DB Says Innovative Freight Train Project ‘Very Promising’ So Far
The title of this post is the same as that of this article in Global Rail News.
This is the first paragraph.
A project to design innovative freight wagons, which is being financed by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI), DB Cargo and VTG, is producing ‘very promising’ results.
The article is worth reading in full and in my mind it could be important in the development of efficient and reliable freight trains.
I remember in the 1960s, British Rail were trying to run faster freight trains and a lot of four-wheel wagons kept derailing.
Research at Derby using computer simulation solved the problem and went on to lead to a greater understanding of the dynamics of steel wheel on steel rail.
I do know that British Rail Research had one of the best tools for this job; a PACE 231-R analogue computer.
This is the one, that I worked on at ICI.
They were a powerful computer, which were capable of solving a hundred simultaneous differential equations.
They were late 1950s technology, based mainly on electronic valves, that responded to tender loving care.
But two of them working together, did the dynamic calculations for the moon landings, when linked to the digital computers of an Apollo capsule and lander.
On Apollo 13, when Jack Swigert said “Houston we have problem”, it was these machines, that were used to find a way to bring everyone home.
And the rest, as they say is history!
In my view, after over fifty years in computing, the rescue of Apollo 13 was the greatest piece of computing ever done with an electronic machine.
I’d love to know, whether the superb dynamics of the Mark 3 coach, are down to the work that was done on British Rail’s PACE 231-R
The second paragraph of the Global Rail News article has this phrase.
feature new digital systems which optimise handling.
Does this mean the Germans are worried about the handling?
I do sometimes wonder, if dynamic systems are best analysed using analogue computers and the demise of the technology means the same problems keep returning in different guises.
There can’t be many of us left, who’ve used an analogue computer seriously.
From Berlin To Munich In Four Hours By Train
The length of the East Coast Main Line between London Kings Cross and Edinburgh is 632 kilometres.
Deutsche Bahn have recently completed an upgraded High Speed Line between Berlin and Munich, which has a length of 623 kilometres.
Both lines are not the very fastest of High Speed Lines, but lines where a consistent two hundred kilometres per hour is possible.
The East Coast Main Line was built in Victorian times and services typically take around twenty minutes over four hours, with nine-car InterCity 225 trains running twice an hour.
The Berlin-Munich route was originally built over two centuries ago, but the Germans have spent twenty-five years and many billions of euros punching a new route between Berlin and Nuremberg, through the difficult countryside of Thuringen Forest.
The route may allow the Germans to travel from Berlin to Munich in three hours fifty-five minutes, but at present you can only do it three times a day in a six-car train.
I took the lunchtime train and sat in First Class for a hundred and fourteen euros.
These are some of the pictures, that I took.
We were on time in Munich! Although reading an article in the February 2018 Edition of Modern Railways and talking to other passengers, the introduction of the service had been far from smooth, due to signalling issues.
Just as British Rail’s four-hour service took passengers from the airlines, Deutsche Bahn’s intention is to do the same.
But they will have to improve things.
Service Frequency
Three six-car trains every day in under four hours is just not enough trains, to compete with the airlines.
The plans for the London to Edinburgh route include an all-day frequency of a train every thirty minutes and when the new Class 801 trains are running under control of modern signalling, then many of these trains will do the journey in under four hours.
Route Capacity
The trains need to offer more capacity to provide a service to compete with the airlines.
Customer Service
In my four-hour journey, I was offered just one hot drink! I took a cup of hot chocolate and I had to pay a few euros for it.
I’m sure, Virgin Trains East Coast offer a better service on the East Coast route.
Conclusion
Properly developed, this route can become one of Europe’s main trunk rail routes.
The Modern Railways article compares the service with the new Paris-Bordeaux High Speed Line.
However, DB’s initial offering seems rather timid – 17 trains each way (compare this to the service between Paris and Bordeaux after opening of a new line in July 2017 – 27 trains each way daily!).
The article finishes with this paragraph.
When the Berlin to Nuremberg plan was being developed in the mid-1990s both the Government and DB assumed up to 137 trains each way would use the new line. It was expected the majority would be freight, with at least 20 ICE services each way as well as slower semi-fast services. Currently 35 ICE services use the full line with 18 regional services using the 20 km. section too. Freight traffic has not yet begun and seems unlikely to for several more years, if at all.
Deutsche Bahn has a lot of work to do.
If they get this service right, it must open up a lot of possibilities for new business and leisure services.
As an example, I’ve come across many Americans, Canadians and others on East Coast Main Line services, who’ve flown into Scotland and after visiting Edinburgh, London and possibly Paris, will fly back West.
Berlin to Munich must surely open up similar possibilities in Germany.
