Branch Line News International (ISSN 1354-0947), 
a newsletter about the world's railway geography and infrastructure
1997 archived text (BLN 793 - BLN 816)

BLN 793.01][IE] Drogheda - Navan: (BLN 790.0445)  The branch closed to regular passenger trains 14 May 1958.  Passenger trains since have included an inbound train from Belfast on 31 July 1966, an outward Gaelic-football excursion on 23 May 1968, a charter to Bray in 1973 and two Gaelic-football specials on 3 June 1979.  An Irish Traction Group railtour also visited the branch in 1996.  

BLN 793.02][FR] Amiens - Chaulnes - Jussy - Montescourt - St.Quentin: (Ball 14B2-15B2)  Reinstatement of the barreau de Jussy, a 2km west-to-north military connection between Jussy and Montescourt, removed before 1986, should allow faster transit between Picardie's main towns by the end of 1997, making the journey between Amiens and St.Quentin 16km shorter by avoiding reversal or change at Tergnier.  (La Vie du Rail, #2572, November 1996)  If Région Picardie had thought about this earlier, they might have found improving the sparse local service even more cost-effective had these trains been able to feed a TGV station at Chaulnes where the LGV Nord-Europe crosses.  SNCF looked at Chaulnes, but then insisted on locating their now rather underused TGV Haute-Picardie station 6km to the north near a road-intersection in open country, hence its ironic name gare des Betteraves (= 'sugar-beet station'; BLN 745.04).  

BLN 793.03][FR] Salbris - Romorantin - Gièvres - Luçay-le-Mâle: (BLN 788.0398; Ball 36A1-35B1)  While the former southern terminus of this rural metre-gauge line was Le Blanc, the northern terminus was simply Argent rather than L'Argent, so the line was the Chemin de Fer du Blanc à Argent (= 'The White to Silver Railway').  The Compagnie du Blanc-Argent (CBA) now operate it on behalf of SNCF, who describe it officially as SNCF Région de Tours Ligne du Blanc à Argent.

BLN 793.04][FR] (Angoulême -) Thiviers - Corgnac-sur-l'Isle - Excideuil (- Brive-la-Gaillarde): (Ball 53A2)  Once part of a cross-country secondary line, Corgnac - Excideuil lost its freight service 1 June 1986.  By 1994 Thiviers - Corgnac too was out of use (neutralisée) and Thiviers - Excideuil was formally abandoned (déclassée) on 11 July 1994.  A preservation venture, Trans-Périgord Vert, was then proposed, and the Corgnac - Excideuil section, cleared of vegetation in 1995, was during summer 1996 in use for rail-cycles (vélo-rails).  				   (L'Écho du Rail, #138, November 1994; #161, August 1996)

BLN 793.05][FR] St.Denis-près-Martel - Martel - Souillac: (Ball 53B1-61B3, not shown)  The 7km St.Denis - Martel section of this 17.5km line, closed to passengers 1 June 1980 and formally abandoned (déclassée) 10 April 1996, is proposed for the CF Touristique du Haut Quercy, formed in 1991, for which some stock is already stored at Martel.  The 35km Sembadel - Estivareilles section of the Sembadel - Estivareilles - St.Marcellin (- Bonson) line (56A2-55B2), closed to passengers 7 July 1969 and déclassée 10 April 1996, is also proposed for preservation.  			      (L'Écho du Rail, #161, August 1996)

BLN 793.06][FR] Pau - Buzy-en-Béarn - Oloron-Ste.Marie - Canfranc RENFE: (BLN 787.0381; Ball 70A2-69B1)  Withdrawal of services on this international line, and on the Buzy-en-Béarn - Arudy - Laruns-Eaux-Bonnes branch, took place as follows:

								Passenger		Freight
Pau - Buzy-en-Béarn						Still runs		Closed, date not known, possibly January 1991
Buzy-en-Béarn - Oloron-Ste.Marie 			Still runs		January 1991
Oloron-Ste.Marie - St.Christau-Lurbe			1 June 1980		autumn 1988
St.Christau-Lurbe - Bedous					1 June 1980		1985
Bedous - Tunnel du Somport - Canfranc RENFE		27 March 1970	27 March 1970
								(= date of the derailment which demolished the bridge at Estanguet)

Buzy-en-Béarn - Arudy					2 March 1969	January 1991
Arudy - Laruns-Eaux-Bonnes 				2 March 1969	5 July 1971

BLN 793.07][FR] Gardanne - Brignoles - Carnoules: (BLN 750.0114, 760.0367; Ball 75B3-76B2)  As reported in BLN 750, the eastern Brignoles - Carnoules section of this freight line closed in January 1990, but the through route remained available for diversions.  A tourist operation is now proposed, and a military locotracteur and an autorail from the Guîtres - Marcenais (Ball 51B1) preservation line have arrived at Carnoules.  									 (L'Écho du Rail, #162, September 1996)

BLN 793.08][BE] Antoing - Silly - Halle (- Bruxelles): (BLN 752.0145; Ball 7B1-8A2)  The high speed LGV Belge is complete and in use from Lille (Triangle de Frétin) across the French border to Antoing (BLN 782.0274).  Beyond, tracks are now being laid from west to east, both from Antoing towards the Coucou construction base near Silly, and from Coucou towards Halle.  Provisional opening date is 13 December 1997, except for the new Halle station in tunnel.  	    (European Railway News, on the Internet, December 1996)

BLN 793.09][BE][FR] Mariembourg - Treignes (- Vireux-Molhain SNCF): (BLN 762.0404; Ball 16B3-17A3)  In summer, on the days when the Chemin de Fer à Vapeur des Trois Vallées (CFV3V) are running also between Dinant SNCB and Givet SNCF, it should be possible to cover both preserved operations by taking an SNCF train for the 10km between Givet and Vireux-Molhain and walking the 4km across the border between Vireux-Molhain and Treignes, this section of line being disused.  

BLN 793.010][NL] Unprofitable NS services:  The Dutch transport ministry has grouped unprofitable passenger services into three categories.  The first group, mainly local services with busy commuter traffic in the densely populated Randstad area (Amsterdam / Den Haag / Rotterdam / Utrecht), will have a central-government subsidy contract for five to ten years.  The second group will have government subsidy for two to four years, during which they will have to justify their continuing existence by becoming less loss-making.  The third group - mainly local lines in the north and east of the country - are to be subsidised by local authorities.  Two lines are outside the categorisation.  Buses are to replace Almelo - Mariënberg passenger trains (Ball 5B3-2B1) by 1998.  Den Haag - Rotterdam Hofplein (3B2) is to have a two-year subsidy contract, after which NS trains may be replaced by light rail.  			  (Op de Rails, via Internet)

BLN 793.011][DE] (Bielefeld Hbf - Lage (Lippe) -) Lemgo - Barntrup (- Aerzen - Hameln): (Ball 25B1-26A2)  DB's Lemgo - Barntrup section still has a freight service, connecting with the private Barntrup - Rinteln Süd Extertalbahn.  Beyond Barntrup, the track is heavily overgrown.  BLN 721.010 reported the line to Aerzen closed 2 August 1993.  Further east the track towards Hameln was lifted before 1986.  	(IBSE)

BLN 793.012][DE] Frankfurt (Main) S-Bahn: Stresemannallee - Darmstadt: (BLN 723.034, 758.0325; Ball 50A3-49B3)  From 1 June 1997 Frankfurt S-Bahn services are to be extended, with S4 running to Langen (Hessen) and S3 beyond to Darmstadt Hbf.  South of Langen, the S-Bahn trains are to use a single line, with a double-track passing section between Egelsbach and Erzhausen.  			(IBSE)

BLN 793.013][DE] Tübingen Hbf - Hechingen - Sigmaringen and Hechingen - Gammertingen - Sigmaringen: (BLN 775.0140; Ball 68B3-69A2; KBS 766, 768)  A new curve at Hechingen was to come into use probably from 1 January 1997, enabling Hohenzollerische Landesbahn trains to use the DB station and allowing closure of the separate HzL station.  								(IBSE)

BLN 793.014][DK][NO] Hirtshals - Kristiansand train-ferry: (Ball 4A3 (DK), 19B2 (NO))  Agreement could not be reached about equipping a new ship with rails, so the last goods wagons were carried on this freight-only train-ferry route on 1 June 1996.  							(Op de Rails, 10/96)

BLN 793.015][DK] (København -) Korsør - Nyborg (- Odense): (BLN 754.0231, 767.0509; Ball 7B2-7A2)  Trial running started 1 November 1996 on the fixed link across the Storebælt (= Great Belt), the strait between the Danish islands of Sjælland and Fyn.  No passenger trains are yet routed by the new bridge and tunnel, but a few freight workings are, and the number will increase over the coming months.  Full service is to start with the summer 1997 timetable, four years later than originally planned.  (European Railway News, Internet, December 1996)   As noted in BLN 754, Nyborg Færgehavn train-ferry station is expected to close.  

BLN 793.016][SE][DK] Malmö SJ - København DSB: (BLN 704.05, 755.0254; Ball 25A1 (SE) not shown)  In connection with the 16km bridge-plus-tunnel fixed link between Sweden and Denmark across the Öresund/Øresund, the Swedish government has approved building a 4.2km tunnel under the city of Malmö itself, with two stations planned for local traffic and a train every 20 minutes, making the new border-crossing one of the most frequently served in the world.  Malmö Central is to be modified extensively.  The artificial island in the Öresund south of Saltholm has been named Pepparholm.  Malmö - Ystad traffic increased 50% in summer 1996, with electrification and a new timetable.  (European Rly News, December 1996)

BLN 793.017][SE] Växjö - Rottne - Hultsfred - Tuna - Verkebäck - Jenny - Västervik: (BLN 775.0142, OEIS 9631; Ball 26A3-22B1)  In April 1996 the town council refused permission for the Småländska Smalspåret preservation group to operate from Växjö, so passengers had to make use of bus route #350 to Rottne, some 21km away, to join the 891mm-gauge trains on the line to Hultsfred.  These were advertised to run, Sundays excepted, from 15 July to 24 August 1996 - incidentally, to a pattern different from that in OEIS and in Today's Railways, #14.  Units are based at Klavreström near Norrhult, and at Hultsfred.  At the eastern end of the line another preservation group, the Tjustbygdens Järnvägsförening, ran Tuna - Ankarsrum - Verkebäck on Saturdays and Sundays from 29 June to 4 August 1996, with three round trips over that length, and a short working between Ankarsrum and Verkebäck.  Resumption of services beyond requires not only a bridge under the E22 road but also restoration of a connection and signalling at Jenny, whence 891mm- and SJ 1435mm-gauge trains would share a single mixed-gauge track into Västervik.  

BLN 793.018][PT] More Portuguese electrification:  In September 1996 CP invited tenders for the completion by 2002 of a further 350km of 25kV 50Hz electrification in the south of the country:

Aguas de Moura - Ermidas-Sado - Funcheira - Tunes		Linha do Sul				Ball	26A2-33A2
Ermidas-Sado - Sines						Linha de Sines				26A1
Funcheira - Ourique							Linha do Alentejo				33A3-33B3
Ourique - Neves-Corvo 						Ramal de Neves-Corvo			33B3
Tunes - Faro								Linha do Algarve				33B2
									    (European Railway News, on the Internet, December 1996)

BLN 793.019][GR] Athinai - Lavrion: (Ball 66B1 not shown)  This metre-gauge line south-east of the capital closed in 1957, but an Athenian group are restoring part of it with a view to running a tourist service.  										    (L'Écho du Rail, #163, October 1996)

BLN 793.020][AL][YU] Albania: (BLN 783.0320, 790.0460, 791.0484; Ball 52)  The Milot - Rrëshen branch closed to passengers from 11 November 1996.  The Lezhë - Shkodër section was temporarily closed for a month in early autumn 1996, and again in November, due to serious flooding.  As at 2 December the cross-border Shkodër - Bajzé HSH - Hani I Hotit - Tuzi JZ - Podgorica freight line into Yugoslavia had still not reopened.  HSH claim all the work was done on their side, but the Montenegrins had not yet complied with undertakings to reopen the link.  On 6 December the station at Tiranë, the capital, had a serious fire, possibly caused by people spending the night in a passenger train, and made worse by the fire-brigade running out of water.  Some carriages were hauled clear, but five were destroyed, fortunately without loss of life.  Damage to the station may not be too serious, since it is of concrete construction. 

BLN 793.021][BA][HR][YU] Bosnia-Hercegovina: (BLN 702.012, 726.071, 749.0101, 752.0167, 769.021, 777.0179, 792.0522; Ball 51)  Bosnia's two main railways, one running west-east, Bosanski Novi - Banja Luka - Grapska - Bosanski Šamac (- Strizivojna Vrpolje JZ), and the other north-south, Grapska - Doboj - Sarajevo - Mostar (- Ploce HZ), form a T-shaped system severely damaged during the fighting.  Fragments of the network functioned for the military purposes of Bosnia's warring factions, but trains never crossed front lines, where tracks and bridges were generally destroyed.  The northern Doboj - Sarajevo section of the north-south line has yet to be reopened, though the southern portion, Sarajevo - Mostar - Ploce, was repaired in July 1996, linking the Bosnian capital with the coast.  

A spokesman for IFOR, the NATO-led peace Implementation Force, said on 28 October 1996 that the repair of a bridge at Bosansko Petrovo Selo on the Doboj - Bosanska Poljana (- Vinkovci JZ) line completed a reconstruction effort connecting Zeljeznice Bosne i Hercegovine to Croatia in the west and Yugoslavia (Serbia) in the east, and linking the country with the rest of Europe for the first time since 43 months of fighting ended in 1995.  Restoration of the final 3km of track, twice crossing the former military front-lines between Serb-held Doboj and Bosnian government territory, allows NATO to move its 58,000-strong force and equipment more easily, as well as assisting peacetime reconstruction, but in September 1996 the railway companies had no immediate plans to start regular commercial freight or passenger trains on the route, reflecting continuing political distrust.     (Reuters via European Rly News, on the Internet, Dec. 1996)

BLN 793.022][TR] Istanbul light rail: (BLN 722.019, 745.020, 774.0123; Ball 53A2)  By mid-August 1996 the light-rail extension was running from Sirkeci TCDD station along the quayside road to Eminönü, near the south end of the Galata bridge across the Golden Horn.  	        (Light Rail & Modern Tramway, December 1996)

BLN 793.023][IL] Tel-Aviv - Rechovot - Ashdod - Ashkelon - Erez - Gaza:  Israel and the Palestine Authority have agreed in principle that the Israel Railways passenger service to Rechovot should be extended, not only to Ashkelon as planned but to the border at Erez and for 9km beyond to Gaza, within the Palestine Authority's area.  (Railway Gazette International, October 1996)  Since Egyptian National Railways are already minded to restore their rail link east across Sinai to Gaza (BLN 784.0345), perhaps in the next millennium it will be possible again to take a train from Cairo to Haifa. 

