| octav |
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| Joined: 12 Aug 2007 |
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| Location: Bucuresti |
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Thalys PBKA High-Speed Trains, Europe
One of the most important recent extensions of the European high-speed rail network allows TGV services to run direct from Paris, the Channel Tunnel and Brussels towards the Netherlands and to the western edge of Germany.
The original LGV Belge line forms the heart of the Paris / London-Brussels-Cologne-Amsterdam high-speed rail project but a new line between Leuven and Liege in Belgium and the HSL Zuid line from Antwerpen to Amsterdam form an important part of the planned links.
Thalys has been so successful since its introduction that Air France has withdrawn its feeder services between Brussels and Paris Roissy-CDG Airport and, by offering its own dedicated First Class seating, has doubled business in two years.
A further boost has been the closure of the Belgian national airline Sabena after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and the decision of its successor DAT to abandon the routes between Brussels and both Amsterdam and Paris.
THE PROJECT
"With the completion of the LGV Belge high-speed line in 1998, Paris and Brussels were brought within 90 minutes of each other."With the completion of the LGV Belge high-speed line in 1998, Paris and Brussels were brought within 90 minutes of each other. This unlocked massive demand and the railways stole large volumes of business from road and air.
A second line will run from Brussels via Liege to the German border as well as a new Antwerpen-Rotterdam-Amsterdam line, opening in 2007. Paris-Brussels schedules have been cut from 1hr 58min to 1hr 25min, with a 30-minute cut from Paris-Amsterdam times, bringing them to 4hr 9min. Paris-Köln journey times are 4hr 5min, compared with the previous fastest locomotive-hauled schedule of 5hr 15min.
INFRASTRUCTURE
The Leuven-Liege section opened in 2003 and is used by Thalys PBKA trains, two-hourly ICE3 services from Germany to Brussels and, unusually for this type of line, certain conventional locomotive-hauled SNCB InterCity trains on the Oostende-Liege-Eupen route.
Due to open later is the more difficult Liege-Aachen section which passes through the hilly and densely wooded Ardennes area. When it opens this 27km (16-mile), 220km/h (125mph) cut-off high-speed line will greatly assist the acceleration of Thalys and ICE services linking Belgium and Germany. New tunnels and viaducts are needed on this section, including a 6km (3.7 mile) tunnel, as well as the rebuilding of the Eupen-Aachen section of the existing main line for higher speeds. Also included is the complete rebuilding of Liege Guillemins station. The steeply-graded approaches to Liege are being upgraded and a new €200m station, designed by celebrated architect Santiago Calatrava, is being built to replace the existing one with its cramped facilities.
Further reductions will be possible once the Liege-Welkenraedt section of high-speed line opens in 2006. This will be complemented over the border in Germany by the quadrupling and upgrading of the Aachen-Cologne 'classic' line to 230km/h standards. Paris-Cologne times should be cut to around three hours. Work on the German side is complete and has also allowed DBAG to increase the frequency of local services.
For the Antwerpen-Rotterdam-Amsterdam route, the Dutch government will contribute around €450m towards the Belgian section because the alignment chosen is not the most cost-effective.
The new 87.5km (54 mile) HSL Zuid line from Antwerpen to Barendrecht, 7.5km (4.7 miles) south of Rotterdam Centraal station, is mostly parallel to existing roads and railways. It includes a bridge over the Holland's Diep waterway and four new tunnels.
Barendrecht is the meeting point for three new projects: the high-speed line; the 160km (99.5 mile) Betuweroute freight line from Rotterdam's dock complex to the German border east of Arnhem; and Netherlands Railway's scheme to widen the line between Rotterdam and Dordrecht.
The northern section is 48km (29.8 miles) of new line from Rotterdam to Hoofddorp and 22km (13.7 miles) of existing tracks via Schiphol Airport to Amsterdam Centraal station. There will be three tunnels including one under the northern suburbs of Rotterdam.
Running standards are similar to French National Railways (SNCF) with 17t maximum axle loads, 25kV AC electrification and cab signalling.
The double-track line to Brussels has been widened to four tracks and Liege-Aachen upgraded. The 33km (20.5 mile) Brussels-Leuven line has been rebuilt for 200km/h (125mph) operation and 7km (4.4 miles) from Schaarbeek to Zaventem increased from three to four tracks, with a new pair of tracks laid on to Leuven.
Upgrading the Brussels-Antwerp section for 160km/h (100mph) was completed in 2000. Antwerp Central terminus is being remodelled to become a through station, providing a northern link to the main line towards Roosendaal. Platforms are being constructed on three levels under the existing classic train shed.
