Rinbad 2003 Contents of this file are the archived text of Rinbad 2003, a newsletter about the world's railway geography and infrastructure, for the period January to December 2003. This file was updated on 24 December 2003. 2670][IE][GB] Dublin North Wall - Dundalk - Belfast Adelaide: Notwithstanding recent reports (R.2605, 2643), the first morning liner train out of Dublin continued to run beyond Friday 3 January, carrying container-loads of Guinness and cement to Belfast Adelaide freight yard, which remained open on Monday 13 January 2003. Iarnród Éireann’s train engine does any necessary shunting. No other freight traffic runs north of Dundalk across the border into the UK. (Irish Railway News) 2671][FR] Longueville (Seine-et-Marne) - Provins - Villiers-St.Georges (- Esternay): (BLN 752.0144, 764.0439; Ball 26A2) On 22 September 2002 three steam-hauled workings ran from the AJECTA railway museum at Longueville north-east on the 7km passenger branch to Provins, and across the level-crossing beyond on to the 16km freight-only extension to Villiers-St.Georges - where passengers enjoyed cider and apple-juice while the engine ran round. Freight, still worked by CFTA, now part of the Vivendi-owned Connex group, may include grain from the silos seen on the Provins - Villiers section, and timber wagons lay in the sidings at Villiers-St.Georges. Villiers-St.Georges - Esternay closed completely 3 November 1969. 2672][FR] Abreschviller - Grand Soldat: (Ball 29B2) Built when French Alsace-Lorraine was still German Elsass-Lothringen, this 6km remnant of a large system of forestry railways has the track-gauge of 700mm, which was also used by the German military but which is unique in France. (Tourist Railways of France, by Richard Howarth) Now a tourist operation, the Chemin de Fer Forestier d’Abreschviller was operating on 21 September 2002, with two return workings, the latter well filled by a German group who arrived by bus. The intermediate stations shown in the 1991 Ball atlas no longer appeared in the timetable, and trains did not stop at them. Guided tours were offered of the depot with its collection of German-built locomotives, and of the sawmill near the Grand Soldat terminus. The road journey to the tourist line revealed that much if not all of the former SNCF (Sarrebourg -) La Forge - Abreschviller freight branch had been lifted, and some 5km of the trackbed at the Abreschviller end is now a cycle-path. Abreschviller SNCF station building is a private house in good condition, with the original station signs, on the edge of a large timber-yard. 2673][FR] Dole - Tavaux: (39A1-49A3) Once part of cross-country through routes Dole - Tavaux - Chaussin - St.Bonnet-en-Bresse - Verdun-sur-le-Doubs - Chalon-sur-Saône (R.0701, 2105-6) and Dole - Tavaux - Chaussin - Bletterans - Lons-le-Saunier (BLN 756.0276), this short branch carries regular and heavy freight traffic for a Solvay factory at Tavaux. It was visited on 13 October 2002 by a railcar of Autorails de Bourgogne et de Franche-Comté that reached a point just short of the RFF boundary on the link line into the factory. 2674][FR] Dole - Parcey - Souvans (- Mont-sous-Vaudrey - Poligny): (BLN 849.0240; Ball 39A1-49B3) Opened in 1884, the Dole - Poligny secondary line ran through Mont-sous-Vaudrey, where a former (1879-1887) president of France, Jules Grevy, once had a siding built to his home for trains to and from Paris. The line closed to passengers 5 May 1938. In October 2002 regular freight trains continued to serve a factory just south of Dole-la-Bedugue. Beyond, the track condition was poor, timber traffic was said to be intermittent, and the track ended just beyond the rounding-loop at Souvans. 2675][FR] Besançon-Viotte - Miserey - Devecey (- Loulans-les-Forges - Lure): (Ball 39B1) Closed to passengers 11 May 1959, this freight-only stub of a former through line was visited by an ABFC railcar excursion on 13 October 2002. At Miserey the former station remained, as did the junction points. A few metres beyond, vegetation completely blocked the trackbed of the Miserey - Marnay branch, and an announcement on the train described it as formally abandoned (declassée). Devecey station building remained intact and near the rounding-loop scrap-metal lay awaiting collection. Though the line beyond is truncated at the former level-crossing over the N57 road, it was said that the closed section may reopen to connect with the proposed LGV Rhin-Rhône - if that high-speed line is ever built. 2676][FR] Chalon-sur-Saône - Châtenoy-le-Royal - Givry (- St.Gengoux - Taizé - Cluny): (Ball 48B3-48B2) In autumn 2002 track remained in place beyond the siding at Châtenoy-le-Royal (R.2107) to the west as far as about 500m before Givry station, 8km from Chalon. To the south some 40km of trackbed, formally abandoned (declassée) in 1994, had become a long-distance path for cyclists and walkers, which had clearly seen significant expenditure on restoring former stations, including Taizé (R.2197). St.Gengoux, now a rest-point with toilets, retained its platforms and, curiously, an SNCF ticket-office in the station-building (though a notice said this was to close shortly). At Cluny, too, the station-building remained. 2677][FR] Andelot - Champagnole - Morez - St.Claude - Oyonnax - La Cluse - Bourg-en-Bresse: (R.0964; Ball 49B3-49A1) From 2 September 2002 five trains a day call at a new halt near Champagnole, Paul-Émile-Victor, to convey schoolchildren to and from the local lycée. (L’Écho du Rail, # 240, December 2002) Publicity for an ABFC railtour on 9 February 2003 notes that it will be an opportunity to travel on the (Oyonnax -) La Cluse - Bourg-en-Bresse section before it closes from 2004 to 2006 for construction work on the proposed Bourg-en-Bresse - La Cluse - Bellegarde (- Genève) cut-off. While unlikely itself to be a Ligne à Grande Vitesse through such hilly terrain, this cut-off would give Paris - Genève TGV services a considerably more direct route. 2678][FR] (Pau -) Oloron Ste.Marie - Bedous SNCF (- Canfranc RENFE): (R.1299, 2141; Ball 69B1) Aquitaine regional council have announced that the Oloron Ste.Marie - Bedous section, which lost its passenger trains from 1 June 1980, is to reopen to passengers at the end of 2003, as a prelude to the future reconstruction and reopening of the whole Transpyrénéen Occidental railway from Pau via Bedous and through Somport tunnel to Canfranc in Spain. (L’Écho du Rail, # 240, December 2002) Target-date for reopening the route through Somport rail tunnel is 2006. (The Economist, 21 December 2002) 2679][BE] (Bruxelles=Brussel -) Leuven - Ans (- Liège): (R.0007; Ball 9A2-9B2) The high-speed 25kV 50Hz Leuven - Ans Ligne 2 opened for passenger services from the 15 December 2002 timetable change. (Trans-fer, #126, December 2002) 2680][BE][LU][FR] Dinant - Bertrix - Virton - Athus SNCB / Rodange CFL / Mont-Saint-Martin SNCF: (R.0378; Ball 17A3-17B1) After 11 years’ modernisation work, 19 November 2002 finally saw inauguration of 25kV 50Hz electrification on the Athus-Meuse axis, intended to relieve the 3000V dc Namur - Libramont - Arlon - Autelbas - Sterpenich SNCB - Kleinbettingen CFL - Luxembourg main line of heavy freight flows, mostly from the port of Antwerpen. Class 41 diesel railcars continue to work Dinant - Bertrix and Libramont - Bertrix - Virton passenger trains. (Trans-fer, #126, December 2002) 2681][LU] Schieren - Bissen: (Ball 18A2) This short freight-only branch is to see two passenger workings on 26 January 2003, running Luxembourg 12:35 - Diekirch 14:13 - Bissen - 15:47 Diekirch 16:13 - Bissen - 17:47 - 19:22 Luxembourg, with a EUR9 day ticket available on the train, and a Diekirch - Bissen round-trip ticket at EUR4.50. 2682][DE] Berlin S-Bahn: (R.2244; Ball 32A2) The on-train announcements and internal displays describe the new Hauptbahnhof-Lehrter Bahnhof S-Bahn station (R.2647) as ‘Hauptbahnhof Lehrter Strasse’. The site of the old Lehrter Stadtbahnhof could no longer be readily discerned (R.2501). As the New Year began, work was proceeding on the high-level long-distance platforms, which looked as though they might be ready by April 2003. Completion of the lower levels still seemed some way in the future, perhaps 2004 or 2005. The present S-Bahn station is a somewhat bleak elevated structure with a double curved roof. Egress appeared to require a significant walk on a pathway towards the western end of the station, then a descent into the bowels of the earth. Usage of the station seemed rather light, though our reporter was there over the holiday period rather than a normal working day. On 30, 31 December and 2, 3 January the S-Bahn ran to what was in effect a Saturday timetable. Special services ran through the night of 31 December, departing from central Berlin until about 04:30 on 1 January. A public-holiday service ran on 1 January 2003, with about half the normal frequency until 10:00. The Zehlendorf - Mexikoplatz - Schlachtsee - Nikolassee (- Wannsee) section was temporarily closed till mid-February 2003 for engineering work. S1 trains terminated at Zehlendorf to be met by replacement buses, route A running express to Wannsee and route B serving the intermediate stations. The classic S-Bahn sets of Class 477/877 were seen mainly on S3 Charlottenburg - Erkner trains, including S3 Ostbahnhof - Friedrichshagen short workings. 2683][DE] Dresden area: 750mm-gauge lines: (Ball 44A2-44A1) Both the Lössnitzgrundbahn (Radebeul Ost - Radeburg; BLN 833.0418) and the Weisseritztalbahn (Freital Hainsberg - Kurort Kipsdorf; R.2366) remain DB lines, albeit with a special fares tariff. Three DB companies are involved. Infrastructure company DB Netz own the tracks and employ the signalling staff. Train-operating company DB Regio, federally-approved as Eisenbahnverkehrsunternehmen (= railway transport operators), hold the contract with the local transport authority to provide and market the passenger services. However, a service company within the DB group, DB Bahnreinigungsgesellschaft (BRG), previously responsible only for cleaning the trains, now supply the staff to operate them. This came about because DB Regio, politically unable to close two very labour-intensive and very uneconomic steam-worked narrow-gauge lines, came under pressure to contain costs. Unlike former staff of the western Deutsche Bundesbahn who were Beamte (= established civil servants), former personnel of the eastern Deutsche Reichsbahn had no ‘job-for-life’ employment contracts with the new merged Deutsche Bahn group, and DB Regio were therefore able, towards the end of 2000, to give the affected train staff an unpalatable choice: transfer to employment at lower pay with DB subsidiary BRG or leave the railway altogether. Thus the privatisation threatened in 1997-98 (and implemented for other DB narrow-gauge lines in Sachsen and elsewhere) never happened, and ownership and operation of the Lössnitztalbahn and Weisseritztalbahn remain wholly with subsidiaries of the government-owned DB group. 2684][DE] Gotha - Emleben - Georgenthal (Thüringen) - Ohrdruf - Luisenthal - Crawinkel - Gräfenroda: (BLN 764.0446; Ball 41A1-41B1) The 11km Crawinkel - Gräfenroda section closed temporarily for engineering work 29 June 1998, and was planned to reopen 1 October 2002, but reopening was deferred to the timetable-change on 15 December 2002. Single-track throughout with passing-loops at Emleben, Georgenthal, Ohrdruf and Crawinkel, the Ohratalbahn is worked by DB Class 641 modern single-unit railcars. Semaphore signalling remains, however, and the line-speed remains leisurely, the 35.7km taking 57 minutes. Trains run hourly between Gotha and Crawinkel and are extended to Gräfenroda every second hour. In December 2002 freight sidings at Emleben, Georgenthal, Ohrdruf, Luisenthal and Crawinkel seemed available for use, though only Ohrdruf had wagons present, loaded with timber from a nearby sawmill. At the south end of Georgenthal station the latterly freight-only 6.2km Georgenthal - Tambach-Dietharz branch, the Hirzbergbahn, was blocked by a buffer-stop just south of the junction but appeared intact beneath the vegetation beyond. According to the Schweers+Wall atlas, a Museumbahn operation is planned here. 2685][DE] Grimmenthal - Themar - Eisfeld - Rauenstein (Thüringen) - Mengersgereuth-Hämmern - Sonneberg (Thüringen) Hbf: (R.2207; Ball 52A3-52B3) Closed abruptly during 22 January 1997 because of poor track (BLN 795.067), the 32.9km Eisfeld - Sonneberg section reopened to passengers 15 December 2002. Branching off east of Themar, the disused Themar - Schleusingen - Suhl / Ilmenau line seemed intact but well overgrown. On the more scenic reopened section from Eisfeld to Sonneberg, all stations had been rebuilt with new platforms and bus-stop-style shelters, but no freight sidings were in use. Trains all reverse at Rauenstein and can cross there, or at a passing-loop at Mengersgereuth-Hämmern. Südthüringenbahn’s single-unit railcars run hourly Eisenach - Grimmenthal - Eisfeld, running forward every second hour to Sonneberg, with Sonneberg - Neuhaus-am-Rennweg connections (R.2686). 2686][DE] Sonneberg (Thüringen) Hbf - Blechhammer - Lauscha - Ernstthal (am Rennsteig) (- Probstzella): (R.2207; Ball 52B3) The 3km Ernstthal (am Rennsteig) - Neuhaus-am-Rennweg branch was already freight-only when the through line Sonneberg - Lauscha - Ernstthal - Probstzella closed to passengers in a hurry during 22 January 1997 (BLN 795.067). The Sonneberg - Lauscha section was recorded as having reopened for special passenger trains from 26 September 1998, the Ernstthal - Probstzella section remaining closed without reopening plans (BLN 838.0577). From 15 December 2002, hourly Sonneberg - Lauscha - Ernstthal - Neuhaus passenger services recommenced. Südthüringenbahn’s single-unit railcars on this 28.5km of single track reverse at both Lauscha and Ernsttal and can cross there or at a passing-loop at Blechhammer. Not all the platforms have been replaced, and at the end of December 2002 much landscaping and several platforms were still incomplete. Neuhaus-am-Rennweg has a new station building. A #503 bus runs from Neuhaus north to Cursdorf, so with the reopening, also on 15 December 2002 (R.2519), of Rottenbach - Obstfelderschmiede - Katzhütte, a circular trip is possible via the Obstfelderschmiede - Lichtenhain Oberweissbacher Bergbahn funicular and the Lichtenhain - Cursdorf branch. 2687][DE] Bad Schussenried - Bad Schussenried Kloster (- Torfwerk Steinhauser Ried): (R.2607; Ball 69B2 not shown) This line opened 13 October 1896 as the 750mm-gauge Schussenried Bf - Buchau section of the Württembergische Staatseisenbahn, later extended north from Buchau to Riedlingen (km29.2) on the (Ulm -) Schelklingen - Herbertingen line. Schussenried Bf - Buchau closed to passengers 31 May 1965 and to freight in 1969. Stations/halts were Schussenried Ort (km1.9, presumably the location to be served in summer 2003 as Bad Schussenried Kloster), Sattenbeuren (c.km5; this seems to have closed by the 1930s), Torfwerk (km5.7) and Buchau (km9.4). After 1969, Bad Schussenried Bf - Torfwerk was converted to a standard-gauge freight branch serving the siding of Kieswerkes Rieger, visited by an IBSE railtour 4 May 1996. 