally Posted by Gava

The tunnel in the Sierra de La Cabrera, with 7250 meters, is the longest on the network of 914 kilometers constituting the high speed line to Levante. (mediterranean coast)

That's a huge infrastructure.
Most of the new high speed lines in France don't exceed 400 km.

Could you post a map of this network ?

[Gava]

Originally Posted by Fabb

That's a huge infrastructure.
Most of the new high speed lines in France don't exceed 400 km.

Could you post a map of this network ?

Yes, the LAV Levante is the largest railway project in Spain. But it also mean that it will take ages to finish. They started on the Madrid-Valencia part of the network back in 1999 and the most optimistic forecast is that the project will finish by 2015 if there are no delays.

I'll see if I can find a map, in the meanwhile you can check out this one done by the "friends of railways in Castilla La Mancha". The map is almost complete, only lack the Valencia-Castellón section that will run paralell to the existing railway.

http://fcmaf.castillalamancha.es/Rep...PEIT-VM-02.htm

Even though the map sugest otherwise the first part of the network to open will be the one between Madrid and Valencia by 2010 followed by the branch to Alicante by 2012.

The whole network is made up of the following parts:

-Torrejón de Velasco (Madrid) – Cuenca – Motilla del Palancar 223,6km
-Motilla del Palancar – Valencia 139,4km
-Motilla del Palancar – Albacete 70,1km
-Valencia city railways 13,3km
-Valencia – Castellón 55,0km
-Albacete – La Encina – Valencia 221,3km
-La Encina – Monforte de Cid - Alicante 72,7km
-Monforte de Cid – Murcia/Cartagena 118,5km

If you can read spanish there is a PDF by Fomento that has a lot of information and some pictures regarding this project.

http://www.fomento.es/NR/rdonlyres/0...17/Fe14_21.pdf

[Gava]

One more set of pictures from the Spanish HSR construction frenecy, these pictures are all from Galicia in the northwest of Spain. This particular line is the LAV eje atlantico-the atlantic high speed rail axis. The project has been underway since about the year 2000 and right now about 40% of the initial 155km of railway between La Coruña and Vigo is finished. The line is usually refered to as an upgrade of the old line but considering the new line will be 22km shorter than the old one, dubbletracked, electrified and have a traveltime of just 50min compared to 2h 50min on the old one, I'd say it is proper to talk about a new railway line rather than just an upgrade.

The following pictures are all from south of La Coruña where construction is ongoing to complete the remaining 20km of railway between La Coruña and Santiago de Compostela.

Credit goes to regfa who has been posting tons of construction pictures of this line on a spanish railway forum.




New line meets the old

at the other end of the tunnel construction









one of numerous viaducts on this line

Old line goes around the mountain, new one straight through






The last two pictures are from the assembling of the TBM to be used for the construction of the urban tunnel through the city of Vigo, it will compromise of two separate tunnels (one 9km and one 7km) joined by the new underground central trainstation that is to be built. Together the tunnels and the station will form the longest urban railway tunnel in spain at almost 19km in length.

credit goes to Zoltan

[Fabb]

^I can see that the traffic is not interrupted during the reconstruction of the line.
That certainly doesn't make the works easier or faster...

[Fabb]

Eurostar Mulls Replacing Some Trains With Alstom's AGV, FT Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...uqhJI&refer=uk

By Lenka Ponikelska

Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Eurostar Group is considering replacing some of its trains with a new high-speed design in an attempt to boost reliability and expand into new markets, the Financial Times reported.

The cross-Channel operator may buy the new AGV trains unveiled by Alstom SA this year instead of refurbishing its fifteen-year-old carriages, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified person familiar with the matter.

The company is also considering a merger of its French, U.K. and Belgian units into a single company, the FT said.

[Gava]

Finally the construction on the Madrid-Lisbon HSR line is underway, currently the rail connections between these two capitals are absymal (actually one daily overnight train). Once the whole line is finished (probably in the timeframe 2015-2020) the traveltime will be around 3 hours, compared to todays 9 hours.

A map (June 2008) that shows the situation on the constructions on the spanish side.

Photo credits to fanaticH0 who has posted these pics on the spanish railway forum (tranvia.org)

[Gava]

Originally Posted by Fabb

That's a huge infrastructure.
Most of the new high speed lines in France don't exceed 400 km.

Could you post a map of this network ?

This map shows the entire Levante network with the exception of the branch line between Murcia and Cartagena.

[Fabb]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...OdeRAD9539RPO0

Italy launches Rome-Milan high-speed train

De COLLEEN BARRY – 15 déc. 2008

ABOARD ES ITALIA AV 9427 (AP) — Just outside Milan, the countryside started to blur as the Italian Railway's new Red Arrow high-speed train reached its maximum velocity of 186 mph (300 kph).

