Germany


By Frédéric de Kemmeter – Railway signalling and freelance copywriter
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DB Cargo has already carried out 3 million tonnes of coal for German power stations
01/03/2023 – It may not be the best news for the climate, but it is boosting rail traffic. Germany has indeed come through the winter well as far as energy supplies are concerned. DB Cargo AG has made an important contribution to this: German power stations have been supplied with almost 3 million tonnes of coal from…

Signal facial recognition, the Alstom’s ARTE project
04/01/2023 – Alstom is busy with its ARTE research project in Lower Saxony, which concerns trains automated driving based on optical recognition of the appearance of signals and obstacles on tracks. The aim of this research project is to make automated driving possible in low regular regional traffic in Germany…

After the decision on the 49-Euro-Ticket, industry between euphoria and scepticism
07/11/2022 – The German’s transport industry is vacillating between enthusiasm and disappointment after the decision on the 49-Euro-Ticket. On Wednesday evening, the Minister Presidents of the federal states had agreed on the successor solution to the 9-Euro-Ticket – and also found a compromise in the dispute over…

German railways tests DB solar panel sleepers
23/10/2022 – Photovoltaic projects developed along railways to feed electricity directly into the traction current network are not new. German solar project developer Enerparc has built the first photovoltaic power plants in Northern Germany for this purpose. However, such projects are by no means a sure-fire success, as some technical and legal peculiarities have to be observed…

Only three cars and no sleeping-cars on the new night train Stockholm-Hamburg?
30/08/2022 – It will be remembered that the state operator SJ is due to launch a new night train between Stockholm and Hamburg on 1 September. In the absence of Swedish RIC-standard rolling stock, SJ has turned to RDC Deutschland to lease sleeping cars. hese are sleeping cars of the type WLAB32s…

Preventive action on selected concrete sleepers at Deutsche Bahn
30/08/2022 – DB is completing an extensive inspection programme of around 200,000 sleepers similar to those which may have caused the accident near Garmisch-Partenkirchen on 3 June (still under investigation). This results in 165 restricted areas on the whole network…

I experienced Brussels-Stockholm round trip by train
08/08/2022 – Don’t ask me « how long time? » This round trip of 3,645 kilometres was obviously done in 4 stages… and 10 trains. The whole thing was spread over 9 days to enjoy the cities we don’t visit every year. These long journeys allow us to learn a lot of things. We’ll talk about railway reality rather than dreams and utopias, as rail is apparently the transport planned to replace the plane. Is this true?

KombiverkehrGood results for the operator Kombiverkehr
23/06/2022 – In the 2021 financial year, Kombiverkehr saw a gain of 9.3 per cent and a total of 937,959 (1.88 million TEU) truck consignments shifted by rail. This corresponds to a total of 22.16 million gross tonnes. Transport output actually improved by 10.2 per cent to 18.46 billion tonne-kilometres, with consignments transported an average distance of 833 km. The company achieved sales of…

HydrogenNew phase in sight for Alstom’s autonomous train in Germany
10/06/2022 – The research project “Automated regional trains in Lower Saxony, Germany” is entering the next phase. Together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the TU Berlin, Alstom is developing technical solutions to gradually digitise rail passenger transport in Germany. The project will explore the possibilities of automation in regional transport via the European Train Control System (ETCS).

ICE 3neo trainsDeutsche Bahn orders 43 new ICE 3neo trains
02/02/2022 – Siemens has bagged an order for 43 ICE 3neo trains to the tune of 1,5 billion euros. The Deutsche Bahn contract was announced earlier on Tuesday in Berlin and brings the total number of ICE 3neo trains ordered to 73. The first units are expected to be entered into service by the end of this year…

FrancfortGreen light for major S-Bahn project in Frankfurt
28/01/2022 – After years of preparation and discussion, the construction of an important project for regional rail transport in the Rhine-Main region can begin. Unlike Berlin, for example, the region of Francfort lacks a rail ring around the city. For example, commuters and travellers north and northwest of Frankfurt have to…