2688][AT] Austria: 1106mm-gauge track, horse-haulage and a very early passenger station: Begun in 1827, the Budweis - Linz - Lambach - Gmunden railway eventually extended to 196km of track with the unusual gauge of 1106mm, on which haulage was originally all by horses (R.1727). More details are in Die Pferdeeisenbahn: Pferde- und Dampfbetrieb und Projekte auf 1106mm Spurweite by Johan Brunner, a 30pp German-language booklet published 1999, available from Freunde der Pferdeeisenbahn, Museum & Gasthaus, Kerschbaum 61, A-4261 Rainbach im Mühlkreis. The Lambach - Gmunden section seems to have been converted to standard-gauge quite late, in 1903, but today the Kerschbaum Pferdeeisenbahn, a restored 500m section of the original railway offering seasonal horse-hauled rides (7.5km from Summerau; Ball 63A1, not shown), may be the only user of the 1106mm gauge. A building erected at Engelhof in 1835 for the 1106mm-gauge line, and flanked by stables for the motive-power, was at one time claimed to be the world’s oldest railway building remaining in continuous service as a passenger station virtually unaltered (Journal of the Railway & Canal Historical Society, #153, March 1993). However, ÖBB had withdrawn Lambach - Engelhof - Gmunden-Traundorf passenger trains from 29 May 1988 (BLN 839.0600; Ball 73B2), so by the time this claim was published the standard-gauge line was alas already freight-only. It would nevertheless be interesting to know whether Engelhof’s 167-year-old passenger station survives into 2003, and whether it is still in some kind of railway use. 2689][ES] Mallorca: Empalme - Sineu - Petra - Manacor (- Arta): (R.2508; Ball 38A1-38A2) A Twelfth Night special passenger train conveying los Reyes Magos de Oriente (the three Magi kings of the East) arrived at Sineu at 18:30 on 5 January 2003 to be welcomed by government and railway officials. This was not the official inauguration of the line, but good progress is being made with the works for reopening as metre-gauge to Manacor, and target opening-date for public services on this branch is April or May 2003. (http://www.aafb.net) 2690][SK] Zohor - Lozorno - Jablonove - Pernek pri Zohore - Kuchyna - Rohoznik - Solosnica - Plavecke Podhradie - Plavecky Mikulas: (Ball 41B1-42A2; ZSR112) Several of the lines threatened with closure to passengers from 1 or 2 February 2003 were visited during December 2002. ZSR Class 810 four-wheel railbus forming train #2209 Zohor 15:15 - Plavecky Mikulas had c.50 passengers on departure, many of them changing from a Bratislava - Zohor train. Initially the 35km branch passes through purely arable land but north-east of Kuchyna the landscape is a mix of arable, woodland and wetlands. Track was in very good condition as far as Rohuznik but noticeably poorer beyond. Lozorno serves a fair-sized town, where 10 passengers alighted and 2 joined. Six bogie wagons in timber-traffic use were present, and new sleepers were stacked as though ready for track-renewal. A small cement-works appeared to generate traffic. Jablonove is a large village where 6 passengers left. At Pernek pri Zohore, only a few houses were visible and the train did no business. Kuchyna serves another large village, where 7 left. The passing-loop was available for use., and a new building, perhaps a warehouse, was being built adjacent to a siding. A military airfield nearby may generate traffic. Rohoznik, a sizeable town with a number of six- or seven-storey apartment-blocks, saw 20 passengers alight. The extensive layout held numerous bogie timber wagons, coal hoppers and vans. Two separate branches serve the large Baumit cement-works, with c.100 wagons present, and two industrial shunters in use, similar to Classes 703 and 742. Solosnica station had no freight, but 4 passengers alighted for the large village here. Plavecke Podhradie had scrap-metal and perhaps grain traffic, and 3 people left the train. The terminal station Plavecky Mikulas had recently been repainted, and sidings to handle timber traffic, but the only passenger other than our reporter was a Czech railway enthusiast. The return train #2214 Plavecky Mikulas 16:10 - Zohor saw a few people joining or leaving at most stations, arriving in Zohor with 8 on board. It seems surprising that the whole branch may be closed to passengers as other railcars seen on the branch were reasonably loaded, some also towing a well-filled trailer. A cutback to Rohoznik (km24) might have been more understandable. 2691][SK] Zohor - Vysoka pri Morave - Záhorská Ves: (BLN 789.0438; Ball 41B2; ZSR113) This 14km branch diverges from the Bratislava - Zohor - Kúty ZSR - Breclav CD main line west towards the Austrian frontier. On a December day trains #2316/9 Zohor 17:25 - Zahorska Ves 17:45 - Zohor both ran after darkness had fallen. Outward the Class 810 railbus was filled to capacity, mostly with commuters from Bratislava, and several passengers had to stand. Track was in good condition. The train was not booked to call at either of the request-stops, but c.45 passengers alighted at Vysoka pri Morave with the remaining 20 or so going through to Zahorska Ves. On the return journey 3 joined at Zahorska Ves and another 3 at Vysoka pri Morave. Again it seems surprising that such a line should be threatened with closure. 2692][SK] Ul’any nad Zitavou - Mana - Vráble - Tesárske Mlynany - Zlaté Moravce: (Ball 42A1; ZSR151) This threatened 35km cross-country line diverges north from the electrified Nové Zámky - Šurany - Ul’any nad Zitavou - Levice - Zvolen line. The junction station Ul’any nad Zitavou has four tracks, and a small permanent-way depot. Train #5809 (Nove Zamky 10:34 -) Ul’any nad Zitavou - Zlate Moravce on 10 December 2002 was a Class 810 railbus plus one trailer, leaving Ul’any with c.35 passengers. Overall, the track was in good condition, traversing an agricultural landscape. All the intermediate stops were unstaffed halts except Mana, Vrable and Tesarske Mlynany, and the only sign of freight was at Vrable. Mala Mana loop showed signs of recent use, and nearby lay a large permanent-way depot, possibly closed. Linear urban development paralleled the line for a km or so to Mana zastavka (zastavka = halt), perhaps opened since 1993. At the next stop, Mana station, two of the four tracks were in use, and 5 passengers alighted for the village some distance away. Kmetovo (5 alighted, 1 boarded) and Michal nad Zitavou (7 alighted) are small towns but the next three halts to the north serve villages: Martinova (1 alighted), Lucnica nad Zitavou (1 boarded) and Dycka (1 alighted). Vrable, a sizeable town with industry and a number of small tower-blocks, has a station with four tracks and a siding diverging into a fenced-off industrial compound, with evidence of timber and other freight traffic. One passenger left and one joined the train, while the crew delivered and collected parcels, and a southbound train passed, also comprising a Class 810 railbus and trailer, together carrying c.20 passengers. Nova Ves nad Zitavou (2 alighted) and Slepcany (no business) are small villages, but Tesarske Mlynany (2 boarded) is larger, with three tracks in the station, though only one was in use. Zlate Moravce, the junction at the northern end, is a large station with eight tracks, timber traffic in sidings and a three-road locomotive-shed, turntable and fuelling-point. In mid-January 2003 a report said passenger trains would continue on this line after the beginning of February 2003. 2693][SK] (Kozarovce -) Zlate Moravce - Jelenec - Zirany - Luzianky: (Ball 42A1; ZSR 141) On 10 December 2002 train #5158 Zlate Moravce 12:05 - Luzianky was a Class 810 railbus, carrying a notice which appeared to confirm the threatened imminent closure of this cross-country section. Leaving Zlate Moravce westward past several vineyards, the train’s five passengers comprised our reporter, three railway staff and one other, and the maximum number of passengers joining or leaving at any point was two. The track was in good condition. All the intermediate stops were unstaffed halts except Jelenec and Zirany, and the only intermediate sign of freight was at Jelenec. Slazany, though apparently unstaffed, had four tracks, all of which had seen recent use. Jelenec had four tracks, of which three were in use, and, set back from the running line line, a small yard apparently for timber traffic, with four bogie wagons present. Zirany likewise had four tracks, with two in use. Of the four tracks at Podhorany pri Luziankach only one was in use. Near Drazovce an overbridge carrying a new road had been constructed fairly recently, and several other bridges on the line looked to have been recently renewed. The western-end junction, Luzianky, had eight tracks, all in use, with evidence of recent timber traffic, and Class 742 locomotives present on pickup freights. A report in mid-January 2003 said passenger trains would continue beyond the beginning of February 2003 on the whole Kozarovce - Zlate Moravce - Luzianky line. 2694][SK] Zbehy - Cab-Sila - Nove Sady - Velke Ripnany - Radošina: (Ball 42A2; ZSR142) Another threatened branch was travelled on 10 December 2002, a 20km single track in good condition running through an arable landscape devoid of industry except at Cab-Sila, and with evidence of freight only at Cab-Sila, Nove Sady and Velke Ripnany. Intermediate stops were unstaffed except Nove Sady and Velke Ripnany. A single Class 810 railbus formed trains #5306/5311 Zbehy 13:20 - Radosina 15:05 - Zbehy. Zbehy is a rural junction with only a few houses nearby, and three of four tracks in use. Cab-Sila, though unstaffed and generating no passenger business for the northbound train, had several sidings to factories, at least one of which was in use, with a smart Class T212 shunter present. Another siding held a rather unkempt Class T334 shunter. Apparently better located for the village is Cab-Sila zastavka, where 2 passengers alighted and 1 boarded. At the small town of Nove Sady three tracks were all in use. Five passengers left and 14 joined, mostly local schoolchildren who boarded both our reporter’s northbound train and a southbound one it crossed. Eleven people left at the next village, Male Zaluzie. Kapince had two of its four tracks in use, and Male Ripnany one of its three. The small town of Velke Ripnany had two of three tracks in use, and handled timber and sugar-beet. Nine passengers alighted and 9 joined. At the passenger terminus, Radosina, the line continues over an open level-crossing for a few metres before disappearing beneath vegetation. Radosina is a small town which appears to have good bus connections, and its station is shown as staffed in the ZSR timetable. Nevertheless, in spite of the opening-times posted there, the ticket-window in the waiting-room was closed. Local passengers seemed surprised. Still, on the southbound run some of them were able to travel free since the conductor was unable to issue tickets quickly enough to charge everyone! A report in mid-January 2003 said passenger trains would continue after the beginning of February 2003. 2695][IN] Delhi metro: (R.2409) After being inaugurated by the Indian prime minister on 24 December, the first section (Shahdara - Tis Hazari; 8.3km, six stops) was swamped by public demand on 25 December 2002. (http://news.bbc.co.uk) 2696][RU] (Moskva -) Khabarovsk - Ussuriysk (- Vladivostok): (BLN 782.0283, 840.0635) Full electrification of the 9267km Trans-Siberian railway was completed on 25 December 2002. (http://eriksrailnews.com) 2697][CN] Shanghai magnetic-levitation guideway: This 30km 400km/h German-designed Transrapid magnetic-levitation line begun in March 2001 (R.1283) on 31 December 2002 saw the Chinese prime minister and the German chancellor take an inaugural ride from Loyang Road station in the city out to Shanghai’s new international airport at Pudong. Public service is to begin during 2003. (The Times, 1 January 2003) 2698][CN]/[HK] Hong Kong - Kowloon - Tsing Yi - Chek Lap Kok airport: (BLN 840.0637). Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway are operators of both the premium-fare Airport Line (opened 6 July 1998) and the Tung Chung line out to a separate local terminus in a new town also on Lantau island (Hong Kong - Kowloon - Olympic - Lai King - Tsing Yi - Tung Chung; opened 22 June 1998). The trains share c.30km of the 34km route, but the Airport trains charge much higher fares so call at separate platforms at common stations, while Tung Chung trains call at two additional intermediate stations. The bridge linking the mainland to the small island of Tsing Yi is interesting if somewhat over-engineered. It has two decks, the top deck carrying two separate tracks for westbound trains to the Airport and to Tung Chung. Hong Kong-bound trains run on lines slung under the upper deck, again segregated. Just west of the bridge is Tsing Yi station, and west of that the lines go into tunnel (two single bores and a double bore). Further west is the more famous Tsing Ma bridge to Lantau island, which has the world’s longest suspension span carrying both road and railway, but the trains run in a box beneath the road deck, so passengers see little. Airport and Tung Chung trains share the lines through the Tsing Ma bridge and across Lantau island as far as the junction where they diverge about 4km short of the airport. Both Airport and Tung Chung services run at 10min intervals, the Airport trains taking 23min with intermediate stops at Kowloon and Tsing Yi. The seven-car trains are similar, mainly blue for the Airport, mainly silver for Tung Chung, but one vehicle of the Airport trains has blank windows and is presumably a baggage van. Airline baggage check-in is available at Hong Kong station. The usual rip-off of air passengers applies (cf. Heathrow Express, Arlanda Express), the Hong Kong - Airport single fare being HKD100 (=c.GBP8 =c.EUR12.50) compared with HKD26 for the similar distance to Tung Chung. A future Disney theme-park and nearby residential developments are to be served by a new station, Yam O, on the Tung Chung line between Tsing Yi and Tung Chung. Construction of Yam O station is to begin in 2003 with a target opening-date of 2005. A system map is at http://www.metropla.net. 2699][CN]/[HK] Hong Kong: Eastern Harbour lines: The Mass Transit Railway’s Eastern Harbour Crossing (Kwun Tong - Lam Tin - Quarry Bay) opened 5 August 1989 as an extension of the Kwun Tong line south to Hong Kong island, and was so successful that from 27 September 2001 it was extended at the island end (Quarry Bay - North Point) to relieve pressure on the Quarry Bay interchange station. Next, a new six-station extension was built from Lam Tin via Yau Tong east to Po Lam. The interchange station of Yau Tong opened 4 August 2002 and from 18 August 2002 the network was reoriented. Kwun Tong line trains no longer use the Eastern Harbour Crossing but turn east, running (Yau Me Tei -) Kwun Tong - Lam Tin - Yau Tong - Tiu Keng Leng. Trains on the new Tseung Kwan O line use the Eastern Harbour Crossing to connect with them, running North Point - Quarry Bay - Yau Tong - Tiu Keng Leng - Tseung Kwan O - Hang Hau - Po Lam. A further short branch (Tseung Kwan O - Tseung Kwan O South) is to open by 2004. (http://www.metropla.net) 2700][CN]/[HK] Hong Kong: Kowloon - Tuen Mun: (BLN 836.0538) Kowloon-Canton Railway’s future 30.5km double-track electrified West Rail line to the north-west New Territories shows impressive infrastructure investment, with only 5.6km on the surface, 13.4km on viaduct and the rest in tunnel. In late 2002 viaduct sections could easily be seen from KCRC’s existing Tuen Mun light-rail system, with which the new commuter line will connect. Target opening-date is autumn 2003. 