• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Challenges facing the rail industry in Europe

Status
Not open for further replies.

arkadas

New Member
Joined
2 Apr 2012
Messages
3
Hi there everyone!

I'm a student and I'm supposed to produce a report on:
"What challenges, opportunities and risks do you see for the rail industry in Europe in the coming years?"

I'm completely new to this transportation means. I have already done some research but I'm really curious what you guys think about it? Could I ask you for some guidance?

Best regards
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

WatcherZero

Established Member
Joined
25 Feb 2010
Messages
10,272
Are you an engineering, economics, planning, materials, politics or electrical engineering student?
 

arkadas

New Member
Joined
2 Apr 2012
Messages
3
I'm a logistics student and I'm supposed to approach the topic from a freight operator perspective, operating multinationally.
 

Sulzer023

Member
Joined
17 Feb 2011
Messages
51
I'm a logistics student and I'm supposed to approach the topic from a freight operator perspective, operating multinationally.

The monthly magazine " TODAYS RAILWAYS - EUROPE " regularly has reports and updates of European freight traffic, both in individual countries and across borders. It might be worth reading up a few backnumbers to start you off. Open access to freight train operators has opened up many opportunities in recent years.
 

Chris999999

Member
Joined
22 Jun 2010
Messages
238
This is a massive subject. My immediate thoughts are:

- The work being undertaken here in the UK to enable larger containers to be transported on the railways

- The base tunnels being built by the Swiss

- The dual gauge tracks from the French border, south towards Barcelona

- The Euro

- There are no international trains to Greece

There are certainly hundreds of specific topics you could look at.

Good luck

Chris
 

Woodburner

Member
Joined
24 Jan 2012
Messages
8
Location
Finland
Asian sea freights are getting more expensive. The Trans Siberian route could be an answer, but contains political components and then there is the gauge question (Russian broad gauge, also in Finland).
 

Chris999999

Member
Joined
22 Jun 2010
Messages
238
Russia is investing in Talgo gauge changing which will to some extent mitigate the gauge issue. I guess they don't now think there is a serious risk of the west invading by train.

Russia also has very significant investment plans for expanding links from Europe to Asia.

Another significant Europe - Asia link is of course the Bosphorus tunnel.

It would help if the OP would provide some guidance as to whether this is the sort of information he is looking for.
 

arkadas

New Member
Joined
2 Apr 2012
Messages
3
that's certainly the right strategic level of thinking, thank you all for your advice.
I've also considered such aspects like overcrowding on roads, therefore moving towards a more effective use of rail, that's certainly an opportunity. rail is also cheaper in terms of tonne-km. fuel prices are increasing. what do you think? any other ideas?
 

gordonthemoron

Established Member
Joined
4 Sep 2006
Messages
6,589
Location
Milton Keynes
are there really no ınternatıonal traıns to Greece? I thought that only passengers servıces were suspended but that freıght contınues
 

NY Yankee

Member
Joined
26 Mar 2012
Messages
487
Location
New York City
The Orient Express stops in Istanbul, but I don't think an international train serves Greece. Wikipedia said that an international railway connected Greece to the rest of Europe, but was suspended in 2011.
 

gordonthemoron

Established Member
Joined
4 Sep 2006
Messages
6,589
Location
Milton Keynes
no ınternatıonal traıns to Europe from Istanbul untıl at least 2013 due to buıldıng a tunnel under the Bosphorous

all the wiki artıcle says ıs that ınternatıonal passengers servıces are suspended to Greece.
 

NY Yankee

Member
Joined
26 Mar 2012
Messages
487
Location
New York City
This is surprising to me. The Chunnel seemed like an innovative route that cut down on congestion and pollution:

Britain’s first high-speed rail link, running from London to the Channel Tunnel, has failed to provide value for money for taxpayers, the government’s spending watchdog said.

Net costs to the taxpayer from the line, known as HS1, will total 10.2 billion pounds ($16.3 billion) by 2070, the National Audit Office in London said in a report published today. Savings on journey times will produce a benefit of 7 billion pounds over the same period, the NAO said.

“On these measures we would conclude that the project is not value for money,” the watchdog said. While other benefits haven’t been quantified and some can’t be measured, the Department for Transport “would need to demonstrate that these benefits are going to be at least 8.3 billion pounds, giving a higher contribution than originally expected, to achieve the benefit-cost ratio of 1.5 to 1 estimated in 1998.”

