The liberalisation of passenger and freight rolling stock markets, the renewal and modernisation of rolling stock fleets, challenges towards ensuring public and private financing, modern vehicles for urban railway transport (metro and light rail) for integration into the green and intelligent urban landscape, innovative systems and technologies for reducing operating costs in railway freight transport have been the debate topics of the Railway PRO Technologies and Services Forum “Powering the future rail and multimodal transport business”.
The 11th edition of the Rolling Stock Forum has been organised by Club Feroviar and Railway PRO with the support of the Romanian Railway Association (AIF) at Poiana Brașov on 23-24 March.
As one of the most efficient and eco-friendly modes of freight and passenger transport modes, rail transport has a huge potential of reducing the negative impact that transport in general has on the environment and, at the same time, a huge potential on improving life quality in the European Union due to the minimum energy consumption. A sustainable railway system is an essential requirement for developing a competitive railway services market.
Iosif Szentes, General Manager CFR Calatori, stressed the necessity of modern rolling stock to provide a performing and efficient transport service. According to its declarations, CFR Calatori has not received state aid for investments since 2011. “Investments are necessary but we haven’t received state aid since 2011. We need RON 560 Million (EUR 125,4 Million) per year for rolling stock repairs. We are hoping to access European funds to carry out investment projects”, said Szentes. CFR Calatori operates 1410 trains every day on a network of 7883km. In 2015, the national operator carried 54.9 million passengers and had a traffic of 4619 million passenger-km.
Mihai Manole, Director of Locomotives, CFR Marfa, presented the rolling stock fleet renewal and modernisation programme of the national railway freight transport operator. The objectives of the modernisation programme using the company’s funds aims at increasing the quality parameters of the locomotive fleet, applying technical solutions for modern rolling stock and encompassing the latest technologies and equipment. The locomotive fleet modernisation programme focused on repairs with modernisation of auxiliary services and of the LE 5100 KW electric locomotives, of the LDE 2100 HP diesel-electric locomotives and repairs with modernisation and re-motorisation of the LDH 1250 HP diesel hydraulic locomotives. The modernisation of the LE 5100 KW electric locomotives has reduced maintenance costs by 17% and dropped breakdowns by 13.4% (in the final quarter of 2015). The modernisation of the LDH 1250 HP locomotive has reduced fuel consumption by 9.2%, as well as maintenance and exploitation costs by 17%. Regarding cars, CFR Marfa has focused on using the company’s own funds to modernise by transforming cars while keeping in mind the customers’ requirements and contract specifications.
Carmen Filipescu, Chairwoman of the CIV Committee – CIT/ Regiotrans International Affairs Manager pointed out several aspects of the Guide of Cooperation Contracts between railway carriers. Rail Baltica, the most important railway project developed by the Baltic States was put forward by Dins Merirands, State Secretary – Latvian Ministry of Transport.
Radovan Vopalecky, President Infrastructure & Rolling Stock 5th Commission – OSJD, pointed out the advantages of using the CIM/SMGS consignment note to simplify transport procedures between Europe and Asia.
Gabriel Stanciu, Head of MLT&UT, Costumer Services, Siemens, presented the Desiro ML – Cityjet electric multiple-unit, delivered to Austria in December 2015. ÖBB put Cityjet into service in the same month. The contract between Siemens and ÖBB stipulates the delivery of 101 3-unit Desiro Cityjet, with the final vehicle due to be delivered in January 2018. 31 trains will be commissioned on the short-distance S-Bahn, each being capable to accommodate 244 people on seats. 70 trains will be put in service on the regional network, R-Bahn, each capable to accommodate 259 people on seats. “Desiro ML ÖBB Cityjet has a variant of a 4-unit 101m long multiple-unit with a capacity of 355 people on seats and 6 multifunctional areas. Based on the norms stipulated in the first delivery contract, the multiple-units are TSI- licensed in Austria and Germany”, said Gabriel Stanciu.
