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Rail Baltica ‘Bottlenecks’ to Improving Safety

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Rail Baltica ‘Bottlenecks’ to Improving Safety TECHNICAL ARTICLE AS PUBLISHED IN The Journal October 2018 Volume 136 Part 4 If you would like to reproduce this article, please contact: Alison Stansfield MARKETING DIRECTOR Permanent Way Institution [email protected] PLEASE NOTE THE OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS JOURNAL ARE NOT NECESSARILY THOSE OF THE EDITOR OR OF THE INSTITUTION AS A BODY. TECHNICAL AUTHOR: Phil Kirkland What in Head of Maintenance Delivery Nexus the world…? Tyne and Wear Metro PWI Vice President for England (North) An occasional look at some significant rail infrastructure developments overseas with the intention of ‘inspiring and exciting’ both today’s and tomorrow’s railway infrastructure engineers. Image free-issue, (courtesy of Wikimedia permissions) 56 TECHNICAL Latvian Railways was becoming concerned at times, were worn out which resulted in the Project of the its ability to sustain good quality infrastructure introduction of widespread speed restrictions services for the ever growing volume of on those areas. Track materials in some transit traffic volumes. To tackle the most areas including rails, fastenings and fixtures, Century: critical problems, such as deterioration of sleepers and ballast, level crossings, earth the tracks and the declining level of safety, a embankments, structures and track drainage comprehensive programme of reconstruction systems were life-expired. Therefore the and modernisation began in 1998 to increase most urgent replacement of 340km track speed and track capacity by eliminating sections was initiated. Latvian Railways is Rail Baltica ‘bottlenecks’ to improving safety. After joining now executing further works on replacement the EU in 2004, meeting the requirements for of the next 260km of track. The total volume INTRODUCTION elimination of hazardous material impact on the cost of this project is approximately €89 environment became a high priority of Latvian million including a 52% EU co-financing Rail Baltica is a greenfield rail transport Railways, opening new perspectives, but at the plan. Suppliers were chosen in international infrastructure project aiming to integrate the same time setting new, stringent conditions for tenders and are representing Sweden, Russia, Baltic States in the European rail network. The railway operations. Germany and Latvia. project encompasses five European Union countries, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia Despite Rail Baltica, modernisation of the East- An example of excellent cooperation with an and indirectly also Finland. The project will West railway corridor is still a significant part international team is the construction of the connect cities such as Helsinki, Tallin, Riga, of Latvia’s National Transport Development second reception yard at Rezekne station, Panevežys, Kaunas, Vilnius and Warsaw. The Programme, aimed at supporting the currently used as a border station. Baltic part of the Rail Baltica project is also development of transit traffic, to strengthen the referred to as the Rail Baltica Global Project development of multi-modal transport in the The total area of the new reception yard is 7.3 and is one of the priority transport projects of East-West direction and to support cooperation ha and includes six arrival/departure tracks the European Union. with neighbouring countries and integration of 1,050m usable length, sidings and dead- into the European transport system. end tracks. The total length of constructed NORTH – SOUTH RAILWAY AXIS tracks is 8.9km and the total number of Collaboration with Russia and Belarus (being installed turnouts is 27. All tracks were made Rail Baltic is also the symbolic return of the non-EU neighbours) is based not only on the of continuously welded rails (CWR) provided Baltic States to Europe. Up until World War 2, common 1520mm railway gauge but also by Austrian company Voestalpine Schienen the Baltic States were connected to Europe on the longstanding economic interests. For GmbH. The new yard facilitates the arrival and with a standard 1435mm gauge railway. example, an agreement was reached with handling of long freight trains with up to 74 Following the war the Baltic States were firmly Belarus on concurrent building of a second wagons. tied into a 1520mm Soviet gauge railway, track on both sides of the border to increase orientated on an East – West railway axis. cargo flows. Also completed is another project named Typically, such as The East-West Railway ‘Replacement of turnouts on East-West corridor through Latvia is a route of At the end of last decade, technical surveys corridor’. Currently, 626 sets of turnouts have international importance, being part of the on various sections of the East-West railway been replaced from 768. VAE GmbH