Bucharest - Campina
the Future High Speed Section

 

Rehabilitation and modernization program of Bucharest Campina section started by National Railway Company CFR SA in May represents the materialization of the most important objective, proposed long time ago namely the provision of the interoperability with the European railway network, as part of the integration program in the European Union.

Being in full reforming period, Romanian railway aims to attract the state administration on its valences and, it also hopes to gain, in the near future, the competition fight with the other means of transportation.

Thus, the National Railway Company CFR SA proposed through the development and modernization strategy of the railway network to obtain the increase of the traffic by attracting as many clients as possible, also the integration of CFR railway network in the railway network of the European Union through the development of the pan-European transport corridors and, of course, it also proposed to sustain the restructuring and the modification of the railway network in order to provide an increased mobility and travelling conditions in safety and increased comfort.

Bucharest Nord Campina section is part of the pan European Corridor IV on Romanian territory and makes the link between the Capital and important urban, administrative and economical centers, as Ploiesti, Campina or Brasov.

The unfolding of the works on Bucharest Campina section respects most of all the planning, with certain disorders determined by the unexpected or special situations. Till the present time, there have been finalized works on three intervals: Bucharest Chitila (first line); Buda Floresti (first line); Buftea - Peris (first line), where there have been covered all the specialties, tracks, embankments, electric hauling equipment, SCB installations and telecommunication equipment.

The complexity of the rehabilitation program on Bucharest Campina section implied the grouping of works on eight different lots: 1. Route version Km 45 + 217 46 + 177 and bridge over Prahova river; 2. Drilled culverts; 3. Modernization of the current direct and diverted lines from the stations; 4. Bridges and culverts; 5. Public constructions in the railway stations; 6. Contact line modernization; 7. Centralization installations; 8. Power supply for the contact line; every lot being gained through tenders by certain home or international firms.

During the vast modernization works, the activity of passengers and freight transport suffered certain perturbations, caused by some inherent and inevitable problems resulted from the works on the tracks and afferent installations.

The works developed between Bucharest Nord Chitila, Buftea Peris and Buda Floresti Prahova (300 main line), which have started in the same time with the train timetable changing, have affected, as it was expected, the circulation of passengers and freight trains due to the imposed speed restrictions, but in the same time, necessary for the safety of the circulation. Thus, although many were unsatisfied, the maximal circulation speed on certain sections has been reduced from 120 Km/h to 70 km/h and even to 30 km/h, generating delays of 20 or 30 minutes. But, still we do not have to forget that also the high temperatures recorded this summer have created undesired effects and disorders to the afferent equipment of the railway, which led to the speed restrictions and trains stopping during the travel or in the stations, fact that implied significant delays.

Presently, the works that are developed on Bucharest Campina section bring, daily, in the General Inspectorate for Safety Traffic and Control within CNCF CFR SA attention various problems, as we can mention: getting out of order an interlocking system, cables rupture caused by the constructors' teams, or even cables stealing "the initiative" of certain persons that are taking goods for granted even if they belong to the railway which then will be sold as scarp iron.

Reverting to our subject, we have to underline the fact that the rehabilitation process of Bucharest - Campina section, which is achieved section by section, is granted a special importance from the company's management, as well as from the constructors' team.

Because the works on Bucharest Chitila section (first line) have been almost finalized, being already started the rehabilitation of the second line, we have succeed to find out the problems that occurred during the development of the program on the first line.

On behalf of the National Railway Company CFR SA, Mr. Ion Mihaila, director of Traffic Department, had the amiability to present the inconveniences that have occurred in traffic, being determined by the rehabilitation works, as well as by the excessive high temperatures during summer months.

"Although this summer we have covered the whole circulation traffic, any inconvenient occurred due to the rehabilitation works, on certain distances that were closed, have resulted perturbations in trains circulation. In order to give some examples, I will talk about the works on Bucharest Chitila network, first line. Even if this line has been completely shut down, there has also been produced a " crowding" as we, the rail personnel, call it, meaning an agglomeration, because this was the section where all the trains that enter or leave the capital from or towards all other regions in the country. We confronted with situations when the two lines were not enough in order to allow the train sets to enter Bucharest Nord station. I am talking about the summer period when the trains did not circulate regularly, and also due to the high temperatures. The travel time from the circulation graph could not be respected, there have been necessary speed restrictions and, implicit, circulating with a slower speed they performed much more in operation and when they got near Bucharest, they have produced those agglomerations.