One of the major engineering features of HSL Zuid is the 9km-long tunnel which has been built to protect what is known as Holland's 'Green Heart'. With a diameter of 15m, the tunnel is thought to be one of the largest in the world and will carry high-speed trains under what is, for the Netherlands at least, a sparsely populated area with much needed open space.
The HSL Zuid project features many sections designed to minimise environmental damage at the insistence of the Dutch government. These have been partly responsible for the extra cost and delays to the project.
ROLLING STOCK
Thalys operates a fleet of 27 TGV based trains. There are 17 four-voltage trains known as TGV PBKA (Paris-Brussels-Köln-Amsterdam), all built by Alstom in the late 1990s. They mate new generation TGV Duplex style power cars with standard TGV articulated trailers. In addition, ten second-generation tri-voltage TGV Réseau train sets (with 25kV AC, 3kV DC and 1.5kV DC capability), called PBA (Paris-Brussels-Amsterdam) trains, have been reallocated to the service from SNCF's own fleet.
As with other TGV trains, Thalys run at 300kmh (186mph). In most respects Thalys sets are identical to French TGV trains but are in the red and silver colours of the four-country Thalys consortium.
The Paris-Brussels service is the most intensive between two European capitals, with 28 trains in each direction per day, half-hourly on weekdays. Following a decade in service, a mid-life refurbishment programme has been drawn up ahead of the Thalys sets being used on the new HSL Zuid line in Holland. SNCF's Hellemmes works near Lille, France has been chosen to carry out the refurbishment, which will conține fitting ETCS Level 2 signalling equipment, allowing the trains to operate on the HSL Zuid from 2008.
Although not operated under the Thalys banner, after DB and SNCB failed to reach agreement on revenue sharing, DB Class 406 ICE3M multi-voltage EMUs have linked Brussels with Cologne and Frankfurt several times a day since December 2002, replacing traditional locomotive-hauled international trains.
"Passenger growth has been spectacular since the opening of the LGV Nord-Europe and Belge high-speed lines."Plans to extend Paris-Cologne Thalys services through to Frankfurt via the Cologne-Frankfurt Neubaustrecke, which opened fully in December 2002, were shelved because of concerns that TGV trains cannot maintain 300km/h line speeds using 15kV AC on the steeply-graded route. TGV sets only work at their maximum output on 25kV AC.
On the Leuven-Liege section, SNCB uses its Class 13 Bo-Bo electric locomotives and sets of modern I11 push-pull InterCity stock at up to 200km/h.
New trains have been ordered for upgraded Benelux services over the HSL Zuid line, linking Amsterdam and Antwerpen with Brussels. 12 eight-car high-speed EMU sets – with an option for 14 more – are being supplied by Ansaldo-Breda of Italy and will be capable of 250km/h (service maximum is likely to be 220km/h). Distributed power means that the trains will have traction motors on 16 of the 32 axles, delivering 5.5MW of power. Unusually, the end cars will be 26.5m long (European standard), but intermediate cars will be only 17.5m long.
They are due to be delivered in 2007, but are likely to be too late to start work when the new line opens. It is also planned to use the trains on cross-border regional services linking Antwerpen and Breda.
SIGNALLING / COMMUNICATIONS
Belgium's high-speed railways use the French TVM430 system, dispensing with the need for lineside signals. Train drivers receive information about the route ahead and the maximum speed they can run at from in-cab equipment. However, on classic routes standard lineside signalling is used.
Thalys PBKA services will use a mixture of new and classic routes and several different signalling systems on their journeys between Paris, Belgium, Holland and Germany. In order to accommodate the use of Thalys sets on the new HSL Zuid line through Holland, all trains are to be fitted with European Train Control System Level 2 (ETCS), the first in 2007. The PBA sets will be equipped first, the remainder, including the PBKA sets, by 2009.
THE FUTURE
Legal challenges and construction problems have delayed the opening of HSL Zuid from the planned June 2005 date to 2007.
Passenger growth has been spectacular since the opening of the LGV Nord-Europe and Belge high-speed lines. Trains run hourly between Paris and Brussels, with many dividing there to serve Amsterdam and Cologne. With demand likely to increase when journey times reduce further, Thalys is considering increasing capacity. Ideas include double-deck TGV Duplex trailers, as used by SNCF, and greater service frequency.
The development of a regular interval Cologne-Brussels-Paris service using a mix of Thalys and ICE3 trains is also planned, although German trains are not yet passed to work in France. |
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