Rastatt tunnel construction site: freight rail operators are demanding 100 million euros in damages

Source: DIE GÜTERBAHNEN/NEE

The Network of European railways calls on Deutsche Bahn to quickly repair the damaged tunnel construction site near Rastatt. The rail freight operators are demanding millions in damages. Five years after the tunnel accident near Rastatt, the losses in the rail freight sector had totaled around 100 million euros. In addition, the long-promised four-track expansion of the route between Karlsruhe and Basel is required. Deutsche Bahn is in talks with the network of European railways. According to DB, the Rastatt tunnel should only be operational in four years. The tunnel is located on the Rotterdam-Genoa railway line, which is important throughout Europe, and is intended to carry freight and long-distance trains under the baroque city of Rastatt. What began as a technical project of the century ended in a technical disaster five years ago. During drilling work for the Rastatt railway tunnel, one of the tunnel tubes collapsed. The tracks of the Rhine Valley Railway running above it sagged visibly. Luckily, no train passed the scene of the accident at that moment. The repair of the tunnel, the further construction and the search for those responsible gobble up several million euros. In addition, there are possible claims for damages from various sides. The so-called evidence gathering process is still ongoing – the causes of the accident are not officially known.

The west tube of the Rastatt Tunnel is now complete. Only smaller connecting tunnels, so-called cross passages, are currently being built there. The big problem, however, is the east tube, in which the damaged gigantic tunnel boring machine is still standing. Before the tube is then built in the open-cut method, the drilling machine must first be taken out. To do this, however, a 17 meter deep and 200 meter long excavation pit must first be excavated. That should happen in the middle of next year. Only then the tunnel can be completed. According to Deutsche Bahn, it will not go into operation until 2026.

Source (in German): https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/karlsruhe/tunnel-rastatt-havarie-baustelle-104.html

A video tour through the tunnel is available in the ARD Mediathek (in German): https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/swr-aktuell-baden-wuerttemberg/sendung-16-00-uhr-vom-10-8-2022/swr-bw/Y3JpZDovL3N3ci5kZS9hZXgvbzE3MDcwNTg

Lombardy Approves Quadrupling of the Milan-Pavia line final project

Source: Image by Michael Gaida from Pixabay

The Lombardy Region gives green light for the definitive project for the ‘quadrupling of the Milan Rogoredo – Pavia section – first phase (from Milan Rogoredo to Pieve Emanuele)’ and the ‘speeding up of the historic Milan – Genoa line for the Milan – Pavia section’. The regional Infrastructure Department highlighted that the enhancement of the Milan-Pavia line is essential to increase the efficiency and regularity of the service, because it will make it possible to separate the different types of rail transport. On the one hand, suburban and regional trains; on the other hand, inter-regional and long-distance trains and freight trains. Reducing interference between the different transport flows means making circulation more fluid and increasing the capacity of the line. With its opinion, the Region has paid great attention to the ability of the project to ensure the improvement of services. The quadrupling project of the Milan Rogoredo – Pavia section has an extension of 28.6 km. The intervention is divided into two functional phases. That is the section from Milan Rogoredo to Pieve Emanuele for about 11 km and the section from Pieve Emanuele to Pavia for about 17 km. The work has a total cost of 900 million euros. Of these, 264.50 million euros for the first phase from Milan Rogoredo to Pieve Emanuele.

Source (in Italian): https://www.lombardianotizie.online/quadruplicamento-linea-milano-pavia/

Damage caused by a wrongly routed train – an ICE on an odyssey

Image by Björn Habel from Pixabay

On 13 August, an empty high-speed train of Deutsche Bahn AG drove against all regulations on the tracks to the freight station of the Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln AG (HGK). The train driver is said to have ignored at least one warning signal. Apparently, the ICE only came to a standstill when its power supply failed, because the track systems of the HGK are not electrified. No passenger trains are allowed in the goods area of the HGK. For the experts, the case shows examples of failures in the often shortened training of career changers and the risks of too few and overworked staff in signal boxes and control centers.

Source (in German): https://www.esslinger-zeitung.de/inhalt.schaeden-durch-falsch-geleiteten-zug-ein-ice-auf-irrfahrt.334f610d-d0e7-425d-8bbd-27af455b9eeb.html