3506] European timetables on-line: The Enthusiast’s Guide to Travelling the Railways of Europe now has a new webpage (http://www.steane.com/egtre/timetables.htm) listing page-format timetables available on-line, including a few corrections and additions that have come to light since R.3480. EGTRE’s webmaster welcomes suggestions for changes or additions to the list.

3507][FR][ES] France and Spain: more Lignes à Grande Vitesse/Alta Velocidad: The French transport minister announced on 18 December 2003 the start of work on new lines: in 2006 on extending the Paris - Reims - Baudrecourt LGV Est, now under construction, east to Strasbourg on the German border; after 2006 on the cross-country Strasbourg - Lyon LGV Rhin-Rhône; and in 2008 on the Tours - Bordeaux section of the LGV Atlantique. (Le Monde) Meanwhile European Union plans for a high-speed standard-gauge line between the French and Spanish capitals call for completion of sections as follows: Paris - (existing) - Tours - (2018) - Bordeaux - (2020) - Dax - (2010) - Hendaye SNCF - Irun RENFE - (2010) - Vitoria - (2010) - Valladolid - (2007) - Madrid.

3508][FR] Villefranche-sur-Cher - Romorantin: (R.2452, 3256; Ball 35B1) An SNCF Centre Region source confirmed at end-2003 that this standard-gauge branch was not in regular use, but remained available if necessary to bring in new equipment to the Romorantin base of the metre-gauge CF du Blanc à Argent (Salbris - Romorantin - Gièvres - Luçay-le-Mâle).

3509][FR] St.Étienne-Châteaucreux - St.Étienne-Bellevue - Firminy (- Le Puy): (Ball 56A2) Track-authority Réseau Ferré de France plan to electrify at 1500V dc the section from St.Étienne 15km west to Firminy, refurbishing the double-track line and its mainly suburban stations. Target completion-date is autumn 2005. (Today’s Railways, #96, December 2003)

3510][FR] Bordeaux trams: Timetabled test-running began 24 November, revealing some problems with the pioneering surface-contact power-supply system (alimentation par le sol). Some 12km of the initial 21.3km tramway is thus equipped, the remainder having conventional overhead wires. Nevertheless, formal inauguration by French president Jacques Chirac went ahead on 21 December 2003, with the opening of the first sections of line A (Mériadeck - Lormon-Hôpital/Cenon-La Motlette). Sections of lines B (Quinconces - Saige) and C (Quinconces - Gare Saint-Jean) are planned to follow, perhaps on 28 February 2004. Target opening-date for the next phase, comprising sections of all three lines totalling a further 21.7km, is 2007. (http://www.lrta.org)

3511][FR] (Clermont Ferrand -) Alès - Nîmes: (Ball 64B1) Though L’Écho du Rail for February 2003 reported that the flood-damaged viaduct at Ners was repaired and the line was back in use for freight by December 2002 (R.2813), Today’s Railways for August 2003 said that it did not reopen completely to traffic until 19 May 2003.

3512][FR] Arles - Fontvieille: (R.3401; Ball 75A3) After river Rhône flooding on 3 December, shuttle trains ran from 5 December until mid-December 2003 to relieve and transport people in affected areas. (L’Écho du Rail, #253, January 2004)

3513][BE][DE] Eupen - Raeren - Roetgen - Lammersdorf - Konzen - Monschau - Kalterherberg - Sourbrodt - Weywertz: (http://www.rinbad.demon.co.uk/be_venn.htm; Ball BE-10A2, DE-37A1) Formerly part of the SNCB/NMBS network, running on a thin ribbon of Belgian territory through Germany, the Vennbahn has since 1990 been a tourist asset in the ownership of Belgium’s German-speaking community based in Eupen. Alas, it saw its last operating season as a heritage railway in 2001. Trains ran approximately fortnightly in spring and weekly during summer and early autumn, mostly as a single round-trip on Sundays only, with occasional Saturday workings. Since one needed to set off from Brussel/Bruxelles before 08:00 to be at Eupen before 10:00 for the tourist train, most Belgians seem to have found the timing too early for a day out. For a while local subsidy helped support what must have been a rather uneconomic operation, but financial problems caught up with the Vennbahn. Repairs needed to the Raeren - Monschau section alone were estimated at EUR1.2M. Summer 2002 saw no trains advertised, and in autumn 2002 the equipment was put up for sale (R.2562). Most of the goods wagons were scrapped but all the locomotives and carriages were sold to other tourist lines, and on 8 November 2003 ‘last trains’ left Raeren conveying historic rolling-stock. (http://www.vennbahn.de) If a reopened Vennbahn were to offer more frequent trains over a shorter section of route, it could maybe one day have a role in bringing Belgian and German visitors to the Naturpark countryside on both sides of the border, but the focus of the German local authorities currently considering public transport into their Eifel National Park is on Dürener Kreisbahn’s scenic Düren - Heimbach branch as a rail component (BLN 799.0166; Ball DE-37B1). Should the closed Vennbahn finally be dismantled, the trackbed could revert to being German territory.