BLN 793.024][CN][VN] Kunming - Hekou ZhGTL - Lao Cai DSVN - Hanoi:  Following restoration in February 1996 of the standard-gauge 'Friendship Pass' link between Nanning and Hanoi (BLN 772.082), China and Vietnam were on 6 December 1996 to start service on the other cross-border rail link, the metre-gauge line between Kunming and Hanoi.  Two through trains a week are expected to carry up to 400,000 tonnes of freight annually.  	      (Financial Times, 22 November 1996)

BLN 793.025][KH] Phnom Penh - Battambang:  Chemins de Fer de Cambodge (CFC = Cambodian Railways) have restored services on 70km of their metre-gauge track from the capital.  				(Railway Gazette International, November 1996)

BLN 793.026][CA] (Montréal, QC -) Senneterre - Taschereau, QC (- Cochrane, ON):  VIA Rail's remaining once-a-week passenger train on this east-west CN line in northern Québec and Ontario has been cut back to run between Senneterre and Taschereau, 817km from Montréal, instead of continuing to Cochrane, 999km, due to 'slow orders' on the track of what was once a secondary transcontinental main line between Québec and Winnipeg, but now has no freight traffic.  (Trains, Dec. '96)

BLN 793.027][US] New York subway:  Like Moskva (BLN 773.0102) and London, New York city has curiosities underground, some of which can be visited on tours organised by the NYC Transit Museum in Brooklyn.  Several sections of expensively-built but unused trackbed remain beneath the city.  At Roosevelt Avenue/Jackson Heights station, platforms with tiled nameboards never seen by a passenger lead to a tunnel finished in 1936 but still without track, heading east for three blocks above the existing IND Queens Boulevard line.  A Long Island Rail Road tunnel beneath Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue, sealed in 1861 and only 'rediscovered' in the 1980s, once connected downtown Brooklyn with Suffolk County.  Near Brooklyn Bridge lie some 200m of an uncompleted north-south East Side Line, with other sections in East Harlem.  Several 'bellmouths' (widened sections of tunnel) are to be seen from the front or rear of trains between stops on existing lines, indicating where junctions were planned for lines never built, for example at Utica Avenue on the A Line in Brooklyn.  	     (New York Times)

BLN 793.028][AR] Buenos Aires: (BLN 731.0129, 738.0273, 759.0363, 767.0515)  Long-distance passenger trains from the Argentine capital, such as Buenos Aires - Bahia Blanca - San Carlos de Bariloche and Buenos Aires - Tucuman, have had to be withdrawn, as the provinces have not managed to keep up the subsidy promised.  Privatisation of suburban services however has increased reliability and patronage, well described in a Railway Gazette International article in December 1996.  The new operators of the various commuter lines out of Buenos Aires are not quite as listed in BLN 759:

Line 						Gauge		Name of line during nationalisation / New operator

Retiro - Pilar					1676mm	FC General San Martin		Trainmet San Martín (TMS)
Retiro - Villa Rosa				1000mm	FC General Belgrano (Norte)	Ferrovías
Retiro 	- Zárate / Capilla del Señor / Tigre	1676mm	FC General Bartolome Mitre	Trenes de BA
Borges - Delta	(light rail)		1435mm, regauged from 1676mm			Tren de la Costa
Federico Lacroze - General Lemos		1435mm	FC General Urquiza			Metrovías
Once - Haedo - Mercedes / Lobos		1676mm	FC D F Sarmiento			Trenes de BA
Buenos Aires - Gonzáles Catán		1000mm	FC General Belgrano (Sur)		Trainmet Belgrano (TMB)
Puente Alsina - Marinos del Cruzero	1000mm	FC General Belgrano (Sur)		Trainmet Belgrano (TMB)
Constitución - La Plata			1676mm	FC General Roca			Trainmet Roca (TMR)
Constitución - San Vicente / Canuelas 	1676mm	FC General Roca			Trainmet Roca (TMR)
Haedo - Tapiales - Temperley		1676mm	FC General Roca			Trainmet Roca (TMR)

(underground)				1435mm	Subterráneos de Buenos Aires	Metrovías

BLN 793.029][PY] Asunción - Ypacarai - San Salvador - Encarnación: (BLN 778.0205)  The 45km Asunción - Ypacarai local services were suspended at the beginning of November 1996, so the whole of the Ferrocarril Presidente Carlos Antonio Lopez, Paraguay's British-built 441km standard-gauge system, entirely worked by wood-burning steam locomotives, appears now to be out of use.  Track latterly saw little maintenance, and though traversed by international trains the main line in 1988 resembled a 376km linear lawn, with never a sleeper to be seen among the grass.  However a private contractor is said to be repairing or replacing 25 bridges, so trains may yet run again on the FCPCAL, which links landlocked Paraguay's capital, Asunción, via a major road/rail bridge between Encarnación and Posadas, to Buenos Aires and Montevideo, both major seaports as well as capitals of her partners in the Mercosur trade pact.         (partly from World Steam, December 1996)

BLN 793.030][ZM] Lusaka - Ngwerere:  In spite of Zambia Railways' opposition, Njanji Commuter Services Ltd, a subsidiary of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines, are to continue their recently-begun suburban operation on the 1067mm-gauge ZR main line north of the capital to Ngwerere.  The ZCCM company have run Lusaka commuter services on the 16km Matero - Chilenji route since July 1991 (BLN 706.013).					(Railway Gazette International, December 1996)

BLN 794.031][GB] London St.Pancras - Stratford - Ebbsfleet - Ashford (- Calais-Fréthun SNCF):  Members of the British House of Commons were informed on 18 December 1996 that following completion of all its Parliamentary stages, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996 had received Royal Assent.  Action to finance and build the line now lies with the London & Continental consortium (BLN 780.0232).  

BLN 794.032][FR][BE] Lille (Triangle de Frétin) - Wannehain SNCF - Espléchin SNCB - Antoing: (BLN 782.0274, 788.0395, 793.08; Ball 7B1)  Some, but not all, Eurostars now use the north-to-east curve at Frétin, the LGV Belge, the west-to-south curve at Antoing, Ligne 78 to Mons, and Ligne 96 to Bruxelles/Brussel.  The weekday 06:53, 08:57, 11:53, 14:53, and 18:53 from London and the 07:35, 10:52, 12:35 and 15:38 from Bruxelles are, it seems, booked to do so, rather than going via Tournai.  

BLN 794.033][FR] Breteuil-Embranchement - Breteuil-Ville: (Ball 14B2 not shown)  At the north end of Breteuil-Embranchement station, 96km out on the Paris-Nord - Creil - Amiens main line, a freight-only branch heads away west.  A signboard at the junction indicates its destination as Breteuil-Ville, some 8km distant.  In 1995 the branch had a daily freight working (OEIS 9557), and track was recently seen to remain shiny.  

BLN 794.034][FR] Sélestat - Châtenois - Ste.Marie-aux-Mines - Lesseux-Frapelle (- St.Dié): (Ball 29B1-30A1)  The Ste.Marie-aux-Mines - Lesseux-Frapelle section closed completely 3 June 1973 for conversion of a rail tunnel for road use.  Sélestat - Ste.Marie-aux-Mines passenger service ceased 2 January 1980, and the section from La Vancelle, two stations west of Châtenois, to Ste.Marie-aux-Mines closed completely 1 September 1990.  Track-lifting commenced at Ste.Marie-aux-Mines in spring 1996, but a local society, Loco Val d'Argent, obtained a reprieve from the Alsace Région.  	      (L'Écho du Rail, #161, August 1996)

BLN 794.035][FR] (Cholet -) St.Christophe-du-Bois - Mortagne-sur-Sèvre - Les Herbiers - St.Vincent-Ste.Cécile - Chantonnay: (BLN 790.0450; OEIS 9551, 9648; Ball 33A1-43A3)  The État railway opened this line as late as 27 July 1914, under the 1879 Plan Freycinet for the development of communications in the national interest, but its passenger service lasted only 25 years, until 1 July 1939.  It was perhaps surprising that it was ever built, considering that the Tramways de la Vendée, operated by the État, already ran from La Roche-sur-Yon to Les Herbiers, and continued to serve that town until 1 March 1939.  Freight continued for varying periods: St.Christophe-du-Bois - Mortagne till 31 January 1994, Mortagne - Les Herbiers till 30 September 1991.  The 25.5km of line between St.Christophe-du-Bois and Les Herbiers was déclassée (formally abandoned as national railway) on 10 April 1996.  Les Herbiers - Mouchamps closed for freight 1 July 1953 and Mouchamps - St.Vincent-Ste.Cécile 31 May 1959, these sections being déclassée in 1960 and 1965 respectively, prior to lifting.  St.Vincent-Ste.Cécile - Chantonnay remains in place, but is out of use, so SNCF operations have now ceased on the entire line.  

A preservation operation began using the 22km between Mortagne-sur-Sèvre and Les Herbiers on 1 June 1985, running about three days a week in summer, originally at times when SNCF freight trains were not about, but now having the line to itself.  The service was first marketed as the Train à Vapeur du Puy de Fou, but since 6 December 1992 has been the Train à Vapeur de la Vendée.  St.Laurent-sur-Sèvre is the stabling point for the locomotives and stock of the Association du Chemin de Fer de la Vendée, including a Wagon-Lits restaurant-car available for dining charters.  

BLN 794.036][FR] (Strasbourg - Colmar -) Lutterbach - Mulhouse: (BLN 697.04; OEIS 9582.FR23; Ball 41A3)  Unwary travellers may be puzzled to see two trains from Strasbourg both arriving at Mulhouse more or less at the same time, sometimes across the same platform, but from opposite directions.  Train #6173/2 Rouget de Lisle takes the more unusual route from Lutterbach via Mulhouse Nord marshalling yard and arrives at Mulhouse from the east, to avoid reversal before setting off at 09:26 for Belfort and Nice Ville.  TER 200 #60207 takes the more direct route via Mulhouse-Musée before leaving, also at 09:26, for Basel SBB.  Many Strasbourg - Mulhouse - Lyon workings reverse in Mulhouse, taking about 25 minutes from Colmar to Mulhouse, but locomotive-hauled trains which go via Mulhouse Nord may be identifiable in the timetable as taking about 30 minutes.  					     (La Vie du Rail, #2577)

BLN 794.037][FR] Corsica: (BLN 710.01, 729.0101; Ball 78B2)  The rail/road bridge at the north end of Corte station, on the Bastia - Ajaccio main line, became road-only when a new rail bridge was constructed alongside in 1995.  (L'Écho du Rail, #163, October 1996)  The north-south main line has been upgraded over the years, as could be seen by comparing the rail on the running lines with the very lightweight rail recently remaining in sidings at Corte.  

BLN 794.038][DE] Hamburg: Ohlsdorf - Ochsenzoll - Garstedt - Norderstedt Mitte - Ulzburg Süd: (BLN 764.0444, 788.0406; Ball 22A2-17B3)  On 1 July 1921 the third-rail 750V dc U-Bahn of the HHA (Hamburger Hochbahn AG = 'Hamburg Elevated Railway Co') took over the route of the Langenhornbahn from Ohlsdorf out to Ochsenzoll, but a single unelectrified track remains running parallel.  This DB freight branch is now out of use, though still linked to S-Bahn tracks at Ohlsdorf and by a steep connecting track to the U-Bahn at Ochsenzoll, where it may be used by HHA engineers as a siding.  

From Ochsenzoll, then the U-Bahn terminus, the Alsternordbahn opened on 13 May 1953, northwards via Garstedt and the rural area that was to become Norderstedt, to a junction with the Altona-Kaltenkirchen-Neümunster Eisenbahn (AKN) at Ulzburg Süd.  The U-Bahn line was subsequently extended outward in two stages, Ochsenzoll - Garstedt from 1 June 1969 and Garstedt - Norderstedt Mitte from 29 September 1996 (with opening festivities on Saturday 28 September), in each case accompanied by closure of the superseded section of the Alsternordbahn. 

From Garstedt the new U-Bahn is largely in cutting to the east of the former Alsternordbahn line, whose track has now been lifted.  At Norderstedt Mitte the shared station is partly underground with a shopping-centre and bus-station above.  The two U-Bahn tracks entering from the south terminate at the outer faces of an island platform in which a bay accommodates the AKN trains.  These leave northbound up a steep ramp to ground-level, joining the original AKN alignment just south of the next station, Moorbekhalle.  The two systems are not physically linked at Norderstedt, nor were they at Garstedt, where the now-closed AKN station was above the HHA.  Within Norderstedt, officially a new town since 1970, the Verkehrsgesellschaft Norderstedt (VGN) now owns both the HHA-operated U-Bahn tracks and the AKN-operated line A2.  
							      (partly from Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 6/96)

BLN 794.039][DE] Hamburg S-Bahn: Hbf - Bergedorf - Reinbek - Aumühle: (BLN 769.08, Ball 22B2-22B3)  Bergedorf has a new bridge for the third-rail 1200V dc S-Bahn.  Though earthworks to widen the cutting beyond are still incomplete, Linie S21 should be running again to Reinbek from the June 1997 timetable.  The future of S21 service onward to Aumühle is less certain, and DB are considering a single S-Bahn track alongside the two long-distance ones.  				   (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 6/96)

BLN 794.040][DE] Magdeburg trams: (BLN 792.0497)  Since 24 October 1996 tram-routes #3 and #12 have used a newly-built double-track layout in Bahnhofstrasse and Hasselbachstrasse, stopping 50m north of the main entrance of the Hauptbahnhof rather than just outside it. 		   (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 6/96)

BLN 794.041][DE] Berlin S-Bahn: Westkreuz - Berlin Hbf - Ostkreuz: (BLN 783.0305; Ball 31B2-32A2)  Service resumed over the relaid S-Bahn tracks on the viaduct between Lehrter Stadtbahnhof and Hbf on 21 October 1996, and Jannowitzbrücke station reopened.  Bellevue and Tiergarten were due to follow on 11 November. 										   (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 6/96)

BLN 794.042][DE] Neuss Hbf - Kaarst: (Ball 33A1)  This 6.1km branch in the Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) area follows the Nordkanal to terminate at Kaarst, still a staffed station since it acts as the signal-box for the nearby level-crossing.  Until 1995 worked by battery-electric Akkutriebwagen (BLN 723.029) and once proposed for conversion to light-rail Stadtbahn, it now employs the usual Class 628 diesel units, the service comprising three round-trips at half-hour intervals each Monday-to-Friday peak, mainly for commuters from Kaarst into Neuss.  The layout at Neuss is not quite as shown in Ball.  From Neuss am Kaiser, separate S-Bahn tracks run on the east side of the main line, crossing beneath it just north of Neuss station and running through to the south end of the station.  The line from Neuss Süd makes a flying junction at Abzw Nord-Kanal with the line from Grevenbroich. 

BLN 794.043][DE] (Bautzen -) Grosspostwitz - Löbau (Sachsen): (BLN 759.0351; Ball 44B2-45A2)  This line is expected to close 31 May 1997.  Following damage to pointwork, the passing-loop at Cunewalde is out of use and will not be reinstated, so buses are already replacing some of the trains.  	         (IBSE)

BLN 794.044][DE] Remagen bridge: (BLN 789.0424; Ball 48A3)  The Ludendorffbrücke railway bridge over the broad river Rhein at the strategically important crossing-point of Remagen was built by General Ludendorff in 1916-18, according to a 1985 Baedeker guide in English.  Not mentioned in the last pre-1914 Baedeker in English (17th revised edition of 1911), nor in the text of the French 18th edition of 1910 as reprinted in 1920, the bridge does however appear on a 1:100,000 map in the latter guide.  This map shows the Beuel - Neuwied east-bank line, the Rechte Rheinstrecke, having a north-facing junction between Unkel and Erpel, from which a line diverged south-east to gain height, swung south across the bridge, and descended south of Remagen to a south-facing junction that gave direct access to the Ahrtalbahn as well as to the Bonn - Andernach west-bank main line, the Linke Rheinstrecke.  

Maps in (modern reprints of) the summer 1934, summer 1939, and 1944-45 (3 July 1944) DRG timetables for some unknown reason omit the line over the bridge, and no reference can be found to its use by advertised passenger trains in summer 1934.  However, the 1939 Kursbuch shows three trains running on Saturdays and Sundays, presumably in summer only, between Königswinter and Ahrweiler, allowing a day out in the attractive Ahr valley, the most northerly wine-making area in Germany.  These trains called at all stations between Königswinter and Unkel on the Rechte Rheinstrecke and then between Bodendorf and Ahrweiler on the Ahrtalbahn, with a note in the respective timetable columns "über Ludendorffbrücke".  

Unsurprisingly, these pleasant weekend excursions do not appear in 1944-45, but careful study of the Kursbuch does disclose one train advertised in each direction over the bridge.  Southbound, train D270, the 06:56 Dortmund - Basel, is shown as running from Köln-Deutz via the Rechte Rheinstrecke calling at Beuel for Bonn, then crossing the river to continue via the Linke Rheinstrecke, calling at Andernach and then Koblenz.  Northbound, train E1113, the 12:51 Frankfurt (Main) - Düsseldorf, running only by special order, follows the route in reverse, calling at both Andernach and Königswinter.  This switching from one bank to the other, possibly for pathing reasons, is confirmed in the appropriate part of the timetable columns by the thin wavy line in the centre indicating "train uses another route", a convention continued by DB in post-war timetables.  As German cities were reduced to rubble, as Allied armies advanced upon the frontiers, and as the Ludendorffbrücke awaited its grim fate in March 1945, the Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft still maintained its high standards of timetable production - though no doubt in reality much of the Kursbuch was a work of fiction.

