WHAT'S NEW IN EUROPE?

Excelsior - a luxurious sleeping car

The sleeping cars Excelsior have been designed to offer to those that travel by train on Palatino (Rome - Paris) and Stendhal (Milan - Paris) routes similar services with the ones of the most famous hotels.
Excelsior is compound of seven compartments with three beds each and an apartment with a bed for two, all decorated with high quality materials. The personnel on board waits his clients in the area meant for the reception, which is endowed with a bar.
In order to provide the security of the clients there has been tuned up a performant system of video supervision (through video cameras with close circuit) on the corridors. There is, also, a controlling system of the check in doors of the coaches. Each compartment has an intercommunication device related to the personnel room, in order to provide various services during the travel (for example, the waking up at a certain hour). Among the other endowments which Excelsior has available we can also mention:
- an electrical board that indicates the route of the train;
- a toilet with a new ecological WC, shower and lavabo, in each compartment;
- VSH video and a screen, in each compartment.

Tram - train lines in Alsacia

The tram-train, a railway vehicle that seems much more like a tram, is more often met in the great urban congestion in Europe.
This represents an innovating mean of transportation, because it is conceived for working on the urban transport lines, as well as on the normal railway lines, thus being able to become a tram that gets out of town. It has, as the normal trams have acceleration and braking capacity superior to the classical trains and, due to this fact, it can perform a several number of stops. Besides the fact that it has a modern design, the tram-train offers to the passengers very comfortable travelling conditions.
Before the introduction in operation on Mulhouse - Valle de la Thur route, that is in Alsacia (France) region, SNCF has organized, starting with March, the current year, a series of promotion actions, for the information of the interested public. There took place a series of discussions with the representatives of the city halls of the localities and of the towns through which there was going to operated the tram-train.
The purpose of the implementation in operation of this means of transport is the achievement of a faster link between the rural settings and the big cities in the area, such a tram-train being able to operate at 20 minutes intervals, between 5:00-24:00h and having a great number of stations. These will provide to the passengers the link with other means of transportation as well as in the neighborhood of the schools and the institutions of great interest.
The introduction in traffic of this new mean of transportation will enhance the movement of the persons in the Valle de la Thur region, where the road lanes are saturated, recording a traffic of 25,000 vehicles per day, especially on Vieux - Thann route. The congestion, the accidents, the noise and the atmospheric pollution are all stress sources for the ones in the respective area, reason why the new vehicle on tracks has all the chances to have success.
The project of the introduction of the tram-train on Mulhouse - Valle de la Thur route is included in the Contract of Region- State Plan 2000-2006, being allocated 68 million Euro (450 million of francs).

The annual raise of the SNCF tariffs

Starting with August 1, the current year, SNCF (French Railways) has performed the raise of the annual tariffs at the train tickets. In comparison to the last raise, since September 2001, generally, the prices have been increased with 1.8%. At the classical TGV-s, for example, the increase with 1.9% in comparison to the Mediterranean TGV, which has suffered a raise of the tariffs in June, now the prices remaining unchanged. There are a few examples of the new tariffs of TGV, on the second class, some of the most circulated routes: Paris - Lille 32.9 Euro; Paris - Dijon 36.3Euro; Paris - Bordeaux 56.10 Euro.

Lots of tourists in Paris Railway Stations

According to the previous years experiences, the beginning of August brings about a great influx of tourists in the Capital of France. Thus, for the weekend August 2-4, 2002, there were stipulated 1,600,000 tourists that were going to arrive and to leave from the Paris railway stations, by almost 1,700 TGV train sets. The greatest influx is expected in Paris - Monparnasse and Paris-Lyon railway stations, the routes preferred by the passengers being the coast of the Atlantic, towards the Alps, then towards the Provence region, and of course, towards the Coat of Azure.
In a press relieve issued for advertisement, SNCF announced its clients that has mobilized the number of personnel and the rolling stock necessary for the provision of the favorable conditions for a pleasant travel of those that are going on holiday. Over 300 train sets of TGV were prepared for being operational in the respective weekend, being aimed to be covered 500,000 kilometers.

The First Private Train in Belgium

The occurrence of the first private operator in the Belgian railway network opens a new page in the history of the railways belonging to this country and, in the same time, emphasizes the conclusion of a stage - the one of the state monopoly in this sector. It is the first time since the creation of SNCB, since 1926, when a private train operates on the railway in Belgium.
The first private train is a freight train, which inaugural route has linked the boarder with Germany with the Anvers harbor and has included a transport of spare parts meant for the automobile industry. Its ownership, the combined transport company Dielen & Lejeure Cargo, having the headquarters in Boom town, has obtained the transport license which gives it the right to operate on the railway for five days a week.
Presently, other private companies wait for the issuing of their railway transport licenses, reason why the state companies have expressed their concern that an explosion of the private companies in this sector could lead to the decrease of the security and safety traffic on the railways.
The arrival of the first private operator in the railway field was in the same time an expected event, because still since 1991 the European directives were indicating the necessity to liberalize the railways. In spite of all that, when the event has taken place, the attitude of the SNCB employees has been quite husky; they have checked so rigorously the driving licenses of the engine drivers, as well as the papers proving the granting of the respective license of the private railway company.