An Idea From India
This article from Global Rail News is entitled India’s Minister for Railways launches glass-roof scenic rail cars.
Why not?
Scotrail’s plans for shortened HST train sets to go between the major cities will hopefully carried out with style and a great deal of respect for the scenery.
For a start, will the seats be arranged like these in Chiltern’s Mark 3 coaches.
Note that the picture was taken in Standard Class.
There can’t be more stylish, comfortable and practical rides in a train of this Class anywhere in the world.
What is not shown is the cheery staff with the snacks and drinks trolley.
All of this too comes from a subsidiary of Deitsche Bahn and it is far superior to anything I’ve ridden in Germany.
I wonder if windows can be put in the roof of a Mark 3?
Probably! Engineers certainly have ways of making Mark 3 coaches do anything they want
But there’s always the option of connecting cameras to the train’s wi-fi.
Deutsche Bahn’s Idea Of Customer Service
To get back from Leipzig, I had two choices.
- I could go to Munich and spend the night in a hotel I know by the station and come home in the morning.
- Or I could go back in one day.
As I had bought a flexible Eurostar ticket for Friday in the early evening, I was thinking about the direct option.
But on Thursday night, I decided to buy my tickets for Brussels with a change at Frankfurt Airport, as I was offered a good value ticket in First Class with reserved seats, for less than it would have cost in Second.
It was probably just as well I bought the ticket, given what happened in Munich on Friday night.
I ended up with a bundle of tickets on three A4 sheets of paper.
Germany’s Idea Of A Ticket To Ride
Compare that with my tickets to Liverpool tomorrow.
The UK’s Idea Of A Ticket To Ride
Just two cards for my wallet with one up and one back.
I should also say, that to buy the German ticket, I had to queue up in a Ticket Office, as the ticket machine wasn’t allowed to sell me the ticket I wanted. Queuing included having to get a compulsory number from a machine, despite the fact there was only a few people waiting.
In the morning, the train left at 06:31, so as I was in First Class, I thought I’d go to the DB Lounge.
But as you can see it wasn’t open. Surely, if trains are running, the lounges should be open.
On the first train, I saw the steward once and didn’t get so much as a complimentary glass of water.
But judging by the emptiness of First Class, it doesn’t appeal to most passengers.
From Frankfurt Airport to Brussels, the second train had more passengers, but I did have to buy myself a Coke.
You get much better service on Chiltern Trains in Standard Class.
And who owns Chiltern?
How To Move 100,000 Containers A Year Between Germany And China
This article on Global Rail News is entitled DB and Georgian Railways to cooperate on new Silk Road rail corridor.
It described how Deutsche Bahn and Georgian Railways have signed an agreement to develop a new rail freight route between the Far East and Europe.
This map from the article, shows the various rail routes across Eurasia and how the new Silk Road will fit in.
DB transports more container by train between China and Germany
I think the most interesting thing about the new route, is that it doesn’t go through Russia.
Vladimir Putin will not be amused!
If you read the Wikipedia entry for Georgian Railways, it does list a few problems, but it would appear that the route across Georgia is being upgraded to Standard Gauge all the way from the Turkish border to Almaty in Kazakhstan.
With Germany, Turkey and Europe at the Western end and China at the Eastern end both predominately Standard Gauge, I think that this route will be all the same gauge.
When this happens, trains will be able to go straight through, with perhaps just a change of locomotive.
How long will it be before, an enthusiastic entrepreneur starts to run a passenger service between Europe and China. Trans-Siberian Express eat your heart out!
Vladimir Putin will be even less amused!
If DB can build the Standard Gauge railway through to China via Georgia, it will give the following benefits.
- Services will be faster than the Russian routes.
- There will no change of gauge, which means unloading one train and loading another.
- If the line is electrified, this will make the route more efficient.
- Freight will move smoothly across Asia avoiding the pariah that is Russia.
- The route avoids the more volatile parts of the Middle East.
- Countries on the route like Serbia, Turkey, Georgia and Kazahkstan will surely benefit.
- The route will surely be more accessible to Southern European countries, than the current Russian routes.
It is undoubtedly a good plan.
Help From The Germans
I want to go to Sudbury today, so to find the times of the trains, I tried to look them from Shenfield to Sudbury on the National Rail web site.
But the site was having an off day.
So I used the alternative of the Deutsche Bahn web site.
Shenfield To Sudbury By Deutsche Bahn
As you can see it worked. As it does with all European trains!
So if you want to go from Zaragosa to Geneva say, it will give you the route and details.
It even has Llanfairpwll station in the database and looking up the journey to there for Cologne, it even estimates twenty-five minutes for the walk between St. Pancras and Euston.
It is a very comprehensive free service.
The Anonymous Widower 