Worldwide Railway News

UIC Has a New President
On November 21 the current year, the General Assembly of the International Railway Unions has reunited for the election of a new president of this organization, for 2003-2004. Through election has been assigned Mr. Bendikt Weibel, the executive director of SBB (Switzerland) who has taken over this position from Mr. Etienne Schouppe, the former general director of SNCB (Belgium).
On this occasion there have been also elected the three vice-presidents of UIC: Masatake Matsuda, the president of EJRC (Japan) and the president of UIC World Executive Council; - Dalibor Zeleny, the general director of CD (Czech Republic); - Karel Vinck, the executives director of SNCB (Belgium).
There have been also elected the vice-presidents in charge with the coordination work of the collaboration committees and commissions within the UIC mainly in the activity fields: the passengers' traffic, freight, infrastructure research and techniques and IT. We are proud to let you know that in the position of president of IT commission has been reelected Mr. Vasile Olievschi, the representative of CFR SA.
On this occasion there has been also reelected the president of the European Institute for Railway Research (ERRI), Mr. Rod Muttram, the representative of Great Britain; it is well know that this institute has an important role in the development of the projects on the railways achieved in collaboration and, especially of those achieved by the administration UIC members.

Galileo - the European System of Navigation through Satellite
To know the exact position of an object from Terra in space and time, besides several other such information, seemed, up to yesterday, a quite utopian idea. But through the increase of the radio-navigation system through satellite, called Galileo, in a few years all these will be possible.
Galileo is a project launched by the European Union in collaboration with the European Spatial Agency. Through the achievement of this system there will be known in any moment, with a great precision, the position on our planet of all these objects, mobile and immobile (vehicles, ships, armed troops etc.).
The Galileo system consists in an assembly of 30 satellites that will offer the numerous users of this program information regarding the positioning of the objectives that are of interest for them. What is sure: through the huge number of applications, which Galileo will make possible will revolutionize the life on Terra. Its presence will be felt in every sector: from the transports (localization of certain vehicle, the tracing of an itinerary, the speed control in traffic, the use of certain guiding systems and so on), at social services (the granting of help to certain handicapped persons or to the old persons), from the justice to border crossing control, of the public works (information geographical systems) to the saving of certain persons that are in danger (their orientation on the sea, in the mountains etc.) etc., etc., etc
For the railways, Galileo will provide the possibility to achieve various new applications among which we can mention here only: the traffic surveillance, the control of the freight wagons or the monitoring of the signaling system. On the other hand, or the monitoring of the signaling system. On the other hand, there will be made possible the reduction of the distances between the trains, fact that will lead to the increase of the railway traffic. For the railway transport operation will also be extremely easy to localize exactly, in any moment, the entire fleet of rolling stock.

Railtex 2002 - Birmingham, England
In England, the country of the railways, the most important international salon for the railway equipment, systems and services has been unfolded in this country during November 26-28, the current year, the manifestation reaching at its sixth edition. The railway industry exhibition, together with 550 participants, from 18 countries, wants to demonstrate every year the importance of the role that is played by the railway industry that is in a permanent development and modernization of the railway system, yet of the companies, generally.
Only in the host country the expenses for the railway transport development in this first decade of the XXI century will raise to almost 60 billion, of pounds, for this interval of time estimating an increase with 50% of the number of passengers and 80% of the volume of the goods transported on the railways.
The participants at the Railtex 2002 event have represented all the railway sectors: infrastructure, signaling and communications, rolling stock and maintenance, as well as the specialized companies in the field of human resources.
Therefore, at Railtex 2002 have been presented the last achievements in the field: rolling stock, associated systems and equipment, produced for the track, infrastructure, track maintenance, signaling and communications, the driving energy supply and of the electrical systems, the equipment and services of railway vehicle maintenance, the systems for the correlation of the claims and of other information from the passengers, IT system, expertise services, railway exploitation and security system.

