Contrasts at Innotrans

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Given the dire political leadership of our railways recently, including cutting back HS2 to make it meaningless and closing down the Restoring Your Railway scheme, it is easy to think that we have lost the plot with our railways, leading to poor performance, cancellations and continuous industrial unrest. Delays on new freight interchanges approvals, sustainable coal mining in Whitehaven turned down and the closure of Royal Mail rail operations suggest that rail's role in providing sustainable transportation for passengers and freight counts for nothing. Filling potholes remains the political priority.
Two 60 year celebrations in 2024

October 2024 sees two remarkable events to celebrate. The British Rail double arrow symbol was born 60 years ago representing the modern railway. It has lasted unlike the myriad of railway brands which pass quietly into the night like an all night bus route. In fact, it is set to be relaunched after the passing of legislation, with the new government’s Great British Railways project, albeit lifted from the previous government who lost interest, (hopefully without the stupid name).

The other celebration is about high speed rail. On 1 October 1964 the world’s first high speed rail Shinkansen ‘bullet train’ service was launched between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. This was not a flash in the pan, just look at the high speed rail network in Japan 60 years on. The focus now, as demonstrated at the Innotrans Rail exhibition in Berlin in September, is integration including using standard track gauge of the European network, including Rail Baltica integrating Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, alongside Ukraine, all turning their backs on integration with Russia. High speed infrastructure has added capacity to rail networks.


In the last 60 years in Europe we have seen similar developments particularly in France with the Lignes de Grand Vitesse (LGV), the Neubaustrecken lines in Germany and AVE in Spain. However the pace has quickened with China building new railways faster than our Railway Mania in the 1840’s, but in this case for sound economic reasons. Just look at the comparison between the Chinese high speed railway network in 2008 v 2020! Not content with this, China is building medium and high speed lines throughout the Far East and in Africa.
We are being brainwashed to lack ambition.


Britain is smaller than China, although that didn’t bother us in the past, or our ambitions. An uncompleted high speed line from Old Oak Common to Birmingham, eventually Euston to Birmingham, and an HS1 connection not even joined to HS2 is little to show for in 60 years! Walking with luggage from St Pancras International to Euston will remain as our version of International high speed rail travel. You may have read that Lord Daniel Moylan, Conservative transport spokesman in the House of Lords, only a few days ago was reported in the Yorkshire Post under the headline – “Senior Tory suggests the North doesn’t have enough people to warrant rail investment” as saying that “North has to take a bit of control of its own thinking, and more imaginative about some of these solutions.”

So, is the grass greener on the other side?

In terms of high speed railway infrastructure the answer must be yes. I visited Innotrans in Berlin in September along with about 177,000 other people with an interest in railway development. Innotrans is the world’s largest rail trade fair held every two years at the Messe, Berlin. Interestingly High Speed was not the main focus of the exhibition although one new significant addition was featured - Egyptian Railways High Speed with a very important twist. 41 new Valero high speed trainsets are being built but there will also be 94 four car Desiro regional trains. Perhaps the Egyptian Government is more informed than ours with HS2, in seeing new high speed lines as the backbone of a high capacity integrated rail system for the whole country or perhaps they learned from the HS2 sponsorship fiasco in Britain?
It was interesting to compare the change of emphasis from the previous Innotrans, two years ago, by a look at the hardware on show and the suppliers exhibiting in the massive Messe campus. The emphasis then was on high speed but also on accessibility and innovation both for main line rail and light rail.

A new emphasis

This time the declared emphasis was on sustainability and ‘digitalisation’ so potentially increasing modal shift to rail by making rail a more cost effective attractive option to customers, passenger and freight. Traditionally we had main line rail and ‘heavy’ light rail. This has changed to increasing the spread of rail options by bridging the gap here with tram-train but also providing both main line and light rail options for lower density applications, once the preserve of cars and buses.


All regional passenger trains on show were electric, either direct feed for existing electrified systems or powered by hydrogen and/or lithium batteries with automatic charging. Hybrid electric traction has surprisingly quickly become the norm.


I did attend the unveiling of the CRRC (China) CINOVA H2 New Energy Intercity Train. Zero emission train for non electrified railways. It is 100mph capable powered by hydrogen fuel cells combined with a high rated lithium titanate power cell. It comes with automatic hydrogen fuelling robots. This illustrates that hybrid propulsion has come of age and not limited to short range low speed services. It is also autonomous, another trend on show under the digitalisation heading. No turning back now.