2701][SG][MY] Singapura - Bukit Timah - Woodlands [SG] - [MY] Johor Bahru (- Gemas - Kuala Lumpur): (R.1209) The section on Singaporean soil of this 1923-built line, including the land beneath the metre-gauge track, remains in the ownership of the Malaysian state railway Keretapi Tanah Melayu, and is not due to pass to Singapore for ‘a large number of years’, presumably when a long lease ends. Bukit Timah remains as a block-post to split the Singapura - Woodlands single-line section, though the signalling can be switched out, with long-section token working applying instead. In 2002 the closed Bukit Timah station retained its building, nameboard, single platform, passing-loop, parallel siding off the loop - and a pair of classic British-style token instruments. The Bukit Timah - Jurong freight branch built in 1966 was it seems closed in 1995 and lifted. (Corris Railway Society magazine Corris-Pondent, #142, winter 2002) 2702][AU] Tasmania: (Hobart - Derwent Park -) Bridgewater Jn - New Norfolk - Hayes - Westerway - National Park (- Maydena - Florentine - Kallista): This 1067mm-gauge branch had lost its regular passenger service when in 1987 the Tasmanian Locomotive Company commenced tourist trains from Derwent Park (on Tasrail’s Hobart - Launceston main line near Hobart) the 75km to Mount Field National Park. Later the Derwent Valley Railway Preservation Society took over and moved the base of operations west to New Norfolk (18.3km down the branch from Bridgewater Jn). Trains ceased during track and bridge rehabilitation from 3 September 1995 (when the last passenger excursion ran New Norfolk - Maydena) until about September 2000. In late 2002 the Derwent Valley Railway were running a tourist train from New Norfolk west 30.7km to Westerway on the second Sunday of each month, and c.4km New Norfolk - Hayes shuttle trains hourly 10:00-15:00 on the first and third Saturday of each month, as well as charters and main-line excursions. Opening of their 6.6km Westerway - National Park extension had been delayed due to problems with sleepers supporting the existing track, and at the end of December 2002 no revenue trains had worked through. From National Park station it will be only a short walk amid huge trees to the main reception building of the Mount Field National Park close to the famous Russell Falls, so the train trip is expected to attract a number of tourists. The DVR plan to restore the line 12.2km south-west to Maydena, with the possibility of timber traffic there. Timber was formerly loaded 3km beyond at Florentine, the latter-day terminus (2 February 1950-23 April 1993), but extension on what is now private land seems unlikely. Before 2 February 1950 the line had extended a further 2km to Kallista. On Australia Day, 26 January 2003, a main-line excursion is planned from New Norfolk east to Bridgewater Jn then north on the Hobart - Launceston line as far as Ross. 2703][AU] Tasmania: (Hobart - Devonport -) Don Jn - Ulverstone - Penguin - Burnie - Wynyard: On every Friday in January 2003 (plus Monday 13 January) the Don River Railway are to run a Don - Wynyard day trip (Don 09:45 - 12:10 Wynyard 15:00 - Don). The c.68km route includes their own 3km heritage branch line (Don Jn - Don; R.2440, 2488), the c.30km Ulverstone - Burnie section of Tasrail’s main line traversed by Burnie Rail (R.2665), and the far western end of the route of the Hobart - Devonport - Wynyard Tasman Limited, withdrawn 28 July 1978. 2704][AU] Tasmania: Queenstown - Lynchford - Halls Creek - Rinadeena - Strahan Regatta Point: (R.1324, 2441, 2630) Tasmania’s state government bought the 34km 1067mm-gauge line in October 2001. Since 1 August 2002 operation has been contracted to Federal Hotels & Resorts Tasmania. The line was renamed West Coast Wilderness Railway on or about 13 September 2002. The first work train ran Rinadeena to Strahan Regatta Point on 26 December 2001, and this section opened to passengers a year later on 27 December 2002. (http://www.transport.tas.gov.au/about/transport_tas/rail_map.html; http://www.users.bigpond.com/Rhol/page18.html; http://www.federalresorts.com.au/west-coast-wilderness-railway.php) 2705][NZ] Christchurch - Lyttelton: (EGTRE ROTW NZ6) From the west-facing junction at Addington, close to the present Christchurch station (BLN 784.0344), what is now a 12km freight branch runs east through the city and a 2.6km tunnel to the port of Lyttelton. This sees occasional seasonal passenger trains conveying cruise-ship passengers to and/or from scenic Arthur’s Pass on the Christchurch - Rolleston Jn - Arthur’s Pass (- Greymouth) Midland line. In the autumn quarter from January to March 2003 some 23 workings are planned, carrying passengers from vessels such as Amsterdam, Clipper Odyssey, Crystal Symphony, Delphin, Europa, Legend of the Seas, Oriana, Prinsendam and Regal Princess. 2706][CA] Victoria - Esquimalt - Malahat - Stockett - Nanaimo - Parksville - Courtenay, BC and Parksville - Port Alberni, BC: (R.1938, 2153, 2186, 2382) In 1999 short-line operators RailAmerica took over the whole 225km standard-gauge Esquimalt & Nanaimo line on Vancouver Island, leasing from Canadian Pacific the sections from Victoria to Stockett (just south of Nanaimo) and from Parksville to Courtenay, and buying Stockett - Parksville - Port Alberni outright. However, at the end of 2001 they declared that the E&N system was uneconomic and would close. Presumably new business arrangements were put in place in late 2002, since it is reported that Canadian Pacific plan to sell the remaining E&N trackage they own to RailAmerica. Meanwhile, in September 2002 VIA’s Victoria - Courtenay passenger train #198/199 Malahat was reprieved yet again at short notice, and in January 2003 continues to operate with no specific closure date forecast. Refurbished Budd Rail Diesel Cars #6133 and 6148 have been running the service while sister car #6135 has been sent all the way coast-to-coast across the Dominion to Moncton, NB for similar refurbishment (R.1938). 2707][CA] North Vancouver - Squamish - Whistler (- Lillooet - Prince George, BC): BC Rail’s ordinary passenger service ceased from 1 November 2002 (R.2634), but in connection with Canada’s bid to hold the 2010 Winter Olympic Games at Whistler, a winter-sports resort on the line, a Vancouver - Whistler test run is reportedly to be made in February 2003, using passenger stock of the Vancouver Waterfront - Mission, BC West Coast Express (R.2188). 2708][US] Oakland - Sacramento - Bakersfield - Tehachapi - Mojave - Los Angeles, CA: (R.0837) Amtrak’s Oakland - Sacramento - Bakersfield San Joaquin trains link the Bay Area via the state capital to the San Joaquin Valley, but no regular passenger train has run from Bakersfield south on the scenic section over the Tehachapi Mountains to Los Angeles since the birth of Amtrak on 1 May 1971. Santa Fe’s trains #1/2 San Francisco Chief Chicago, IL - Barstow, CA - Richmond, CA and Southern Pacific’s trains #51/52 San Joaquin Daylight Los Angeles - Oakland, CA were withdrawn when Amtrak took over America’s inter-city rail services. Amtrak provide only a connecting Bakersfield - Los Angeles Thruway bus. In late 2002 California’s Department of Transportation (Caltrans), who subsidise a number of Amtrak services within the state, including the San Joaquins, asked freight railroad Union Pacific to study the possibility of running a single Amtrak train nightly via Tehachapi, and to report on what track improvements the state might need to finance, such as new passing-loops. UP have refused to consider the idea, pointing out that the joint UP/BNSF Bakersfield - Los Angeles route is single-track, steeply-graded, sharply-curved and busy, hosting daily some 38 long freight trains for both UP and rival Burlington Northern Santa Fe, and that a passenger train is not needed, given the time it would take compared with the road journey. Ultimately nationalised Amtrak can under federal law require access to private-sector freight railroads’ tracks for passenger trains, but neither Amtrak nor Caltrans are forcing the issue. (Bakersfield Californian, 3 January 2003) During 2002 Union Pacific have made themselves unpopular also with the Southern California Regional Rail Authority and with Los Angeles commuters because of poor timekeeping of Metrolink trains using UP lines. 2709][US] Owosso - Mount Pleasant - Clare - Cadillac - Walton Jn - Traverse City / Boyne Falls, MI: Lake Central Rail Tours are offering three trips on freight-only Tuscola & Saginaw Bay Railway trackage in Michigan: 31 May 2003, Pere Marquette Limited, steam-hauled excursion with locomotive #1225 (Owosso 09:00 - 12:00 Mount Pleasant 12:30 - Clare - 15:00 Mount Pleasant 15:30 - 19:30 Owosso); 12 July 2003, diesel-hauled excursion to a cherry festival (Mount Pleasant 09:00 - Cadillac 11:00 - 13:00 Traverse City 16:00 - Cadillac 18:00 - 20:00 Mount Pleasant); and 2 August 2003, diesel excursion to a Polish festival (Mount Pleasant 08:00 - Cadillac 10:00 - 13:00 Boyne 16:00 - Cadillac 19:00 - 21:00 Mount Pleasant). Information: http://www.lakecentralrailtours.com; telephone +1 810 638 7248; PO Box 221, Corunna MI 48817. 2710][US] Knoxville, TN: Coster Yard - Marbledale - Forks of the River Industrial Park: (SPV atlas, Appalachia & Piedmont, 33D1-33F2) The 25km Knoxville & Holston River line to be traversed by the railtour on 4 May 2003 (R.2668) is all ex-Southern freight trackage, never in regular passenger service. From the north end of Norfolk Southern’s Coster Yard, the line heads south through the steel mill at Third Creek, passing beneath first the ex-Louisville & Nashville Knoxville, TN - Corbin, KY line, then the ex-Southern Knoxville - Chattanooga, TN line, before curving south-east around CSXT’s ex-L&N West Knoxville Yard. Heading north-east along the north bank of the Tennesssee River it passes beneath first the ex-L&N bridge carrying CSXT’s Knoxville, TN - Atlanta, GA main line across the river, then the bridge carrying the ex-Southern NS Knoxville - Alcoa, TN line. Passing the University of Tennessee campus it continues east along the river bank over the mouth of the Holston River past the marble quarry just west of Marbledale. A reversal at Marbledale is then necessary to reach Forks of the River Industrial Park. The 50km tour is to begin at the UT campus, running to the main-line connection at Coster, then to Forks of the River before returning to the UT campus. Also in connection with the annual meeting of the Southern Railway Historical Association, the tourist train (R.1449) on the nearby ex-L&N, now CSXT, Clinch River - Oak Ridge, TN branch serving the East Tennessee Technology Park is to be running on 3 May 2003. Information: bjennin1@utk.edu. 2711][US][CA] (New York, NY - Springfield, MA -) St.Albans, VT - Montréal, QC: When the Montrealer ceased to run north of St.Albans, and from 2 April 1995 became the Vermonter, Amtrak put on one of their Thruway connecting buses to make the 110km St.Albans - Montréal link across the border (BLN 755.0262). Declining ridership was not helped when Amtrak retimed the southbound bus to depart Montréal at 04:05. Amtrak plan to withdraw the bus altogether from 5 February 2003. New York - Schenectady - Rouses Point, NY - Cantic, QC - St.Jean - Montréal Adirondack trains continue. 2712][FR][BE] (Maubeuge -) Sous-le-Bois - Feignies (Bifurcation de Douzies Sud) SNCF (- Quévy SNCB - Mons): (R.0596, 0808; EGTRE FR02/130; Ball 16A3) The east-to-north curve avoiding Hautmont, the Raccordement de Sous-le-Bois, lost its regular passenger trains 6 August 1973, though a short-lived all-year SNCB Mons - Maubeuge passenger service started 2 June 1996, became weekend-only from 28 September 1997 and was withdrawn from the May 2000 timetable change. In recent years the curve saw seasonal passenger use, but the SNCB Maubeuge - Quévy - Mons - Blankenberge seaside trains last ran on Sunday 2 September 2001, and the curve was not used by passenger services in 2002. 2713][FR] Chartres - Beaulieu-Le-Coudray - Voves - Fains-la-Folie - Orgères-en-Beauce - Patay - Orléans: (R.1070; Ball 24B1-36A3) Following an explosion in a grain silo at Blaye near Bordeaux in 1999, safety modifications need to be made to the many silos beside this line before passenger trains can run. The project cost has risen from EUR64M to EUR107M, and Région Centre have deferred passenger reopening till 2006 at the earliest. (Rail et Transports, #264, 8 January 2003) 2714][FR] (Sarreguemines -) Bitche - Niederbronn (- Haguenau): (Ball 29B3-30A3) This 24km section which closed to passengers 4 November 1996 is being studied with a view to reopening as a tourist line. (L’Écho du Rail, # 240, Dec 2002) 2715][FR] Tours - Gièvres - Vierzon - Marmagne - Bourges - Saincaize: (Ball 35A1-47A3) The 32km Vierzon - Bourges electrification of 1997 (BLN 799.0156, 804.0274) was thought likely to be the last significant extension in France of 1500V dc catenary, but the pro-rail Région Centre plan to electrify at 1500V dc the c.110km Tours - Vierzon section of this west-to-east cross-country line, and have a longer-term aspiration to string either ac or dc overhead across the gap from Bourges 58km eastward to meet the north-south (Paris -) Nevers - Clermont-Ferrand line at Saincaize, which already has 25kV 50Hz wires. (Rail et Transports, #264, 8 January 2003) 2716][FR] Salbris - Romorantin - Pruniers - Gièvres - Luçay-le-Mâle: (BLN 847.0166, R.2452; Ball 36A1-35B1) The once-threatened remnant of the metre-gauge Chemin de Fer du Blanc à Argent appears to have a more secure future. Région Centre have introduced five new CFD-built two-car articulated diesel units, numbered in the X74500 series. (Rail et Transports, #264, 8 January 2003) 2717][BE][NL] Neerpelt - Hamont NMBS - Budel NS - Weert: (R.0969, 2453; Ball 9B3) The numbers of travellers using Belgium’s special cheap day-rover tickets on Train+Tram+Bus day have been falling in recent years, and the 2002 event on 28 September was less successful than some. Nevertheless local public-transport support group Werkgroep Openbaar Vervoer Kempen hope to be able to run a Neerpelt - Weert cross-border Teuten-Express 15 in autumn 2003. Teuten is a name for local small-time smugglers, according to Trans-fer, #126, December 2002. 2718][DE] Berlin S-Bahn: Berlin Zoo - Charlottenburg - Westkreuz: (R.2682; Ball 32A2) S-Bahn traffic is to cease on the Berlin Zoo - Charlottenburg section from Monday 24 February 2003 until early 2004 while extensive reconstruction work takes place on the Stadtbahn, which is largely on viaduct. Regional trains will continue, and S-Bahn services by other routes will be amended. Later the Charlottenburg - Westkreuz section will be tackled, with a target-date for completion before the football World Cup in 2006. (S-Bahn Berlin press release, 23 January 2002) 2719][DE] Essen and Gelsenkirchen trams: Essener Verkehrs-AG (EVAG) and Bochum-Gelsenkirchener Strassenbahnen AG (BOGESTRA) metre-gauge tramways remain physically linked, by EVAG route #127 running into the underground tram-station at Gelsenkirchen Bahnhof. However extension of EVAG’s standard-gauge Stadtbahn led to the abolition of the metre-gauge physical connection at Gelsenkirchen-Horst. Until 24 May 1998 EVAG metre-gauge route #106 ran north to Gelsenkirchen-Horst, Schloss Horst, and until 14 January 2002 BOGESTRA metre-gauge route #301 ran north from Gelsenkirchen-Horst, Essener Strasse. An overlapping common double-track section linked the two operators’ turn-back points. On 30 September 2001 EVAG extended their standard-gauge Stadtbahn from its previous terminus at Altenessen Bf north underground to Altenessen-Karlsplatz, then on the surface over the regauged alignment of tram-route #106 to a high-level island platform in the centre of the roadway at Gelsenkirchen-Fischerstrasse. North of here disused and dewired metre-gauge tracks begin and continue north for c.200m to pass the junction for the former BOGESTRA Essener Strasse turn-back point, then for another 200m to pass the junction for the former EVAG Schloss Horst turn-back point. Track in use begins at Gelsenkirchen Kärntner Ring, the present terminus of BOGESTRA route #301, which has a single reversing siding in the centre of the roadway, and double-track running line beyond. 2720][DE] Saarbrücken - Wemmetsweiler - Lebach - Lebach-Jabach (- Primsweiler): (Ball 56A3) The Lebach - Primsweiler section was reported in 1994 as lifted (BLN 754.0229, 783.0310) and the 2001 Schweers+Wall atlas shows it as out of use. However, by autumn 2002 DB had extended their (mostly hourly) regional trains one stop west to a new single platform at Lebach-Jabach, beyond which well-polished track continued west towards Primsweiler. 