BLN 794.045][DE] (Obstfelderschmiede -) Lichtenhain - Cursdorf: (BLN 708.04, 723.035, 731.0127; Ball 52B3) The 3km local line from Lichtenhain to Cursdorf in Thuringia is threatened with de-electrification.  Opened in 1918, it has original four-wheel 600V dc electric railcars, and remains linked to the rest of the system by the Oberweissbacher Bergbahn, a unique 1800mm-gauge DB funicular.	       (LCGB Bulletin, 1/97)

BLN 794.046][DE] (Schlettau -) Walthersdorf (Erzgebirge) - Crottendorf obere Bahnhof: (BLN 752.0148; Ball 54B3)  This 6km branch eventually closed 31 December 1996.  		         (IBSE)

BLN 794.047][DE][FR] Saarbrücken Hbf DB - Sarreguemines SNCF: international trams on railways: (Ball 56A2 (DE), 29B3 (FR))  Summer 1997 should see dual-voltage light-rail vehicles running half-hourly from the Hbf on new track under 750V dc wires through the streets of Saarbrücken to Brebach, then south under DB 15kV 16.7Hz overhead to terminate just inside France in Sarreguemines SNCF station, still under 15kV.  						 (Light Rail & Modern Tramway, January 1997)

BLN 794.048][DE][FR] Winden (Pfalz) DB - Wissembourg SNCF: (BLN 769.013; Ball 57A2)  Prematurely heralded several times in BLN since 1994, and at least once in local KVV publicity in 1996, the reopening to passengers of this cross-border local line does seem to be approaching, with a date of 2 March 1997 quoted in LCGB Bulletin, 1/97.  The same source says Class 628 units will work the hourly trains, so it appears that the curious Class 670 double-deck railbuses once envisaged here will not after all see international service.  

BLN 794.049][DE] Eichstätt Bahnhof - Eichstätt Stadt: (Ball 60A1-60A2)  The Würzburg - München main line south-east of Treuchtlingen follows the valley of the river Altmühl to a point just west of the small town of Eichstätt, but then climbs out of the valley heading for Ingolstadt.  The 5km Eichstätt branch runs downhill from the east-facing junction, diverging immediately west of the platform by the station building at Eichstätt Bf and diving into a short tunnel.  Single throughout, it has two intermediate halts with track-level 'platforms' and small shelters before reaching the town terminus, where the loop and sidings have fairly recently been removed, reducing the line to a Windermere-style basic railway.  The quite frequent passenger service was being worked by a Class 628 two-car diesel unit on 22 November 1996.  

BLN 794.050][GR] Piraeus - Athinai - Korinthos - Patrai - Kiparissia - Kalamata: (BLN 694.06; Ball 66B2-65B1)  OSE (Organismos Sidirodromon Ellados = Greek railways) have substantially reduced services on their 892km metre-gauge system in the Peloponnese peninsula - which does not bode well for the future of this rather slow and unreliable railway.  Round the west coast, one through Piraeus - Athinai - Patrai - Kalamata train remains, as does one Patrai - Kalamata working each way, but the night train is cut back to run Piraeus - Athinai - Patrai - Kiparissia only.  Kalamata, with its attractive open-air railway museum, still has a night train by the southerly route, Piraeus - Athinai - Korinthos - Tripolis - Kalamata.  Withdrawal of Kavassila - Killini branch passenger trains (BLN 783.0315; Ball 65A2) is said to be due to shortage of serviceable rolling-stock.  							        (Eisenbahn Amateur, 10/96)

Since September 1996 OSE has had a World Wide Web page in English (http://www.ose.gr), showing timetable, price and tourist information.  	       (European Railway News, on the Internet, October 1996)

BLN 794.051][CH] Frauenfeld - Wil: (Ball 88B2)  The 17km 1200V dc metre-gauge Frauenfeld Wil Bahn has renamed its Frauenfeld Stadt station as Frauenfeld Marktplatz, following construction nearby of a new supermarket Am Marktplatz.  							        (Eisenbahn Amateur, 10/96)

BLN 794.052][PL] Wodzislaw Slaski - Jastrzebie Zdrój and Jastrzebie Zdrój - Zebrzydowice:  (Ball 42B3)  These two passenger services survived their planned withdrawal in 1996, but are expected to cease at the summer 1997 timetable change.  	(IBSE)

BLN 794.053][CZ] Plzen - Klatovy - Zelezná Ruda CD (- Bayerische Eisenstein DB): (Ball 40B3-40A3)  CD electrified the 41km Plzen-Valcha - Klatovy section at 25kV 50Hz from 21 September 1996, and are considering extension south of Klatovy to Zelezná Ruda and the German border, though that section carries much less traffic.  		        (LCGB Bulletin, 1/97)

BLN 794.054][CZ] Jindrichuv Hradec - Nova Bystrice: (BLN 714.026; Ball 41A3-41A2)  Freight ceased on this 33km 760mm-gauge line at the end of 1996 and the remaining (weekend) passenger trains were to be withdrawn from 25 January 1997.  

BLN 794.055][JP] (Tokyo - Takasaki -) Yokogawa - Karuizawa (- Nagano): (BLN 776.0162)  Freight trains have now all been diverted away from this section of JR East's 1067mm-gauge Shin-Etsu line, with its famous 11km scenic climb up a 1 in 15 gradient, so steep that electric multiple-units have to be piloted up and down by special electric locomotives.  This makes complete closure of the unique incline more likely once the new Tokyo - Takasaki - Nagano Joetsu Shinkansen opens, in time for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.  				 (Bullet-In, Japanese Railway Society, December 1996)

BLN 794.056][AU] Melbourne - Adelaide: (BLN 753.0206)  The Melbourne - Adelaide main line, last non-standard link between two state capitals in Australia, was belatedly converted from broad (1600mm) to standard (1435mm) gauge in 1995.  Regauging is continuing, and Ireland's broad gauge may eventually disappear from Victoria's railways, apart from the metropolitan Melbourne commuter area.  Lines reported as already converted include Dunolly - Ararat - Portland, running to the coast, plus inland agricultural branches Dimboola - Yaapeet and Murtoa - Hopetoun.  			        (LCGB Bulletin, 1/97)

BLN 794.057][CA] Toronto - Richmond Hill - Washago - Rama: casino train fails: (BLN 706.010, 783.0321, 792.0525)  On 1 August 1996 a new passenger service began on 120km of CN track between Toronto Union station and Rama, north of Orillia, calling at GO Transit stations Oriole, Old Cummer, Langstaff and Richmond Hill, and using GO Transit trains and locomotives leased and operated by CN.  The deal with Canadian National for eleven round-trips a week was struck by Casino Rama, a large gambling complex opened on 31 July.  Fare was CAD29.95 return (= £13) for the 2h 30min trip each way.  From 3 September, the service was reduced to one round-trip a day, but the trains, able to take up to 900 passengers a run, were sometimes carrying fewer than 100, and the last train left Toronto on Wednesday morning 2 October 1996.  The route was initially north from Toronto via the Bala subdivision to Washago, then south on the Newmarket sub to Rama.  Trains laid over in the siding at Longford, just north of Rama.  After 21 September 1996, when the Newmarket sub was abandoned between Barrie (Allandale) and Rama, the Casino Rama train no longer needed to clear the main track to allow VIA trains #1/2 Canadian/Canadien to pass.  						     (Canadian Railway News, on Internet)

BLN 795.058][GB] London Waterloo International:  Channel Fish, the attractive mobile sculpture hanging above the Eurostar arrival lobby at Waterloo, visible also from the departure lounge, was originally designed so that the swimming movements of the big silver fish speeded up as an inbound Eurostar approached the terminus.  On 18 and 22 January 1996, alas, the fish were motionless.  Has timetable disruption following November's 'incident' in the Tunnel confused them?  Have they succumbed to technical faults after only two years of British railway maintenance?  Or is the saving in electricity another quiet economy by Eurostar UK, like the withdrawal of the loss-leader Eurostar Link service, whose last Edinburgh - Waterloo and Manchester - Waterloo HSTs ran on Saturday 4 January 1996? (BLN 793.43)

BLN 795.059][FR][BE] Lille (Triangle de Fretin) - Wannehain SNCF - Espléchin SNCB - Antoing: (BLN 794.032; Ball 7B1)  The present diversion of some Eurostars off the Tournai route is for pathing reasons, and may have begun on or shortly after 4 December 1996 when services resumed after their temporary withdrawal.  Single-line working during Eurotunnel repairs has put certain London - Bruxelles trains in conflict with Belgian domestic traffic, and SNCB/NMBS have chosen to provide train-crew pilots to conduct them round via Antoing and Mons rather than recast the winter timetable on Ligne/Lijn 94.  Lille - Antoing is the eventual definitive route for Eurostars as well as Paris - Bruxelles Thalys TGVs, but the west-to-south curve at Antoing that they both use at present to reach Ligne 78 is not planned to have any passenger service once the Antoing - Halle section of the LGV Belge is in operation, perhaps in December 1997.  The Eurostar diversions, though booked, are of a temporary nature, and likely to change, some discrepancy having already been noted between apparently authoritative reports to BLN of which trains were using which route in early January.  Certainly the 14:53 from London on 18 January ran via Antoing and the 08:52 from Bruxelles on 22 January ran via Tournai.  

BLN 795.060][FR] (Béning - Sarreguemines -) Bitche - Niederbronn (- Haguenau): (Ball 29B3-30A3)  Though passenger trains may have struggled on after 4 November 1996 as reported in BLN 792.0491, it is no surprise that they seem now to have succumbed to buses, according to a recent visitor to the area.  The local SNCF fiche horaire dated 4 November shows Bitche - Niederbronn services as being by bus.  

BLN 795.061][FR] Les Landes: (BLN 750.0113; Ball 59A1-59A2)  Of three Voies Ferrées des Landes branches mentioned in BLN 750, Laluque - Laluque Boos, closed March 1989, had track removed by September 1995, but both Labouheyre - Mimizan-Bel-Air, closed 29 May 1992, and Ychoux - Parentis-en-Born, closed March 1989, recently still had overgrown track in place near their main-line junctions.  

BLN 795.062][BE] Gent Dampoort - Wondelgem - Eeklo: (Ball 8A3-7B3)  On 29 August 1996 strong currents after several days' heavy rain caused the elderly swing-bridge over the Gent - Terneuzen canal to jam in the 'open-for-navigation' position, blocking Lijn 58 between Gent and Wondelgem.  The NMBS push-pull set imprisoned beyond had to run a Wondelgem - Eeklo shuttle service for several hours, till eventually a tugboat summoned from the port of Gent was able to pull the offending span back into place.    (Trans-fer)

BLN 795.063][BE] (Bruxelles -) Fexhe-le-Haut-Clocher - Voroux-Goreux - Bierset-Awans - Ans - Liège: (Ball 9A2-9B2)  As part of the works described in BLN 779.0213, the Ligne 36B pair of slow tracks have been de-electrified between Voroux and Ans, as have platforms 4 and 5 at Ans station.  Waremme - Liège "L" trains that used to take these slow tracks to keep out of the path of IC trains are now retimed and use the fast lines, calling at Voroux-Goreux instead of Voroux.  				     (Trans-fer, #102)

BLN 795.064][BE] Trois Ponts - Weywertz - Sourbrodt: (BLN 747 suppt., 775.0134; Ball 10A1)  The Vennbahn, once a strategic but now a tourist railway, has recaptured some freight traffic.  SNCB abandoned regular timber-handling at Sourbrodt, Büllingen and Losheimergraben in 1982, but on 24 September 1996 a train headed by two SNCB Class 55 diesels used Ligne 45 from Trois Ponts via Malmédy to Waimes, then Ligne 48 from Waimes via Weywertz to Sourbrodt, where timber from eastern Europe was transhipped to lorries.  Transhipment might have been avoided had the destination of the timber, a sawmill at Büllingen, still had its link with Ligne 45A Weywertz - Butgenbach - Büllingen - Losheimergraben SNCB (- Losheim DB - Jünkerath).  Similar trains ran later in September and in October, and SNCB expect the traffic flow to continue.  						     (Trans-fer, #102)

BLN 795.065][NL] (Amsterdam - Haarlem -) Santpoort Noord - Ijmuiden: (BLN 764.0441, 788.0405; Ball 3B3)  The 'open-access' Lovers Rail service on the Ijmuiden branch, suspended after 30 September 1996 for the winter, is to resume in June 1997, extended to Ijmuiderstrand and the Scandinavian Seaways terminal.  Between mid-March and mid-May a Lovers service from Amsterdam is to call at Lisse station, specially reopened between Leiden and Haarlem to serve the Keukenhof park with its six million bulbs in flower.  By contrast, NS have in recent years served Keukenhof only by bus connection.  From June 1997 Lovers intend offering other services on routes already covered by NS.        (Modern Railways, December 1996)

BLN 795.066][DE] Berlin Hamburger Bf: (BLN 732.0143, 737.0231; Ball 32A2)  Like the Gare d'Orsay in Paris, Berlin's Hamburger Bahnhof has been sympathetically refurbished as a Museum of Contemporary Art, with a formal garden where the approach tracks once ran.  (The Times, 12 November 1996)  This early terminus, a building in neo-classical style, opened 15 October 1846 and closed to passengers 15 October 1884, when its trains were diverted to the nearby Lehrter Bahnhof, on whose site a new central station for the city is again planned.  In 1906 the Hamburger Bahnhof became a transport museum, still in railway ownership, but had fallen into disrepair by 1984 when the West Berlin city council took it over.  (Berlin's Railways, published by the Branch Line Society, October 1996, £6.95 from BLS Sales, 18 Stanley Place, Walsall WS4 1EL)

BLN 795.067][DE] Probstzella - Lauscha (Thüringen) - Sonneberg (Thür.) - Rauenstein (Thüringen) - Eisfeld: (BLN 792.0503; Ball 53A3-52B3)  Part way through the day on Wednesday 22 January 1997, passenger services abruptly ceased on this 81km rural cross-country route.  Civil engineering supervision had recently transferred from the ex-Reichsbahn office in Erfurt to the ex-Bundesbahn one in Würzburg, and it seems a thorough inspection by the new engineers led them to condemn the track as unsafe.  The decision was controversial and may be reversed.  It reinforces a view in the former DDR that eastern Länder such as Thüringen do not obtain value for the money they have to pay DB for local rail services.

BLN 795.068][AT] Wieselburg an der Erlauf - Gresten: (BLN 792.0508; Ball 74B3-74B2)  Closed to regular passenger trains 31 December 1990 (Austrian Railway Group Journal, #9), this 760mm-gauge freight line is reported to be closing temporarily between July and October 1997 for conversion to standard gauge (IBSE Telegramm; Today's Railways)  However, ÖBB are advertising narrow-gauge excursions over the line on 18 May, 29 June, and 14 December 1997, fare ATS330.  (ÖBB Nostalgieprogrammübersicht 1997)  ÖBB are, it seems, planning to cease all freight services on their narrow-gauge lines, partly because their Rollwagen (transporters for standard-gauge wagons) are ageing and uneconomic to replace.  For most of these lines, withdrawal of freight will throw all costs on to passenger services, further weakening their viability.  The Gresten line has significant traffic and appears to warrant regauging instead of complete closure.  

BLN 795.069][IT] Ferrovie dello Stato: new lines:  The Italians have been building faster and more direct railways around their largely mountainous country for most of the twentieth century, not only long-distance high-speed lines like the Roma - Firenze Direttissima, but also numerous short sections, often in connection with doubling of track or electrification.  Concrete viaducts are much used, which may have improved the economics of new construction, though on many projects work seems to have been suspended, or to be progressing very slowly.  One reason is alleged to be involvement of organised crime in the cement industry, giving various parties a strong incentive to spend money on concrete works but less to lay railway track and install signalling and electrification equipment.  