WestphaliaDB and northern federal states form alliance to spend €30Billion
13/01/2022 – Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the federal states of Bremen, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have formed a joint alliance to drive forward rail expansion in northern Germany. The aim of « Zukunft Schiene Nord » is to promote and accelerate new and expansion projects, to make the existing infrastructure more robust and to strengthen…

WestphaliaNorth Rhine-Westphalia wants to give €568 million for regional rail services
07/01/2022 – The state of North Rhine-Westphalia wants to invest a total of €568 million in additional subsidies for the operation of the S-Bahn and regional trains, in order to expand rail services in the future. This was announced by the state transport minister Ina Brandes (CDU) to the three transport authorities Rhine-Ruhr (VRR), Nahverkehr Rheinland (NVR) and Nahverkehr Westfalen-Lippe (NWL).

Flirt_AkkuA Stadler battery-powered trainset world record for 224 km range
22/12/2021 – Stadler has set the record to be officially entered in the Guinness Book of World Records for a battery train journey in battery-only mode. Travelling on the route from Berlin to Warnemünde in the company of independent technical consultants, the FLIRT Akku test carrier reached a range of exactly 224.00 kilometres at wintry temperatures around freezing point. The trainset used for…

KombiverkehrOlaf Scholz: Expansion of railways becomes the focus of climate policy
15/12/2021 – The new German head of government Olaf Scholz has addressed the Bundestag for the first time as Chancellor. He once again made clear that tackling climate change is a top priority for his government. According to him, the railway will have a central role in this. The traffic turnaround is to become a « central pillar » of climate policy for the traffic light coalition. Chancellor…

IntermodalGerman SMEs do not use combined transport
02/12/2021 – A first systematic company survey of road hauliers in Germany shows: numerous small and medium-sized transport companies could use combined transport (CT) of trucks and railways for the main leg on suitable transport routes and thus shift freight transport to rail. But many of these companies do not make use of this. A total of more than 200 companies took part in the survey. According to the survey, 62 percent of the small and medium-sized providers questioned stated that they transport goods by truck over distances…

HydrogenAround 70 cities on the FlixTrain network by next summer
18/11/2021 – With its new winter timetable, FlixTrain is adding 10 new stops to its network from 12 December and almost 20 more destinations will be added to the network next spring. This means that by summer 2022, around 70 German cities will be part of the FlixTrain service. From December, the new FlixTrain timetable with 10 new stops and a total of around 100 departures per week will apply…

Germany’s Deutsche Bahn sets up firm to strengthen China-Europe freight transport
30/11/2021 – Deutsche Bahn’s subsidiary DB Cargo established a new company to strengthen rail freight transport between China and Europe, the German state-owned rail operator announced on Friday. « Climate-friendly and reliable goods transport by rail is becoming increasingly important for global supply chains, » Deutsche Bahn noted. That is why demand along the Belt and Road, the rail route between Europe and…

HydrogenPolitical agitation around unbundling railway infra from DB group
12/11/2021 – With the formation of the future German government, the subject of the separation of the Infrastructure subsidiary – DB Netz – from the DB AG group, continues to agitate the German railway world. Within the framework of the coalition negotiations between the SPD, the Greens and the FDP, the two small partners have spoken out in favour of a separation of network and operations and…

Thalys-SNCF-BrusselsThalys: 25 years old and a future to consolidate
06/06/2021 – Since the 1980s, a project for an international high-speed train had been in the making. In October 1987, a political decision in Brussels was made to build a high-speed network between France and northern Europe, including the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. Now Thalys have 25 years old.

Deutsche-Bahn-ICEHappy birthday, InterCity Express
30/05/2021 – 10 years after the launch of the first high-speed train in France, Germany launched its own high-speed train called « InterCity Express » (ICE). This is an opportunity to look back at the German concept, which differs from the French options. The arrival of the ICE has allowed Deutsche Bahn – and Siemens -, to become one of the world’s leading high-speed railways.