Dario Rigamonti, a consultant traveling to Florence on Monday, moved to an empty window seat, gazing out in wonder: "It is impressive."

The speedier service shaves an hour off the lucrative 300-mile (500-kilometer) Milan-Rome route, connecting Italy's political and financial capitals in three hours and 30 minutes 18 times a day.

The timing of the new service, which launched Sunday, couldn't be better for the state-owned Italian Railway. Air service between Milan and Rome has been thrown into disarray with the relaunch of Alitalia, which lost passengers to trains and to the highways as wildcat strikes and reduced connections made air travel uncertain.

A second-class one-way ticket can cost around euro67 ($90.52), while an airline trip is at least euro90 ($121.59) and driving can cost some euro85 ($114.84) in gas and toll charges.

Italian Railway CEO Mauro Moretti aims to snag 60 percent of the 3.7 million passengers who fly the route every year.

But analyst Diego Petrocelli of Bain & Co. said they won't really start taking a bite out of air travelers until the time gets under three hours. Attainment of that goal is expected at the end of 2010 when the track between Florence and Bologna is improved to shorten that leg to 30 minutes.

The Italian Railway will have to consolidate passenger loyalty before 2011, when it faces private competition in the form of NTV, a new company led by Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

The new company, which will launch with 25 11-car AGV trains by French engineering company Alstom SA, plans to connect Italy's most important business centers.

High-speed travel is not news in Europe. France launched the first TGV service in 1981, between Paris and Lyon, shortening a five-hour drive to two hours and 40 minutes. Germany's InterCity Express trains began service in 1991 and Spain started its first fast trains in 1992 to coincide with the Seville Expo that year.

The Spanish railway's high-speed service from Madrid to Barcelona took off in February, going after a chunk of Europe's busiest air route, which registered 4.7 million passengers in 2006.

The 400-mile (650-kilometer) trip by rail takes two hours and 38 minutes — well under the three-hour benchmark for attracting frequent fliers.

Italy began its first-high-speed service on the Rome-Naples route in 2005.

The future will be connecting high-speed service with neighboring countries — but that seems a while off, said Petrocelli.

Work on the hotly contested high-speed TAV line between Turin and Lyon in neighboring France was halted due to protests before the 2006 Winter Olympic Games — and still has not resumed. The stretch is part of a European-wide project to connect Lisbon, Portugal and Kiev, Ukraine, by train.

[racc]

High speed rail and transit are really popular on change.gov, Obama's site. People seem much more supportive of transit and high speed rail than roads and electric cars.

You can show your support by going to:
http://citizensbriefingbook.change.g...87800000004lwf

[bucks native]

from here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...3/spain-trains

Spain's high-speed trains win over fed-up flyers

Giles Tremlett in Madrid The Guardian, Tuesday 13 January 2009

Spain's sleek new high-speed trains have stolen hundreds of thousands of passengers from airlines over the last year, slashing carbon emissions and marking a radical change in the way Spaniards travel.

Passenger numbers on fuel-guzzling domestic flights fell 20% in the year to November as commuters and tourists swapped cramped airline seats for the space and convenience of the train, according to figures released yesterday.

High-speed rail travel - boosted by the opening of a line that slashed the journey time from Madrid to Barcelona to 2 hours 35 minutes in February - grew 28% over the same period. About 400,000 travellers shunned airports and opted for the 220mph AVE trains.

Last year's drop in air travel, which was also helped by new high-speed lines from Madrid to Valladolid, Segovia and Malaga, marks the beginning of what experts say is a revolution in Spanish travel habits.

In a country where big cities are often more than 500km (300 miles) apart, air travel has ruled supreme for more than 10 years. A year ago aircraft carried 72% of the 4.8 million long-distance passengers who travelled by air or rail. The figure is now down to 60%.

"The numbers will be equal within two years," said Josep Valls, a professor at the ESADE business school in Barcelona.

Two routes, from Barcelona to Malaga and Seville, opened last week. Lines are also being built to link Madrid with Valencia, Alicante, the Basque country and Galicia. The government has promised to lay 10,000km of high-speed track by 2020 to ensure that 90% of Spaniards live within 30 miles of a station. The prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, boasts it will be Europe's most extensive high-speed network.

The high-speed train network is also helping Spain control carbon emissions.Straight tracks and few stops mean AVE trains use 19% less energy than conventional trains. Alberto García, of the Spanish Railways Foundation, has calculated that a passenger on the Madrid-Barcelona line accounts for one-sixth of the carbon emissions of an aeroplane passenger.