2721][DE] (Leipzig Hbf -) Neuwiederitzsch-Leipziger Messe - Flughafen Leipzig-Halle (- Grosskugel - Halle Hbf): (R.2608; Ball 46B3-42B3; KBS504) A half-hourly Leipzig Hbf - Flughafen shuttle service began with the 15 December 2002 timetable change, worked by DB Class 642 diesel railcars. From Leipzig the trains first use the normal track for fast services to Halle, until the Halle tracks swing off to the east and cross back above the main line to head west. The airport trains continue straight ahead on a separate pair of tracks northwards to the eastern island platform at Neuwiederitzsch-Leipziger Messe. Only the new service calls at this platform, whose northbound face is already (somewhat prematurely, in January 2003) signed ‘Trains to Halle, Erfurt and the Airport’. Immediately after the platform-end the double track rises steeply and curves to the west, crossing the Leipzig - Bitterfeld main line on a graceful bridge, and coming alongside the southern edge of Autobahn A14, which it follows all the way to the airport. Track, signalling and overhead equipment all seemed complete from Neuwiederitzsch to the airport, though the wires might not yet have been energised. A sketch-map of the layout north of Leipzig is at http://www.rinbad.demon.co.uk/de_lmess.gif. The new airport station is on the surface, and looks similar to Frankfurt Flughafen Fernbahnhof except that it is to have two through lines without platforms. The two flank platforms are each to be served by long loops, the northern platform, signed as #2, being for trains westbound to Halle, the southern platform 1 for trains eastbound to Leipzig. In January 2003 however the trains used the only part of the station ready for use, a very small section of platform 2 equipped with up and down escalators and a lift for the disabled leading to an opening on to an overbridge where a shuttle bus waited to carry passengers to the airport terminal. Trains returning towards Leipzig use a crossover at the east end of the station layout which will not see regular service when through-running to Halle begins. Much work remained to be done both at the airport station and on the track west to rejoin the existing line near Grosskugel, and the target opening-date of summer 2003 for the Leipzig - Flughafen - Halle service seemed quite challenging. 2722][ES] Bilbao/Bilbo trams: Atxuri - Abando - Guggenheim - San Mames (- Basurto): (R.2257) The city’s EuskoTran metre-gauge light-rail line opened 18 December 2002. The first 4.5km section, some of it single-track, runs from Atxuri EuskoTren terminus north alongside the river Nervion and its estuary the Ria de Bilbao, via Plaza Circular (close to Abando, the main RENFE station) and the Guggenheim museum, to terminate temporarily at San Mames, close to the main bus-station. Though it serves much the same corridor as the city metro, the tramway gives the visitor a better view of the town. 2723][ES] Alacant/Alicante Puerta del Mar - Alacant La Marina - El Campello - Benidorm - Denia: (R.2478; Ball 32A1-32B2) In early December 2002 Valencia tram #3806 was operating the short Puerta del Mar - La Marina section but buses were providing the service from La Marina to Campello. At Campello the ex-FEVE two-car metre-gauge diesel units of Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat Válenciana were using two terminal tracks flanked by temporary wooden platforms a little to the north-east of the previous station. The new partly realigned, doubled and electrified track out to Campello appeared far from complete, but FGV were able to restore through Alacant - Denia trains from 27 December 2002, only four days later than planned. Target-date for introduction of Alacant - Campello tramway service is April 2003. Electrification works were evident for some distance north-east along the coast towards Benidorm and Denia. 2724][ES] Madrid suburban: (Atocha -) Pinto - Parque de Ocio - San Martín de la Vega: (Ball 22A2 not shown) Opened to passengers 6 April 2002 (R.2079), the Pinto - San Martín de la Vega branch in January 2003 saw most or all of its trains starting from a south bay platform at the junction on the Madrid - Aranjuez line, with connections into and out of other Cercanías (= suburban) services in both directions. Outside the weekday commuting period branch trains were basically hourly, with a journey-time of 13min, worked by a RENFE Class 440 electric unit. This ran parallel to the main line from km0.2, just beyond the end of the platform, to km0.9 where a crossover from the main line allowed single-track access to the branch via the down side of a flying junction whose up side was not yet in use. At the converging point of the flying junction a further crossover allowed right-line working on the double-track branch. The only intermediate station, Parque de Ocio (c.km11.7), appeared complete but was not yet open and trains did not stop. This station is far from any habitation, but will serve the huge Warner theme-park nearby, still under construction. Given the investment in the rail facility and in an extensive car-park, large numbers of visitors are expected. At the branch terminus, San Martín de la Vega (km15.2), a double crossover allowed access to any of the three platforms, though platform 3 was not being used. The new and imposing station is some distance from the town, and has a sizeable car-park. This however held only three cars, and only four passengers shared the trains used by our reporter, so patronage for the line appears to depend on the success of the theme-park. When this opens, along with the station at Parque de Ocio, it seems likely that the service will be recast to run through from and to Madrid using the main-line platforms at Pinto and both sides of the flying junction. 2725][IT][SI] Gorizia Centrale FS - Nova Gorica SZ - Bled Jezero (- Jesenice): (Ball IT-44A1; SI-45B2-45A2) Gorizia Centrale has a notice indicating the platforms for trains to Udine, Trieste and Slovenia, although ordinary passenger trains no longer run across the border to Nova Gorica. However on Sunday 1 September 2002 one of the planned excursions starting in Gorizia Centrale (R.2344) traversed the 8km cross-border connection, hauled by SZ 2-6-2T steam locomotive #17006, before running north to Bled Jezero, a scenic area south of Jesenice. Unable to wait for the excursion’s return working, our reporter came south aboard a diesel railcar forming an ordinary service train to Nova Gorica SZ. Close to this station is a border-crossing point for pedestrians, but it is normally barred to those other than Italian and Slovenian citizens. Fortunately it was unstaffed on Sundays, or he would have had a much more circuitous walk than the c.5km direct to Gorizia Centrale. A former tram-depot was noted near the FS station. 2726][IT] (Torino Porta Susa -) Torino Dora - Caselle - Ciriè - Germagnano (- Pessinetto - Ceres): (Ball 45B3-45A3) Though the original inner terminus of this line, Torino Ponte Mosca, is now a railway museum, the track heading north from Ponte Mosca looked well used when seen from Torino Dora station in late 2002. Services, operated by Società per Azioni Trasporti Torinesi Intercomunali, mostly start from Torino Dora, with a few SATTI trains running through on FS track from Torino Porta Susa, though the In Treno timetable is not very clear about these workings. On the Dora - Ciriè section, reopened 8 April 2001, the new station serving Torino Caselle international airport is on the surface, not underground as suggested by earlier reports (R.0580, 1559). The line is electrified only as far as Germagnano, the present terminus, and a red banner across the track indicates that the still unwired Germagnano - Ceres section, closed after flood damage in 1993, remains out of use. 2727][IT] (Torino Porta Susa - Torino Dora -) Settimo - Rivarolo - Cuorgnè (- Pont Canavese): (Ball 45B3-40B1) Trains originating to the south-east of Torino on the short Trofarello - Chieri FS branch traverse the city, avoiding its main FS terminus Torino Porta Nuova and heading north through Dora on the FS Torino - Settimo - Novara - Milano main line, diverging at Settimo on to this SATTI-operated branch. The branch is electrified as far as Rivarolo Canavese, where a reversal is necessary to reach the present terminus at Cuorgnè. A red banner across the track there showed the short Cuorgnè - Pont Canavese section to be out of use. SATTI run the services largely with ex-Belgian 3000V dc electric units, and diesel railcars of a familiar Italian pattern for trains running beyond Rivarolo. 2728][IT] Milano interurban trams: As well as planning new Metrotranvia lines (R.2615), Azienda Trasporti Milanesi operate two remaining classic interurban tram routes north of the city. Until about 2000 these lines were linked to the city tram network and shared a common city terminus at Via Valtellina, just north and west of Milano Porto Garibaldi FS station, but both have been cut back at the inner end. Operation of the two lines would appear to be rather uneconomic, with a depot each and no connection to any other rail route nor to each other. On each of the lines the vehicles are elderly 1950s-built permanently-coupled three-car sets (two motors with a trailer between) operating every 45min with a journey-time of c.45min. The trams carry a driver and a conductor, who will sell tickets, though our reporter travelled on a Biglietto Grande, allowing unrestricted travel for a day in a not-very-clearly-defined part of the greater Milano area. New Metrotranvia double-track under construction nearer the city-centre may later re-create a link to the Niguarda - Désio line, but in late 2002 the trackbed south of Niguarda was bare and the tramway began very close to the city boundary, at a buffer-stop alongside the Via Vittorio Veneto main road, heading northwards as a single track with passing-loops for c.10km mostly alongside the road to Désio. Désio depot comprised a large enclosed area with sidings in the open and a fairly large shed. To the west, at Affori, inner terminus of the Affori - Limbiate Ospedale line, disused track still extended a short distance south to end abruptly in the middle of a road junction, with wires still in position beyond, south towards the city-centre. The surviving line began at a mostly-disused three-track layout in Via Vincenzo, turning north for a short distance on its own right-of-way alongside a restricted-access fast road before resuming conventional roadside operation. The route is likewise c.10km of single track with passing-loops. The depot is in the centre of Limbiate, on a rather restricted site. Bus-route #83 (Stazione Centrale - Bresso) passes both Zara metro station and the tram-terminus at Niguarda. Bus-route #40 can be used from Niguarda to Affori tram-terminus, which is also only a short walk from Affori FNM station on the Milano - Seveso - Canzo Asso line. 2729][IT] Bologna Centrale - Bologna San Vitale - Bologna Rimesse - Portomaggiore: (Ball 49A1-48A2) To release land for redevelopment, the Bologna city section of the Ferrovia Bologna-Portomaggiore was rebuilt in a cut-and-cover tunnel completed during autumn 2001 (R.2169). FBP’s diesel railcars of a standard Italian pattern start from a bay platform at the eastern end of Bologna Centrale FS, running through to Portamaggiore FS. No FBP ticket-office could be found at Centrale, and as usual the FS office will not sell tickets for non-FS routes, though they will sell you a ticket for the FS journey the long way round via Ferrara! 2730][AL][YU] Shkodër - Bajzé HSH - Hani i Hotit - Tuzi JZ - Podgorica: (R.1765, 1907, 2184; Ball 52A2) International freight traffic to and from the European standard-gauge network via Podgorica in Montenegro had been restricted to the Albanian border-station of Bajzé because of track damage to the south, but in mid-January 2003 HSH said that restoration of the Shkodër - Bajzé section was complete and they hoped that through traffic to and from the rest of the Albanian system would commence during March 2003. Notwithstanding the declaration of intent in December 2001, no cross-border passenger service is planned at present. The HSH contact also said that passenger trains have ceased on the Fier - Ballsh branch in the south of the country (R.1229; Ball 52A1), though it remains open for freight. 2731][US] Portland - Astoria, OR: To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Lewis & Clark Expedition in summer 2003 the state of Oregon are to support passenger trains from Portland Union station to Astoria’s former Spokane, Portland & Seattle/Burlington Northern depot. The 160km water-level route along the Columbia River was part of the SPS’s Portland Subdivision, also known as the A-Line, and is now Portland & Western’s Astoria District. By 1951 ordinary passenger services had ceased. Start-date in May for the new service, to be worked by three elderly ex-BC Rail Budd Rail Diesel Cars (R.2490), is not yet fixed, but the timetable is likely to be Portland 07:30 - 11:30 Astoria 16:30 - 20:30 Portland, daily till 30 September. 2732][US] (Elmer - Altus -) Lugert - Lone Wolf, OK (- Clinton - Thomas, OK): The Quartz Mountain Park resort at Lugert, 29km north of Altus, are sponsoring excursions on a c.11km section of this ex-Kansas City, Mexico & Orient, later Santa Fe, now Farmrail, rural line, with the first train to run on Saturday 18 January 2003. Boarding is from the trackside at the route 44/44A road junction, with departures at 10:00 and 13:30 for a 90min USD12 round-trip to Lone Wolf. Tickets can be picked up on the day at the resort’s golf-course pro-shop (+1 580 563 3011). The resort hope to run on one Saturday a month with two departures till April 2003, and thereafter every Saturday with one departure, though this pattern may not continue during the mid-May-mid-July grain season. Two Farmrail locomotives will top-and-tail two ex-VIA refurbished passenger cars. Trackage is owned by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, and leased to Farmrail as operators. 2733][US] Utica - Remsen - Boonville, NY: Utica’s fine Union station is served by Amtrak’s east-west New York - Albany-Rensselaer - Schenectady - Utica - Syracuse - Buffalo, NY trains. However on 14-15 February 2003 it is to see trains north on ex-New York Central, now Mohawk, Adirondack & Northern (MHWA), freight trackage via Remsen to Boonville. Operators Adirondack Scenic Railroad from time to time run summer and fall excursions on various sections of the Utica - Remsen - Thendara - Lake Placid, NY line (R.1017), but the Remsen - Boonville section is rarely visited by a passenger train. Adirondack Scenic will use passenger cars from the failed Timber Train operation in Canada (R.1606) with MHWA diesel traction. An evening round-trip is to run on the Friday (St.Valentine’s Day) followed by an all-day round-trip on the Saturday, with a short Boonville - Remsen working on the Saturday afternoon. Information: http://www.adirondackrr.com. 2734][MA] Morocco: (R.2238) French is widely spoken and many signs and notices in Morocco are in French as well as Arabic. The railway, a standard-gauge system run by the Office National des Chemins de Fer, also looks very French. S-boards telling the driver to siffler (= whistle), colour-light signals marked ‘Nf’ (non-franchissable = not to be passed), mechanical red-and-white carré signals, purple shunting signals, lever-frames and signal-boxes with circular-section point-rodding: all will be familiar to anyone acquainted with the SNCF. Only the overhead electrification equipment is different, looking perhaps more like that of neighbouring Spain, which also uses 3000V dc. Passenger stock is largely UIC-standard air-conditioned coaches, with comfortable compartment accommodation, although first-class seats seem to be spaced rather close to the ones opposite. Some electric locomotives are Alsthom-built and French-styled. The Marrakech - Benguérir - Sidi-el-Aidi - Nousseur - Casablanca Voyageurs - Ain Sebaa - Rabat - Kénitra - Sidi Kacem - Fès main line is electrified, as are the branches Benguerir - Sidi-Azzouz / Safi and Sidi-el-Adi - Oued Zem / Ben Idir, largely for the heavy freight traffic from the phosphate mines to the docks. A minimal passenger service operates on both the Safi and Oued Zem branches (R.2238). The triangular junction for the electrified Nousseur - El-Jadida - Jorf Lasfar branch is noteworthy for having grade-separated connections at each vertex. Part of the branch has a passenger service of electric units, running El-Jadida - Nousseur - Casablanca Voyageurs - Casablanca Port. Beyond Jorf Lasfar an unelectrified semicircular extension serves a power-station and the