Mihai Frumosu, EIB Transport Specialist PJ, Mobility Office Bucharest, held a presentation on rolling stock financing in Romania for 2014-2020. Romania needs to refurbish its rolling stock fleet or buy new rolling stock, as infrastructure modernisation works are carried out, such as those on the pan-European Corridor IV, metro network extension works, rail urban transport projects that require new trams, while freight transport needs new cars to meet transport demands. Within the Operational Programme Large Infrastructure (POIM), through the Cohesion Funds, 22 units are bought at a cost of EUR 99 Million, while 20 units are bought through the European Regional Development Fund at a cost of EUR 90 Million. “However, additional financial solutions are needed, such as loans from international financial institutions, private financing and banks. Also, additional financing includes public-private partnerships and leasing. In this context, EIB can involve in the allocation of credits and provide assistance in the new projects”, explained Mihai Frumosu.
Roumen Markov, General Manager – Large Infrastructure Projects Ltd, detailed the cooperation proposals on transport corridors that would develop a connection between the Aegean Sea, the Baltic Sea and the Danube River.
Vasile Șeclăman, Director of the Railway Supervision Department – Competition Council, reviewed the main challenges of the strategy to be implemented in the long-run, 2016-2025 in the European railway transport. Among them is the development of the TEN-T and the implementation of the ERTMS.
Armin Reichhardt, Authorised Officer Head of Homologation Dep. – AEbt Angewandte Eisenbahntechnik, underlined several positive aspects of a seamless European railway transport system.
Daniel Doman, Head of Transport Department – Bucharest Municipality and George Cazan, Chief Engineer – RATB, provided details on the rehabilitation of the tram fleet of Bucharest Municipality. Although 70% of the tram rolling track in Romania’s capital is modernised, rolling stock has benefited from few investments, with emphasis over the last years on modernisation of cars, as well as the licensing and construction of a new tram, Bucur Low Floor (BLF) at RATB Plant. After 2010, 15 BLF trams have been put into service, 46 V3AM trams have been modernised at RATB Plant. Since 1993, 302V3Am trams have been modernised, as well as V3AM2S bidirectional trams and 80 Tatra T4R trams. “Keeping in mind that the life expectancy of trams is of around 30 years, or 35-40 years with modernisation works, over the next years almost the entire fleet of trams should be replaced with new vehicles”, explained Doman.
The second day of event was structured in two panels, passenger transport and freight transport.
During the Forum dedicated to passenger transport, technological innovations for optimising railway passenger transport (urban and interurban) were presented.
Nicolae Dragu, Business Development Manager – Alstom Romania, stressed the innovative systems developed for optimising urban railway transport such as the catenary-free tram, the Citadis APS system – ground power supply and Citadis Ecopack, the on-board energy storage system. The catenary-free trams are successfully traveling in many cities such as Reims, Dubai, Tours, Bordeaux, Nice, Orleans, Padova, Lusail, Sydney and, for the first time South America in Cuenca and Rio de Janeiro. The catenary-less tramway minimizes the visual impact caused by overhead line and masts. This solution maintains a quality passenger service and a good commercial speed.
Gabriel Sburlan, Advisor to the General Manager – METROREX presented several technical details on the modernisation of the rolling stock fleet operated by Bucharest underground transport operator.
Liviu Pecican, Western Market Manager – PESA Bydgoszcz focused on the products of the Polish railway industry dedicated to the railway passenger transport market. Thus, the presentation gave an overview of the EMUs, DMUs, passenger and freight locomotives and the tramways developed in order to ensure a safe and an eco-friendly transport in the urban areas. Several EMUs and DMUs type produced by PESA operate in Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany and Italy. Trams produced by PESA are in operation in countries as Poland (Warsaw, Wroclaw, Krakow), Hungary, Russia (Moscow), Romania (Timișoara) and Bulgaria.
Ovidiu Bologea, Counsellor – Astra Vagoane Călători, presented the Autentic tram, the latest product of the Arad-based company. The tram has a modular concept, an attractive design and its configuration is adapted to face the varied market requirements concerning price, operation quality and maintenance costs. ”Autentic” is the newest tram developed by Astra Vagoane Calatori, to provide an improved mobility within crowded cities. The concept design of ”Autentic” tram has been developed by ASTRA’s own R&D department, taking advantage of its previous experience in tram vehicles updated according to the last technical developments with the final goal to meet the passenger needs at the highest level.
