The Old Westbahn (2) | 52 comments (52 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

The slider system doesn't turn, it has special railcars that have sides that drop down to allow the trailer to be slid on, and then lift up to clamp the load. So its different to Modalohr, but similar in that its conventional piggyback dual-mode freight/truck, which is the same space that Railroaders compete in. Whether they are general purpose piggyback or require special trailers, I don't recall.

The Modalohr system looks to allow conventional piggyback freight of general purpose trailers. Remember that I was a teenager in the 70's, so I think of piggyback freight as the "conventional" multi-modal that was so commonplace in the 70's, and container rail / road / ship / barge as the more modern approach that has grown so much over the past forty years.

Train to train? Should containers or truck trailers be moved for train to train? In an efficient system, all train to train movements will be coupling and uncoupling strings of freight cars. The Cargosprinter is the ultimate for that of course ...

... and at the volume of a single CargoSprinter one could load and unload containers with a forklift. And two Cargosprinter consists could run a string of Roadrailers in between, for very flexible carload freight handling abilities. Obviously either a Modalohr or the sliding system could be part of the railcar consist between the end CargoSprinter, but first the Modalohr needs to be rolled out to its major intermodal transfer gateways before it starts to make sense to extend it to smaller railheads.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Mon Jul 16th, 2012 at 04:07:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 1)

The beauty of Modalohr, in a European context, is that it allows very fast loading/unloading, and very low tech wrt stations. All you need is a quay that enables trucks to drive across the wagon beds. If long enough, loading/unloading can be done in parallel (e.g. ten trucks at a time) and it's all over in a few minutes. I saw a paper -- it must have been nearly 10 years ago -- showing how this could enable the use of the TGV network for high-speed multi-modal freight (you need distributed traction in the bogies, but that is becoming commonplace). The key being that fast loading/unloading lets you interleave freight and passenger services.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Tue Jul 17th, 2012 at 05:06:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

So its substantially slower loading than the sliding rollers system, since its only ten trucks at a time, but its also substantially lower capital cost, since the main capital investment is carried around on the railcars themselves.

It also would fit the CargoSprinter concept perfectly, since an entire Cargosprinter could be loaded at once.

I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.

by BruceMcF (agila61 at netscape dot net) on Tue Jul 17th, 2012 at 05:04:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

I'm not sure where ten trucks at a time comes from, I thought all cars can be loaded/unloaded at the same time?

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 02:34:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

It was an example. All you need is a long enough quay. At Aiton (the France-Turin route) the quay is 550m long, enabling the simultaneous loading of 20 tractor units (in half an hour, apparently).

So far, there are only point-to-point liaisons, with no intermediate stops.

Here's some news you might not have seen : the Perpignan-Luxemburg Modalohr service is to be extended to Sweden, and into Spain :

Rail motorways to serve Spain and Sweden - Railway Gazette

22 June 2012
EUROPE: Announcing the rebranding of its 'rail motorway' business as VIIA on June 7, SNCF Geodis said that its Perpignan - Luxembourg service is to extended to Helsingborg in Sweden later this year. A southern extension into Spain is also being planned, following the successful conclusion of initial cross-border tests to Llers on June 3.
The Perpignan - Luxembourg service carried 50 000 semi-trailers and swap bodies in 2011, with the increase in maximum train lengths to 850 m providing a 33% increase in capacity on the four daily return trips.
With the Mont Cenis tunnel between France and Italy cleared to the GB1 loading gauge, VIIA's Aiton - Orbassano service is now able to accept standard semi-trailers and it is hoped to grow traffic by 40% or 'around 10 000 extra transport units a year'.
'Rail motorways are on their way to forming a real network', said SNCF Geodis Finance Director Olivier Storch. 'The recent introduction of the longest train in Europe reflects a renewal of rail and proves rail's ability to adapt to customer expectations on service, costs, reliability and CO2 emissions.'

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 07:43:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

(oops)

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 07:53:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

Spain, but not Portugal.

As a result of EUsterity, Portugal has cancelled the project to build high speed rail from Lisbon to the Spanish border, which has provided Spain with the excuse to do the same, so no Lisbon-Madrid high speed rail link.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 08:44:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

As a result of EUsterity, Portugal has cancelled the project to build high speed rail from Lisbon to the Spanish border

The official excuse though was some untowardness in the PPP tendering process, and the excuse for not re-launching the tender included the claim that the priority is a normal-gauge freight link to the Spanish network.

provided Spain with the excuse to do the same

Do you have a source? Last I heard was Spain considering to sue Portugal for not respecting an international agreement, and Brussels intervening to negotiate a compromise solution. Some parts of the line on the Spanish side are almost completed (albeit just the parts furthest from Madrid).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 10:31:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 1)

Latest I know is from March.

If you are not convinced, try it on someone who has not been entirely debauched by economics. — Piero Sraffa

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 10:40:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 1)

If I'm not mistaken that article doesn't mention the Spanish reaction. At any rate, the most recent news on the Spanish section of the line is this:

Adif finaliza las obras de plataforma en el tramo Mérida-Badajoz - ADIF

...Las obras de la línea de alta velocidad a su paso por Extremadura se dividen en 20 subtramos, de los que 10 se encuentran en fase de obras: Talayuela-Arroyo de Santa María, Navalmoral de la Mata-Casatejada, Grimaldo-Casas de Millán, Casas de Millán-Cañaveral, Cañaveral-Embalse de Alcántara, Embalse de Alcántara-Garrovillas, Garrovillas-Casar de Cáceres, Casar de Cáceres-Cáceres, Cáceres-Aldea del Cano y Aldea del Cano-Mérida. La longitud total de estos subtramos, incluyendo los dos ya finalizados, asciende a 136 km.

Which, if I decoded it right, says that earthworks are complete on the Mérida-Badajoz section, and on the entire part of the line in Extramadura province, work is on-going on ten more of the 20 sections, for a combined 136 km. Cancelling the line in Spain would be more 'serious' than the Portuguese cancellation because work on these in-construction sections would have to stop and contractors be left unpaid. I suspect austerity willcontinue to kick in here via the continued delay of the tendering of the construction of the rest of the sections (and of the tracks).

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 12:35:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The Old Westbahn (2) (none / 0)

the quay is 550m long, enabling the simultaneous loading of 20 tractor units

Checking on the figures, 550 m corresponds to 14 wagons, which are twin articulateds, so the range seems to be from 18 complete semi-trailer truck units (with 18 half-cars carrying the semi-trailers and 9 the road trucks) to 28 unaccompanied semi-trailers.

in half an hour

That's the unload-plus-reload time.

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Wed Jul 18th, 2012 at 10:07:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The Old Westbahn (2) | 52 comments (52 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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