port. Also diverging from the main line at Nousseur, at yet another flying junction, is the electrified branch opened in 1992 to Casablanca’s international airport south of the city (Nousseur - Aéroport Mohammed V). It has an hourly Aéroport - Nousseur - Casablanca Voyageurs - Ain Sebaa service, worked by Belgian-built electric units, connecting at Ain Sebaa with Casablanca Port - Ain Sebaa - Rabat trains. Casablanca Gare des Voyageurs is the city’s main passenger station, with four through platforms on the main line, but to the east, between Voyageurs and Ain Sebaa, is a triangular junction for the somewhat circuitous electrified branch to Casablanca Port, a five-platform terminus with a large locomotive depot and lines into the docks area. Casablanca Gare du Port is nearer the city-centre but the road distance from Voyageurs (c.4km) is such that the fare in a petit taxi into town is less than the rail fare down the branch. This made the purchase of a railway ticket difficult since the clerk seemed anxious that a prospective passenger should not spend more money than he needed to! Further north, an electrified triangle west of Sidi Kacem leads to the Sidi Kacem - Tanger branch, which remains unelectrified except for a very short section just beyond the triangle. The north-to-west side of the triangle, allowing through running Casablanca - Tanger without reversal at Sidi Kacem, appears little used, and no longer seems to have any passenger working. In 2002 trains for Tanger were terminating at Moghogha station, well to the south of the city-centre and the port. North of the level-crossing at Moghogha were sidings and a small locomotive-depot, but beyond these the line was temporarily out of use. A new Tanger station was under construction nearer the centre, but the line seemed permanently cut at that point, well short of the former Tanger Ville and Tanger Port stations, the latter once offering a convenient transfer to the ferry for Algeciras. The Fès - Oujda extension of the main line remains unelectrified, as does the now freight-only Beri-Oukil - Oued-el-Heimer - Bou Arfa branch. From Beri-Oukil junction this long branch stretches 304km into the desert south of Oujda to serve a zinc- or lead-smelting works at Oued-el-Heimer and a barium mine about 1km beyond the former passenger station at Bou Arfa. All other connections from this line are severed, including a line from a point north of Bou Arfa that once headed south into Algeria. Just outside the ONCF’s eastern terminus at Oujda is a triangular junction leading to what was the main link with the Algerian system before Morocco’s border with Algeria was closed in 1995. The points at the west end of the curve avoiding Oujda station have been removed (or were perhaps never installed) but the international line from the station east towards the frontier is in place but visibly disused. A parallel single line heads off apparently to serve a private siding north of the town. 2735][ST] São Tomé & Principe: On the island of São Tomé, off the west coast of central Africa and now part of a tiny independent state, the thriving cocoa and coffee plantations in Portuguese colonial days had their own 600mm-gauge railways to carry produce internally and down to ports such as Agua Ize and Agostinho Meto (formerly Rio de Oro). A U-shaped rail was popular, set in cobblestones in the roadway, and among plantation buildings and processing areas a number of permanent-way items remain, including an interesting three-way point at Agua Ize. Perhaps more unusual is the wooden tramway on the short pier at Ilheu das Rolas (ilheu = islander) where a tourist resort is being created just off the main island. The c.600mm-gauge track is entirely wooden, the lengths being dovetailed together. No buffer-stops protect the dead-straight line at either end so an over-enthusiastic shove could send wagons into the sea. Two flat trucks on typical narrow-gauge underframes with steel wheels are used to ferry heavy or bulky goods, such as trays of seedlings, from the open ferry-boat. The wheel-bearings were well overdue for greasing when the line was visited in November 2002! 2736][GA] Libreville (Owendo) - N’djole - Lope (- Booué - Lastoursville - Moanda - Franceville): (R.1094) The standard-gauge (1437mm) Chemin de Fer Transgabonais across the francophone central African state of Gabon began commercial operation in January 1978, and the section from Owendo (station for the capital, Libreville) 185km east to N’djole opened December 1978. Extended inland 162km across the Equator to Booué in 1983 and a further 330km to Franceville in the 1980s, the railway hauls timber from the dense virgin forest as well as minerals from the Franceville area. Freight traffic is indeed heavy and varied, comprising boxcars, tank-wagons, timber wagons and flatcars carrying well-guarded road vehicles, including some big articulated trucks, all hauled by Co-Co diesel locomotives of American appearance. The line also has a passenger service, advertised in the (year old) in-flight magazine offered by Gabon Air as being a daytime run, though in practice our reporter’s train on Sunday 17 November 2002 was timed to leave Owendo at 21:30 and run overnight. The 1986-built Alsthom locomotive hauled clean but tired-looking second-hand French rolling-stock of the 1960s or 70s. The train was well-filled, at least as far as Lope (km295), a tourist-centre in the forest where it arrived very late at 05:00. Time-keeping on the line appears relaxed, with delays of up to 12h not unknown. First-class one-way fare Owendo - Lope was equivalent to c.GBP16 =c.EUR24. 2737][IE] Claremorris - Tuam - Athenry: The junction at Athenry was severed on 13 November 2002 (R.2547). On 22 January 2003 an inspection car made a round-trip on what is now a long siding from Claremorris. (Irish Railway News) 2738][IE] Dublin North Wall: (R.2605, 2643, 2670) Due to close on 3 January, the ex-Midland freight yard at North Wall finally closed to all traffic from 13 January 2003 to allow redevelopment as part of the Spencer Dock project. Freight is now handled in the smaller yard nearby at Sheriff Street Bridge. (Irish Railway News) 2739][IE] Limerick (Check Cabin) - Ennis (- Athenry): (R.1775, 2547) From 1 February until about the end of April 2003, the Limerick - Ennis line is to be closed to all traffic to facilitate work on two bridges in Limerick. The Canal bridge is to be completely refurbished and the Shannon bridge is to be repainted. (Irish Railway News) 2740][FR] Lille: Lompret / Lambersart - Délivrance - Santes / Haubourdin: (BLN 829.0300, R.0723, 2066; EGTRE; Ball 7A1-10B3) Timetabled passenger diversions via Lille Délivrance freight yard are relatively rare. However, from evening 20 April until mid-morning 21 April 2003, RFF plan to replace pointwork at Champ-de-Mars, the southern exit from Lille-Flandres, and also a bridge at Nomain, obstructing access from Lille-Flandres to both the Lille - Douai and Lille - Nomain - Valenciennes lines. Various stopping trains are to be replaced by buses and through trains seem to be diverted. On those days only, various trains run Lille - Douai non-stop, taking longer than usual, probably via Délivrance (Lambersart - Bifurcation de St.André - (east-to-south curve) - Bif Lambersart - Délivrance yard - Santes - Don-Sainghin - Pont-de-Sallaumines). Some Lille - Lens and Lille - Béthune trains seem also likely to run via Délivrance. Trains timetabled only on 20 or 21 April to run Lille - Valenciennes non-stop may not go via Délivrance. If progress with the Champ-de-Mars work permits, they may be routed Lille - Douai - Somain - Valenciennes, still avoiding the bridge at Nomain. During the morning of 1 June 2003 some Lille - Dunkerque and Lille - Boulogne trains are routed Haubourdin - Délivrance - Bif Lambersart - (south-to-west curve) - Bif des Quatre Maisons - Lompret - Hazebrouck. 2741][FR] Salbris - Romorantin - Pruniers - Gièvres - Luçay-le-Mâle: (R.2452, 2716; Ball 36A1-35B1) The timetable current in early 2003 allows a one-day round-trip from Paris over the whole remaining section of the metre-gauge Chemin de Fer du Blanc à Argent, which has not been possible in recent years. 2742][FR] (Orange - Jonquières -) Sarrians - Aubignan-Loriol - Carpentras: (R.2163; Ball 65A1) Ventoux Rail Nostalgie are planning a museum including a miniature railway at Aubignan-Loriol station (km17.4), with rail-cycle draisines on the Sarrians-Monmirail (km13.3) - Carpentras (km21.9) section. (http://www.ventoux-rail-nostalgie.com/fr/la_ligne.html) A twelve-page illustrated Guide du Vélo-Rail listing 20 rail-cycle operations is available free in return for a stamped envelope (or IRC) from Éditions Atelier 21, 4J Chemin de Palente, FR-25000 Bésançon. (L’Écho du Rail, #241, January 2003) 2743][DE] Germany: open access: Access for the train of one company to track owned by another is becoming a requirement in the European Union. Following a complaint by operators Rhein-Sieg Eisenbahn that infrastructure company Frankfurt-Königsteiner Eisenbahn had refused them access for a passenger charter over the Lollar - Mainzlar (- Londorf) branch (BLN 838.0575; Ball 49B3-39B1) Germany’s Eisenbahnbundesamt (= federal railway authority) ruled that federal railway legislation did not differentiate between access for freight and for passenger trains. If a line is open for traffic as part of the public railway network, it is open to a licensed operator to run a passenger train (subject to the usual rules about safe operation, and subject to a path being negotiated among the existing traffic). (IBSE) 2744][DE] Germany: engineering works: A useful website for checking current and imminent engineering work on DB Netz tracks is http://www.bahn.de/pv/uebersicht/die_bahn_fahrplanaenderungen.shtml. 2745][DE] Angermünde - Schwedt Mitte - Schwedt (Oder): In January 2003 electrically-hauled RE3 trains were working through from Dessau via Berlin to Angermünde, but the line beyond was unelectrified (not as shown in the 1998 Ball atlas 21A1-21A2). At Angermünde a diesel locomotive hauled the electric locomotive and its carriages forward the 23km to Schwedt, where it ran round the whole train. Schwedt Mitte belies its name, and seems to exist mainly to serve the nearby Oder shopping-mall rather than the town-centre. Nor is Schwedt (Oder) station particularly convenient for the town. The branch continues beyond the passenger terminus turning north for c.2km to serve an industrial area near the river Oder. 2746][DE] Wriezen - Abzw Alt Bliesdorf - Neutrebbin - Werbig - Boossen - Frankfurt (Oder): (BLN 848.0208, R.1047; Ball 21A1-30B3) The Abzw Alt Bliesdorf - Thöringswerder Zuckerfabrik branch, formally closed 29 December 1998, had been lifted by January 2003. The north-to-east curve at Werbig, connecting with the Berlin - Strausberg - Werbig - Küstrin-Kietz DB (- Kostrzyn PKP) line, showed signs of at least occasional use. The Küstrin - Boossen freight line converging from the north, and the freight curve diverging south-east just south of Boossen, were both out of use. 2747][DE] Brandenburg - Belzig: (Ball 29A3-29A2) At both Brandenburg and Belzig the trains over the former Brandenburger Städtebahn have their own dedicated platforms away from the main line, reflecting the line’s origin as a separate local company (BLN 736.0208). Of the two such terminal platforms at Brandenburg Hbf, the northern one is for Belzig (south of Brandenburg) and the southern one for Rathenow (to the north). The line for Belzig first heads north-west but curves south and climbs above both the Berlin - Brandenburg - Magdeburg and Brandenburg - Rathenow lines. The north-to-south link avoiding Brandenburg station that once allowed through Rathenow - Belzig running appeared disused. The Städtebahn, running at right-angles to the main lines out of Berlin, is not profitable, and DB rather neglected its maintenance and closed this section from 1 December 2000 (R.1243). However they were later obliged to restore the passenger trains. Patronage of the modern articulated Class 646 diesel unit on a Saturday evening in January 2003 was nevertheless very poor. Only five passengers alighted from the train at Belzig at 16:55 and only our reporter boarded for the journey north at 17:01, though a handful of people joined at the intermediate calling-points, seven in number, all but one of them request-stops. The northbound journey was enlivened by a sudden and involuntary stop, but the driver was able to restart the engine and, after peering inside various panels, was able to continue, making up the lost time easily enough. The track appeared still in poor condition, for the ride was rough and the timing very slow at 54min for 35km, so the line may find itself threatened once more. 2748][DE] Strausberg - Hegermühle - Strausberg Stadt - Strausberg Nord: (R.1047; Ball 30A3) Some 30km east of Berlin, on what was once Germany’s longest main line, the Ostbahn, lies Strausberg, served by the Berlin S-Bahn as well as by DB regional trains running to the Polish border c.50km away (Berlin-Lichtenberg - Strausberg - Werbig - Küstrin-Kietz DB - Kostrzyn PKP). S-Bahn trains use their own segregated tracks on the north side of the Ostbahn as far as an island just west of the platform used by the RegionalBahn services. S5 trains terminating at Strausberg use the north face of the island, which is in effect a bay ending in a buffer-stop, but others use the south face of the island, taking a crossover on to the main line and passing the RegionalBahn platform without stopping, before diverging north on the 9km Strausberg Nord S-Bahn branch. 2749][DE] Strausberg StE - Hegermühle StE - Strausberg Lustgarten: (BLN 852.0329; Ball 30A3) On the north side of the road across from Strausberg DB and S-Bahn station, and still physically linked to the S-Bahn track by an apparently disused connection, is the station of Strausberger Eisenbahn GmbH, a former steam railway now an 800V dc standard-gauge tramway (line #89). For the first few km of the semi-rural route the line resembles a single-track heavy-rail branch, running parallel to an unmade road, with barrier-protected crossings where tarred roads intersect it, and a few disused freight sidings. Beyond a passing-loop at Hegermühle the line runs beside a main road, Vicinal-style, with a section of street-running before the terminus at Lustgarten in the town-centre. More information is at http://www.strausberg.de/verkehr/ste/. 2750][DE] Leipzig electrification: (R.2608, 2721; Ball 46B3-42B3; KBS504) The Neuwiederitzsch-Leipziger Messe - Flughafen Leipzig-Halle overhead wires were energised on 13 November 2002, according to a DB local press release, though Leipzig’s airport trains introduced on 15 December 2002 remain Class 642 diesel units. 2751][DE] Dresden electrification: (Ball 45B1-44A2-43B2) The Dresden Neustadt - Dresden-Klotzsche - Dresden Flughafen wires were energised on 14 December 2002, but Dresden’s airport trains introduced in March 2001 (R.1376) remain Class 642 diesel units. Future plans are to run through half-hourly electric S-Bahn services Heidenau - Dresden Hbf - Dresden Neustadt - Dresden-Klotzsche - Dresden Flughafen and Schöna - Heidenau - Dresden Hbf - Dresden Neustadt - Meissen Triebischtal, timed to provide Heidenau - Dresden Hbf - Dresden Neustadt with a 15min frequency. Electrification of the Dresden-Klotzsche - Görlitz main line is still distant. 