On the Pescara - Termoli line down the Adriatic coast a deviation inland requiring several tunnels and an entirely new passenger station at San Vito is under construction (Ball 53B3).  The Napoli - Foggia line is being substantially rebuilt near Benevento (54A1), with a new and lengthy tunnel from Vitulano-Foglianise to Benevento still under construction, while new alignment, mostly on viaduct but including two tunnels, is already in use eastwards from Benevento to Apice-San Arcangelo-Bonito.  The Battipaglia - Reggio di Calabria line leaves its original formation to take a significant number of deviations, many of them in use for years.  Most notably, at Centola (57B2) the railway crosses a concrete structure giving a fine view of the original masonry viaduct.  On the (Taranto -) Sibari - Castiglione Cosentino - Cosenza line (BLN 780.0248; Ball 58A2-58A1) a new section of route at Spezzano Albanese Terme is already in use, though with still-unwired electrification masts, while an entirely new alignment is projected from San Marco-Roggiano to Mongrassano-Cervicati, of which little is yet to be seen at the north end, though formation and structures appear complete at the south end. 

BLN 795.070][IT] Sardegna: (BLN 750.0125, 767.0511, 780.0247; Ball 39)  The Sardinian regional government have approved a transport plan envisaging withdrawal of ordinary passenger services from several 950mm-gauge lines of the Ferrovie della Sardegna (Isili - Sorgono; Mandas - Arbatax; and Sassari - Palau), though tourist trains may continue to run.  

Meanwhile, generous tourist-industry finance from European Union taxpayers has led to massive infrastructure spending, including complete restoration of station buildings on lines where ordinary services may be axed, and expensive and scarcely necessary 'improvements' in alignments.  Platoons of surveyors, fleets of bulldozers and a multitude of standard motorway-style concrete viaducts are transforming sections of the island's traditional railways, including (Cagliari -) Monserrato - Suelli (- Mandas) (narrow-gauge); (Macomer -) Biori - Orotelli (- Nuoro) (also narrow-gauge, but proposed for conversion to standard-gauge and transfer to FS); Sassari - Alghero (narrow-gauge); and Sassari - Porto Torres (standard-gauge, with a curve over a fine stone viaduct 'eased' by a concrete slab on stilts right next to it).  More useful perhaps are the improvements in hand on the still-unelectrified standard-gauge (Cagliari - Macomer -) Ozieri - Golfo Aranci main line.  FS timetabled passenger services to the far north-east terminate at Golfo Aranci, but the track continues east, curving tightly south then west as it descends to Golfo Aranci Marittima.  FS have a rudimentary platform with signboard there, though only freight now seems to pass, in connection with the train-ferries to the mainland port of Civitavecchia.  

Ordinary train services on the Macomer - Tresnuraghes - Bosa Marina (- Bosa Città) branch of the 950mm gauge FDS terminate at Tresnuraghes, the line to Bosa having closed in 1991.  However, since a first train on 29 March 1995, and formal inauguration on 10 May 1995, advertised and private-hire steam tourist trains have run to Bosa Marina, the scheduled workings being on Tuesdays and Saturdays during August and September 1996.  With EU finance, a substantial new Bosa Marina station has been built a short way beyond the original buildings.  The line ends at a stout buffer-stop just before the level-crossing, where the rails are tarred over in the roadway.  In May 1996 derelict track was in place beyond, running up-river eastwards for approximately a kilometre to the former terminus at Bosa Città, intact though isolated, with abandoned coaches and wagons still parked on the sidings, awaiting a possible reopening.  

Tirso on the Macomer - Nuoro line has sidings where some fine vintage railcars hide among the bushes.  This station was formerly a junction for the now-closed Tirso - Ozieri narrow-gauge branch that ran north to meet the FS, and track is in place for some considerable distance from Tirso, now used only for storing unwanted rolling stock of all descriptions, much of it fast disappearing beneath vegetation.  
		 (partly from L'Écho du Rail, #152; Today's Railways, #14; Continental Railway Journal, #107, autumn 1996)

BLN 795.071][IT] Sicilia: Riposto - Randazzo - Catania: (Ball 60B2)  On the east coast of Sicily, the northern end of the 111km 950mm-gauge Ferrovia Circumetnea (FCE) begins at Riposto, but its first intermediate station, Giarre, is only a few metres from Giarre-Riposto FS station and fully visible, so interchange is simple.  After heading inland and rounding Etna, a spectacular 3263m volcanic mountain, the FCE turns back to the coast and arrives at Catania Borgo, which has a proper station, locomotive shed and sidings.  The railcars however continue into town on a single-track tramway down the median strip of a main road, terminating at a simple stop-block by a road junction near the Corso Italia.  No other railway facilities are found at Catania Corso Italia, and after unloading the railcar quickly scurries back to Borgo.  The former section from Corso Italia to Catania Centrale FS station seems to have disappeared beneath tarmac, and finding the FCE terminus from FS requires an up-to-date street map of the town.  Though rolling-stock is reported as ordered for a short underground "metro" connecting Catania Borgo to Catania Port, which would result in closure of the FCE street section, in May 1996 no signs were seen of metro construction.

BLN 795.072][IT] Benevento - Bosco Redole - Campobasso (- Termoli): (Ball 54A1-54A2)  This highly scenic Ferrovie dello Stato line, with negligible intermediate traffic, has a very sparse and slow service of two weekday railcars each way, all other journeys being by bus.  The relative speed and convenience of the two modes is illustrated by the 06:10 Benevento - Campobasso train arriving 08:00, missing one of the few trains onwards to Termoli by two minutes, while the 06:55 Benevento - Campobasso bus, leaving 45 minutes later, makes the connection.  The bus, too, has just its driver while the train has driver, driver's assistant and conductor.  It is not clear why the line remains open, since the Vairano-Caianello - Bosco Redole - Campobasso - Termoli line (BLN 771.065) also serves Campobasso, the only sizeable town.

BLN 795.073][IT] Cosenza - Redipiano - Camigliatello Silano - San Giovanni in Fiore: (BLN 708.07; Ball 58Al-58Bl)  The Ferrovie della Calabria buses that run parallel to the line from Camigliatello to San Giovanni are faster than the trains.  In May 1996 timetable notices at Cosenza FS therefore showed most FC trains on the 76km 950mm-gauge branch as terminating intermediately, though in fact they ran through to the terminus, almost empty on the latter part of the journey except for dedicated rail-travellers with time to spare.  The train crews were very friendly, the guard offering his seat in the driving cab to an interested visitor.  Local traffic seems almost entirely for remote villages on the hilly section as far as Redipiano, 32km from Cosenza, and FC appear to have little reason to continue the line beyond. 

BLN 795.074][IT] Gioia Tauro - Palmi Centrale (- Sinopoli San Procopio): (Ball 61A2)  In May 1996 the railcars on this 950mm-gauge Ferrovie della Calabria line carried destination plates for Sinopoli, but terminated at Palmi Centrale with bus transfer beyond.  South of Palmi station the once-scenic line was very overgrown and had clearly been out of use for some years.  The railcar crew said that a bridge or bridges had been declared dangerous and they did not expect repairs to be done.  Still open in February 1993 (BLN 708.07), the line seems now to be one of a number in Italy that have been "temporarily" closed, thus avoiding the political difficulty of seeking formal closure.  The nearby Gioia Tauro - Cinquefrondi line however remained in full passenger use.  The FC have no modern railcars on either branch, the 1970s vehicles in use still being green, lettered FCL for Ferrovie Calabro-Lucane.  

BLN 795.075][IT] Catanzaro Città - Catanzaro - Catanzaro Lido: (Ball 61B3)  Notwithstanding BLN 708.07, the 950mm-gauge Ferrovie della Calabria line is not rack-worked throughout from Città to Lido, for the rack extends only over the very steep 7km from Catanzaro Città to Catanzaro FC station, adjacent to Catanzaro FS main-line station.  Out of use by May 1995, the rack section was still closed in May 1996, with substitute buses, though FC railcars were running their normal service on the 9km adhesion-worked narrow-gauge section between Catanzaro and Catanzaro Lido, parallel to the standard-gauge FS service.  A British railtour operator is advertising a trip "including the rack section to Lido" (sic) during 1997. 

BLN 795.076][GR] Greece: branch reopening dates: The Peloponnese metre-gauge branch from Argos to Nafplion, closed since 1962, reopened for passengers from 25 February 1993 (BLN 725.062, 774.0116; Ball 66A1).  On the 600mm-gauge Volos - Agria - Ano Lehonia - Milies line, closed throughout in 1971, passenger services between Ano Lehonia and Milies (16km) appear to have begun 24 June 1996, and are operated by OSE (BLN 786.0369; Ball 62B1 not shown).  (L'Écho du Rail, #130, March 1994, #163, Oct. 1996)

BLN 795.077][TR][IR] Van - Tatvan train-ferry:  Turkey is to build a line around Lake Van to replace the inland train-ferry forming part of the Ankara - Teheran rail route.  	  (Railway Gazette International, October 1996)

BLN 795.078][NZ] Napier - Gisborne:  On the east coast of North Island, this 212km branch of New Zealand's 1067mm-gauge system closed to passengers 8 March 1988, though freight trains running north beyond Napier may still use the line's level-crossing over the airport runway at Gisborne.  Conversely, passenger trains on the 1600mm-gauge Coleraine - Londonderry section of Northern Ireland Railways continue to cross the runway at RAF Ballykelly, but here it is the airfield that has gone out of use (BLN 767.0498).  Can readers suggest other locations where running lines and runways intersect?  And do passenger trains and passenger aircraft share a level-crossing anywhere in the world?  

BLN 795.079][CA][US] (Ste.Rosalie Jn, QC -) Sherbrooke, QC - Mattawamkeag, ME - Saint John, NB (- Moncton, NB): (BLN 748.074, 757.0312)  Trying to stem operating losses on their Sherbrooke - Saint John line crossing northern Maine, Canadian Pacific had on 1 September 1988 set up an internal subsidiary, Canadian Atlantic.  This was unsuccessful, so CP sought and obtained Canadian regulatory approval for complete abandonment from 1 January 1995 of the Canadian parts of the international route, while at the same time trying to sell off sections of it to 'short line' companies.  In the end Sherbrooke - Brownville Jn, ME went to Canadian American Railroad; Brownville Jn - Vanceboro, ME to Eastern Maine Railway; and Vanceboro - Saint John to New Brunswick Southern Railway.  However these sales were not completed until a few days after the January 1995 deadline, and in the meantime VIA had already taken the decision to withdraw their Atlantic/Atlantique passenger trains over the route after 15 December 1994 in case the deals fell through.     (partly from Canadian Rail Passenger Yearbook 1996-97; Trains, July 1994)

BLN 796.080] Dual-gauge lines:  BLN 716.01 listed some of the world's different track gauges, but how many running lines remain which can carry trains of more than one gauge - and which such sections are of significant length?  To focus the question a little more narrowly, exclude tracks within or close to stations (for example, SNCF and CF du Vivarais at Tournon, BLN 757.0297), and routes where separate tracks of different gauges run parallel (for example, from the New South Wales border at Albury to Melbourne, Victoria, Australia).  Rule out also the many routes with both Russian and standard gauges (for example, Braniewo PKP - Kaliningrad RZD, BLN 713.010).  The 85mm difference between the gauges is not large enough for shared track with three running rails to be safe, for 1520mm-gauge wheelsets could foul the 1435mm rail fixings, so either parallel tracks or interlaced tracks with two pairs of rails are needed.  

As a starter, some examples follow that seem to qualify as dual-gauge three-rail running lines.  The Italian one carries passenger trains of both gauges.  Readers are invited to suggest other, perhaps longer, sections.

[IT] Italy			Potenza Superiore - Avigliano Lucania		Ball 54B1		950mm and 1435mm
[GR] Greece			Aghios Anarghiri - Elefsis				Ball 66B3		1000mm and 1435mm
[CH] Switzerland		Chur - Domat/Ems					Ball 95B2-95A2	1000mm and 1435mm

BLN 796.081] Belfast Central - Yorkgate - Larne Harbour: (BLN 754.0211, 761.0381)  Northern Ireland Railways decided that the sea-wall repairs needed to restore double track would be too costly, so from 30 November 1994 they replaced temporary single-line working between Carrickfergus and Whitehead by permanent signalled single-line operation from a new turnout northeast of Kilroot to Whitehead. (Rail, #242)

BLN 796.082][FR][GB] Calais - Folkestone: Eurotunnel: (BLN 792.0489)  Eurotunnel's enclosed single-deck shuttle trains resumed carrying buses, coaches and similar vehicles on 6 January 1997.  The open-sided shuttle trains carrying lorries have still not been given safety clearance to start services again.  

BLN 796.083][DE] StadtTicket:  Since 1 February 1997 computerised DB stations (but not on-board train staff) have been able to sell rail tickets for distances over 100km with an 'add-on' StadtTicket for local public transport around the destination area in Germany, valid on the day of arrival plus the next day till 24:00.  Price of the 'add-on' element varies with the size of area: for example, DEM15 for München city, DEM20 for the larger München region including the airport S-Bahn.  

BLN 796.084][DE] (Bremen -) Uelzen - Salzwedel - Brunau-Packebusch (- Stendal - Berlin): (BLN 753.0181, 774.0113; Ball 18A1-28A1)  The reinstated Uelzen - Salzwedel section across the former frontier, part of the German Unity (Deutsche Einheit) project to restore the through route for Bremen - Berlin main-line trains, was reported ready for use in late 1996 though no trains were then running on it.  (Op de Rails, 12/96)  The next section to the east, Salzwedel - Brunau-Packebusch, reopened 16 June 1996, having been closed since 28 May 1995 for rebuilding and electrification.  

BLN 796.085][DE][FR] Homburg (Saar) - Bierbach - Reinheim DB (- Bliesbruck SNCF - Sarreguemines): (Ball 56A3-56A2 [DE])  Though the cross-border section has been out of use for decades, as reported in BLN 754.0229 and 788.0396, Homburg - Reinheim had a regular and quite frequent passenger service until it was withdrawn 2 June 1991.  The whole Homburg - Sarreguemines line remains apparently in place, perhaps for strategic reasons.

BLN 796.086][DE] Karlsruhe trams on railways: Ettlingen West DB - Ettlingen Stadt AVG: (BLN 791.0470; Ball 57A2; KBS710.1, 710.3)  The 08:59 SuO Menzingen - Bad Herrenalb Albtal-Express is mirrored by the 17:20 SuO Bad Herrenalb - Menzingen Kraichgau-Express, a return working over this otherwise freight-only link.  Arriving at Bad Herrenalb on 5 January 1997 the morning tram carried its passengers a short distance round the terminal balloon loop anti-clockwise, enabling it to run into the shed, though it appears that trams usually run round the loop clockwise.  

BLN 796.087][DE] Rastatt - Forbach-Gausbach (- Freudenstadt Hbf): (Ball 57A1-68A3)  Federal and regional finance has been agreed for electrification of the northern part of DB's Murgtalbahn and extension of Karlsruhe's S-Bahn trams beyond Rastatt to Forbach from 1999.       (Light Rail & Modern Tramway, Feb. 1997)

BLN 796.088][DE] Strategic bridges over the Rhein:  The 1871 Constitution of the German Empire obliged the railways to meet defence needs: "Die Ländereisenbahnen müssen den Anforderungen des Reiches zum Zwecke der Landesverteidigung entsprechen".  Soon after the Empire's formation three bridges were built linking the Grand Duchy of Baden across the river Rhein with the imperial territory of Elsass (= Alsace), newly taken from France as a result of the Franco-Prussian War.  The crossings were, from south to north, Weil - Leopoldshöhe - Haltingen-Süd - Rheinbrücke - Hüningen - St.Ludwig (now St.Louis); Mülheim - Neuenburg - Rheinbrücke - Bantzenheim - Mülhausen (now Mulhouse); and Freiburg - Altbreisach - Rheinbrücke - Neubreisach - Kolmar (now Colmar).  In 1997, the middle bridge alone survives, and ironically its only passenger paths are conditional ones for military-leave trains, carrying French not German soldiers (BLN 783.0298).  