The first high-speed line was completed in 2007 at a cost of 6.2 billion pounds. It carries trains including the Eurostar Group Ltd. link from London to Paris and Brussels and commuter trains between London and Kent, with 18.1 million passengers last year. The concession to run the line was sold to a group led by Canadian investment funds for 2 billion pounds in 2010.

The government approved a plan in January to build a high- speed rail link from London to Birmingham, opening in 2026, and on to Manchester and Leeds in 2032-33. It’s seeking private- sector and European Union funding to help meet the 32.7 billion- pound cost. Ministers say the line will boost the capacity of the rail network, slash journey times and ease overcrowding on existing routes, as well as allow northern cities better access to the capital.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eddie Buckle in London at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at [email protected]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-27/u-k-high-speed-rail-link-wasn-t-value-for-money-watchdog-says.html

I'm not that familiar with the smaller cities in the UK. The only reason I know of Manchester is because of Manchester United. In a perfect world, every industrialized country would have high speed rail, but it costs money and sometimes the costs exceed the benefits. Do people in the UK believe that high speed rail is worth it?
 

exile

Established Member
Joined
16 Jul 2011
Messages
1,336
This is surprising to me. The Chunnel seemed like an innovative route that cut down on congestion and pollution:

Britain’s first high-speed rail link, running from London to the Channel Tunnel, has failed to provide value for money for taxpayers, the government’s spending watchdog said.

Net costs to the taxpayer from the line, known as HS1, will total 10.2 billion pounds ($16.3 billion) by 2070, the National Audit Office in London said in a report published today. Savings on journey times will produce a benefit of 7 billion pounds over the same period, the NAO said.

“On these measures we would conclude that the project is not value for money,” the watchdog said. While other benefits haven’t been quantified and some can’t be measured, the Department for Transport “would need to demonstrate that these benefits are going to be at least 8.3 billion pounds, giving a higher contribution than originally expected, to achieve the benefit-cost ratio of 1.5 to 1 estimated in 1998.”

The first high-speed line was completed in 2007 at a cost of 6.2 billion pounds. It carries trains including the Eurostar Group Ltd. link from London to Paris and Brussels and commuter trains between London and Kent, with 18.1 million passengers last year. The concession to run the line was sold to a group led by Canadian investment funds for 2 billion pounds in 2010.

The government approved a plan in January to build a high- speed rail link from London to Birmingham, opening in 2026, and on to Manchester and Leeds in 2032-33. It’s seeking private- sector and European Union funding to help meet the 32.7 billion- pound cost. Ministers say the line will boost the capacity of the rail network, slash journey times and ease overcrowding on existing routes, as well as allow northern cities better access to the capital.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eddie Buckle in London at [email protected]

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at [email protected]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-27/u-k-high-speed-rail-link-wasn-t-value-for-money-watchdog-says.html

I'm not that familiar with the smaller cities in the UK. The only reason I know of Manchester is because of Manchester United. In a perfect world, every industrialized country would have high speed rail, but it costs money and sometimes the costs exceed the benefits. Do people in the UK believe that high speed rail is worth it?

Good question! We only have 1 true high speed route and it leads to another country..... the 2nd high speed route is expensive and controversial. Personally I like travelling on HS1 but that doesn't really answer the question I fear. Presumably the unquantifiable benefits include reduced pollution and congestion. Had we built high speed routes starting about 1980 as did the French things would have been somewhat different.
 

Mike C

Member
Joined
18 Nov 2011
Messages
161
Big Question NY Yankee, but a good one.

To enlighten you, the largest UK cities and approximate Urban area populations (source: 2001 UK census data):

London - 8.28 million
Birmingham - 2.28 million
Manchester - 2.24 million
West Yorkshire conurbation (Leeds/Bradford) - 1.5 million
Greater Glasgow - 1.2 million
Tyneside (Newcastle) - ~880,000

HS1 is not running anywhere near capacity, so there is room for growth.

HS2 is a hot topic in just about every sense. I have my opinions on it, but don't share them often here as I don't see the point. Have a read around though and you'll find more material on it that you can probably care to read.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top