2752][DE] Saarbrücken - Wemmetsweiler - Lebach - Lebach-Jabach (- Primsweiler): (R.2720; Ball 56A3) Friday 27 February 1998 was the inauguration date for the passenger service from Lebach (km17.4) one stop west to Lebach-Jabach halt (km18.7), which serves a sizeable school. In early 2003 freight traffic appeared to continue beyond Jabach a short distance to the west to serve an industrial site. Conversely, when a special train ran in 2001 on the Dillingen (Saar) - Dillingen Fordwerke - Primsweiler - Limbach (Kreis Saarlouis) branch, the track of the Jabach - Primsweiler section was certainly out of use and much overgrown at the Primsweiler end, and it may have been lifted, as reported in 1994. (IBSE) 2753][ES] Madrid - Calatayud - Zaragoza - Lleida (- Barcelona): (Ball 21A2-13A1-14A1; new alignment not shown) RENFE’s second high-speed standard-gauge line was not fully ready for its official ‘inauguration’ on 20 December 2002 (R.2476), mainly because the sophisticated ERTMS signalling and train-control system was still under test. Without ERTMS the planned speeds of 300-350km/h cannot be attained. However, with local elections upcoming, the government are keen not to incur unpopularity by appearing to delay the promised services, and it is expected that standard-gauge trains will begin operating in mid-February 2003 using temporary signalling arrangements that will restrict speeds to 200-220km/h. Two Alsthom-built TGV-clone AVE sets borrowed from the standard-gauge Madrid - Cordoba - Sevilla line are to run four Madrid - Lleida services daily each way, taking 1h45min Madrid - Zaragoza and 55min Zaragoza - Lleida. Seventh-generation Talgo Altaria sets are to offer eight Madrid - Barcelona trips daily each way, running over the classic broad-gauge line east of Lleida. Also opening in early 2003 is a short standard-gauge link diverging west of Zaragoza, provided with a gauge-changer allowing direct TALGO running to the Zaragoza - Castejón de Ebro - Pamplona / Logroño lines. The three-rail mixed-gauge Zaragoza - Tardienta - Huesca line is expected to become available in summer 2003 along with ERTMS. Target opening-date for the standard-gauge Lleida - Barcelona line extension (and for delivery of new high-speed train-sets) is the end of 2004. (partly from RENFE and Ministerio de Fomento press releases) 2754][ES] Zafra - Fregenal de la Sierra - Jabugo-Galaroza - Valdelamusa - Huelva: (Ball 27B1-34A2) Temporarily closed because of risk of landslips in early 2002 (R.2225, 2318), the northern section of this 185km line through rural south-western Spain has again seen its sparse passenger trains partly replaced by buses, this time over the long section between Zafra and Valdelamusa, due to ‘adverse weather conditions’, according to a notice at Huelva Termino on 4 February 2003. 2755][SK] Slovakia: passenger closures: A communication from Slovakia’s Railway Company (Zeleznicna Spolocnost = ZSSK) says that, as planned, they closed 25 local lines to passengers from Sunday 2 February 2003. This triggered a three-day rail strike from Friday night 31 January to Monday evening 3 February, but on 4 February trains were again running to the new curtailed timetable. Only three of the withdrawn services have been replaced by buses. It is possible that trains may be reintroduced on some lines if local authorities decide to support them, but this may depend upon new legislation and on reorganisation of the local authorities themselves. 112 - Zohor - Plavecky Mikulas (R.2690; Ball 41B1-42A2) 113 - Zohor - Zahorska Ves (R.2691; Ball 41B2) 117 - Jablonica - Brezova pod Bradlom (Ball 42A2) 124 - Nemsova - Lednicke Rovne (Ball 42A2) 126 - Zilina - Rajec (Ball 42B2)) 129 - Cadca - Skalite (- Zwardon PKP) (R.2625; Ball 42B3; trains to and from Poland apparently continue) 134 - Sala - Neded (Ball 42A1) 136 - Komarno - Kolarovo (Ball 42A1) 141 - Kozarovce - Luzianky (R.2693; Ball 42B1-42A1) 142 - Zbehy - Radosina (R.2694; Ball 42A2) 143 - Trencin - Chynorany (Ball 42A2; replacement buses are timetabled) 144 - Prievidza - Nitrianske Pravno (Ball 42B2) 151 - Zlate Moravce - Ulany nad Zitavou (R.2693; Ball 42A1) 152 - Levice - Sturovo (Ball 42B1; replacement buses are timetabled) 154 - Hronska Dubrava - Banska Stiavnica (Ball 42B2) 153 - Zvolen - Sahy - Cata (Ball 42B2-42B1; replacement buses are timetabled) 161 - Lucenec - Kalonda (Ball 43A1) 163 - Breznicka - Katarinska Huta (Ball 43A2) 165 - Plesivec - Muran (Ball 43A2) 166 - Plesivec - Slavosovce (Ball 43A2) 167 - Roznava - Dobsina (Ball 43A2) 168 - Moldava nad Bodvou - Medzev (Ball 43A2) 186 - Spisska Nova Ves - Levoca (Ball 43A2) 192 - Trebisov - Varanov nad Toplou (Ball 43B2) 195 - Banovce nad Ondavou - Velke Kapusany (R.2181; Ball 43B2-44A2) 2756][US] Amtrak passenger closures?: President Bush’s Department of Transportation budget proposals for fiscal year 2004 include elimination of ‘underused and inefficient long-distance train routes’ while providing USD900M targeted support for Amtrak plus encouragement to the individual states ‘to contribute to those routes they believe are critical to their transportation needs’. The budget highlights Amtrak’s routes with the largest losses per passenger in 2001: Sunset Limited Orlando, FL - Los Angeles, CA (loss of USD347 per passenger); Pennsylvanian Philadelphia, PA - Chicago, IL (USD292; this route has already been cut back on 28 January 2003; R.2669); Texas Eagle Chicago, IL - San Antonio, TX (USD258); Three Rivers New York, NY - Chicago, IL (USD245); Southwest Chief Chicago, IL - Los Angeles, CA (USD237); Kentucky Cardinal Chicago, IL - Louisville, KY (USD212; perhaps to cease summer 2003). For several trains it would be cheaper for Amtrak to buy each passenger a free air-ticket. For example, a round-trip ticket for direct flights San Antonio - Chicago over the Texas Eagle route can be purchased for as little as USD216. (http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2004/maindown.html) 2757][US] (Vancouver, BC - Seattle, WA - Tacoma, WA -) Portland, OR - Eugene, OR (- Los Angeles, CA): (BLN 826.0243, R.1036) Cascade trains on Amtrak’s Pacific Northwest Rail Corridor have generally been regarded as successful, and saw new TALGO stock introduced in the late 1990s. However the service is partly supported by the state of Oregon, and with voters’ rejection of a state tax increase in a referendum on 28 January 2003, daily trains #502, 504, 507 and 509 may vanish from the Portland - Eugene section in mid-April 2003. This section would still be traversed by Amtrak’s Coast Starlight (Seattle - Tacoma - Portland - Eugene - Los Angeles). 2758][US] (Rutland, VT - Middlebury - Vergennes -) Charlotte - Shelburne - Burlington, VT: The Vermont Railway’s Charlotte - Burlington Champlain Flyer commuter trains began in December 2000, financed by the state of Vermont with a view to easing highway congestion on Route 7 where major construction was to start (R.1572). However the road-works were delayed and the trains have been running nearly empty over their 21km route. State finance is to end from about 1 March 2003, and the trains will cease. Ironically the work on Route 7 is due to start in summer 2003. (http://www.railpace.com/hotnews) 2759][IE] Dublin Heuston: (R.2388) Saturday 22 February 2003 was to see Dublin’s Heuston terminus temporarily close for completion of its EUR117M redevelopment programme. On reopening after the weekend, the new computerised signalling was to be fully commissioned, replacing the remaining mechanical signals, and the newly-extended main concourse and resurfaced and lengthened platforms 1-4 were to be available for passenger use in addition to the already refurbished platforms 5-9 in the main station. (Irish Railway News) 2760][IE] Claremorris - Collooney Jn: (R.2644) The clearance of vegetation from this line (closed in 1975) may presage the laying of a pipeline beneath the trackbed. Reopening as a railway does not seem likely in the light of IE’s recent withdrawals from the freight market (R.2424, 2738) and their pessimism about other rural lines in Ireland’s small network (R.2495, 2547). 2761][FR] Armentières - Estaires - Lestrem - Merville (- Berguette-Isbergues): (BLN 775.0128, 778.0180; Ball 7A1) The truncated Armentières - Berguette line, now a single-track branch, continues to carry very heavy grain traffic (up to 5000t a day) to the Roquette starch and glucose plant at Lestrem, which lies on a loop leaving the running line at Estaires and rejoining it near Lestrem station, though the section of the loop from the plant to Lestrem is no longer used. Trains of up to 3600t are cut into smaller rakes at Armentières and shuttled to the factory by Class BB66000 locomotives. The c.13:30 trip-working from Armentières collects wagonload traffic which in late 2002 was mainly containers to the Roche plant at Dalry, Scotland. Beyond Lestrem, whose station remains, the line to Merville looked out of use, though a Class BB63000 locomotive, formerly of Houillères du Bassin de Nord-Pas-de-Calais, sat in a factory siding at Merville. Beyond Merville the line is lifted. On the nearby but shorter Armentières - Bois-Grenier (- Ennetières-en-Weppes) branch, a trip-working was seen at c.09:00, a Class Y8000 shunter hauling a single bogie tank-wagon of wine from Bordeaux for bottling at Bois-Grenier Zone Industrielle. On the Somain - Aniche (- Azincourt) branch (Ball 7B1) another Class Y8000 worked a trip at c.15:00 hauling covered hopper wagons with chemicals for glassmaking at Aniche. The disused Orchies - Marchiennes line makes a pleasant walk through Marchiennes forest. Track is still in place, but the line is blocked by various activities including pheasant-breeding. 2762][FR] Troyes area freight lines: (R.0932) In 2003 the Association Chemins de fer Touristiques Aubois based at Troyes plan to run their Picasso railcar X3897 west on the Troyes - Estissac (- Sens) line (R.0061; Ball 27A1-26B1) to a local-products festival at Estissac on 10 August, and south-east on the Troyes - Gyé-sur-Seine - Mussy-sur-Seine - Châtillon-sur-Seine line (Ball 27A1-38B3) four times, on 29 June to an unspecified destination, on 19 July to Gyé-sur-Seine, and on 6 and 12 December to Mussy-sur-Seine. 2763][FR] Givors-Canal - Chasse-sur-Rhône: (BLN 716.02; EGTRE; Ball 56B2) This short southwest-to-southeast curve south of Lyon linking the west-bank and east-bank lines across the river Rhône continued in 2003 to see its sparse timetabled passenger service of two round-trips a year by overnight winter-sports trains: #4858/9 Brest - Briançon and #4860/1 Quimper - Briançon run east on 21 February, returning as #4900/1 Briançon - Quimper and 4896/7 Briançon - Brest on 1 March. 2764][BE] St.Ghislain - Tertre: In connection with the open day at St.Ghislain railway museum on 13 September 2003 preservation group Patrimoine Ferroviaire Touristique may offer, as in previous years, shuttle trains on the short freight-only branch north to Tertre (R.1100; Ball 7A1; line 100). On 27 and 28 September 2003 PFT plan to run shuttle trains on the Leuze - Frasnes-lez-Anvaing freight-only stub of line 86 north to Ronse/Renaix (BLN 800.0182; Ball 7B1). 2765][BE][NL] (Gent -) Wondelgem - Zelzate NMBS - Sas-van-Gent NS - Sluiskil - Boerengat / Terneuzen: (BLN 704.03, 800.0187; Ball 8A3) The small part of the Dutch province of Zeeland lying south of the river Schelde estuary west of Antwerpen contains a short isolated freight-only section of Nederlandse Spoorwegen that can be reached only over a freight branch of the Belgian network heading north from Gent. A map appeared in Today’s Railways, #42. The distance from Gent Zeehaven to Terneuzen is only about 30km and one might think that NS would contract for the various Dutch industrial sidings to be served by NMBS trip-workings running through from Gent. Instead, both Zelzate and Sas retain small exchange yards of four or five sidings, each making extra work for railway staff, and Terneuzen has an NS locomotive-depot equipped with elderly Class 2200 diesels which are about to be replaced by recently-delivered (ex-DR, ex-DB) Class 204. On 12 February 2003 NS #2203 worked trains of tank wagons from the Dow Chemicals factory at Boerengat and empty grain hoppers from the Cerestar plant to Sas, and loaded grain wagons back to Cerestar just north of Sas, while #2278 and 2212 were both active on movements in the Terneuzen area. NMBS locomotives appeared at Sas around 14:00 to take the Dutch traffic south to Gent. 2766][DE] Münster (Westfalen): Sudmühle - Mecklenbeck / Hiltrup (Abzw Lechtenberg): (EGTRE DE02/350; Ball 24B1) Over the weekend 5-6 April 2003 fast trains that usually run non-stop via Münster are to be diverted over the normally freight-only avoiding line. Metropolitan services run via Mecklenbeck and others via Hiltrup. 2767][DE] Berlin-Karow - Basdorf - Gross Schönebeck and Basdorf - Wensickendorf - Schmachtenhagen: (R.2072; Ball 32A3-20B1) Connecting passengers for these two Niederbarnimer Eisenbahn branches need to arrive by S-Bahn, for Karow has lost its main-line platforms and retains only an island platform serving through local tracks 3 and 4. DB still provide and crew the half-hourly trains down the branches, Class 646 diesel units which use platform 3, the north-eastbound S-Bahn line, and retire to a turn-back siding just to the west of the station for their layover. NEB’s headquarters are at Basdorf, whose sidings on 26 January 2003 held two rakes of hopper-wagons which bore NEB markings but were also labelled Rail Cargo Berlin Gmbh. NEB’s smart royal-blue livery appears on stations to Gross Schönebeck, where the line has a run-round loop and a water-crane before the buffer-stops. On the other NEB branch Saturday and Sunday daytime services run beyond the rather run-down station at Wensickendorf, the weekday terminus, to Schmachtenhagen to serve the weekend Oberhavel Bayernmarkt held nearby. Schmachtenhagen station is a single platform with no buildings, on plain line ending at a stop-board and buffer-stop before the nearby disused level-crossing. Beyond, the closed Schmachtenhagen - Fichtengrund / Sachsenhausen (Nordbahn) - Oranienburg line has track still in place. 2768][DE] Germany: Rheinland-Pfalz passenger cutbacks: (OEIS) Hitherto known for their positive attitude to passenger reopenings (R.1250), Land Rheinland-Pfalz are unlikely to be pursuing any more reopenings in the immediate future. Indeed, in early 2003 the province’s transport secretary, a member of the minority coalition-partner Freie Demokratische Partei (= Liberals), proposed to save EUR25M by cancelling contracts for all rail passenger services on nine local lines: Bingen (Rhein) Stadt - Gensingen-Horrweiler - Armsheim (Ball 49A1; KBS662); Monsheim - Grünstadt (BLN 832.0383; Ball 49A1-57A3; KBS667); Grünstadt - Ramsen - Eiswoog (R.1953; Ball 57A3; KBS666); Lauterecken-Grumbach - Kaiserslautern Hbf (R.1247; Ball 56B3-48B1; KBS673); (Landau -) Annweiler - Pirmasens Nord (R.1248; Ball 57A2-56B3; KBS675); Pirmasens Nord - Zweibrücken Hbf (R.1248; Ball 56B3-56A3; KBS674); Winden (Pfalz) - Bad Bergzabern (BLN 769.013; Ball 57A2; KBS678); Winden (Pfalz) - Schweighofen DB - Wissembourg SNCF (R.0274; Ball 57A2; KBS679); and Wörth (Rhein) - Berg (Pfalz) DB - Lauterbourg SNCF (R.2558; Ball 57A2; KBS677.1) These proposals caused a public outcry, and politicians in the Landtag (= state parliament), especially Social Democrats, the majority party in the coalition, blocked them for the time being, so no passenger closures are immediately threatened. Instead Rheinland-Pfalz hope to agree reduced annual subsidy levels by giving DB Regio new longer-term contracts for eleven years (2004-2014) rather than for eight years. However, the transport secretary plans to cancel lightly-used trains, so poorer local services in Rheinland-Pfalz are likely, and not only on the nine lines listed. Some lines may lose much of their train service. Bingen - Armsheim and Monsheim - Grünstadt are particularly lightly used, with fewer than 500 passengers per weekday. 2769][ES] Málaga trams: Velez Malaga - Torre del Mar: On 15 January 2003, the regional government of Andalucia decided to go ahead with a new tramway running from the former railway station in Velez Malaga for c.4km south to the square next to San Andres church in the heart of Torre del Mar. Work is to start around April 2003 and take 20 months, with a target opening-date of end-2004. Two light-rail sets are to offer an 18min-interval service. 2770][IT][SI] (Venezia Santa Lucia -) Bivio d’Aurisina (- Trieste Centrale): (Ball 44A3) On 1 March 2003 a day-excursion train from Slovenia (round-trip fare SIT8000=EUR35) was planned to run Maribor 05:00 - Ljubljana 06:55 - Sezana SZ - Villa Opicina FS - 11:04 Venezia Santa Lucia 20:30 - 00:33 Ljubljana - 02:30 Maribor. This seemed likely to travel in each direction via the west-to-east curve at the Bivio d’Aurisina triangle, otherwise little used by passenger trains. 