DeutschlandtaktD-Takt: the great challenge of the clockface timetable 1/2
05/09/2021 – A train every half hour from city to city and from village to village. Convenient transfers without long waiting times, even in the countryside. Riding a train anywhere in the country would be as easy as riding the S-Bahn in the cities today. This second part will detail the impact of the clockface timetable service on journey times between the major German cities and the place reserved for new entrants.

DeutschlandtaktD-Takt: the great challenge of the clockface timetable 1/2
05/02/2021 – A train every half hour from city to city and from village to village. Convenient transfers without long waiting times, even in the countryside. Riding a train anywhere in the country would be as easy as riding the S-Bahn in the cities today. It is the Deutschlandtakt, the german’s clockface timetable.

TrenitaliaNew cargo tram test in Karlsruhe
03/15/2021 – Urban logistics is a very popular topic and is the subject of various studies. Here is a new project, again in Germany, this time concerning a cargo tram-train in Karlsruhexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx

TrenitaliaHow Alstom wants to force mainline competition in Germany
02/22/2021 – DB has very little competition in the mainline segment and mainly opts for the same supplier. However, a manufacturer would like to change this in order to shake up the homeland of Siemens.

logisticsRebirth of Maglev for urban transports
11/30/2020 – It was thought that Europe was no longer interested in this technology, but one entrepreneur still believes in it. The German company Max Bögl has designed a Maglev for urban use in Asia.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

BW_01How to reconnect three million Germans to the train
07/09/2020 – SAccording to Allianz Pro Schiene and the Verband Deutscher Verkehrsunternehmen (VDV), the reactivation of 238 lines with a total length of 4,016 km would reconnect almost 291 municipalities totalling three million German citizens to rail.

BW_01When a region buys his own trainsets
06/28/2020 – The German Railway Act allows a lot of things. In particular the possibility for a Land to purchase its own trainsets from the manufacturer of its choice, which it then leases to dedicated operators. A good idea that gives the Land a strong control over his railway policy.

Transdev unites three Bavarian companies under a single brand
04/13/2020 – Transdev, which operates regional train services in Germany, will unite three of its subsidiaries under a single brand in Bavaria in order to greater consistency

3D_2_DBDB produces 3D printing heavy spare components
01/29/2020 – 3D printing isn’t new to Deutsche Bahn. The German railway company started indeed to use a 3D printer in 2015. Since then, it has printed more than 7,000 spare parts.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Platooning_2Germany : when Deutsche Bahn helps the road sector
05/12/2019 – DB Schenker, the logistics subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn, is a partner in a platooning trucks project on a motorway. The first results were made public in Berlin.

Metrans PrahaWhen Hamburg has its own railway company to the hinterland
11/26/2018 – Hamburg is the full shareholder of the intermodal rail operator Metrans and can to affirm its position on the European scale.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

Takt_7From everywhere to everywhere. The future clock-face schedule in Germany
08/10/2018 – The clock-face schedule has often revealed his attraction for customers. If it is usual in Germany, it is not perfect, with sometimes too much delay between the Intercity and the regional traffic. The federal government has just made the decision to better coordinate the national traffic with those of the different Lander. Project name: Deutschland Takt.

Alstom_Coradia_ILintThe ecological train: everyone does it
09/16/2018 – Is this the Innotrans effect? In recent months, hybrid Emu/Dmu have made a sudden appearance on the market. All the builders build their solution to attract the new market : the lines without catenaries. We are going to peruse the latest innovations on this theme.

ODEGBerlin/Brandenburg : six railway enterprises and many projects
09/11/2018 – More space, more comfortable trains, faster and better connections, for passengers, Berlin-Brandenburg’s new transport plan includes many projects that will improve passenger rail transport in the years to come. On 4 October 2017, the Lander of Berlin and Brandenburg signed with Deutsche Bahn AG the framework agreement « i2030 » for the development of rail transport in Berlin and Brandenburg.

360ba-img137How the Ruhr region manages his railways ?
02/28/2016 – Each year, the Transport Authority of the Ruhr region publish its barometer on best railways and the worse. This is a good example of rail transport policy governance