Light Rail

Light rail increasingly features at Innotrans as a sizeable market where just about every city in the world has a developing a light rail system or wants one. We are told that Leeds is the largest city in Europe without a viable light rail or metro system. The recent Annual Light Rail Conference in Leeds revealed that the City Region is now determined to get one moving away from endless studies.

Light rail is also developing its range with battery propulsion on show as with main line. A problem with light rail is that everybody loves light rail requiring additional capacity. On show was the new Alstom long (51m) 9 segment LRV for Berlin to replace the recently introduced 7 segment version on the M4 route.
Freight

The focus for passenger trains is operation over whole networks taking advantage of electrification where it exists. Freight development is all about having an international offer and last mile capabilities. European railways have grown up like a series of inter connected Galapagos Islands each with their own electrification and signalling systems. Tailor made solutions have been developed of course for specific routes but open access operators and national railways need go anywhere capability. ETCS (European Train Control System) is a standard control system increasingly being applied which avoids trying to cram multi signalling systems into a locomotive with limited space. Network Rail is implementing ETCS for the East Coast Main Line as is Metrolinx Canada for its GO system as it gives increased line capacity and safety, as well as go anywhere capability.

Freight in Europe is cross border as are many passenger services. Perhaps the best example on show of a multi system locomotive is the Newag EU 200 “Griffin” locomotive on show for Polish Railways Inter City. There is even a map on the bodyside showing the six countries where it can operate.
“Open access” in Europe has promoted a series of electric locomotives increasingly with multi system capability in the form of Alstom’s TRAXX and Siemens Taurus and Vectron locomotives. Many of these were on display at Innotrans with the difference that most freight versions also now include last mile capability. This is an evolution meeting rail customer’s needs, vitally improving the cost and quality of freight train operations.


Just as passengers need smaller lighter trains for an integrated system, the freight business including ports, need small locomotives for shunting and local trips around ports for example. These were traditionally diesel with the previous trend on show towards meeting increasingly difficult EU emissions standards. All gone. There were 5 examples on show, all bimodes or battery or hydrogen powered. They all looked like this, Bo-Bo centre or offset cab locomotives with two way visibility. Ports in Europe are expanding and need green credentials so are investing in bimodes as part of their environmental credentials, and getting planning permission for extensions. Short trips from ports are a sustainable way of increasing port ground capacity.
What about the UK?

The UK’s rail rolling industry, despite commitment from Alstom in Derby, Hitachi in Newton Aycliffe and CAF in Llanwern will be on life support as we know when current orders are complete. There is no UK government national rail procurement strategy despite talk of nationalisation. Alstom at Derby was temporarily bailed out by TfL buying 10 more Elizabeth Line trains. The one bright light is Siemens opening a major train assembly facility at Goole to build new trains for TfL’s Underground Piccadilly Line. The 52 year old Bakerloo trains, now according to TfL in “a state of managed decline” and “at risk of critical failure”, will have to last until 2030 and even then funding is not guaranteed.

As a result there were no new British made main line or light rail trains on display at Innotrans 2024, unlike two years ago when Stadler launched new trains being built in South Wales for the South Wales Metro project.

Government strategy and support for our rail industry may be lacking but the UK rail supply side is very vigorous in terms of the rail consultancy, interiors, catering, passenger information, IT systems, AI for rail infrastructure maintenance etc for light and main line rail, albeit most companies are international given the need for continuous supply of orders.

The Class 99

UK railfreight is a different matter. It is a sector that knows where the competition is and how to meet the challenge of service quality and desperately, importantly, cost. Transfer of Royal Mail to 100% road long distance road convoys is just such an example of what is wrong. The rail product is as sustainable as it gets, with 100mph electric trains. The problem was price. Network Rail is aware of the price issue and needs to find a regulated way of making rail competitive on price, especially for the parcels sector but also for intermodal. Where is the Regulator?

Almost all intermodal traffic in the UK travels on the electric network, particularly the West Coast Main Line. Amazingly unlike Antwerp and Rotterdam at the other side of the North Sea, none of our ports are on the ac electrified network (Southampton, Felixstowe, Liverpool included). Most of our inland terminals are not electrified except for Daventry, Trafford Park and on Merseyside. The talk has traditionally been about last mile capability for freight trains into terminals but this too has moved on both on the continent and here, to the need for main line bimode capability with decent performance both in electric and diesel mode on the main line.