The agglomerations implied by the occurrence of equipment defects supplemented the problems caused by the excessive high temperatures. Often occurred were also the situations when during the unfolding of the rehabilitation works there have been cut some communication cables, moments when the communication was ceased between the stations. The interlocking system being out of order the trains could not circulate one by one. Thus, we had been forced to give free way to the trains. This fact implies that on some sections, as Peris and Crivina, closing an operational line (a main line), there was just one line. So, all the trains that came from all over the country "squeezed", due to the repair works, only on a single line. In the moment when the communication system was out of order, too, the trains did not circulate one by one, but they were waiting to reach the station and only then another one left. You can imagine that thus have occurred delays in circulation, because only a train entered Peris Crivina section instead of three, and the others were waiting their turn. Practically, due to these defects the capacity of transit of the train sets has been decreased. Even if every difficult situation has been operationally handled, the set in operation again of such installations could take a few hours.

Anyway, we hope - and we will do our best to reduce these problems in traffic, especially that the heat of the summer is over, so the trains will not be forced anymore to circulate one by one. Delays may occur only if the construction team which take part at the rehabilitation of this section will break again the equipment cables or due to the accidental defects of the locomotives, which are pretty rare."

In order to find out the opinion of the other party involved in the process, I went to Chitila, where the works have already started on the second line, and we have discussed with Mr. Karl Heinz Schieritz, chief of the site at German firm Wiebe. Mr. K.H. Schieritz had the kindness to present us a few interesting aspects from the rehabilitation process of the railway line. "RPM 2002, made by Austrian German, is a unique machinery in the world which succeeds to do in the same time four operations. Although at the beginning it was difficult for the Romanian workers to get used with the shunting of the machinery, I can say now that there is no problem anymore. The skills of the Romanian workers is something I admire, they succeeded in very a short time to get familiar with the working technique of RPM 2002 machinery.

In order to get you also familiar with the problems met here, I would like to tell you first of all how this machinery works. In the first phase the track is cut, it is lifted together with the traverse, and the rocks are carried, on transporting bands, in special crushing mills, where it is washed and cut, because it needs to be rugged, in order to be joint. After the first ledge is taken away, the rocks ledge, the earth is taken out till 1.30 meters deep (till the superior part of the track). The earth that has been taken out is not thrown away, but it is deposited in special arranged places that we have created and becomes recycling material for other activities. So after making this hollow of almost 1.30 meters it is laid down a ledge of geo-textile and geo-grille, and afterwards a ledge of special ballast is poured (PSS), which has in its composition gravel and a special sand. The role of geo-textile is to separate the PSS from earth, and geo-grille is in fact fitting the PSS. This ballast is uniformly distributed through an oscillating arm of the machinery and compacted with some pressing machinery. Washed rocks and previously recycled are put again on the track, then the first stage of packing the sleepers of the track is next, being performed by RPM 2002. With another special machinery to pack the sleepers which operates on laser basis is finalized the packing operation and the shifting process of the track. After the welding of the track, it is ready for the rehabilitation."

Asked about the problems that have occurred during the unfolding of the actions, Mr. K.H. Schieritz wanted to stress the fact that:" Many difficulties had occurred due to the fact that we have not been announced that the cables are buried at a less distance than usual (general level problem which we dealt with in other countries too). Workers group, who was in charge with cables extraction announced us that we should not start, works in that area but only after we have started to dig under the track.

But, supposing that we passed over the settlement period in point of work modality of every stage, I hope that the works at the second line to last less, in order to be put in operation earlier. In the same time, I would like "to have met" all the problems that could occur during the works, still wishing to gain the lost time at the first line. We are in a hurry with the works on the second line because the first line is already in operation even if we have to change the tracks and the slippers, operation that will be performed with a special machinery; after the completing of all stages (till the end) and on the second line, and after putting it in operation, we will come back to the first line in order to finalize it.

About the stage of the works on the second line I can say that I have already put the ledge of PSS up to 3,2 km, and from here, up to 1.4 km we will use only a combination of broken rock, because on the respective distance are a lot of cables and we can not dig at the necessary depth in order to achieve the correct compacting.

We would very much like that everything we do, in fact the final results of the rehabilitation, to be at the expected level, in order to, indeed, be able to operate with high speed on Romanian railways, too. "

Well, neither the language and nor the working style approach, which is a bit different from the German style, nor the difficulties met did not hinder the continuity of the activity flow in order to rehabilitate Bucharest Campina section. Even if when the activity started it seemed a bit difficult, the collaboration between the two parties (Austrian German and Romanian) became normal step by step, fact that implies the normality necessary to finalize an activity of such an amplitude. Consequently to the facts noticed we could appreciate that the transformation of the Romanian railway in an occident level network is on its right way.

 

Oana Bran