[DE] Disruption upper Rhine Valley caused by Tunneling works

[33Hz]

There is never an IC at 21.51. On 25 + 26 August at 21.27, but the rest of the week at 21.24. I am talking about IC 2090 to Berlin Hbf.

Yes this IC2090 was at 21:51 until last week. I still have the old times in "my tickets" in the DB App.

 

[Capybara]

I went through this on Monday and on the whole it was well-organised as you would expect after a couple of weeks. But two points. 1. People. People will always be people I suppose but how about doing what you are asked to do, and 2. I'm sure it's a cost thing, but it would really help if they weren't cramming as many passengers on each 'bus before allowing it to leave and start filling the next one. At one point a 'bus couldn't leave because they had so many on that they couldn't close the doors. I know they do this when removing spectators from football matches, and that's fair enough, but passengers having to stand with luggage is another thing, especially when, as happened on my 'bus, the driver has the make a sharp stop. A bit of comfort, in an uncomfortable (and very hot as it was on Monday) situation wouldn't go amiss.

 

[33Hz]

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/...odies-urge-action-after-rastatt-disaster.html

EUROPE: ‘The European system of rail logistics is about to collapse’, warned more than 20 trade bodies on September 4 in an open letter to European Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc and German Federal Transport Minister Alexander Dobrindt. The letter was copied to seven other transport ministers and Josef Doppelbauer, Executive Director of the European Agency for Railways.

The letter was issued by associations including the European Rail Freight Association, logistics body CLECAT and the International Union of Wagon Keepers. It urged action to mitigate the effects on rail freight and the wider logistics sector of the blockage to the Rhein Valley main lien by the tunnel collapse at Rastatt, south of Karlsruhe in western Germany, on August 12, which has blocked European Freight Corridor 1 until October 7, according to infrastructure manager DB Netz.

The associations said that by that date, railway logistics will have suffered ‘immense damage’. The letter disputes the claim made by railway infrastructure managers that 150 of the 200 daily freight trains that usually use the Rhein corridor could be re-routed via various routes including Stuttgart and Singen in Germany, the Brenner corridor in Austria and the Alsace region of France. The letter asserts that in practice only a quarter are being successfully diverted, and for intermodal traffic the associations claim this figure is just 15%.

According to the letter, one major problem in diverting trains is a lack of available and qualified drivers for the alternative routes, along with national rules which, for example, prevent German-speaking drivers operating trains in France.

The associations propose a series of short-term measures to try to mitigate the crisis. These include:

-establishment of a task force at ministerial and/or EU level with crisis competencies, which includes infrastructure managers;
-provision of support to operators to perform short-term reinforcement of the driver pool on the diversionary routes;
-simplification of operating procedures on diversionary routes, co-ordinated by ERA;
-implementation of a special commission for ‘the short-term review of the largest and most serious freight traffic blockade in recent decades’.

 

[davetheguard]

We're travelling tomorrow via Paris - Strasbourg (overnight) - Munich to Oberammergau.

I wonder what counts as a reasonable route, ticket-wise, for diversions? DB's journey planner is offering routes via Saarbrucken; or Basle; or even Zurich & Innsbruck for our Strasbourg to Oberammergau leg. Would tickets really be accepted on foreign trains in France, Switzerland & Austria because of this "local" problem in Germany?

 

[Groningen]

According to the travelplanner there is no nighttrain from Paris to Strasbourg. The travelplanner says that you can change in Wissembourg, Neustadt and Mannheim to reach Muenchen from Strasbourg. There is a connection to Murnau and than Oberammergau.

 

[davetheguard]

According to the travelplanner there is no nighttrain from Paris to Strasbourg. The travelplanner says that you can change in Wissembourg, Neustadt and Mannheim to reach Muenchen from Strasbourg. There is a connection to Murnau and than Oberammergau.

Sorry, I worded it badly. We're staying overnight in a hotel in Strasbourg.

There seem to be lots of options for early morning travel from Strasbourg according to DB's travel planner, including the Wissembourg route you mention; which we may well take. Another attractive-looking route it gives is via Offenburg & through the Black Forest to Donaueschingen & Ulm.

What I was intrigued about, was some of the international routes it was giving via Basel: including one via Zurich - Innsbruck - Garmisch & bus to Oberammergau. Surely the ticket would not be valid to do that?

 

[30907]

Depends on the tickets you have.

I would advise using the normal border crossing at Kehl rather than via Wissembourg.

This will get you to Offenburg, and I would certainly ask there about going via Donaueschingen. At worst you'd have to pay 25EUR or so (for 2) for a Baden-Wurttemburg Ticket as far as Ulm (valid after 0900) but you might well be given permission. It's a much nicer route too.

As to the routes via Garmisch - DB have a new international ticketing system which shows a whole lot of new routes online, but I think you'd have trouble In CH and AT!