New Railway Stations in Greece

Although it is hard to believe, the great majority of the most important railway stations in Greece have never been renovated. OSE (Greek Railway Company) has started to raise funds for the building of some new railway stations in the main cities. The wish for transformation of the old railway stations in some Europeans stations, (the best examples being the ones in Pireu and Atena), being endowed with all the necessary facilities for the 21 century passenger, has been materialized in a series of projects that are going to be carried into effect in the next years.
Thus, the complex that is going to be achieved in Pireu railway station will include a modern terminal for the passengers, one for the leavings, meant for a larger number of trains, suburban and intercity, which will link Pireu to the new railway stations in Atena, Ag. Anargioroi, Menhidi and Ag. Stafanos.
These stations will be connected to the electrical railway, also having available underground parking areas. The complex of buildings meant for specific services of a railway station will be utilized for the administration activities, as well as for the commercial ones. Once with the finalization of the new objectives, the old buildings will be utilized by OSE with other purposes, the neoclassical style of the buildings being also maintained.
Atena, Thessaloniki and Patras railway stations will experience similar modernization actions.

The Eurotunnel, yesterday and today

The idea to achieve link between the Great Britain and the old continent, other than the maritime one, has been for a long time in the attention of the European engineers, especially the French and British specialists. The history is consigning that, still since 1802, a French man, Albert Mathieu, mining engineer, has come with the first idea to build a tunnel in this respect, idea that has been sustained then by and English man - Henri Mottray, in 1803.
After 1830, once with the occurrence of the steam trains and the building of the British railway, there have been designed other projects for tunnels.
A first drilling attempt has been launched in 1880, being followed by a series of projects on routes, over the English Channel. On May 16, 1957, there has been created a study group for the achievement of the respective tunnel; three years later, this proposal for the building of a railway tunnel with two main galleries, and an additional one for maintenance. The project has been launched in 1973, but the crises of the oil in that period have led to the abandon of the works, in 1975.
In the meantime, there have been launched other ideas, among which we can mention: the building of a bridge on sections, in a length of 5,000 meters, suspended on Kevlar cables; the building of an assembly of bridge - tunnel bridge, linked through artificial isles, combined with a railway tunnel, or an assembly of the road and railway tunnels digged under the bottom of the sea.
Finally, the green light in the building action of the current Eurotunnel has been activated since January 20, 1986, the president of France, Francois Mitterand and the prime-minister of the Great Britain, Margaret Thatcher.
After the official opening of the Eurotunnel, in 1994, this has taken over more than 60% from the passengers transport and 48% from the freight transport. Thus, in year 2000 almost 2.8 million of automobiles, 80,000 coaches, 1.1 million trucks have crossed the Eurotunnel, and on the railway 7.1 million passengers, on London - Paris, London - Lille, London - Brussels routes have traveled by Eurostar, on the same routes being transported 2.9 million tones of goods.
A railway link with Eurotunnel, named The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is the most recent project of Great Britain and represents a high speed line in a length of 109 km between St. Pancras and the tunnel, project that has been approved by the British Parliament in 1996. The company, which is in charge with the building, operation and financing of CTRL, is London & Continental Railways.
In 1998 have started the works, which have been split in two sections, the finalization of the first ones being designed for year 2003. The new route is going to shorten the travel with 20 minutes, and after the finalization of all the works, in 2007, a nonstop travel between London and Paris will last only one hour and 15 minutes, and from London to Brussels, two hours!

The Eurotunnel, in figures

The tunnel under the English Channel has a 50-km length, among which 39 are drilled, under the bottom of the sea, being, currently, the longest submarine tunnel in the world.
The transport system of the Eurotunnel is practically formed of three tunnels: two tunnels for the railway transport one for the passengers, and one for the goods, - linked by a third one, located in the middle, for maintenance.
The tunnel has been drilled at 40 meters under the level of the sea.
The trains that operate on the Eurotunnel railway network are protected through APT system (automatic Train protection), a protection system that allow the progressive stop of the train in case of errors made by the engine driver.
Between 1994 and 2000 have crossed the Eurotunnel almost 57 million of people, fact that equates with…the overall of England's population.
The locomotives of the train sets that cross the Eurotunnel are the most powerful in the world, they have the power to haul over 2,400 tones with 140 km/h speed.

Silvia Mirea