High-speed rail tickets are often cheaper. The lowest one-way price on the 410-mile Barcelona-Madrid route this month is €44 (£40). Rail operator Renfe says 99% of trains on the route arrive on time.

That sort of efficiency was sorely missed at Madrid's Barajas airport at the weekend. Tens of thousands of passengers suffered delays of up to 30 hours because of snow, a work-to-rule by Iberia pilots and a lack of air traffic controllers.

Zapatero, who has put infrastructure projects at the heart of an anti-recession surge in public spending, plans to invest €108bn (£96bn) in the high-speed rail network until 2020.

[Gava]

Originally Posted by Fabb

Is it the new Barcelona station ?
Where is it planned to be built ?

A video of the trainstation have emerged, although they speak catalan (it's understandable if you speak some french), the pictures give an idea of how the station will look like once built. Also at the end of the film there are some shots of the site as of now.

http://www.rtve.es/mediateca/videos/...a/423407.shtml

[Swede]

Originally Posted by bucks native

from here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009...3/spain-trainsAlberto García, of the Spanish Railways Foundation, has calculated that a passenger on the Madrid-Barcelona line accounts for one-sixth of the carbon emissions of an aeroplane passenger.

Up here in Sweden almost all electricity is either hydro or nuclear, so the carbon emissions from railtravel (which is almost all electrified) is tiny. Another reason we should build HSR. Preferably yesterday!

[Grumpy]

Originally Posted by Fabb

Is it the new Barcelona station ?
Where is it planned to be built ?

How is the actual situation on the Sagrera station in BCN ?

[Grumpy]

Look at this:

Worldwide Rail Market Study - status quo and outlook 2016



Series: Documentation
Year of publication: 2008
Layout: 76 pages, paperback
Format: 210 x 297 mm
ISBN: 978-3-7771-0390-7
Price : 2675,00 €

Brief description:

Please notice: If you are from an EU member state (excluding Germany)and you would like to be V.A.T. exempted please send us your V.A.T. number by email to service@eurailpress.de or use the "comments" field on the online order form.

A unique source of information on the rail market

A study commissioned by UNIFE, the Association of the European Rail Industry and conducted by Roland Berger Strategy Consultants

This second world market survey of the rail supply industry shows that the industry has grown tremendously over the past two years. New railway projects around the world plus upgrading/expanding existing railway lines caused orders in virtually all market segments to surge.

This robust growth will continue for the foreseeable future. Overall trends favour the industry: politicians, business leaders and the public are realising the importance of rail as a sustainable means of transport. Rail transport is an attractive solution to environmental issues such as carbon dioxide emissions and global warming. What’s more, the rapid growth of fuel prices around the world will further promote the intermodal shift towards rail transport. This will trigger additional investments in infrastructure, rolling stock, rail control and services.

Over the past few decades, rail suppliers have taken the right action in response to the changing market environment. They have developed state-of-the-art products and services that meet the mobility needs of growing economies, both in passenger and cargo transport. Innovations make rail transport more attractive in all areas and affect the whole value chain of rail transport – from ticket sales to rolling stock and infrastructure maintenance.

This unique study provides information about the structure and segmentation of the rail supply industry. It also looks at geographic distribution among segments, current size of the total market and accessible market segments by region. Finally, the study delivers a growth forecast for the next nine years. Hopefully this study will provide new insights for railway operators, suppliers and sub-suppliers to enable them to seize the potential within this growing market. The comprehensive and concise nature of the analysis also makes it a valuable source for managers, political decision-makers, investors and financial analysts.

Source : Eurailpress.de

This is a joke right ?

[ChicagoChicago]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ It pains me to read this while living in the ass-backwards US. I think I'm gonna move to Europe

QFT.

Oh how HSR would change our habits in the US...

[Gava]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

How is the actual situation on the Sagrera station in BCN ?

There is no end to this soup, they have made a principle agreement on the financing. But as with any principle agreement I believe it when I see it.

A recent newsarticle on the matter in spanish
http://www.lavanguardia.es/politica/...l-estatut.html

Maybe the delayed Sagrera station will breed some new life into the Franca Station since they will be forced to find a temporary solution, Barcelona Sants is way to small to handle all the extra trains arriving from France.

[Gava]

An official government information film about the HSR line currently beeing constructed in the northwest of Spain, I posted some pictures from the construction of this line about 6 months ago. The film is only available in spanish.

• Video Link

[Gava]

A video showing the works on the HSR line in the northern part of Barcelona, it will run in a tunnel throughout the city.

http://www.vimeo.com/4072482

[Gava]

A complete map of the railways in spain, Built, UC and Projected as of may 2009. The highres pic can be downloaded from here:
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.p...mkmxym&thumb=5

[Gava]

new page more pics!