 

[Capybara]

Sorry, I worded it badly. We're staying overnight in a hotel in Strasbourg.

There seem to be lots of options for early morning travel from Strasbourg according to DB's travel planner, including the Wissembourg route you mention; which we may well take. Another attractive-looking route it gives is via Offenburg & through the Black Forest to Donaueschingen & Ulm.

What I was intrigued about, was some of the international routes it was giving via Basel: including one via Zurich - Innsbruck - Garmisch & bus to Oberammergau. Surely the ticket would not be valid to do that?

.

I was in Strasbourg last week. There was a small stand on the main concourse for people with questions about the problem. It might be worth checking there

 

[Capybara]

Sorry, I worded it badly. We're staying overnight in a hotel in Strasbourg.

There seem to be lots of options for early morning travel from Strasbourg according to DB's travel planner, including the Wissembourg route you mention; which we may well take. Another attractive-looking route it gives is via Offenburg & through the Black Forest to Donaueschingen & Ulm.

What I was intrigued about, was some of the international routes it was giving via Basel: including one via Zurich - Innsbruck - Garmisch & bus to Oberammergau. Surely the ticket would not be valid to do that?

.

I was in Strasbourg last week. There was a small stand on the main concourse for people with questions about the problem. It might be worth checking there.

 

[Gordon]

There is significantly less running at the moment. Hupac are one of the big companies and are running less than a third of their weekly trains, with much freight entering Switzerland by boat to Basel.
Local freights still running, plus a handful that come via France. I would expect things to pick up over the next few weeks, but I'm not sure how much by. More freight will come through Schaffhausen once they finish the engineering works on that line in early September, but some trains already coming that way.
It impacts most freight from Germany to Switzerland and Italy.

By "BLS Railion lorry" trains, I'm assuming that you're referring to the roll-on/roll-off trains like https://www.flickr.com/photos/maccookie/36548265822/

These run from Freiburg and Basel, both south of the current block. But nothing to do with DB Cargo (Railion). They are operated for Ralpin by BLS and SBB, both part owners (along with Trenitalia and Hupac).

Unless you meant piggyback trains such as these:
https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=61814646@N00&sort=date-taken-desc&text=Piggyback&view_all=1

These come from all over Europe, so many are impacted by the block.

Cheers,
Ewan

I was in the Bernese Oberland in mid August and hadn't heard abut the Rastatt event (I prefer to stay off line on holiday). I had hoped to see a few freights on the Lotschberg but it was eerily quite around Spiez, now I realise why. At the time I couldn't work out why Spiez shed hosted lines of locos - and juts put it down to the Italian summer holidays.




.

 

[davetheguard]

.

I was in Strasbourg last week. There was a small stand on the main concourse for people with questions about the problem. It might be worth checking there.

Thanks for that. They were very helpful, and confirmed that our Sparpreis Europa tickets would indeed be valid on the two alternative routes that we'd chosen from the alternatives suggested by DB's journey planner.

So we went out by diverting round to the north: Strasbourg - Wissembourg - Neustadt - Mannheim - Munich - Murnau - Oberammergau. And came back a week later by diverting round to the south: Oberammergau - Murnau - Munich - Ulm - Donaueschingen - Offenburg - Strasbourg.

Not bad considering the low fares we'd paid, but a lot of local trains were involved, and a lot of changes. Although journey times were extended by over two-and-a-half hours in each direction, we got to see a lot more German countyside; the route following the Danube from Ulm to Donaueschingen was very scenic, as was the line through the Black Forest on to Offenburg.

Rail replacement bus successfully avoided!

 

[zuriblue]

The Rheintalbahn is now expected to be fully open on 2 October.

https://www.bahn.de/p/view/home/inf...001_KIN0001_Service_TZ2_P1_ST_BT_Rastatt_LZ01

 

[Groningen]

When you click on that link they (DB) choose to use the town of Konstanz to indicate south. Offenburg was more logical! Also they show the replacement busses above the tracks. That means that in Baden Baden trains to Karlsruhe move to the left and Konstanz is going to the right.

 

[k-c-p]

As I had to go to Paris several times during the closure some impressions: Schedule coordination between SNCF and DB is still lacking. The 19:06 departure to Frankfurt leaves about 20 minutes later as it reuses a train that arrives in Paris about 18:50. The SNCF ticket machines show the new schedule, whereas the DB is still showing 19:06. The 20min delay results in missed connections in Mannheim.

DB says that normal traffic will resume on October 2nd. At Gare de l'Est information about the closure (on paper and on the screens), still indicated October 7th last weekend.

Some train crews are not up to speed either: I had a longer discussion with a conductor when I boarded an ICE to Mannheim (to catch my rerouted Paris train), because I had a SNCF online ticket which is only stored in my customer card. Luckily, his colleague stepped in and said that it was ok.
As I was expecting such a discussion, I asked at the information desk in Karlsruhe the days before, if I need any paper confirmation with this type of ticket. The response: "No confirmation necessary, the closure and rerouting is common knowledge now".

