Issue 6 2009

Ensuring balanced and sustainable development

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Minister Aleksandar Tsvetkov, Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications (MTITC), Bulgaria

Over the next four years, the main priorities in the transport policy of the Ministry of Transport, Information Technology and Communications (MTITC) are: the successful integration of the Bulgarian transport system with the European system; the development of accessible and safe transport in all regions of the country; the support, modernisation and construction of the national transport infrastructure; the improvement in the management and realisation of various projects, including those financed through EU funds and public-private partnerships; and the creation of favourable conditions for effective counteraction to the disloyal competition in the transport sector.

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Tagged with: Aleksandar Tsvetkov, MTITC

RATB’s important modernisation projects

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Gheorghe Aron, General Manager, RATB

RATB is the main surface public transport operator in Romania. From the point of view of density, our public transport network is the fourth largest in Europe with 164 routes (118 bus lines, 26 tramway lines and 20 trolleybus lines), with an overall length of 1,929km double-way. The routes are uniformly distributed, providing convenient transport links and the number of daily trips is approximately 2.3 million. (more…)

Tagged with: Country Profile, Gheorghe Aron, RATB

Metro 4 – Budapest’s first fully automatic Metro

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Gusztáv Klados, Project Director, DBR Project Directorate and John Larke, Contracts Manager, DBR Project Directorate

Budapest, the capital of Hungary, is a city of two million people situated on the banks of the River Danube. As well as being an important historical and cultural centre, Budapest was the location of the third metro system to be constructed in the world and the first one in continental Europe.

Existing metro lines

Metro 1 was opened by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1896 having been constructed using the cut and cover method by Siemens and Halske AG between 1894 and 1896. With its ornate, late 19th century style stations, the 3.7km line runs from north-east to south-west on the Pest side of the Danube under Andrássy Avenue, which was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002. Originally designed to carry 35,000 passengers a day, it now carries in excess of 100,000.

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Tagged with: Country Profile, DBR Project Directorate, Gusztáv Klados, John Larke

The complex reconstruction of Budapest Metro Line 2

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Péter Takács, Technical Deputy CEO, BKV Zrt

Readers of Eurotransport have been kept informed on the overhaul of Metro Line 2 in Budapest on a once every two years basis (Issue 2 2005, Issue 3 2007). So let us report on another two years on the progression of this complex project.

Budapest has always been pioneering the introduction and implementation of new public transport systems. This proactive approach is characterised by the Millennium Subway (M1), the first subway on the European continent which opened up in 1896, and the East-West metro line, constructed and serving passengers as the first metro line of the CEE region. Here, service commenced in 1970, but the line was built further and reached its current length in 1972. Now the East-West metro line is named Budapest Metro Line 2.

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Tagged with: BKV Zrt, Country Profile, Péter Takács

iLink – a new era in smartcard technology for Northern Ireland

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Catherine Mason, Group Chief Executive, Translink

Translink is the main provider of public transport in Northern Ireland incorporating Metro, NI Railways and Ulsterbus services. Our success is clearest in the growing numbers of passengers travelling on our bus and train services. Over 80 million passenger journeys per year are now made with Translink – a rise of more than eight million in the last four years alone.

Translink aims to provide integrated travel solutions that are attractive, sustainable and good value. We recognise that our bus and rail services enrich the economy, the environment and the life of the community in a sustainable fashion through innovation, service quality and value for money.

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Tagged with: Catherine Mason, Smartcard Technology, Translink

The Copenhagen Metro: a 24/7 system

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Claudio Cassarino, Managing Director, Metro Service A/S

The symbol of the Copenhagen Metro is the white trains running both above and underground, servicing approximately 50 million passengers each year. So far this year, the service availability has been recorded at 98.6% – with headway down to approximately 120 seconds – all this running on a 24/7 service.

24/7 service introduced in March 2009

The Copenhagen Metro is one of the first driverless Metros operating on a 24/7 basis within a two-track system, which means maintenance activities will be performed in one track, while at the same time service will be carried out on the other track. This means that all track maintenance activities are performed in a four hour timeframe each night. This has been made possible by implementing independent switch control on the whole system. All alterations have been performed in 2008.

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Tagged with: Claudio Cassarino, Metro Service A/S

Green light for the European Commission’s action plan on urban mobility

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Anne Houtman, Directorate-General for Energy and Transport Internal Market and Sustainability, European Commission

On 30 September 2009, the European Commission adopted an action plan on urban mobility, proposing 20 specific measures to assist local, regional and national authorities in reaching their targets for sustainable urban mobility.

Europe needs sustainable urban mobility

Urban transport is of growing concern to citizens. Over 70% of the European population lives in urban areas1, and this percentage is expected to increase over the next decade. Cities need efficient transport systems to support their economy and the welfare of their inhabitants. But urban transport systems are also part of the overall European transport system. Many long distance freight and passenger journeys start or finish in urban areas.

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Tagged with: Anne Houtman, European Commission, Urban Mobility

moBiel – building a future on customer intimacy

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Wolfgang Brinkmann, Managing Director, moBiel GmbH

For four years, Bielefeld – a city in the Northeast of the Federal State of North-Rhine-Westphalia with a population of approximately 325,000, has topped the category of ‘Overall Customer Satisfaction’ on the annual German public transport survey ‘ÖPNV-Kundenbarometer’. Its strong customer focus is what moBiel, the city’s public transport operator, considers its strongest asset. As the stimulator of Bielefeld’s infrastructure, moBiel banks on expansion – ‘life in the city, it’s where we are’.

Bielefeld, like over a hundred other cities in Germany, introduced its first electric tram line at the turn of the century. Initially, it comprised of 12 railcars and eight tram trailers operating on a 9.2km rail track in 30 minute intervals. Bielefeld’s citizens were enthusiastic about the new means of public transport. Within the year, the tram fleet comprised of 21 railcars with 11 tram trailers and their frequency, at times, stepped up to 7.5 minutes. The tramline remained a fixture of public life in Bielefeld, even after World War II. In the late 1960s, many German cities ripped out their rail tracks and switched to bus-based public transport. However, Bielefeld’s public transport operator, then still a division of the public utility Stadtwerke Bielefeld, not only stuck with its trams so popular with its citizens, but set out to expand the rail system – even after the first prognoses predicted the seemingly anachronistic trams would soon disappear.

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Tagged with: City Profile, moBiel GmbH, Wolfgang Brinkmann

Delivering a world class underground network for Londoners

Issue 6 2009 / 22 December 2009 / Dean Finch, Chief Executive Officer, Tube Lines

It is now just over six years since Tube Lines took over responsibility for maintaining and upgrading London’s Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. One of the largest capital infrastructure projects in the world, the 30 year Public Private Project (PPP) will transform the lives of millions of Londoners and give them the world-class underground network they deserve. Now six months into the job, new Chief Executive Officer, Dean Finch, shares his thoughts on Tube Lines with Eurotransport.

The Tube is an icon of London and the sheer scale and complexity of the upgrade work being undertaken is unlike any other. Over the past six years, Tube Lines has worked hard to turn around the performance of its three lines and the benefits are clear to see. Services are more reliable – the Piccadilly line is 70% more reliable today than in 2003 and reliability on the Northern line, once dubbed the ‘misery line’ has improved by an impressive 65%. Stations are cleaner, more modern and fit for purpose and the quality of the track has been vastly improved leading to fewer faults and a better journey for passengers.

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Tagged with: Dean Finch, Network Upgrade, Tube Lines