2771][IT] Salerno light rail: The first 7.7km eight-stop phase of the city’s light metro system is planned to open by mid-2004 (Centro Storico Alto/Via Monti - Via Vernieri - Stazione FS/Centro moderno - Via del Pezzo/Torrione - Via Rocco Cocchia/Pastena - Parco del Mercatello/Mariconda - Arbostella/Camera di Commercio - Stadio Arechi). The line is later to be extended from Stadio Arechi 8.9km eastward via a further four stations to Pontecagnano Aeroporto. (http://web.tiscalinet.it/defalco_ivanoe/trasporti/salerno/indexesa.html) 2772][PL] Chabówka - Rabka Zdroj - Limanowa - Marcinkowice - Nowy Sacz: (R.1058; Ball 43A3) The line is electrified from Chabówka one station east to Rabka Zdroj, and some through electric services from Krakow run east of Chabowka out and back to Rabka Zdroj on their way to Sucha and Zakopane. The 1993 Quail map also shows the line wired at the eastern end for c.10km from Marcinkowice to Nowy Sacz, presumably for some freight flow now abandoned. The section east of Rabka was closed after landslip damage during 2002, and though it was repaired through Chabówka - Nowy Sacz passenger services ceased at the end of 2002. However, in January 2003 PKP said the full 78km route should be available for a British tour-operator’s proposed steam-locomotive driving courses in summer 2003 (http://www.easteuroperailtours.com), and that the railway hoped with some support from the local authorities to restore a limited passenger service, perhaps a single diesel railcar running Chabowka - Limanowa and a railbus Nowy Sacz - Limanowa. 2773][SK] Zohor - Záhorská Ves: (R.2691, 2755; Ball 41B2; ZSR113) This branch survived the closures of 2 February 2003, albeit with a reduced timetable. Local authorities were subsidising five train-pairs at least until 5 March 2003. An amended arrival & departures sheet at Filakovo showed Zilina - Rajec (R.2755; Ball 42B2; ZSR126) open until 30 April 2003. 2774][HR][BA] Sunja - Volinja HZ - Dobrljin ZRS - Novi Grad: (R.1281; Ball 46B1) By February 2003 the whole line was again electrified except for the border bridge over the river Una. The Zagreb - Sunja - Novi Grad - Banja Luka - Doboj - Ploce through train was hauled by an HZ electric locomotive to Volinja, an HZ diesel to Dobrljin, then a ZRS electric beyond. 2775][HR][BA] (Novi Grad - Blatna ZRS - Bosanska Otoka ZBH - Bihac - Ripac ZBH -) Martin Brod HZ - Knin: (R.1281; Ball 51A3) Though newly advertised in the current Croatian timetable, Martin Brod - Knin passenger service had not been restored by mid-February 2003. 2776][BA][HR][YU] Bosnia & Herzegovina: Though a through train from Zeleznice Republike Srpske (the railway of the Bosnian Serb Republic) to the Serbian capital Beograd appeared in the 2001-02 timetable (R.1160), the Banja Luka - Grapska - Doboj - Petrovo ZRS - Miricina ZFBH - Lukavac - Bosanska Poljana - Tuzla - Zivinice - Kalesija ZFBH - Osmaci ZRS - Zvornik Grad ZRS - Zvornik JZ - Šabac - Ruma - Beograd working (Ball 51B3-52A3) was it seems never introduced because of the many SFOR military trains using the Tuzla - Zvornik section in Bosnia and poor track on the Zvornik - Ruma section in Serbia. However a Banja Luka - Grapska - Bosanski Šamac ZRS - Slavonski Šamac HZ - Strizivojna Vrpolje - Vinkovci - Tovarnik HZ - Šid JZ - Beograd through working via Croatia began on 18 June 2002 (R.2265). ZBH (the railway of the Bosnian Muslim-Croat Federation) has become ZFBH (Zeljeznice Federacije Bosne i Hercegovine). 2777][YU] Kosovo Polje - Pec: (R.0434, 1643; Ball 52A2) Passenger trains on this route in (Albanian-speaking, UN-administered) western Kosova/Kosovo are operated by HeK (Hekhurude e Kosoves = Kosova railways). 2778][KR] Daegu metro: The metro hit by an arson attack that destroyed two trains on 18 February 2003 is one of the world’s newer systems, opened 26 November 1997, and extended (Jincheon - Daegok) 10 May 2002. (http://www.metropla.net) 2779][NZ] Auckland: new Britomart station: (R.2152, 2185) The city’s 1885 terminal station at the north end of Queen Street, and the tracks from it, closed 1 November 1930 when the present Auckland through station (R.2780) opened some 600m to the east. The 1885 station site, lying just to the east of the 1912 Chief Post Office, was from 1937 occupied by an art-déco postal sorting-office, but in March 2001 demolition of the 1937 building began. The dignified old Post Office building has been preserved, with what the project’s designers call ‘a three-storey glasshouse’ attached behind its rear façade to allow natural light to reach the new five-platform rail terminus taking shape two storeys below ground - more or less on the original station site, but some 11m beneath it, extending from behind the old Post Office east to Britomart Place. The 1898 Northern Steamship building being preserved in nearby Quay Street housed in late 2002 a public display of the whole Britomart redevelopment project. From the new station a cut-and-cover trench, begun in August 1999, had by March 2000 become a concrete-lined tunnel emerging into the daylight 506m to the east, awaiting its double 1067mm-gauge track. Just beyond the tunnel-mouth is the site of Quay Park Junction, where the new lines will diverge as the Auckland - Quay Park Jn - Orakei - Tamaki - Westfield North Island Main Trunk heading east and the (Auckland -) Quay Park Jn - Newmarket - Penrose - Westfield route curving sharply south. Over the weekend of 20-23 June 2003, the new Britomart station is to be connected to both routes. Linking up will begin after the last timetabled train on Friday 20 June and should be complete in time for the first train on Monday 23 June. No trains will serve the present Auckland rail station between these times. All Tranz Metro suburban diesel units will in future use Britomart, whose city-centre location is convenient for commuters, but though plans designate one platform there for longer-distance services it seems it has not yet been decided whether Tranz Scenic’s Auckland - Wellington trains will use it (R.2780). 2780][NZ] Auckland: 1930 station to become Strand: (Quail atlas 3) To the east of the city’s central business district, at the east end of Te Taou Crescent, the present Auckland station opened 1 November 1930, its through passenger platforms running southwest-to-east, flanked to the north by the original station building, still a city landmark with its powerful brick façade. Though no longer in railway use since the late 1990s, the building remains an important part of New Zealand’s architectural heritage, recognised by its registration as #1 with the NZ Historic Places Trust. The University of Auckland have refurbished it to become The Railway Campus, providing apartment accommodation, principally for visiting academics, short-course participants and the like. The impressive interior public areas, with marble corinthian columns, vaulted ceilings and terrazzo flooring, have been tastefully restored, retaining the distinct feel of a major station. Even a look inside the main entrance-lobby is worth the detour. The side wings parallel to the passenger tracks have been converted to various types of apartment (studio, two-bedroom, three-bedroom). Particularly during university vacation times, The Railway Campus offers its facilities to those without even a tenuous connection with the education industry, and will continue to do so despite the railway infrastructure changes around it. In November 2000, our reporter found it rather more comfortable than other stations he has been obliged to sleep in from time to time, and warmly recommends it to those eligible. (See http://www.auckland.ac.nz/accommodation). By contrast, in 2000 and 2002 access on foot to the active station was poorly signposted, and long-distance passengers had to check in at Tranz Rail’s decidedly modest portable building, inconveniently sited at the opposite end of the platforms from the pedestrian underpass. Suburban passengers were offered no booking facilities, tickets being sold on board the trains. Controlled locally by Auckland ‘A’ signal-box, the station’s four through platforms, previously 4 to 7, had been renumbered 1 to 4, possibly with the removal in May 1994 of the east-end bay, the former #3. When the city’s main passenger station returns to its pre-1930 location as part of the Britomart project (R.2779) most of this layout is to be removed, including platforms 1-3. The sharply curving new west-to-south alignment from Britomart and Quay Park Jn is to run behind the old station building, through the site of a former goods-yard. Notwithstanding R.2152, the completed works will create a triangular junction. A single track and a single platform will remain on the site of the present platform #4, which will be renamed ‘Strand’ or ‘Auckland Strand’ station, after The Strand, a parallel street to the south-east. No platform is to be built on the new west-to-south or west-to-east sides of the triangle, so trains will be able to serve Britomart or Strand but not both. Strand is to be available for locomotive-hauled trains such as the occasional specials run by the Main Line Steam Trust, which would be unwelcome at sub-surface dead-end Britomart, but it seems possible it may also be used by Tranz Scenic’s daytime and overnight Auckland - Westfield - Hamilton - Palmerston North - Wellington services (R.1232, 2779). These diesel locomotive-hauled trains #200-203 at present arrive from Westfield by one route and leave by the other, without reversal of the consist, which normally has an observation saloon at the rear. A quite limited lay-over at Auckland (90min in the morning, 65min in the evening) has to allow for any late running of the inbound train plus maintenance, cleaning and re-stocking before the set forms the outbound train. Tranz Scenic may view working in and out of Britomart as adding complication and delay to their operations, and perhaps incurring extra track-access charges, without offering much advantage to their customers. Long-distance passengers could perhaps interchange with suburban trains at Newmarket or Westfield rather than Britomart. Car-drivers awaiting arriving train-travellers may find parking space more readily available at Strand than downtown Britomart. 2781][NZ] Christchurch - Rolleston - Cass - Arthur’s Pass - Greymouth: (R.2705) From 1 April 2003 Tranz Scenic’s successful TranzAlpine passenger train across the South Island is retimed earlier, the better to allow a round-trip from Christchurch in daylight hours with a short lunch-break in Greymouth. The new timetable for trains TS0803/4 is Christchurch 08:15 - 12:45 Greymouth 13:45 - 18:05 Christchurch. Intermediate stops at Sheffield, Mount White Bridge, Bealey Bridge and Inchbonnie are discontinued, closing these stations to passengers, but Cass station is reopened. 2782][US] Butte - Garrison - Helena - Logan - Whitehall, MT: Trips are planned over freight-only ex-Northern Pacific trackage (Butte - Garrison is now Montana Western, the rest of the route Montana Rail Link), outward on 11 October, returning 12 October 2003, at an each-way fare of USD119. (http://www.montanarailtours.com/excursions.html) 2783][US] New York, NY: Grand Central - Mott Haven Jn - Spuyten Duyvil (- Croton-Harmon - Poughkeepsie - Albany-Rensselaer, NY): From 7 April 1991 Amtrak trains to and from Albany joined the rest of Amtrak’s services at New York Penn station and began to use the restored Penn - Riverside Park Tunnel - Spuyten Duyvil section, leaving New York Grand Central station to Metro North commuter trains (BLN 834.0446). On Friday 7 February 2003 however a barge carrying stone collided with the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge, and Amtrak trains were diverted to use Grand Central until the bridge was repaired the following Tuesday, 11 February. 2784][US] Orlando, FL - Tavares - Mount Dora, FL: (R.0903, 0925) Tourist-train operators Mount Dora, Tavares & Eustis Railroad started in 1998, and in December 2001 became the Orlando & Mount Dora Railway. However, after two farewell excursions on 15 and 22 February 2003 they ceased their regular passenger operations, which latterly ran over two sections of the Florida Central Railroad, the c.53km of former Seaboard Air Line from Orlando north to Tavares, and c.8km of the former Atlantic Coast Line from Tavares east to Mount Dora. (http://www.mtdoratrain.com/) 2785][PE] Lima - Ticlio - Galera - La Oroya - Tambo - Huancayo Central: (R.0512-4) From 17 April 2003 timetabled passenger service of a sort returns to 335km of the 1435mm-gauge Ferrocarril Central del Perú, the world’s highest railway, reaching 4784m in the Galera summit-tunnel in the Andes. A Lima - Huancayo train, essentially for tourists, is to run six times during the April-October dry season. (The Observer, 12 January 2003) 2786] Information wanted: Have the following selected passenger opening or reopening projects been achieved, progressed, delayed or abandoned? (More such questions are at http://www.rinbad.demon.co.uk/opening1.htm.) [FR] Sembadel - Estivareilles (tourist trains; the approximate target-date once quoted was June 2000; BLN 815.0563) [FR] Niort - Benet - Fontenay-le-Comte (December 2000; R.0131) [FR] (Dunières -) Tence - St.Agrève (tourist trains; June 2002; R.1720) [FR] Denain-Mines - Fosse d’Arenberg (CF d’Anzin; tourist trains; June 2002; R.1717) [FR][BE] (Charleville-Mézières -) Givet SNCF - Heer-Agimont SNCB - Hastière - Dinant (June 2002; R.1130) [LU] Rumelange mining-museum (4.2km tourist line; December 2001; R.1403) [NL] Haarlem - Zandvoort light rail (December 2002; delayed or abandoned?) [DE] Dannenberg Ost - Lüchow (has the proposed DRE schools contract now been abandoned?; May 2000; R.2392) [DE] Wiehl - Waldbröl (tourist trains & freight; December 2001; R.0097) [GR] Krionerion - Messologion - Agrinion (isolated metre-gauge line; September 2002; abandoned?; R.1314) 2787][FR] St.Amand-les-Eaux: L’Anguille - Pont SNCF (- Pont Métallique): (Ball 7B1 not shown) The 600mm-gauge line of the Train Touristique de la Vallée de la Scarpe is being extended from the depot at L’Anguille north along the towpath of the canalised river Scarpe into St.Amand town, and the preservation group hope to arrive at the ‘Pont Métallique’ by about 2004. In early 2003 the line had reached the SNCF bridge over the waterway just south-east of St.Amand SNCF station on the Lille - Valenciennes line, but lineside fencing prevented the use of this bridge to cross on foot from the SNCF station on the north bank to the TTVS line on the towpath on the south bank, and it was quite a long walk to reach an approved public crossing-point! The TTVS ‘Pont SNCF’ terminus is temporary so it has no run-round loop, and it seems trains in 2003 will be push-pull worked, normally steam-hauled from the depot at L’Anguille north to Pont SNCF, with diesel haulage back south. On advertised operating days (4,18 May, 1,8,9,29 June, 13,14,27 July, 10,24,31 August, 7,14,21,28 September) the first train is to run at 14:30, but therafter until c.18:30 trains will run ‘on demand’ from L’Anguille so an intending passenger at the Pont SNCF end may have a long wait! 2788][FR] Feurs - Panissières monorail: A monorail designed by French engineer Charles Lartigue, similar to his famous (1888-1924) Listowel - Ballybunion railway in Ireland, was built in 1894-95 from Feurs on SNCF’s (Roanne -) Le Coteau - St.Just-sur-Loire (- St.