Just before World War I, three more bridges, much further north, were conceived in order to increase capacity and flexibility for the movement of German troops and supplies towards a potential western front.  All three were of similar technical design.  The first to come into use was the Hindenburgbrücke at Rüdesheim.  After authorisation by Prussian and Hessian laws in 1912, work began in 1913, and the new bridge opened for freight in 1915.  Sources vary as to the actual date: 16 August (Hans Kobschätzky's Streckenatlas der deutschen Eisenbahnen 1895-1935) or 1 September (Deutsche Reichsbahn).  The 11.1km of new lines then opened were (Geisenheim -) Überholungsstation Kellergrube - Bk Hindenburgbrücke - Bk Rochusberg - Bk Sarmsheim (- Bad Kreuznach) crossing first the Rhein from east to south, then its tributary, the river Nahe, permitting through running from Wiesbaden to Saarbrücken; Bk Rochusberg - Ockenheim, a north-to-east curve on the left bank; and (Rüdesheim -) Bk Floss - Bk Hindenburgbrücke, a west-to-south curve on the right bank.  Passenger trains began on the first of these lines 5 June 1925, on the second 15 March 1930, and on the third 15 January 1931.  The Hindenburgbrücke was destroyed by the retreating Wehrmacht on 15 March 1945, in the closing months of the Second World War, and has never been rebuilt.  

The second new bridge, the Kronprinzenbrücke or Koblenz-Urmitz Brücke, spanned the river near Engers and Urmitz, north of Koblenz.  Authorised by a Prussian law as late as 1916, work began at once, and the bridge and the associated 11.2km of new railway (Abzw Neuwied - Koblenz-Lützel) were brought into use for freight on 15 August 1918.  After World War I the French occupation régime began passenger traffic, which continued after take-over by Deutsche Reichsbahn Gesellschaft on 15 November 1924, at a more significant level than over the Hindenburgbrücke.  The Kronprinzenbrücke too was destroyed by the Wehrmacht, on 9 March 1945.  Deutsche Bundesbahn rebuilt the bridge to a different design, reopening the route on 10 May 1954 and restoring it as double track in 1960.  Frequent passenger trains now run (KBS465).  The 1997 layout appears more extensive than that of 1918, for the alternative double-track route east from Neuwied station on the river side of the Rechte Rheinstrecke and the single-track curve from Abzw Kesselheim down to join the river side of the Linke Rheinstrecke seem to be modern additions.  

The third strategic bridge was the Ludendorffbrücke or Erpeler Ley bridge near Remagen (BLN 794.044).  This bridge too was authorised by a 1916 Prussian law, but completion was delayed till 1919 by tunnel works on its approaches.  The 3.78km crossing (Bk Erpeler Ley - Bk Kripp) ran from a junction just south of Unkel on the right-bank line through the Erpeler Ley tunnel and south across the river to join the left-bank line north of Sinzig.  A 1.61km line (Bk Victoriaberg - Bk Reisberg) on the left bank allowed through running from the bridge to the Remagen - Adenau Ahrtalbahn.  Both works were brought into use for freight on 1 September 1919.  A nearby south-to-west curve from the Linke Rheinstrecke to the Ahrtalbahn (Bk Ahrbrücke to Bk Hellenberg) had earlier opened for freight on 1 May 1918.  Opened to passengers on 15 July 1926, the Ludendorffbrücke was described as an elegant construction, earning a personal telegram of congratulations from Kaiser Wilhelm II to General Erich Ludendorff, who was regarded as responsible for it, and leading to his election as an honorary citizen of Remagen by the town council.  The bridge that took his name was in fact commissioned too late to be of military significance in World War I.  At the end of the Second World War, however, it played a significant strategic rôle, but for the Allies, not Germany.  Weakened but not brought down by demolition charges, it was captured by the US Army on 7 March 1945 and assisted the Allied advance across the Rhein until 17 March 1945.  That day the Americans stopped troop movements to carry out repairs to the bridge, but in the middle of the afternoon it fell, killing some 25 soldiers and injuring 66.  It has never been rebuilt.

BLN 796.089][AT][DE] Pfronten-Steinach DB - Reutte in Tirol ÖBB - Garmisch-Partenkirchen DB: (BLN 736.0213, 789.0428; Ball 70A1-79A3-70B1)  Tirol province refused subsidy for Pfronten-Steinach - Reutte passenger trains, worked by diesel railcars, so ÖBB withdrew them.  Reutte - Garmisch services again became electrically operated from 29 September 1996.  					(Op de Rails, 12/96)

BLN 796.090][AT] Salzburg Lokalbahn - Bürmoos - Lamprechtshausen: (BLN 778.0193, 783.0312; Ball 72B2)  In autumn 1996 the Salzburger Lokalbahn opened their new terminus, in a cut-and-cover tunnel, and closed 400m of surface track from the previous Lokalbahnhof in the forecourt of Salzburg ÖBB station as far as the level-crossing near the SVB depot.  Light Rail & Modern Tramway says the ceremonial opening was on 14 September.  Today's Railways, #16, says use began on 19 October.  

BLN 796.091][AT] Innsbruck - Igls: (BLN 778.0192; 783.0313; Ball 79B1 not shown)  Innsbruck's scenic metre-gauge light-rail route #6 has been reprieved until at least 31 December 1997, with trams to run from the Hbf to Igls at a 90-minute frequency.  		(Light Rail & Modern Tramway, February 1997)

BLN 796.092][IT] San Vito - Castel di Sangro: (BLN 694.010, 697.09, 742.0351, 770.040; Ball 53B3)  The highly scenic Ferrovia Adriatico Sangritana runs from San Vito on the Adriatic coast for 103km through the mountains, mostly following the river Sangro, hence the company's present name.  Although service is quite sparse over much of the line's length, it is electrified at 3000V dc.  Trains are railcars of the 1950s, perhaps, and lower-quadrant semaphore signals remain in use.  Some run through from Pescara Centrale on the main line and use the FS station, which appears in the FS timetable as S.Vito-Lanciano though its signs read simply 'S.Vito'.  Other FAS workings start from the forecourt of this FS station, which the FAS call 'Marina S.Vito' to distinguish it from their S.Vito Città station, reached via a steep climb, including a spiral, up from the junction.  FAS run a train about every two hours from S.Vito to Lanciano, the main town served, where their depot and headquarters are located.  Here a change of train is required and the service onward is less frequent.  At the respective junctions the remains can be seen of two closed lines branching off, Crocetta - Ortona and Archi - Atessa.  In neither case do FAS seem to have tried to recover track or electrification equipment, and nature has just been allowed to take over.  The line has been reconstructed between Bomba-Torricella and Villa S.Maria, where the valley has been flooded as a reservoir.  FAS run excursion trains to the lake, these being locomotive-hauled using some elderly carriages painted in a striking orange and green livery.  At Castel di Sangro, FAS have a separate station from the FS one on the Sulmona - Carpinone line (BLN 771.064).  A siding connects the two, but lack of evidence of any freight traffic on the FAS suggests that it is little used.

BLN 796.093][IT] San Severo - Peschici Calenella: (Ball 54B2-54B3)  Two contrasting lines serve the Promontorio del Gargano, a peninsula on Italy's Adriatic coast.  From a junction with the FS at San Severo the Ferrovie del Gargano operate a 79km railway electrified at 3000V dc, winding its way through attractive hill country with a spectacular section above lake Varano before concluding with a run along the seashore from Rodi to Peschici Calenella.  The terminus is in a completely rural setting several kilometres short of Peschici, but FG operate a connecting bus which continues to Vieste, right at the end of the peninsula.  Rather confusingly, the FS departure sheets at San Severo show FG departures as being to Vieste Centrale, with no intermediate stops listed!  Using a mixture of quite modern railcars and 1950s-built examples obtained second hand from Ferrovia Centrale Umbria, FG services operate at irregular intervals, with few morning trains.  FG railcars also work stopping trains over the FS main line north-westwards from Foggia to Termoli.  

BLN 796.094][IT] Foggia - Manfredonia: (Ball 54B2)  By contrast, the FS branch runs almost straight across the coastal plain for 37km to serve the Gargano peninsula's principal town.  With one intermediate station remaining, the diesel railcars take only 25 minutes, making operation of a regular hourly service efficient and economical, though as is usual on Italian branches several hours elapse without trains during the morning.  This line has appeared on lists of possible closures in the past, but withdrawal of the service seems unlikely, as the trains are well used, Manfredonia is quite a sizeable town and FS have made efforts to reduce operating costs, including removal of several passing-loops.  The closed intermediate stations can have generated minimal traffic, as all were in open countryside.  Two freight branches off the line appear to serve military establishments, and would require most of the infrastructure to be retained.  

BLN 796.095][IT] Foggia - Potenza: (Ball 54B1)  On this secondary main line, with hourly or two-hourly trains, lies Rocchetta San Antonio-Lacedonia, a classic example of a station which exists only because it is a junction.  Set in a remote location in the upper Ofanto valley, it is 13km over the hills from the village of Rocchetta San Antonio, and even further from Lacedonia.  Very sparse services run on the lines that branch off east (Rocchetta San Antonio-Lacedonia - Spinazzola) and west (Rocchetta San Antonio-Lacedonia - Lioni - Avellino).  Both have just two trains on weekdays, and none on Sundays.  A former engine-shed, sidings in which little seems to happen, and a large station building complete the scene.  The bar remains in use, but seems to have changed little since the 1950s.  In the snow of late December 1996 one might almost have imagined oneself at Riccarton Junction!

BLN 796.096][IT] Potenza Scalo - Avigliano Lucania - Avigliano Città:  (Ball 54B3-54B1)  The layout of the 950mm-gauge Ferrovie Appulo Lucane and 1435mm-gauge FS lines in Potenza is not quite as shown in the Ball atlas.  The FAL line starts at a virtually deserted terminus named Potenza Scalo; runs east beneath a road bridge to a halt, Inferiore, across the road from Potenza Inferiore FS station; climbs east past an unfinished concrete halt adjacent to Via O.Gavioli; and traverses a horseshoe curve to run west into Potenza Città, the principal narrow-gauge station of the town.  Entering a long curving tunnel beneath the centre of this elevated city, it emerges facing north to pass through another unfinished concrete halt at Via Roma, and continues a short distance to enter its own platforms, named San Maria, adjacent to and linked by subway with the FS platforms named Potenza Superiore.  Beyond here, the FAL merges into the FS to become a dual-gauge line.  Close to the tunnel mouth south of Tiera, the FAL/FS passes through a substantial new concrete station, nameless, unused and deserted, with no habitation in sight.  A motorway parallels the line, and between that and the railway runs another road with partly-built and partly-collapsed concrete viaducts, a scene not uncommon in the Italian Mezzogiorno, where ill-conceived and uncompleted public works scar otherwise splendid scenery.  Just short of Avigliano Lucania, the FAL leaves the FS on the eastern side to enter its own platforms.  From the FAL platforms, one line continues forward, swinging west to cross beneath the FS and head for Avigliano Città, while another runs back, first heading south before turning east towards Bari, not leaving to the north as shown in Ball.  A frequent local FAL service runs all day from Potenza Scalo to Avigliano Città, worked by small railcars and trailers built in the 1960s or 1970s.

BLN 796.097][IT] Potenza Scalo - Avigliano Lucania - Gravina in Puglia: (Ball 54Bl-55A1).  On four departures a day from Potenza Scalo, FAL attach a second railcar as far as Avigliano Lucania, and detach it there to reverse on to the line towards Bari.  Although labelled 'Bari', this railcar generally terminates at Gravina, where passengers change.  On FAL's eastern section modern diesel railcars running in multiple operate a frequent service Gravina in Puglia / Matera Sud - Altamura - Bari Centrale (55A1-56A1), with the separate Gravina and Matera portions joining at Altamura.  The Matera area has more stations than are shown in Ball, and at busy periods some local services operate purely within Matera.  At Matera Sud the line terminates against a high and solid wall, with no sign of the proposed standard-gauge line southward.  East of Altamura the FAL line has recently been realigned to cut out many meanders.  Modugno FAL and Modugno Città FS stations are adjacent, their platform ends separated only by a minor level-crossing, not as far apart as shown in Ball.  Between Bari San Andrea FS and Bari Scalo FAL both the standard and narrow-gauge lines pass through a modern new station named Policlinico.  The FAL line terminates on a viaduct, above and behind the terminus of the Barletta - Bari Centrale Ferrotranviaria line, and just a few metres from Bari Centrale FS station. 

BLN 796.098][IT] Potenza Scalo - Pignola - Laurenzana:  Potenza's excellent free tourist map indicates that the FAL used to continue west beyond its present terminus before turning south, and FAL timetables displayed in Potenza include Autoservizi Sostitutivi rail-replacement buses to Laurenzana.  A Hallwag road map of about 1970 depicts a Potenza - Laurenzana railway, but the September 1976 FS Orario Generale shows FAL trains running only the 12km to Pignola, with buses already working the remaining 43km to Laurenzana.  When did this line close?  

BLN 796.099][IT] Bari Centrale - Taranto: (BLN 768.0530; Ball 55B1-58B3)  In May 1996 FS had in hand considerable realignment work associated with double-tracking and raising speed limits on this hitherto single-track main line.  Much of the old route will be abandoned.  Some 15km from Bari Centrale, just beyond Palo del Colle, new track trails in from somewhere to the north, with a new station, Bitetto, just after the junction.  Beyond Bitetto, FS have closed and lifted the original line to the west via Grumo Appula, and built another Grumo Appula station on the new route now in use.  When the disused alignment rejoins, old and new routes remain together to Gioia del Colle.  There the old route, still in use, swings away to twist and turn to Castellaneta and beyond, winding through 'canyons' that the new line will apparently tunnel beneath, as suggested by glimpses of it here and there.  Both routes combine again in the region of Palagianello.  Work appears to be progressing as required for completion in 1999, so BLN 768's sceptic may yet be confounded!

BLN 796.0100][IT] Paola - Castiglione Cosentino - Cosenza: (BLN 708.06, 780.0248; Ball 58A1)  At Castiglione Cosentino the former standard-gauge rack line from Paola via Falconara Albanese, replaced by the long Santomarco tunnel, retains its track, now rusty and overgrown, indicating that plans for a steam-worked museum line have not yet come to anything.  The embankment of the line from Castiglione to Cosenza's old FS station in the town centre also remains, with a siding to an electricity substation extending a short distance along it.  The new joint station at Cosenza is large and rather grand, with a new goods station and traction depot, but it is about 3km out of town.  The standard-gauge FS line continues a short distance south of the station, apparently as an alternative access to the depot and carriage sidings.  The 950mm-gauge Ferrovie della Calabria have bay platforms at the south end of the station, and their own booking-office and other facilities, quite separate from FS.  Over the Christmas 1996 period the two railways each set up their own nativity scene, a feature found at all Italian stations of any consequence.  

BLN 797.0101][FR] Bédarieux - Lamalou-les-Bains - Mons La Trivalle (- Olargues - St.Pons - Mazamet): (BLN 783.0296; OEIS 9546, 9626; Ball 73B3-73A3)  Ordinary Bédarieux - St Pons passenger services were withdrawn 10 July 1972 and freight ceased 19 June 1987.  The Train Touristique Languedoc Méditerranée operation commenced in 1991, only to close, it seems permanently, at the end of September 1996.  Though Mons La Trivalle - Olargues track was left in place for some time against the possibility of the TTLM being extended, the whole Mons La Trivalle - Mazamet section had been lifted by August 1996.  It is unfortunate that the preservation group, L'Amicale du Train Touristique Lamalou - Mons La Trivalle, failed to secure the more scenic section to Olargues, which would also have been a better traffic generator than Mons La Trivalle.  In the confined upper valley the replacement buses provide fine glimpses of the trackbed, viaducts and extensive engineering works of the former railway.  

BLN 797.0102][DE] Flensburg - Flensburg Hafen / Flensburg alter Bf: (Ball 10A3)  The Flensburg steam rally (Dampf Rundum) described in BLN 767.0503 is to be repeated on 11-13 July 1997.  Steamships are the core of the event, but rail trips on freight-only lines on both sides of the harbour should again feature.  