3514][DE] Quedlinburg - Gernrode: (R.3427; Ball 27B1; KBS332) Closure was postponed from 14 December 2003 to 31 January 2003. In late December a basic hourly (but slow) service remained, worked by a Class 628 two-car unit, leaving Quedlinburg at 35min past the hour, returning from Gernrode on the hour. (European Rail yahoogroup) Land Sachsen-Anhalt have promised Harzer Schmalspurbahnen EUR6M to convert the line to metre-gauge, and reopen it, running HSB trains north through to Quedlinburg. Target-date for completion is early 2006. (Today’s Railways, #97, January 2004)

3515][DE] (Berlin - Belzig -) Wiesenburg - Güterglück oberer Bf - Barby - Calbe - Güsten: (Ball 28B2-28A1) The 1.4km (Barby -) Abzw Werkleitz - Abzw Seehof (- Gnadau - Magdeburg) northeast-to-northwest curve now appears to have no passenger service, but (notwithstanding R.3427) weekend trains RE38595/4 Berlin - Belzig - Barby - Aschersleben - Halberstadt - Wernigerode figure in KBS260.5 of DB’s December 2003 timetable, maintaining an all-year advertised passenger service on the Wiesenburg - Güterglück - Barby section and apparently restoring one to the Calbe - Güsten section (BLN 830.0344). In the previous timetable this train-pair ran only seasonally, with no advertised stop at Barby and timings consistent with their having been routed Wiesenburg - Dessau - Köthen - Güsten.

3516][DE] Berlin Ostkreuz: (Ball 32A2) A preface in the December 2003 DB timetable notes that Berlin-Lichtenberg - Berlin-Schöneweide services have been withdrawn, or diverted away, from the regional tracks through Ostkreuz station upper level, to enable work to begin on station rebuilding (R.3261). Services continue on the parallel S-Bahn tracks.

3517][DE] Berlin Wriezener Bahnhof: (Ball 32A2) Berlin’s much-renamed Ostbahnhof (Frankfurter Bf in 1842; Niederschlesische-Märkischer Bf by 1867; Schlesischer Bf in 1881; Ostbf in 1950; Hbf in 1987; now again Ostbf) became a through station on completion of the Stadtbahn across the city on viaduct to Charlottenburg in 1882. To accommodate growing traffic a single extra platform opened in 1896 just outside the main station, c.500m east of its fine train-shed, and was presumably used mainly by trains via Tiefensee to the small town of Wriezen 61.2km away. In Deutsche Reichsbahn’s official timetables between World Wars I and II this platform was sometimes called ‘Wriezener Bahnsteig’ (= Wriezen platform) rather than Wriezener Bahnhof. It did not reopen after World War II, and indeed since 1998 Wriezen has had no service from Berlin via Tiefensee (BLN 825.0205). At the beginning of 2004 however the Wriezener Bf remains in shadowy existence. When a westbound S-Bahn train leaving Warschauer Strasse is routed into the northernmost platform at Ostbf, one can look out north down the embankment and see a lonely platform covered with dirt and rubbish behind a wooden fence. The old station’s name is echoed by the nearby street Am Wriezener Bahnhof and by the freight sidings of the Wriezener Güterbahnhof.

3518][DE] Köln-Frankfurter Strasse - Köln/Bonn Flughafen - Porz-Wahn: (Ball 36A3-36B2) LOK-Report’s quoted date of Tuesday 8 June (R.3374) may be that of a formal inauguration ceremony, for several tables in DB’s December 2003 Kursbuch show Sunday 13 June 2004 as the opening date of the airport station for both S-Bahn and ICE services. The loop from the airport south towards Frankfurt will then have S-Bahn and RE8 Mönchengladbach - Köln - Flughafen - Troisdorf - Koblenz trains, but the Flughafen - Porz-Wahn section is to have no ICE services during the present timetable-book’s validity. From 13 June 2004 ICE trains from Berlin that split at Hamm into portions via Wuppertal to Köln and via Dortmund and Essen to Düsseldorf will see both their portions run to the Köln area, one to the Hbf, one to the airport. The former Düsseldorf portions are to be extended via Köln-Deutz Gleis 11-12 (Kursbuch table 43) to terminate at Köln/Bonn Flughafen.

3519][DE] Krefeld: Sankt Tönis - Krefeld Nord - Hüls - Hülser Berg: (Ball 37B2-37B3) Municipal company Städtische Werke Krefeld AG, through their subsidiary SWK Mobil GmbH, operate the T-shaped Krefelder Eisenbahn, the remains of a more extensive standard-gauge local system first opened 1870. From its present link with the DB network at Krefeld Süd, the non-passenger section of the KE heads west and north for c.2.4km to a triangular junction. The four-station passenger section St.Tönis (km0.0) - (junction; c.km2.7) - Krefeld Nord (km4.7) - Hüls (km9.6) - Hülser Berg (km13.6) has hosted seasonal steam trains since 1980 (Krefeld Nord north to Hülser Berg) and 1981 (St.Tönis east to Krefeld Nord). Tram line #041 from Krefeld Hbf west to St.Tönis-Wilhelmplatz provides a passenger rail connection to the heritage railway. Beyond the present northern terminus, the trackbed of the former KE Hülserberg - Niep - Moers section is now a cycleway. In 2003 SWK Mobil marketed the line as Crefelder Eisenbahn (sic) with the onomatopoetic nickname Schluff, advertising three St.Tönis - Hülser Berg round-trips on Sundays and holidays 1 May-12 October, fare EUR6.