The first toe in the water was the 10 Vossloh/Stadler Class 88 locomotives owned by Beacon Rail and introduced by DRS just under 10 years ago, regularly to be seen delivering Tesco goods to Scotland from Daventry. These are very powerful in electric mode (5400hp) and have a 940hp diesel engine (the equivalent of a BR Type 1 locomotive) to get a heavy intermodal train out of trouble on the West Coast Main Line and also to access terminals, and indeed to haul lighter freight trains, such as nuclear flasks right across the network.

10 years on, there is now the ability to incorporate much more powerful diesel engines in an electric locomotive bodyshell. The Stadler Euro Dual is an example now in service for 8 years on the continent. It was not on show in this format at Innotrans but other examples were, such as Siemens new bi-mode Vectron.


Just as bimodes have become the norm replacing diesel multiple units and also for freight local trip locomotives, powerful bimode electric/diesels are now filling the gap for rail freight in mainland Europe. A star attraction at Innotrans was the introduction of 30 Class 99 locomotives for operation in Britain, again owned by Beacon Rail and built by StadlerRail Valencia for GB Railfreight. They are slower than the 100 mph Class 88 but geared tailored to the UK 75mph Intermodal running speed, more powerful in both electric (8000hp) and diesel (2150hp-equivalent to a BR Type 4).

If ever there was a game changer for freight operation in Britain this is it. It is not a risky investment given such development on mainlind Europe over the last 8 years. It will work straight out of the box. If we had a government that would regulate rail access charges to meet road competition and one with a positive attitude to rail freight terminal openings we would have a rail freight revolution in Britain. The new government should seize this opportunity and inject some leadership into making this happen.
How did it look in the wild?

Outside Innotrans in Berlin, I took the opportunity to travel on quite a few trains to see how it all looked in day to day operation having read many reports that the DB has had a hard time recently with strikes and poor punctuality.

Several things looked to have changed. Three are perhaps worthy of mention. Visits to Berlin Hautbahnhof (Main Central station) revealed the platforms were packed with thousands of people travelling particularly on conventional trains, although the ICE trains were busy too. I witnessed weekend ICE trains being delayed by boarding passengers with luggage (partly on account of the need to reserve with groups of passengers with suitcases using one door despite exhortations to spread out - hardly practical for people travelling with luggage).

The answer is that the German Government wants people to use trains. The German Government funded Deutschland Ticket again for 2024, which is unlimited travel on all public transport in the whole country for 49 Euros a month which works out at 1.63 Euros a day! It is not valid on ICE and EC trains. The take up is massive, no wonder youngsters are buying these rather than buying cars the minute they are 18 years old. Amazingly if your train is over 60 minutes late you get 1.5 Euros back (min 4 Euros for each claim of several journeys, maximum 25% over the month).

High capacity conventional trains are back in fashion far nicer, faster, safer and now cheaper than coach travel which has grown exponentially in Germany and in the UK given railway woes.

The other change is the growth of open access freight and passenger trains in Germany. Leasing locomotives for freight is now the norm for road haulage firms and port operators. Flixbus has expanded right across Europe and now in the UK offering easy to book reliable coach travel. Flixbus is now an established open access rail operator in Germany with sustainable green train marketed as Flixtrain.
It does reflect a change of emphasis from sheer high speed to high capacity sensibly priced rail travel.

A third development in evidence in the wild and at Innotrans is International, not desperately high speed international passenger rail travel crossing borders just as a Flixbus does. In evidence was the recently introduced Berlin to Amsterdam service using Dutch Railways leased equipment making quite a splash in Germany. It takes 6 hours for about 650km, not desperately fast, but for most people, especially those familiar with Berlin Brandenburg airport and its now legendary queues perfectly acceptable. it is a very comfortable classic high capacity train not an ICE trainset.
A further development announced during Innotrans is a new day Berlin to Paris train (about 1000km). This is to be an ICE High Speed train taking 10 hours marketed as slow travel! Again it is not particularly fast when compared to air even with the airport queues but it does not involve 2 or 3 connections, allegedly regularly missed. This is in additional to the spasmodic night train taking 13 hour, a shadow of its former self earlier running from Paris to Moscow.

Things are definitely changing opening up rail travel to more people with a definite push on getting people to use rail.

Is the grass greener? I will leave you to judge!

What is clear is that rail travel has moved on from the days local travel in Germany was often on one of these 4 wheel railbuses. This one lives on and was in action as an exhibitor canteen at Innotrans!