The Forum dedicated to rail freight transport concentrated on solutions for innovative systems and technologies for reducing operating costs in railway freight transport.
Ioan Buciuman, Scientific Secretary AFER, presented the work called “Scientific research projects financed from European funds”. One of AFER’s most important equipment is Faurei Railway Testing Centre, the only centre in South-East Europe to permit the testing of trains travelling at speeds of 200 km/h. Real time testing will be held at Faurei in September. The centre includes lines with a total length of 20.2 km, with specialised lines such as the small ring, 2.2 km and the winding line 1.3 km.
George Petre, General Manager, CER Fersped, provided information on the optimisation and reduction of operational costs in intermodal transport. Growth trends of intermodal transport efficiency includes hardware and software solutions. “The hardware solutions include the 45’, 48’ or 53’large capacity containers, double stacking, large capacity ships, cranes capable to handle two or more containers at the same time and fully automated terminals. Software solutions include route optimisation softs and storage solutions. Terminals should be fully automated as well”, said George Petre.
Nicolae Sandu, Head of Unit at Romanian Railway Authority-AFER, focused on railway research and presented the NeTIRail – INFRA project. This is among the first railway scientific and technological research projects that were signed under the aegis of the Horizon 2020 programme with the purpose of developing and proving technologies such as best practices adapted to the needs of different categories of railway systems. There are 13 partners of 8 different countries which initiated the project in June 2015 and will end in May 2018. The total budget of the project is of EUR 5.4 Million. This is an analysis instrument of current best practices to identify the best solutions to be applied to the different categories of lines in Europe.
Amedeo Neculcea, Counsellor – GFR, talked about the importance of the technological process within the company, including car conversion, locomotive modernisation and application of information. Car conversion projects include the transformation of the Fals-type car dedicated to coal transport into a covered Fals-type car for transport of grains; the transformation of the Faccpps-type car for crush stone into a grains-type car; the transformation of the Eanos-type car into a grains-type car; the transformation of the Rgs-type for the transport of logs. Locomotive modernisation projects included the transformation of DHA (450 HP) and DHB (700 HP) in DHF (585 HP) and the transformation of DHC (1250 HP) into a 1217 HP locomotive. Regarding the application of information, the company implemented the INFORGFR activity monitoring solutions, the TRACKVIEW for locomotive monitoring, COSTEXPERT, to calculate transport and shunting costs on the CFR network. Railway Order application was implemented, a web instrument to manage car orders which provides real time information on the status of commands, alerts, reports over car insurance, preservation of orders and their history, etc.
Alexandru Strainu, Commercial Director – Romania Euroest, presented the electric locomotive on batteries LEA. Following the requirements of Arcelor Mittal, Romania Euroest has so far developed two shunting robots on AC replacing two diesel-hydraulic locomotives. Developed through the transformation of two LDH 1250 HP locomotives, these robots are remote-controlled and dedicated to work at a maximum distance of 200m. Partners who contributed to the development of LEAs are Inda, Integral Consulting R&D, Resita Reductoare Regenerabile, Valiadis and LinexWolf, the last two being electric engine suppliers. LEA is dedicated to the rail shunting service for a total hauled tonnage of 2500t and a maximum speed of 30km/h. The energy source is the Li-ion batteries with an autonomy of 12-24h.
Terra Nova, the diesel-hydraulic locomotive dedicated to the heavy shunting service and light freight transport, was presented to Florin Sanda, Technical Director of RELOC. The diesel-hydraulic 1260 HP locomotive is equipped with two Bo-Bo motor bogies, two Caterpillar power groups, monitoring and diagnosis system, one cab with two drive posts. The vehicle was developed in partnership with the American giant Caterpillar Inc. The Terra Nova boasts two diesel engines and two transmissions, which means the right power at the right time. For light loads, one engine can be used for optimum fuel economy. If the locomotive comes to a steep grade, the second engine can be turned on and the transmission is engaged before losing speed. The locomotive incorporates eight-wheel drive to eliminate wheel slip for most operating conditions. The locomotive was presented at InnoTrans in 2014.
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