BLN 797.0103][DE] Bergen (Rügen) - Putbus - Lauterbach: (BLN 739.0279; Ball 13B2; KBS198)  The Putbus - Lauterbach section may be equipped with a third rail to provide dual-gauge track and may be extended to Lauterbach Hafen, enabling both standard-gauge DB trains and Rasende Roland tourist trains on the 750mm-gauge Göhren - Putbus line of the Rügensche Kleinbahn to exchange passengers with excursion boats.  With finance from both local council and European Union sources, the work could be complete by 1999, according to the newspaper Ostsee Zeitung.  		(IBSE Telegramm, February 1997)

BLN 797.0104][DE][SE] Sassnitz - Trelleborg train-ferry: (BLN 714.011, 777.0171, 781.0263; OEIS9623; Ball 13B3)  It is expected that 8 January 1998 will see the train-ferries for Trelleborg in Sweden using Mukran instead of Sassnitz as their German port.  The railway from Sassnitz to Sassnitz Hafen is to close.  Passenger traffic will be dealt with at Mukran, but it is not yet clear whether this will mean boat trains running on the Mukran ferry branch (BLN 702.010, 708.02, 714.012).

BLN 797.0105][DE] Berlin:  Berlin Hauptbahnhof (BLN 699.08; Ball 32A2) is to close to all except S-Bahn trains for at least a year from 1 June 1997.  Long-distance trains will use Berlin-Lichtenberg, and RE services from Frankfurt (Oder) will use a temporary platform at Warschauer Strasse.  (IBSE, February 1997)  Treptower Park platform B, closed for renovation since mid-August 1995, came back into use on 10 December 1996, and platform A was in turn taken out of use at about 17:30 on 6 December for similar refurbishment, in connection with restoration of S-Bahn Innenring services between Treptower Park and Neukölln, probably in December 1997 (BLN 765.0464, 787.0384).   (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/97)

BLN 797.0106][DE][NL] German-Dutch border links:  Since 29 September 1996 DB Köln - Grevenbroich - Mönchengladbach - Kaldenkirchen local trains have run forward to Venlo (Ball 37B2-37A3), so together with the Köln - Eindhoven workings an hourly cross-border Kaldenkirchen DB - Venlo NS service now operates, at Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr fares plus a DEM2.40 supplement for the frontier section.  New cross-border VRR services (Mönchengladbach - Rheydt -) Dalheim DB - Roermond NS (37A2) and (Duisburg - Moers -) Xanten - Kleve DB - Nijmegen NS (37B3-23A1) are reportedly under consideration with reopening to passengers beyond Dalheim and Xanten respectively.  Dalheim - Roermond is currently out of use and Xanten - Kleve closed.  (Op de Rails, 12/96)  (Münster Hbf -) Gronau (Westfalen) DB - Enschede NS (24A2) also seems likely to reopen to regular passenger trains, perhaps in 1998, with a half-hourly service.  The DB section to the frontier is legally not closed, but the last timetabled passenger trains ran in 1981 and the last special in 1985.  		(IBSE Telegramm, February 1997)

BLN 797.0107][DE] Frankfurt (Main) S-Bahn: Stresemannallee - Darmstadt: (BLN 723.034, 758.0325, 793.012; Ball 50A3-49B3)  The cost of the land needed for the S-Bahn extension to Darmstadt, due to open in June 1997, has constrained its design.  From Frankfurt it runs south on the east side of the Fernbahn long-distance tracks, crossing to the west side near Neu Isenburg, before returning via a tunnel between Langen and Egelsbach to run on the east side into Darmstadt.  	   (Blickpunkt Strassenbahn, 1/97)

BLN 797.0108][DE] Strategic lines and bridges in eastern Germany:  During the years of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik, the east German Reichsbahn constructed a number of strategic connecting or diversionary lines which would have come into significant use only in the event of mobilisation or actual conflict between Warsaw Pact and NATO armed forces.  Many had gaps at major rivers where military engineers would have swiftly put a temporary railway bridge (Behelfsbrücke) in place on already-prepared abutments.  Each Behelfsbrücke was built and tested at least once, but some were erected and dismantled more frequently, and one or two as an annual exercise.  Other lines had gaps where the strategic track could be quickly laid across a road or another, less vital, railway line.  Some were simply avoiding lines at junctions and similar connections (Verbindungskurve).  A few were prepared trackbeds without track.  Once Germany was reunified they were no longer needed, and between 1 December 1992 and 2 September 1993 the Federal Ministry of Transport allowed DR quietly to abandon nearly fifty lines, without any formal closure procedure.  Traces of these cold-war railways will linger on the landscape for years, and IBSE Telegramm #74 for January 1997 listed them for the record.  BLN has added Ball atlas references.

13A2	Barth (km31.300) - Bresewitz [had public traffic in DDR days]
19A1	Karstädt - Quitzow (- Perleberg Süd) [had public traffic in DDR days]
19B1	Neustadt (Dosse) avoiding line (Abzw Köritz - Barsikow)
20A1	Kremmen - Germendorf (- Oranienburg) [had public traffic in DDR days]
20B3	Neubrandenburg connecting curve 
20B1	Löwenberg curve (Abzw Löwenberg - Löwenberg (Mark) Dorf)
21A3	Charlottenhof (Kreis Pasewalk) - Abzw Belling
21A3	Krugsdorf (bei Pasewalk) connecting curve [east of Pasewalk Ost] 
21A1	Britz (Kreis Eberwalde) curve (Abzw Ragösermühle - Abzw Schieferberg)
21A1	Neurüdnitz (Abzw Schleuse) - Behelfsbrücke [diversionary route, separate from main bridge across Oder to Poland]
27A1	(Osterwieck West -) Osterwieck Werke - Bühne-Rimbeck (- Börssum) 
27B1	(Heudeber-Danstedt -) Abzw Mulmke - Hessen-Veltheim (- Matierzoll) 
28A3	Stendal connecting curve (Nord - West) [had gap where it intersected Stendal - Salzwedel line]
28A2	Magdeburg avoiding line (Gerwisch - km4.16) [potential diversionary route, without track]
28B3	Schönhausen (Elbe) Nord - Göhrener Damm
28B3	Hassel (Kreis Stendal) - Behelfsbrücke - Lübars (Elbe) [across river Elbe north-east of Stendal]
28B3	Rathenow Nord - Buckow [potential diversionary route, without track]
28B3	Rathenow connecting curve (Nord - Ost)
29A2	Belzig avoiding line (Preussnitz Stellwerke B1 - Stellwerke B2) 
29A2	Niemegk - Treuenbrietzen [had public traffic in DDR days]
29A1	Eutzsch - Abzw Pratau 
30B3	Neu Manschow - Behelfsbrücke [across river Oder to Poland]
30B3	Frankfurt (Oder) avoiding line (Fauler See - Güldendorf)
30B2	Wiesenau (Abzw Oderdeich) - Behelfsbrücke [across river Oder to Poland]
30B2	Grunow (Niederlausitz) W to S avoiding line
30B2	Guben Süd connecting curve 
30B2	Guben Süd (goods lines to Behelfsbrücke) [across river Neisse to Poland]
30B1	Jänschwalde - Abzw Preilack (- Tauer)
30B1	Forst connecting curve (Abzw Abg - Abzw Abc) 
31A2	Wustermark N to W avoiding line 
41B2	(Ebeleben - Rockensussra -) Mehrstedt - Schlotheim [had public traffic in DDR days]
42A3	Querfurt connecting curve (Abzw G - Abzw K) 
42A3	Röblingen am See connecting curve (Abzw Ar - Stedten Stw B1)
42B3	Hohenthurm - Niemberg [had gap where it intersected motorway F100/B100, with the rails stacked nearby] 
42B3	Hohenthurm - Reussen [had public traffic in DDR days]
43A3	Dommitzsch - Behelfsbrücke - Prettin (- Annaburg) [across river Elbe]  
43A3	Eilenburg N avoiding line (Abzw Mörtitz - Behelfsbrücke - Abzw Cospa) [across river Mulde]
43A2	Trebsen - Behelfsbrücke - Neichen [across river Mulde to Wurzen - Golzern line] 
43A2	Grossbothen avoiding line (Abzw Leisenau - Abzw Muldebrücke) [part used summer 1995;see BLN 757.0303]
43A2	Narsdorf Bogendreieck connecting curve  
43A1	Paditz (Abzw Paditz - Abzw Stünzhain)
43B3	Riesa N to W avoiding line (Röderau - Behelfsbrücke - Oschatz Awanst Schmorkau) [across river Elbe]
43B2	Neusörnewitz - Elbgaubad [had public traffic in DDR days]
44B3	Graustein avoiding line (Abzw Ost - Abzw Süd) 
45A3	(Lodenau -) km13.457 - Steinbach (Kreis Niesky) [had passenger trains in DDR days]
45A3	Steinbach (Kreis Niesky) - Behelfsbrücke [across river Neisse to Sanice in Poland, bridge last erected 1986]
45A2	Charlottenhof (Oberlausitz) - Behelfsbrücke [across river Neisse to Poland]

BLN 797.0109][DE][CZ] (Plauen -) Adorf (Vogtland) - Bad Brambach DB - Plesná CD - Vojtanov (- Cheb): (BLN 787.0388; Ball 54A2 (DE), 35A1 (CZ); DB 544, CD 147)  DB trains RE6363/6366 are expected to cease after 31 May 1997, closing this border-crossing to rail passengers.  The Plesná - Vojtanov section - which crosses back into Germany for a short distance and out again without an intermediate station - will probably continue to have internal Czech trains, as it did in DDR days.  The frontier was recently opened to pedestrians at Bad Brambach, so those active enough will be able to walk the 3km to Plesná, or the 5km to Velký Luh on the nearby Tršnice - Luby u Chebu branch (CD 146).  	(IBSE Telegramm, February 1997)

BLN 797.0110][DK] Danish closures?:  Listed as "likely to close" in LCGB Bulletin of 5 February 1997 are Struer - Thisted (Ball 1B2-1B3); Århus - Grenå (BLN 755.0253; 1B1-3A2); Esbjerg - Varde - Skjern - Vemb - Holstebro (5B2-1B2); Ribe - Tønder (BLN 779.0223; 5B2-5B1); and Nykøbing (Falster) - Gedser (BLN 772.072; 12A3)

BLN 797.0111][ES] Llovio - Ribadesella Puerto: (Ball 4A2 not shown)  This branch, effectively a single-track long siding, diverges from FEVE's metre-gauge Oviedo -Llovio - Ribadesella - Santander line at the east end of Llovio station, running beside the river down to a single platform and buffer-stop just before the car-cluttered quays of the old fishing harbour, closer to the town centre than Ribadesella station at a higher level on the through line.  The Puerto station has no ordinary passenger service, but excursions generally run in connection with the annual canoe race down the river, and an ADL railtour visited on 7 September 1996.  Beyond the buffer-stop, the line's former route can readily be traced in the road round the harbour for over a kilometre.  

BLN 797.0112][ES] Bilbao Concordia - Irauregi - Aranguren - Balmaseda: (BLN 792.0514; Ball 5B2)  Irauregi, south-west of Bilbao city-centre, had two metre-gauge stations, each with its own level-crossing, one on the (ex-FC Santander-Bilbao) single-track line out of Bilbao Concordia and one nearby at a higher level on the now freight-only (ex-FC La Robla) line from Lutxana on the left bank of the river Nervion.  With electrification FEVE have put in a connection just to the east of both stations, enabling them to reopen the higher Irauregi station and close the unelectrified section of track through the lower station.  To the west, the layout at Aranguren is not quite as shown in Ball.  Aranguren Estación is at the physical junction and could serve trains on the Balmaseda line, but seems in practice to be used only by trains on the Santander line.  Aranguren Apeadero (= 'halt'), nearer to the village, is on the Balmaseda line beyond the junction, so only Balmaseda trains call.  FEVE timetables confusingly call both places 'Aranguren', though 'Aranguren Est.' and 'Aranguren Apdo.' appear on station notices.

BLN 797.0113][IT] Sacile - Maniago - Pinzano - Gemona del Friuli: (Ball 43B1-44A2; FS 187)  Between Sacile and Maniago a reasonable service remains, but only two weekday trains are timetabled east of Maniago, 06:40 Gemona del Friuli - Sacile and 13:55 Sacile - Pinzano, with no train at all from Pinzano to Gemona.  Yet on Sundays and holidays the line comes alive, with four Sacile - Gemona trains and five back.  

BLN 797.0114][IT] San Giorgio di Nogaro - Palmanova: (Ball 44A1; FS 189)  The 06:44 weekday train from San Giorgio still runs on this 12km cut-off route between the Venezia - Trieste and Trieste - Udine lines.  All other services are provided by buses.  

BLN 797.0115][NO] Hamar - Elverum: (Ball 13A2)  The Norwegian railway museum at Hamar was connected to the NSB Oslo - Trondheim main line by an existing connection plus 500m of new track through the streets, opened 16 June 1996, thus enabling the museum's steam train to run Hamar - Elverum trips on 22-23 June and 17-18 August 1996. (Op de Rails, 12/96)

BLN 797.0116][CH] Chur - Filisur - Samedan: (Ball 95B2-96A2)  Stations at Sils im Domleschg, Solis, Surava, Alvaneu, and Stugl/Stuls, on the metre-gauge Rhätische Bahn/Viafier Retica, are to close to passengers from 1 June 1997, the villages being served thereafter by road transport.  	(Eisenbahn Amateur, 11/96)

BLN 797.0117][HU] Szob - Szobi Köbánya: (BLN 777.0175; Ball 42B1, not shown)  Still carrying stone traffic in 1991, this MÁV freight-only narrow-gauge line is now reported to be out of use.  	       (Continental Railway Journal, #107, autumn 1996)

BLN 797.0118][HU] Nyíregyháza NyK. - Balsai Tisza part: (BLN 767.0476, 777.0176; Ball 43B1)  Travellers in mid-May and mid-September 1996 found the end of the 760mm-gauge branch out of use beyond Balsa to Balsai Tisza part, with the local comment that trains run down to the river Tisza only in 'summer', a pattern of operation confirmed indeed by June and August reports.  The duration of 'summer' on this branch is however not revealed in the MÁV timetable, which shows services running to the riverbank all year.  

BLN 797.0119][HU] Budapest Ferencváros - Köbánya Kispest: (BLN 789.0441; Ball 44B2; MÁV 1, 30a, 100a, 142)  A few other 1996-97 services are timetabled on this spur, including #1686/7 Kesthely - Nyiregyháza (summer only), #S19701/2 Balatonfüred - Köbánya Kispest (summer weekends), and most notably #340/341, overnight trains between Wien Westbahnhof and Beograd which do so to avoid reversal at Budapest Keleti station, continuing by the electrified route via Cegléd, Kiskunfélegyháza and the Kiskunhalas east-to-south avoiding line (BLN 778.0201; Ball 47B2 not shown) to the Kelebia - Subotica border crossing into Yugoslavia.  Until May 1996, the daytime Wien - Beograd trains followed the same route, but now reverse at Keleti and serve Kiskunhalas.  Hungarian timetable information (main lines only at present) is to be found on MÁV's Web-page at http://www.mav.hu/menetrend/.  

BLN 797.0120][AT][SI][HR] Bleiburg ÖBB - Holmec SZ - Dravograd - Maribor: (Ball 45B2-46A2)  On an autumn 1996 trip the 10:00 Bleiburg - Maribor was a Slovenske Zeleznice two-car diesel unit of somewhat Italian appearance which left the Austrian junction five minutes early, with few passengers.  Just west of Dravograd traces were seen of the lifted Lavamünd ÖBB - Dravograd SZ line coming in from across the Austrian border (BLN 750.0124).  On arrival at Ruse about 11:30 the train terminated, since engineering work blocked the line, and a bus ferried passengers 11km to Maribor Studenci, on the outskirts of Maribor, whence another railcar unit continued the 2km to the main station in this prosperous-looking town.  Another diesel railcar then set out south on the electrified (Spielfeld Strass ÖBB - ) Maribor - Ljubljana main line to Pragersko, reversing there eastwards on to the Pragersko - Ormoz SZ (- Cakovec HZ) route, before turning north just short of the Croatian border on the Ormoz - Ljutomer Mesto - Murska Sobota branch (46A2-46B3).  A direct link is planned in the shape of a 22.5km Murska Sobota SZ - Zalalövö MÁV line (BLN 726.67), but at present Slovenia and Hungary are joined by rail only via Croatia or Austria.  From Murska Sobota a 15:04 bus ran to Lendava, the Slovenian terminus of a 24km branch line from Croatia.  Lendava's single daily train, a Hrvatske Zeleznice railbus of a style rather like an Austrian or Spanish example, arrived at 16:35 and departed at 16:45, though on the Cakovec - Mursko Sredisce HZ - Lendava SZ branch more trains do run on the 18km section south of Mursko Sredisce which is wholly in Croatia. 