is the Trans-European Network (TEN). It is one of the corridor identified very poor railway track supplier of the turnouts, totalling busiest freight traffic corridors in the region. conditions. Some sections, laid in the Soviet €35.2 million. Image 1: 120ft (36m) track panel-laying crane UK25 East-West railway upgrade Latvia Image courtesy LDZ (Latvijas Dzelcels) 57 TECHNICAL Image 2: Soviet era Balashenko ballast cleaning (harvesting) machine. Image courtesy of V.Kh. Balashenko Representatives from the United States and Similarly, LDZ (Latvian Railways) are currently considered for another twenty years, they will from NATO’s Force Integration Unit in Latvia finalising a business case in order to secure form the centre piece of the Latvian part of the had also begun evaluating the infrastructure further EU funding in order to electrify the route. operated by Latvian national rail company, Riga – Rezekne corridor in order to make the LDZ. The planned investments foresaw Latvian unit transit cost more appealing. NORTH – SOUTH RAILWAY the construction of new sidings, renovating current sidings, extending the loading and The statistics of the Rail Baltica project are AXIS AND TECHNICAL unloading site at Garkalne Station, as well quite staggering: SPECIFICATIONS as other modernisation and infrastructure improvement works. More than EUR 1 million • The largest Baltic region infrastructure Initially two options were considered. Both was invested for these projects in order to project in the last 100 years options included an upgrade of the existing support and ensure allied cargo shipments in • A 10 year construction period railway (with standard gauge) to 160 km/h (99 accordance with NATO standards, LDZ had • Environmentally friendly electrified mph) for the stretch that runs from Warsaw already invested EUR 200,000 in improving its railway via Białystok and Ełk to Trakiszki, followed by infrastructure. Already now LDZ infrastructure • 870Km of new high speed passenger / a new railway with standard gauge Trakiszki– is used to transport non military cargo to freight railway Kaunas. For the remainder of the route to Afghanistan, as well as transporting military • Maximum speed 240km/h passenger Tallinn two different options were considered: equipment participating in military exercises in trains, 120km/h freight trains the region. • Investment exceeding Euro 5 Billion • Option one was to upgrade the existing • Financed by EU(CEF), Estonia, Latvia railway from Joniškis via Riga and Tartu Today, most freight traffic in the Baltics and Lithuania to Tallinn to 160 km/h, keeping the current originates from the Commonwealth of • Enabling intermodality and multimodality 1520mm Russian gauge and state-owned, Independent States (CIS) formed when the o Three Multimodal terminals connected and a new railway from Kaunas–Joniškis with former Soviet Union (now Russia) totally to airports and seaports: 160 km/h, also at 1520mm Russian gauge and dissolved in 1991. At its conception it consisted - Muuga-Estonia, state-owned. of ten former Soviet Republics: Armenia, - Salaspils-Latvia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, - Kaunas-Lithuania Because of the break of gauge at Kaunas, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, • Seven railway passenger stations passengers would have to change trains and Uzbekistan. The 1520mm system makes connected to airports and seaports: there. For freight, a reloading facility or a it difficult and costly to interconnect the Baltic - Tallinn (for Helsinki, Finland) bogie exchange station would be placed near States with the rest of the EU via Poland. - Parnu Kaunas. Consensus was to therefore fully integrate - Riga Central Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania into the single - Riga Airport • Option two was a new railway with 240 European railway area, eliminating the missing - Panevežys km/h speed 1435mm standard gauge from link of the EU’s North Sea – Baltic TEN-T Core - Kaunas (for Warsaw, Poland) Kaunas via Joniškis to Riga, as above, but Network Corridor. East-West transit has been - Vilnius then continuing in a shorter, straighter line via reducing lately with Russia rerouting cargo Pärnu to Tallinn. This option was chosen as the via its own Baltic ports and Lithuania securing For many, the Latvian sector of the route is preferred route. significant volumes of Belarussian cargo. exciting due to the fact that two significant The result is that modernisation works are station developments are planned at Riga Rail Baltica will actually be a new 870km not only driven by asset condition, but also and Riga Airport. Long awaited developments fast, but conventional double-track, 25Kv AC through traffic flows and market requirements. and without this project wouldn’t even be electrified and ETRMS L2 traffic management- equipped railway line, with a maximum design 58 TECHNICAL
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