Trains and Movies
Initially stipulated to be unfolded in the first part of December, as a cultural…present for the railway employees from all over the world, the international film festival being scheduled the current year on November 22-30.
The town Lille (France) has been the host of the 11th edition of this festival. Called up to the present time Cinerail, and from now on Train Et Cinema, this event, already traditional, is dedicated to all those involved in the transport activity on the railways (railways, underground trains, tams) from all five continents and which use the audio-visual within their communication policy, and, the professionals from cinema, from Television and other sectors that use similar ways of expression to the audio-visual, as well as all those passionate of the passengers universe on the railways.
The productions presented within the festival in Lille are films ordered by various railway undertakings for the promotion of their own policies, the TV documentary and fiction short films which action is unfolded in the railway stations, in the trains or which characters are railway employees.
The films presented are assessed by an international jury - which has been presided the current year by Mr. Mohamed Camara, the representative of the Guinean state -, being granted various prizes: the Great Prize of the festival, the prize for the best documentary, for the best advertising film, fiction film etc.
November 28 has been dedicate to a colloquium each of them debating the way in which there can be valuated the best in the audio-visual, the image and the patrimony of the railways (railway stations and trains). There has been also organized a round table which has reunited the European specialists in the field of communications, advertising and the valuation of the railway historical patrimony.
As during the former years, the great public could assist during the whole festival to the projection of the selected films for the competition, every evening being scheduled a long film that approaches the train universe.

The New JetTrain Achieved by Bombardier
At the end of this fall a train hauled by a new performant locomotive, being called the JetTrain has been launched "to the water" in the Union Station from Washington. Built in order to reach the 240 km/h speed, this locomotive has been produced by the well known company Bombardier, in collaboration with the Federal Administration of the United States of America Railways (FRA), and has an engine used in aviation, ST40, built by Pratt & Whitney company. The new engine is, in fact, an adaptation of the plane engine PW 150, being endowed with a performant electric generator.
The company Bombardier has created the JetTrain having the purpose to provide a speed and a power of acceleration comparable to the electrical trains without being necessary additional expenses for the electrification. The documentation shows that the locomotive is with over 20% easier than the conventional Diesel ones and accelerates twice more rapidly. Bombardier and FRA have also performed a great number of tests to this type of locomotives, which technology is seen by its creators as a…market "breaker" in the railway transport field for high speed in North America.

Satisfied by Train Travel
The railway transport companies from Europe approach various modern methods in order to find out the requirements of the clients. This one, due to the fact that they have learnt very well the marketing lessons and the principles according to which operates the market economy.
In Denmark, for example, DSB operator has appealed the current year to the method of public opinion testing. Asking a number of 12,500 clients in order to find out if they were satisfied by the services they have been provided with. On a scale from 1 to 5, the conditions offered by the DSB have been appreciated at 3.8, fact that represents an increase of the degree of satisfaction of the passengers in comparison to the year 2000. Among the questions asked and others referring to the personnel's behavior from the tickets selling, the obtained results revealed that 66% of the passengers are satisfied and very content of the services from the first category and even in a bigger percentage, namely 76%, by the ones offered by the second one. One of the great dissatisfactions of the passengers of the respective railways remains the way in which various information is provided related to the traffic and the ones that inform about the trains delays.

Bucharest - 18 New Underground Trains
Since 2003, on the Bucharest underground network, more exactly on the Main Section 2 (Pipera - IMGB), will be put into operation only modernized trains. According to the contract concluded by Metrorex SA and Bombardier Transportation Company, the Romanian underground company has already purchased 18 modern trains. Moreover, in order to diminish the time between two trains arrival, there have been already started off the negotiations, with the well-known company, for the purchase of another six train sets.
Since December 10 there have already in exploitation two of the trains, other two being still in testing stage. Among the passengers that have traveled by the first train of this kind were also the ministers of Transports, Mr. Miron Mitrea, the general director of Metrorex, Mr. Marius Lapadat, the representatives of the Bombardier company and, of course, the journalists.
Therefore, if you decide to travel by underground, for Holidays, as a novelty, try a route on the Main Section 2. Maybe you will be lucky to travel by one of the two new trains, which, we are sure that will impress the traveling passengers through design, as well as through the increased number of seats.

Silvia Mirea