BLN 797.0121][EG] Cairo/Al-Qâhira - Ismâ'ilîya - El Qantara (- Gaza):  Restoration is intended of a rail link across the Suez Canal (BLN 784.0345), but from a passenger ship passing through in the morning mist of 17 January 1997, BLN's reporter could see no obvious sign at either El Qantara or El Firdân of those victims of successive wars, the former railway bridges over the Qanât El Suweis.  At El Qantara West the eleven-coach southbound 05:30 Bûr Sa'îd/Port Said - Al Qâhira/Cairo Main, and the six-coach northbound 05:50 Ismâ'ilîya - Bûr Sa'îd local, both hauled by Co-Co diesel-electric locomotives, were running to time. 

BLN 797.0122][SY][JO][SA] Wadi el Abyad / El Hasa - Ma'an - Batn el Ghul - Aqaba:  (BLN 764.0453)  Built 1901-08 by the Turks, ostensibly for Islamic Haj pilgrims on their way to Mecca, but also as a strategic link south through then Turkish-controlled lands, the Damascus - Dera'a - Amman - Ma'an - Batn el Ghul - Medina railway was the victim of several raids by Lawrence of Arabia, but the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War was much more damaging since the main line ended up divided among three present-day states, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.  Much of the Hedjaz Railway, including the section into Saudi Arabia from Batn el Ghul (= 'belly of the monster') to Medina, is derelict, and some sees very little use.  However, in October 1975 phosphate traffic began on the southern part of the Hedjaz Jordan Railway and on a newly-completed 116km Batn el Ghul - Aqaba branch.  In 1979 Jordan set up a separate Aqaba Railway Corporation to run the phosphate trains, operating on 292km of track, still laid to the unique Hedjaz gauge of 1050mm, from mines at Wadi el Abyad and El Hasa, served by two branches 3.5km and 5.1km east of the main line north of Ma'an, to the ore export terminal at Aqaba, Jordan's only port.  Three ore trains a day now operate in winter and four in summer, running only in daylight hours on the unfenced track through the desert.  On 18 January 1997 a northbound empty working had four GM Co-Co diesel-electric locos and 31 bogie wagons.  At Aqaba, track continues beyond the phosphate terminal for about 1km to the quayside, but is out of use and partly covered with tarmac.  

BLN 797.0123][JP] (Tokyo - Echigo-Yuzawa -) Muikamachi - Tokamachi - Saigata (- Noetsu - Kanazawa):  (BLN 768.0536, 773.0103)  On 22 March 1997 the new Hokuetsu Kyuko railway opens, a 'third-sector' company with local-authority backing, neither publicly-owned nor wholly private-sector, having been created to complete this dormant former JNR development through the quite mountainous country between Muikamachi and Saigata.  Single-tracked, with seven passing loops, the 59.4km 1067mm-gauge line has six-aspect signals displaying double-green to allow speeds of up to 160km/h, though initially trains will be limited to 140km/h.  As well as local services, ten Hakutaka limited expresses will run daily, connecting out of Joetsu Shinkansen 1435mm-gauge bullet-trains from Tokyo at Echigo-Yuzawa, and running west to join the existing line south-west down the Sea of Japan coast to Kanazawa and Fukui.  Both JR East and JR West are to provide the stock, along with Hokuetsu Kyuko's own 'Snow Rabbit' express units.

BLN 797.0124][JP] Noheji - Shichinohe: (BLN 776.0163)  A classic branch line of the kind Britain began to lose in the 1950s but which in optimistic Japan only opened in 1962, the Nambu Jukan railway was visibly in decline in 1996, and was recently planned to close in March 1997.  This 21km of railbus-operated rural 1067mm-gauge track in Aomori Prefecture, to the far north of Honshu, is now to stay open until 5 May 1997 to allow Japan's numerous rail enthusiasts and others to visit it over the 'Golden Week' spring holiday.  However, at the other end of Japan's main island, in Yamaguchi Prefecture, the six services daily on the short Minami-Omine - Omine branch off JR West's Mine line are to be withdrawn in March 1997.  

BLN 797.0125][MY] Kuala Lumpur light rail: (BLN 761.0393) Operation began 7 December, with free rides for nine days before revenue services started on 16 December 1996.  (Light Rail & Modern Tramway, February 1997)

BLN 797.0126][CA] Toronto - Newmarket - Bradford - Barrie - Orillia - Rama - Washago (- Sudbury Jn, ON): (BLN 706.010, 783.0321, 792.0525, 794.057)  VIA's last transcontinental trains via the Newmarket Subdivision ran on 21 September 1996, calling as usual at Newmarket, Barrie and Orillia.  From 22 September, CN abandoned 45km of the Newmarket Sub between Barrie and Rama.  GO Transit commuter trains still run Toronto - Newmarket - Bradford, but the Canadian/Canadien now runs via the Bala Sub on the east side of Lake Simcoe, making no stop between Toronto and Washago.  (Trains, Feb.1997)

BLN 797.0127][CA] Toronto - North Bay - Cochrane, ON:  Though its train west from Montréal runs no more (BLN 793.026), Cochrane can still be reached by rail north from Toronto.  In 1993 the National Transportation Agency decreed that Canadian National and Ontario Northland must continue to operate their Northlander until at least August 1998.  

BLN 798.0128]  Dual-gauge lines: (BLN 796.080)  A few more three-rail dual-gauge lines are:

[PT] Trofa - Lousado			BLN 780.0244			1000mm and 1668mm, 2km of line still in use
[CH] Wohlen - Bremgarten West		BLN 791.0476			1000mm and 1435mm, 10km of line still in use
[PL] Pleszew Wask. - Pleszew Miasto	BLN 798.0147			750mm and 1435mm, 3km of line still in use

BLN 798.0129][IE] Limerick Junction: (BLN 785.0348; PSUL, p18)  Long famous for its unusual reversing movements, the afternoon train between Limerick and Rosslare Europort has been seen using the Limerick bay (platform 2) at the north end of Limerick Junction station rather than the Waterford bay (platform 4) at the south end.  The track running south behind the station buildings across the level-crossing to the headshunt giving access to platform 4 may therefore now be out of use.  If this is indeed a permanent change, confirmation of the date it took effect would be welcomed.

BLN 798.0130][FR][CH] (Bellegarde -) Évian-les-Bains SNCF - St.Gingolph CFF (- Bouveret - St.Maurice): (Ball 50B2 (FR), 98B3 (CH))  The local authorities are reported to have organised shuttle trains along the south shore of Lac Léman (Lake Geneva) between Bellegarde in France and St.Maurice in Switzerland during August 1997, for the Fêtes du Rhône to be held at Bouveret.  This service will presumably be in addition to workings of the preserved Rive Bleue Express (BLN 774.0108, 775.0133), the only other trains over the otherwise closed international section of the so-called Ligne du Tonkin.  

BLN 798.0131][FR] Lyon-Perrache - Oullins - Givors: (Ball 56B3-56B2)  The junction at Perrache Poste 1 faces north-west over the river Saône into the mouth of the tunnel, so local trains to and from the Oullins line have at present to reverse there to use Lyon-Perrache station.  Following closure of a postal depot at Perrache, SNCF are during 1997 to open passenger platforms there on the Oullins line, obviating the reversal and facilitating local trains running through to the Lyon Perrache - Lyon-Vaise - Villefranche-sur-Saône line to the north of the city, serving a new passenger interchange at Lyon-Vaise with an extension of Métro Ligne D.  									    (Today's Railways, #17)

BLN 798.0132][FR] Cahors - Calvignac - Cajarc - Capdenac: (BLN 740.0306, 753.0176; Ball 61B2-62A2)  In summer 1996 Quercyrail operated tourist trains on two overlapping sections of this line, Cahors - Cajarc and Calvignac - Capdenac, each with different autorails.  (L'Écho du Rail, #166, January 1997)  When did the eastern section come into use again, and what services are being offered in summer 1997? 

BLN 798.0133][FR] Tourist trains on SNCF freight lines:  Recent proposals, with name and address of operator where known, include the lines Beauvais - Auneuil and (Beauvais -) Goincourt - St.Paul (- St.Germer) (BLN 780.0234; Ball 14B1-14A1; CF du Val de Bray, Boîte Postale 26, F-60390 Auneuil); (Gardanne -) Brignoles - Carnoules (BLN 793.07; Ball 75B3-76B2; Train Touristique du Centre Var, Le Bastidon, route de Nice, F-83390 Cuers); and St.Omer - Arques - Lumbres (- Hesdigneul) (BLN 756.0270; Ball 6A2; CF Touristique de la Vallée de l'Aa).  The last-named is to open in May or June 1997 according to Today's Railways, #17, though a similar operation was recorded as opening 28 June 1992, so perhaps a resuscitation has been necessary.  					       (partly from L'Écho du Rail, #166, January 1997)

BLN 798.0134][DE] Klostermansfeld - Bockstal - Hettstedt: (Ball 42A3 not shown; Kursbuch der deutschen Museums-Eisenbahnen table 353)  This 750mm-gauge former industrial system, once extending to some 90km, was originally built for carrying copper ore, though passengers too were carried until the 1960s.  At the end of freight traffic, on 10 September 1990, only Helbra - Bockstal - Hettstedt was in use, and Helbra - Bockstal was lifted in 1991.  Bockstal was the junction for the still-extant short branch to the works at Klostermansfeld.  Mansfelder Bergwerksbahn Verein began their tourist passenger service 26 May 1990 from their station at the MaLoWa locomotive works, adjacent to DB's Klostermansfeld station.  MBB's passenger terminus at Hettstedt, a small halt called Eduardschacht, is some 2km out of town and rather more difficult to find.  However, trains do continue into the works area to run round at the former Hettstedt Rangierbahnhof and it is not unknown for persuasive passengers to remain aboard the train for this shunting movement.  

BLN 798.0135][DE] Eichstätt Bahnhof - Eichstätt Stadt (- Kipfenberg - Kinding - Beilngries): (BLN 794.049; Ball 60A1-60A2)  The Bayerische Staatseisenbahnen opened Eichstätt Bf - Stadt (5.15km) as a metre-gauge line 15 September 1885 and extended it to Kipfenberg (24.22km) 7 November 1898.  Timetables for July 1914 and July 1925 show it running a further 5.6km from Kipfenberg to Kinding, but opening date is unknown.  In 1914 four halts - Wasserzell (0.7km), Rebdorf (2.8km), Hofmühle (3.6km) and Schlagbrücke (3.9km) - were shown between Eichstätt Bf and Stadt, but by 1925 Hofmühle and Schlagbrücke no longer appeared.  The present Rebdorf-Hofmühle at km3.0 is perhaps an intermediate point between the original Rebdorf and Hofmühle, or maybe merely a remeasurement of Rebdorf.  By 1929, the Bavarian railways were part of the Reichsbahn.  From Beilngries, on the Neumarkt - Greisselbach - Dietfurt branch (Ball 60A3-60A2), the standard-gauge system extended in stages: Beilngries - Kinding (11.1km) for freight 5 November 1929; Kinding - Kipfenberg (5.87km) 15 May 1930; Kipfenberg - Eichstätt Stadt, converted and reopened as standard-gauge, 15 December 1932; and Eichstätt Stadt - Bf (5.09km) 7 October 1934.  The timetable in the last year of the metre-gauge showed 15 trains from Bf to Stadt in summer 1934 and 13 back, with the 18-20 minute journey time reducing to 11-12 minutes when standard-gauge running began.  Beilngries - Kipfenberg closed to passengers 2 October 1955 and Kipfenberg - Eichstätt Stadt closed to passengers and in part to freight 29 May 1960.  Only Eichstätt Bf - Stadt now remains.  Opening dates are from a reprint of the 1935 Handbuch der deutschen Eisenbahnstrecken (Dumjahr 1984), and closure dates from Abseits der Grossen Strecken (Alba, 1983). 

BLN 798.0136][DE] Tübingen - Entringen - Altingen - Gültstein (- Herrenberg): (BLN 775.0140; Ball 57B1-68B3-69A3)  The line is closed between Gültstein and Herrenberg, but tickets between Tübingen and Stuttgart are still priced according to the distance via Herrenberg rather than the longer route via Plochingen that remains open.  A limited passenger service (KBS764) runs between Tübingen and Entringen, using DB railbuses, though the line has since summer 1995 been operated by Zug-Bus GmbH, also known as Regionalbus Alb-Bodensee, a fact not vouchsafed by the DB Kursbuch.  About 1994 track damage precluded both freight and special passenger workings beyond Altingen, but freight trains have been restored to serve a customer at Gültstein.  At the end of summer 1994 DB declared the line too weak for steam locomotives, so no Eisenbahnfreunde Zollernbahn (EFZ) trains operated in 1995 or 1996, but DB's successors are welcoming EFZ steam trains again throughout in 1997, the first running on 6 January, to be followed by workings on the first Sunday of each month from June to September.  

The northernmost section of the HzL from Eyach to Hechingen (68B3) will see EFZ trains only on Wednesdays 13, 20 and 27 August 1997, running through from Böblingen and Horb.  HzL's Hechingen - Gammertingen - Kleinengstingen section (68B3-69A3) will have EFZ trains on the second Sunday of the month from June to September, probably starting from the DB station at Hechingen over the new connection (BLN 793.013), but not in 1997 running forward over the DB Kleinengstingen - Münsingen freight line.  The monthly summer Sunday EFZ trains which ran from 1994 to 1996 on the (Aulendorf -) Altshausen - Pfullendorf DB freight branch (BLN 735.0177; Ball 69A2) are not to be repeated.  Regrettably, carryings on EFZ's semi-regular steam-hauled passenger trains over freight-only lines do not now justify quite the previous levels of operation.  One factor ironically is the Wochenend ticket which, by offering cheap DB travel, makes riding on tourist trains seem much more expensive to the family market.  

BLN 798.0137][DE] (Tübingen -) Metzingen - Bad Urach: (BLN 788.0414; Ball 69A3)  On 31 May 1996 DB transferred the line to Erms-Neckar-Bahn AG, though they appear still to work freight to the only siding in use, at Dettingen.  ENAG, apparently controlled by local firm Elektro Friedrich GmbH, have published a timetable for a Mondays-to-Fridays hourly trial service (Probebetrieb) between Tübingen and Bad Urach, but this had not started in January 1997.  The winter 1996-97 Kursbuch (KBS763) advertised only ten passenger round-trips on 30 November, 1 and 7 December 1996, and an EFZ steam railtour visited the line on Monday 6 January 1997.  At Urach, the former station building, still lived in, sports the town name without the recent 'Bad' prefix, but a bypass road has replaced the platform and original trackbed.  Beyond the new road, trains now use a simple single track with no run-round loop, and a platform with no passenger facilities other than a board with the company's name, the town name including prefix, and a modern train pictogram of the sort used on road signs at level-crossings.  The EFZ tour the same day also visited Göppingen - Boll (Ball 58B1), probably the last such trip on this branch, which lost its freight service 29 May 1994.

BLN 798.0138][DE] Immendingen - Zollhaus-Blumberg - Weizen - Lauchringen: (Ball 68B2-68A1; KBS 12737)  This 'Switzerland avoiding line', like its counterpart Weil - Lörrach - Schopfheim - Wehr - Bad Säckingen (BLN 792.0507; Ball 67B1), was built for strategic reasons to prevent German military or other sensitive traffic for the stations in Baden on the north bank of the river Rhein from having to be routed via Schaffhausen or Basel.  Its central section, Blumberg - Weizen, opened in 1890, linked two existing branches across the high Rhein-Donau watershed by stupendous and extravagant engineering, with the gradient deliberately kept down to 10‰, at the cost of six tunnels, four viaducts, four horseshoe curves and a full spiral, tracing a route like a pig's curly tail, hence its nickname, Sauschwänzlebahn.  