Étienne) line (347m above sea-level; Ball 56A3) north-east up to the small town of Panissières (583m). The sinuous and steep 17km railway seems to have been too lightly constructed for the terrain, and the locomotive was underpowered, so although the actual line was completed, test runs were unsuccessful and it never opened for public service. In 1899 the operating company failed, and in 1902 track and vehicles were scrapped. (http://panissieres.free.fr/fr/monorail2.php) Local-authority highway engineers have often inherited buildings of former départemental railways in France, and in the 1970s the ponts et chaussées unit in Feurs still occupied a shed with big double front-doors, each with a cut-out at ground-level where the two doors came together, forming an inverted-V shape filled by later timbering, indicating where the monorail track on its supporting A-frames had once entered the shed. The road out of town towards Panissières had three lines of trees, one on each side of the carriageway, and a further line offset slightly to one side, flanking a roadside trackbed where no doubt the monorail once ran. Voie Étroite (#188, February-March 2003) records that the municipality of Panissières have commissioned from a local school a full-scale model of the monorail locomotive, already displayed on a short piece of track in a square locally, and this is to be accompanied by two carriages. 2789][FR] Avignon-TGV - Avignon-Ville: (Ball 65A1) The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Méditerranée opened with the summer 2001 timetable, but in early 2003 construction was still under way on the associated link between Avignon’s stations. In 2005 this is to see Trains Express Régionaux shuttling between Avignon-TGV and the town’s station on the classic PLM main line. Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur regional council also propose Avignon-TGV - Ville - Cavaillon / Orange TER services. 2790][FR] Cannes - Ranguin - Grasse: (R.1626; Ball 77A3) A local-authority-financed passenger service last ran on the Cannes - Ranguin section on 23 November 1995 (BLN 773.088). The Ranguin - Grasse section closed to passengers 2 October 1938 and has been out of regular use since 28 January 1991. Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur regional council have confirmed their plan (BLN 843.057) to electrify and provide new stock for hourly Cannes - Grasse passenger trains from early 2004. 2791][BE] Antwerpen trams: The 1.5km Merksem - Keizershoek line 3 extension opened October 2002. (Verkeerskunde) 2792][NL] Alphen-aan-den-Rijn - Moordrecht aansluiting (- Gouda): (BLN 714.09; Ball 3B2) This line saw Stockholm-type light-rail cars begin trial running without passengers on 3 March 2003. 2793][NL] Boxtel - Eindhoven: (R.2286; Ball 4B1) Quadrupling was complete by the December 2002 timetable-change. 2794][DE][AT] Kiefersfelden - Wachtl am Thiersee: (BLN 843.061, 844.097; Ball 71B1 not shown) Heidelberger Zement’s plant at Kiefersfelden in Bavaria closed at the end of 2002, and with it mineral traffic ceased on the company’s overhead-wired 5km 900mm-gauge railway that brought limestone from quarries over the border at Wachtl am Thiersee in Austria. The line’s summer tourist trains are likewise to cease, though farewell trips on the Wachtlbahn are to run on 10 and 11 May 2003. 2795][AT] Siebenbrunn-Leopoldsdorf - Engelhartstetten: (R.2119; Ball 76A3) ÖBB withdrew this long-threatened branch passenger service from 1 January 2003. (Today’s Railways, #87, March 2003) 2796][PT] Portugal: station closures: No longer shown in the passenger timetable valid from 15 December 2002 (with amendments from February 2003) are Torre da Gadanha (on the Vendas Novas - Casa Branca section; former junction for the closed and lifted Torre da Gadanha - Montemor-o-Novo Ramal de Montemor; R.1152; Ball 26B2); Tojal and Monte das Flores (the two intermediate stations on the Casa Branca - Evora section; Ball 26B2); and Viana (on the Casa Branca - Beja section; Ball 26B1). 2797][PT] Funcheira - Tunes - Albufeira - Boliqueime - Loulé - Faro: (R.1987; Ball 33A2) Linha do Sul trains to and from Barreiro and Linha do Algarve regional trains along the coast were on 28 February 2003 being heavily delayed by the ongoing Lisboa - Faro upgrading and electrification. Two new platforms had been built on either side of a loop just to the north of Messines-Alte old station, whose building was being renovated. The old water-tower was still standing. Electrification masts were already in place south to Tunes station level-crossing. Tunes itself was still almost untouched by the work but the loops east of the station were full of engineers’ wagons and equipment, and station staff expected change very soon. Albufeira’s loops and island platform had all been removed, with the through line, main platform, station building, goods-shed and goods-shed siding the only infrastructure remaining. Rebuilding was in progress, eventually to provide two platforms flanking a loop. Boliqueime station remained unchanged, its loop still nominally timetabled to allow one train-crossing in the evening, though in practice it was said rarely to be used. Loulé retained its through line, main platform and station building on the north side. A small island between the running line and the loop was due to be removed, and a second loop also to the south of the island had already gone. Rebuilding is to provide a new loop and a new south platform, the eventual layout after electrification being similar to that at Albufeira. 2798][PT] Tunes - Estombar-Lagoa - Mexilhoeira-Grande - Lagos: (R.1987; Ball 33A2) On the western section of the Linha do Algarve, intermediate stations Estombar-Lagoa and Mexilhoeira-Grande had both had their platforms extended on either sides of the loops, though on 23 February 2003 neither loop appeared to have seen trains passing in a long time. Disused goods-sheds were still standing. The station buildings, unstaffed since 1999 (R.0013) had begun to deteriorate, but Estombar station café remained open. At Lagos a temporary connection controlled by hand-operated points some way east of the station layout led from the present running line into two lines leading to the new three-platform terminus, not yet in use. Two of these platforms already had track, with a run-round connection close to the buffer-stops, while the third platform lay adjacent to a partly-lifted line leading to former freight sidings. The goods-shed remained but another railway building to the west of it was being redeveloped, presumably in connection with the new station. The existing station at Lagos still retained all its track. 2799][GR] Athinai - ATH Eleftherios Venizelos airport: (R.1315; Ball 66B2) The Greek capital’s new Eleftherios Venizelos airport was inaugurated 28 March 2001 at Spata 27km north-east of the city, and replaced the now-closed Hellenikon airport to the south-east, taking over the airport-code ATH. Between the carriageways of the toll-motorway out to the new airport is space for a standard-gauge double-track branch, but in March 2003 this still resembled over most of its length a linear sand-pit rather than a construction site. In one or two places close to overbridges were what appeared to be access arrangements for stations, and stacks of sleepers and rail plus a few hundred metres of ballasted trackbed could be seen near the airport itself. However, so much work remained to be done that it looked quite doubtful if any kind of railway would open to the airport in time for the 2004 summer Olympic Games. No sign of any electrification work was visible. 2800][YU] Serbia: The country that was (the rump of) Yugoslavia is now officially titled Serbia & Montenegro, though it seems the United Nations International Standards Organisation have still to promulgate a new ISO3166 two-letter code to replace [YU]. Ex-Yugoslav rolling-stock still bears JZ markings, but the Serbian railway, at present provisionally ZTP Beograd, is expected formally to become ZS (Zeleznice Srbije) in April or May 2003. Serbia hopes to obtain European Union finance to complete a planned Zvornik - Valjevo link railway (Ball 52A3 not shown). However, it took from 1914 to 1992 to finish the western Zivinice - Zvornik section (R.1160), so the reported target-date of 2006 is perhaps optimistic. 2801][IN] India: narrow-gauge lines: (RMI references are to the official Railway Map of India, 1979 edition.) The main railways in India are broad-gauge (1676mm=5ft6in), but important parts of the network were built to metre-gauge, and many metre-gauge lines remain. Narrow-gauge means gauges less than metre, generally 762mm (2ft6in) or 610mm (2ft). Tourist or ‘toy train’ lines to former ‘hill-stations’ such as Kalka - Shimla (R.0587; 762mm-gauge; RMI F4); New Jalpaiguri - Siliguri Jn - Darjeeling (R.0588, 2410; 610mm-gauge; RMI L6) and Neral - Matheran (R.2148, 2801.8; 610mm-gauge; RMI D10) appear reasonably secure in this format, but other lines face possible gauge-conversion or closure. Some have already been converted to broad-gauge, and conversion work continues on others. Freight traffic is no longer important, and often non-existent. The irony of many narrow-gauge lines is that their trains can and do run packed with people, inside and clinging to carriage sides and roofs, but ticketless travel is so rife that passenger traffic and takings seem small when viewed from Indian Railways headquarters, Rail Bhavan in Delhi, especially compared with the costs of the traditional and widespread overmanning. Lines may provide useful benefits to the local economy, both to passengers and in providing jobs for railway staff, yet be at risk of closure. In these circumstances, investment has been limited, and with some exceptions, the narrow-gauge lines tend to be run-down, with track barely fit for purpose, speeds averaging 20km/h with a 50km/h maximum, passenger stock decrepit and dirty, and locomotives indifferently maintained. What they do provide is insight into the life of India, during journeys that may be day-long odysseys to areas that rarely see a European face, where the traveller is a source of curiosity but not hostility. 2801.1][IN] Pathankot Jn - Baijnath - Joginder Nagar: (RMI E3-F4) From Pathankot on the Northern Railway 107km north-east of Amritsar in Punjab province, this 176km 762mm-gauge line lies for most of its length in Himachal Pradesh. Longer yet much less well-known than the 762mm-gauge Kalka - Shimla (R.0587; RMI F4) line in that province, it is similarly well-kept and has an almost main-line ambience. No fewer than six trains a day run east to Baijnath (c.km150) and two of these workings cover the full length, taking c.9h. A round-trip takes two days. Narrow-gauge trains formerly left Pathankot from bays on the northern side of the (Delhi -) Jullundur - Pathankot broad-gauge line, but the layout was altered in December 2002, just before our reporter visited. Leaving from a spacious single-track terminal platform under a new canopy on the southern side, the narrow-gauge now swings across the end of the broad-gauge platforms to head through the town. In the insanitary streets of Pathankot our reporter’s train hit a cow on the head, killing it stone dead, though this did not hold up progress. East of the town the train, packed with people but orderly, entered Himachal Pradesh and began to climb in the clear air of the Kangra valley, the mountains just appearing from the clouds many km away. With so many services, trains cross fairly frequently, affording opportunities for taking tea and photographs. The line has some considerable structures, at one point crossing the second-highest bridge in the province, twisting and turning over deep gorges, diving into tunnels, unusual on the narrow-gauge, and climbing to over 1000m. Here the evening air becomes cold to freezing, and in winter swept by blizzards. The scenery becomes increasingly treeless but not barren, characterised by rough pastures and terraced fields with the Kangra Range rising above. At Baijnath is a small sub-shed with long inspection-pits for whole trains. The final c.25km up to Joginder Nagar is very tortuous, through sparsely populated country where even the terminus seems to provide thin traffic. Good accommodation was found at the Hotel Uhl there. The line is worked by no fewer than 14 Class ZDM3 diesel locomotives, and Pathankot shed also held an apparently serviceable 2-6-2 tender locomotive #21366. 2801.2][IN] Dhaulpur Jn - Bari - Mohari Jn - Tantpur / Sirmuttra: (RMI F6) Dhaulpur is south of Agra on the Delhi - Mumbai broad-gauge main line. The Maharajah of Dhaulpur financed this Y-shaped 89km 762mm-gauge system, completed between 1908 and 1917. It later formed part of the Gwalior Light Railways and is now part of the Central Railway in the province of Rajasthan. Heading west from Dhaulpur, Bari (km32) is the system’s main intermediate traffic centre and of greater importance than the physical junction at Mohari (km41), a remote spot, where the tracks diverge to Tantpur (km59) and Sirmuttra (km71). The countryside is mostly verdant agricultural land becoming a bit more rugged towards the two termini. The area is littered with a kind of red stone for which Sirmuttra is famed and which is used all over the world in paving and cladding. Stone traffic used to provide substantial freight for the railway, but now justifies ‘emergency’ specials only when the local roads get washed out during the monsoon. The passenger service comprises one early-morning trip (Dhaulpur 04:00 - Sirmuttra - c.10:15 Dhaulpur) followed by a more complex working (Dhaulpur - Tantpur - Bari - Sirmuttra - c.19:30 Dhaulpur). One consequence of this service pattern is that the incoming morning train gets diverted to a very obscure platform at the end of the carriage-sidings well away from the main station, whose only narrow-gauge platform is occupied by the second train awaiting departure. Despite the line’s modest allocation of two Class ZDM5 diesel locomotives, Dhaulpur shed boasts 25 staff. It also holds two 1954-built Kawasaki Class ZEZ552E 2-8-2 steam locomotives #47/55, rusting where their last fire was dropped. Though the service is thin, the system is run down and the staff talk of closure, the trains remain well-used. 2801.3][IN] Gwalior Jn - Sabalgarh - Sheopur Kalan: (RMI G6-F7) As with other light railways in the former princely state of Gwalior (now part of the Central Railway in Madhya Pradesh) this 200km 610mm-gauge line was originally sponsored by the Maharaja of Gwalior, reaching Sheopur Kalan in 1909. It is not clear why this particular line was built to a gauge as narrow as 610mm, for it has few major engineering works. (The nearby 84km Gwalior Jn - Bhind line was converted to broad-gauge in 2001.) Gwalior is a significant town on the Delhi - Mumbai broad-gauge main line, and after threading its fetid streets the narrow-gauge track runs west across an increasingly arid landscape that ends as a stony desert with thorn-bushes and camels. The area has been afflicted by drought for some 50 years and even substantial irrigation projects have been of limited value due to the water-table having fallen. (One of these schemes, including a viaduct bearing pipes forming a giant siphon is depicted on INR100 banknotes.) A daily through train runs the length of the line, starting after 06:00 from each end, crossing at Sabalgarh (km93) and arriving around 16:30. Short workings also run to Sabalgarh from each end but do not allow a through run, so a round-trip takes two days. Sheopur is a very Indian town, with no signs in western script, so a hotel had to be pointed out to our reporter. (His accommodation cost him INR100 =c.GBP1.30 = c.EUR2, and was of a standard appropriate to that price!) The line has ten Class NDM5 diesels, almost the whole of this Class. At Gwalior the well-tucked away motive-power depot held some unusual single-ended locos numbered 1001 and 1003 and a single diesel inspection railcar 798. 2801.4][IN] Barddhaman Jn - Katwa Jn - Ahmadpur Jn: (RMI K8-L8) From Barddhaman (or Burdwan) on the Kolkata - Delhi electrified broad-gauge main line, 95km north of Kolkata=Calcutta’s Howrah station, the Eastern Railway’s 762mm-gauge line heads north-east for 53km to its base at Katwa (or Katoya) and on for 52km north-west to Ahmadpur, linking another two broad-gauge routes running out of Howrah northwards. At Barddhaman the narrow-gauge trains depart from the north side of the large broad-gauge layout straddling the main line, but in December 2002 the platform area was under