Another victim of Rastatt: The office that processes refunds and delay compensation is pretty overwhelmed at the moment. I got several "processing will take longer than usual. We will keep you posted" letters in response to my refund claims.

Hopefully, the re-opening date of October 2nd will be met.

 

[duesselmartin]

My compensation just came in a week after sending it Off. Lucky?

 

[Groningen]

Because of Rastatt work somewhere between Offenburg and Konstanz is done later.

 

[Groningen]

Rastatt has re-opened for service.

 

[zuriblue]

Rastatt has re-opened for service.

Congratulations to Die OrangenArmee.

 

[Adlington]

The Rastatt incident: lessons learnt and steps to take. A short quote from railfreight.com:

The Rastatt incident has made clear that the alternatives for rail freight traffic on this corridor are currently not sufficient. Although diversion routes were provided by DB Netze and infrastructure managers in neighbouring countries, capacity on these routes was limited and interoperability proved to be a major hurdle. Many locomotives were not equipped to operate on the railway network in neighbouring countries and train drivers with the language and technical skills to operate a train in another country were not sufficiently available.

The Executive Board [of the Rhine-Alpine rail freight corridor] reinstated that the incident has to be used as a learning case for a better management and redirection of freight traffic in case of relevant disturbances, to find solutions providing higher resilience of rail freight and an increased availability of alternative capacity in case of similar incidents.

 

[Adlington]

THE losses incurred by rail freight operators, logistics companies and their customers as a result of the collapse of a new tunnel at Rastatt, Germany, and subsequent closure of the Rhine Valley Line in August 2017 amounted to more than €2bn, according to new study into the impact of the incident.

The figure includes losses of €969m for rail-based logistics companies, including rail freight and combined transport operators; €771m in losses for manufacturing industries; and €308m in losses suffered by related entities such as infrastructure managers (IMs) and terminal operators

Source: International Railway Journal

 

[squizzler]

After a year to consider how to cope with such disruption in future, the relevant international organisations have decided, amongst other things, to start moving towards English as the official language (as with air traffic). Global Rail News reports:

Rastatt one-year on: Changes and further challenges
On August 12 last year, groundwater broke into one of two new rail tunnels under construction close to the German town of Rastatt, which is situated on the very busy Karlsruhe to Basel mainline – the busiest double track mainline anywhere in Europe.

The tunnel collapse happened at the only point the new tunnels cross under the existing line and significant earth movement on the surface resulted.

An almost eight-week closure of the Rastatt tunnel followed, severely disrupting north-south rail freight traffic in Europe.

To mark the one-year re-opening of the Karlsruhe – Basle line, Europe’s leading rail freight organisations have come together to highlight the lessons learnt and positive steps taken to ensure such an event won’t happen again, while also acknowledging the need for further action.

The European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), Network of European Railways (NEE) and the International Union for Road-Rail Combined Transport said that all sides have committed to tackling the challenges facing rail freight.

As a result of this collaborative effort:

• English has been adopted as the main language of communication between infrastructure managers during international disruptions. At least one English speaking dispatcher in national traffic control centres will be guaranteed for every shift from 2020;
• Off-the-shelf rerouting options and traffic management scenarios that minimise disruptions are being prepared, including information on technical parameters and other operational requirements;
• One infrastructure manager will take the lead coordinating the international cooperation with other infrastructure managers and in managing the available international re-routing capacity;
• Fast reaction times will ensure that relevant reroutings and mitigation decisions should be taken within the first 24 hours of a disruption. Within 36 hours of an incident taking place, a rough indicative timetable should be provided;
• New rules will avoid ambiguity and discrimination when it comes to allocating capacity on disrupted lines and guarantee a share of capacity between annual timetable traffic and ad-hoc traffic.All of these changes should be adopted by infrastructure managers from the start of the 2019 timetable, in line with the European Handbook for International Contingency Management.

Nevertheless, the three associations have pointed to further challenges that need addressing. Namely:

• The development of contingency management procedures for incidents that last less than three days;
• Off-the-shelf rerouting options should include an estimation of the capacity of trains that can be absorbed. Where the re-routing options provide insufficient capacity and are incompatible, investment in the infrastructure should be identified as a priority;
• Rail operators should identify and put in place their own contingency management plans to ensure back-up options in the event of disruptions;
• Lowering the current B1 level language requirement for train drivers and accelerating the move towards English as the main operational language;
• The replacement of telephone conferences and complicated communication chains by internet-based written communication;
• The issue of liability must be addressed, not only to resolve the still open compensation payments expected by those who have been impacted by the Rastatt disaster, but also to ensure that in the future an infrastructure manager’s liability is covered under an insurance policy.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the three associations said: “Never again must the closure of a small stretch of railway line lead to such chaos and wide-reaching economic damage.”