Civilian traffic never flourished, and no military traffic of any importance ever used the line, even during two world wars - perhaps not surprisingly, since near Weizen it runs only 50m from the frontier, with every train movement readily observable by enemy spies in neutral Switzerland, and passing almost within pea-shooter range!  Maintenance expenses were high, and in 1955 DB suspended all traffic on the high section between Zollhaus-Blumberg and Lausheim-Blumegg.  Bizarrely, though neither the authorities in the region nor the military had shown any interest in the line, the federal government in 1962 approved spending of DEM3.5 million on improving it, and assigned DEM50,000 a year to its upkeep, with a contribution from NATO.  Most of its structures were refurbished, and much of the out-of-use line was equipped with heavy welded rail.  In 1967, the northern section, from the junction with the Schwarzwaldbahn at Hintschingen to Blumberg, lost its passenger service, and in 1971 so did the lower section from Lausheim-Blumegg to Oberlauchringen.  Some special trains ran over the central section after 1955, but DB decided on its definitive closure in 1976.  

A line in excellent condition, running through a region with tourist potential, and something of a museum of railway engineering, with structures found nowhere else in Germany, came in 1977 to be seen as a heritage asset.  The preservation group Eurovapor and the town of Blumberg founded the Museumbahn-Wutachtal to run steam-hauled tourist trains at summer weekends on the 26km between Zollhaus-Blumberg and Weizen.  A visit to the line is of interest not only for a trip on the train, but to see what kind of railway the civil engineers of a century ago could build if given total freedom of design with no economic constraint.  							 (Les Transports Européens (CH), #1, September 1995)

BLN 798.0139][DE][AT] Reutte in Tirol ÖBB - Garmisch-Partenkirchen DB: (BLN 723.038, 736.0213, 796.089; Ball 70B1-79A3)  On the DB section, halts at Griessen (Oberbayern) and Untergrainau, closed in 1989, have been reopened.  						        (Eisenbahn Amateur, 11/96)

BLN 798.0140][AT][DE] Bregenz ÖBB - Lindau DB: (Ball 89B2)  At the beginning of September 1996 some ÖBB regional trains previously terminating at Bregenz were extended to a new station opened at Bregenz Hafen.  										        (Eisenbahn Amateur, 12/96)

BLN 798.0141][PT] Porto area: (BLN 773.097, 780.0244; Ball 7A1)  Reopening to passengers of the Contumil - Leixões branch is unlikely, its recent 25kV 50Hz electrification throughout being mainly for access to Custóias workshops, the largest in Portugal, owned by EMEF, the part of CP responsible for vehicle maintenance.  The Porto - Valença CP (- Vigo RENFE) main line to the north, the Linha do Minho, double since October 1996 as far as São Romão, is to be doubled beyond to Nine, and the section Trofa - Lousado - Nine and the Nine - Braga branch are to be electrified.  On the (Porto -) Ermesinde - Pocinho Linha do Douro, Ermesinde - Valongo, the westernmost 7.6km, was electrified in October 1996, though all trains run beyond and remain diesel-hauled.  Under CP's plan for completion by 2000, Trofa - Lousado could lose its dual-gauge track and Lousado - Guimarães could be electrified and converted from metre to broad (1668mm) gauge, although the characteristics of the branch beyond Santo Tirso may result in the top section being closed. 	     (Associação Portuguesa dos Amigos dos Caminhos de ferro; Today's Railways, #17)

BLN 798.0142][PT] Setil - Vendas Novas: (BLN 776.0160; Ball 26A3-26A2)  Electrification is due to be completed in summer 1997.  The investment in this single-track link between Portugal's northern and southern lines has been mainly for the very heavy block trains carrying 2000t of imported coal north from Sines harbour to Pego power-station.  The trains are diesel-hauled eastward, triple-headed, on the 48km Sines - Ermidas Sado freight branch (26A1), double-headed north to Setil, then have two electric locos through to Pego, near Abrantes (26B3) on the Entroncamento - Guarda Linha da Beira Baixa.    (APAC)

BLN 798.0143][PT] Lisboa Campolide - Pinhal Novo - Poceirão: (BLN 733.0158)  Using a new rail deck added to the existing suspension road bridge, the link across the Rio Tejo (river Tagus) from Campolide to Pinhal Novo is due to open in 1998, but part of the line is already in use to serve the Ford/Volkswagen car factory at Penalva, west of Pinhal Novo.  Eight trains a day of Galaxy cars carried in 54 specially-rebuilt wagons run Penalva - Pinhal Novo - Poceirão west-to-south curve - Águas de Moura - Setúbal harbour, avoiding Setúbal station.  Pinhal Novo - Poceirão was double-tracked in 1993-94 to help handle this traffic, expected to rise to 16 trains a day.  At Poceirão a new CP maintenance depot on the south side of the Linha do Alentejo maintains the hopper wagons for the Sines - Pego coal trains, and is expected also to do work on the new electric units for the cross-river service.  						        (APAC)

BLN 798.0144][ES] (Ponferrada -) Cubillos del Sil - Toreno - Páramo - Villablino: (Ball 9A3-3A1)  Coal traffic is building up on the freight-only metre-gauge Ferrocarril Ponferrada-Villablino, and the line's chief engineer says the future is bright.  Though owners Victorino Alonso, formerly Minero-Siderúrgica de Ponferrada SA, are dismantling the closed Ponferrada - Cubillos section, and the old branch into the Compostilla-II power-station at Cubillos is also closed, a new coal-unloading and stockpile area there is busy.  With financial help from the Junta de Castilla y León, the provincial authority, track from Cubillos to Toreno is being refettled, and Páramo - Villablino will be next, Toreno - Páramo having been refurbished in 1991-93.  Following a lorry-drivers' strike in early 1997, coal company Antracitas de Gaiztarro decided to move coal by rail from Alinos, near Matarrosa, to the Cubillos power-plant, and PV trains now haul up to 1800t a day.  Diesel locomotives have been bought second-hand from RENFE and regauged, and 40t bogie coal hoppers similar to FEVE's are to replace old four-wheel wagons still in use.  

BLN 798.0145][ES] Río Tinto (Talleres Minas) - Los Frailes (- Manzano - Las Mallas - Huelva): (BLN 728.079; Ball 34B3-34A2, not shown)  The local preservation trust have now restored 12km of the derelict 83km main line of the Rio Tinto railway (opened 1875, closed 1984).  This 1067mm-gauge system, once British-owned, was built to haul ores of various metals from the huge Rio Tinto mining complex down the valley of the mineral-discoloured 'red river' to the southern Spanish port of Huelva.  From the mine workshops, amid craters, tips and industrial dereliction on a gigantic scale, the section in use stretches through Zarandas to Los Frailes, with a further 6km awaiting attention before running begins to Manzano, eventually to be followed by some 35km more to Las Mallas, the point at which the disused 1067mm-gauge Rio Tinto line begins to follow, on the seaward side, the alignment westwards of the 1668mm-gauge RENFE Sevilla - Niebla - Las Mallas - Huelva line.  On 13 February 1997, steam traction commenced at Rio Tinto, using Glasgow-built 0-6-0T #51 (Dübs, #1890 of 1883), now the oldest steam locomotive operating in Spain, hauling a third-class workmen's coach of 1909 and an open vehicle built on the underframe of a similar coach.  

BLN 798.0146][GR] Piraeus - Athinai - Korinthos - Patrai: (BLN 792.0515, 794.050, 796.080; Ball 66B2-65B3) OSE's European Union-backed 1997-2001 investment programme, recently begun, includes standard-gauge track from Athinai to Korinthos, the busiest 100km of the metre-gauge Peloponnese system, with a new bridge over the ship canal near Korinthos, plus some design work for extension of the standard-gauge 130km west of Korinthos to Patrai, the main ferry-port for Greek trade with western Europe.  A Financial Times report of 12 December 1996 talked of "regauging", suggesting that metre-gauge trains might cease to run through on the Piraeus - Athinai - Korinthos section, which could in turn threaten the remainder of the Peloponnese railway.  

BLN 798.0147][PL] (Krotoszyn -) Pleszew Wask. - Pleszew Miasto: (Ball 37A3; PKP 317)  Once beginning in Krotoszyn, a junction 39km to the south-west, and known as the Krotoschin Pleschener Kreisbahn when the area was in German hands, this local narrow-gauge line (Linia Waskotorowa) used to pass under the Poznan - Katowice main line to reach Pleszew town.  Most of it is now lifted, from Krotoszyn to the run-round loop west of Pleszew Wask. station, which lies close (c.150m) to Pleszew main-line station, but 3km survives as a three-rail dual-gauge (750mm and 1435mm) long siding, with no signalling, east into the town (miasto).  In October 1995, the branch passenger trains were narrow-gauge railcars, while freight was worked from the main-line yard on the standard-gauge to Pleszew Miasto, which had coal traffic.  Beyond Miasto station, with a narrow-gauge-only run-round loop and some interesting pointwork, only the standard-gauge continued, as a private siding which seemed out of use.  

BLN 798.0148][PL][UA] Dabrowa Górnicza Ciesle - Hrubieszów PKP (- Ludin UZ): (Ball 40B1-39B1; PKP 104)  This Russian-gauge (1520mm) non-electrified line in Poland, known as the Linia Hutnicza-Siarkowa (= 'Steel-and-Sulphur line'), was planned in the 1970s, opened for traffic from the Ukrainian border to Hrubieszów 7 November 1977, extended in 1978, and completed to Ciesle on 30 November 1979.  It is not entirely accurately represented on Ball and Quail maps, so quite a full description follows.  

Ciesle, the line's western terminus, has a locomotive depot, a yard where ISO containers for Ukraine are transhipped, and interchange sidings for a private line hauling imported sintered iron-ore some 3km to feed a c.5km conveyor-belt to a steelworks.  Containers and iron-ore are effectively the only traffic west of Staszów.  The Steel-and-Sulphur line runs independently to a bridge over the Katowice - Dabrowa Górnicza - Sedziszów line (PKP 105) just before Bukowno, then along the north side of that line through Olkusz, the westernmost station to have a broad-gauge passenger platform, to Gajówka.  Here, the broad-gauge curves on to a more northerly alignment, alongside which a standard-gauge track to avoid Tunel was constructed but not commissioned, before crossing the standard-gauge just south of Koslów.  From here it runs along the south side of the Tunel - Radom line (PKP 110) through Sedziszów to Potok.  Sedziszów boasts the only other broad-gauge passenger platform west of Zamosc and a large, but apparently disused, bogie-changing facility.  From Potok the broad-gauge line runs independently, crossing over the 750mm-gauge Jedrzejów - Umianowice line (PKP 116) near Jedrzejów and under the standard-gauge Wloszczowice - Busko Zdrój branch (PKP 112).  Between Wloszczowice and Chmielnik, the broad-gauge approaches and runs along the south side of PKP 112, both passing beneath the out-of-use 750mm-gauge Umianowice - Bogoria line to reach Staszów.  After Staszów, broad and standard continue east together, crossing over the 750mm-gauge Bogoria - Szczucin k Tarnowa line, lifted in 1986, and over the standard-gauge Staszów - Polaniec branch, as far as Strzegomek.  Between Strzegomek and Osiek is a short section where the broad-gauge and a standard-gauge siding run close together, but east of there the broad-gauge takes off on an independent alignment, crossing the river Wisla on a significant bridge.  Three more standard-gauge lines are crossed on overbridges.  At the first, a standard-gauge spur comes up from Padew to reach the sulphur works at Wola Baranowska, which also loads broad-gauge wagons for export.  

From Huta Deregowska, the broad-gauge runs along the south side of the Stalowa Wola - Zwierzyniec (PKP 556) line, built in the early 1970s, partly from a former narrow-gauge line, and the Zwierzyniec - Zawada line (PKP 554).  On these eastern sections the standard-gauge is not electrified, so the broad-gauge is not separated from it by the overhead electrification masts seen further west, and the two lines can look deceptively like ordinary double track.  The standard-gauge lines at Zwierzyniec, Zawada and Zamosc are all crossed on the level, not bridged as shown by Ball and Quail.  Szczebrzeszyn has a coal transhipment facility where all Polish coal for export to Ukraine arrives in standard-gauge wagons, and only east of this point do all the traffics for which the broad-gauge line was built actually pass.  At Zawada, the broad-gauge diverges from the standard-gauge Zawada - Hrubieszów line (PKP 557) to run round the north side of Zamosc, paralleled throughout by a standard-gauge loop-line which was planned to replace the existing route round the south side of the town.  However, only a short section of this 'new' standard-gauge is in use, from Zawada to the diesel depot just west of Zamosc, the rest of the loop and the north-to-east spur avoiding Zawada remaining out of use.  Zamosc pólnoc (= north) station is a desolate platform, lacking facilities, but PKP clearly intended to have a west-facing junction there for a standard-gauge branch climbing up on the north side to cross both standard and broad-gauge tracks on its way to a new Zamosc town station, a scheme which never materialised.  East of Zamosc, the broad-gauge and the derelict standard-gauge track alongside it rejoin the earlier standard-gauge alignment at Jaroslawiec signal-box, the standard trailing into the earlier route, while the broad crosses it on the level to run along the south side.  Czesniki halt is west of the junction, on the original standard-gauge line, not as Quail shows it.  Just short of Hrubieszów, the standard-gauge heads north to Hrubieszów Miasto (= town) station and the broad south around the carriage works to its own station, crafted out of old containers and portable cabins.

Of the passenger trains advertised in PKP's table 104, all require Ukrainian rolling-stock, but none was running in late 1996.  Magnitogorsk / Kowel - Olkusz round-trips are shown po ogloszeniu (= when advertised) and are believed not to have run since 1992.  The twice-weekly Lwów - Zamosc pólnoc trains have not run since April 1996.  PKP's only broad-gauge passenger-carrying stock appears to be an SN81 twin railcar, used for staff transport and for a PIBSE tour of the Steel-and-Sulphur line on 5 October 1996.  

BLN 798.0149][AL][YU] Albania: (BLN 793.020; Ball 52)  In early March the unrest in the south of the country meant no trains were running south-west of Rrogozhinë, but it did not prevent the reopening in the north of the Shkodër - Bajzé HSH - Hani i Hotit - Tuzi JZ - Podgorica international rail link.  The first freight train left Bajzé for Tuzi in Montenegro, Yugoslavia on 6 March 1997.  			      (http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/geoff_sarbutt/albania.htm)

BLN 798.0150][NZ] New Zealand:  New Zealand's 1067mm-gauge railways, privatised in 1990, are now operated by Tranz Rail, a group led by Wisconsin Central, with the passenger services marketed since late 1995 as Tranz Scenic.  The network has expanded in the 1990s.  When locomotive-hauled seating carriages took over both night and day services on the Auckland - Hamilton - Wellington Main Trunk Line, the former Silver Fern railcars became available and were refurbished to run new daytime trains from 8 December 1991 on two lines east of Hamilton.  The Kaimai Express runs Auckland - Hamilton - Morrinsville Jn - Waharoa - Apata - Tauranga and the Geyserland runs Auckland - Hamilton - Morrinsville Jn - Waharoa - Rotorua.  Two decades previously Morrinsville Jn - Paeroa - Apata - Tauranga had lost its passenger trains on 11 September 1967 and Hamilton (Frankton Jn) - Morrinsville Jn - Waharoa - Rotorua on 12 November 1968.  The Paeroa - Apata section closed completely when the new Kaimai tunnel route (Waharoa - Apata) replaced it from 12 September 1978..  

BLN 799.0151][FR] Paris: Triangle de Vémars: (Ball 81A3)  Winter 1996-97 saw TGVs running from Paris-Nord via the west-to-south curve of the Vémars triangle and the LGV Jonction to serve alpine ski-resorts.  TGV sets otherwise spare at Le Landy depot seem to have been firmly programmed for these runs only on two weekends in February, but the pathways were available at the weekends on either side if required, to be used if bookings exceeded the capacity of advertised trains from Paris-Lyon.  The extra trains appeared neither in SNCF's timetable nor in ski-train publicity, but those definitely booked to run included: 

#383 09:31 (8 Feb) Paris-Nord - St.Gervais-les-Bains		#84 13:33 (15-16 Feb) Évian-les-Bains - Paris-Nord
#398 17:52 (15 Feb)	 St.Gervais-les-Bains -