3520][DE] (Altenbeken -) Neuenheerse - Willebadessen (- Warburg (Westfalen) - Kassel): (R.2304; Ball 39B3; KBS430) Notwithstanding R.2458 which cited a December 2002 planned opening-date, this 8km of new alignment through the 2880m Egge tunnel was inaugurated on Saturday 13 December 2003 and opened with the Sunday 14 December timetable-change. Willebadessen station reopened to passengers at the same time. The Altenbeken - Kassel main line is part of the Mittel Deutsche Verbindung (= central German link) used by heavy freight including Polish coal heading north to Ruhr power-stations, and the new alignment makes the gradients less onerous by tunnelling under the Eggegebirge. The old line over the previous summit to the east has been disconnected and the track is to be lifted and removed using road transport. (DB)

3521][DE] Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe Süd - Kassel-Nordshausen - Baunatal-Volkswagenwerke - Baunatal-Grossenritte - Bad Emstal - Naumburg (Bezirk Kassel): (BLN 756.0280; Ball 40A2) The Hessencourrier train to Naumburg on 3 January 2004 (OEIS 0323) may have been the last one, for track at the western end of the private Kassel-Naumburg Eisenbahn is in poor condition and the federal safety authority Eisenbahnbundesamt may not in future allow trains to proceed beyond Bad Emstal.

3522][DE] Heidenau - Glashütte (Sachsen) - Altenberg (Erzgebirge): (Ball 44A2-44A1) Its severe autumn 2002 flood-damage repaired, the Müglitztalbahn reopened throughout on 20 December 2003 as planned (R.3197), in time to take Dresden’s skiers to their popular winter-sports area round Altenberg. (DB)

3523][DE] Frankfurt-am-Main S-Bahn: Offenbach Ost - Offenbach-Bieber - Rödermark-Ober Roden and OF-Bieber - Dietzenbach Bahnhof: (Ball 49B2) Two new branches joined the Frankfurt S-Bahn system from 14 December 2003. The Offenbach Ost - Bieber - Ober Roden line (R.2049) has been electrified and doubled throughout. The Bieber - Dietzenbach branch (BLN 838.0576, R.0239) lost its passenger trains 18 June 1982 and became a freight-only single track, with the southernmost 1km out of use. It has been electrified and is now double track from Bieber south to the new Dietzenbach Mitte station (km12.7) and single track beyond to Dietzenbach (Hessen), now Dietzenbach Bahnhof (km13.8).

3524][DE] Frankfurt-am-Main trams: At the December 2003 timetable-change Stadtwerke Frankfurt-am-Main extended tram-route #17 from Messegelände west over new track to the business area of Rebstock. (http://www.lrta.org)

3525][DE] Darmstadt trams: At the December 2003 timetable-change local operators HEAG opened their new tram-route #5 north-east over new metre-gauge track to Darmstadt-Kranichstein Bahnhof. (http://www.lrta.org)

3526][DE] Jossa - Wildflecken: (Ball 51B2-51B3) Blocked at the junction by a red metal stop-board in May 2002 (R.2206), this branch is also shown as out of use in the 2002 Schweers+Wall Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland. However Oberhessische Eisenbahnfreunde (Karlsbaderstrasse 1, D-35457 Lollar) are advertising a railtour from Giessen which apparently intends to traverse the branch on 17 July 2004.

3527][DE] (Ludwigshafen -) Limburgerhof - Böhl-Iggelheim (- Neustadt (Weinstrasse) - Kaiserslautern - Saarbrücken): (Ball 55A1-57A3) Notwithstanding R.3313, the chord avoiding the curvature of the existing 9km route via Schifferstadt opened for westbound traffic on 7 October and for eastbound trains on 30 October, with formal inauguration on 19 November 2003. The EUR140M chord, under construction since 1998, allows 160km/h running, with scope for higher speeds in future using ICE or TGV stock. DB would like to upgrade the whole Ludwigshafen - Saarbrücken route to 200km/h. Once the line is linked to the planned (Saarbrücken DB - Forbach SNCF -) St.Avold - Reims - Paris Est LGV Est, Mannheim - Paris journey-time could be slashed from 5h23min in 2004 to 2h52min by 2012. (DB)

3528][DE] Saarbrücken - Merchweiler - Wemmetsweiler - Illingen (Saar) - Lebach - Lebach-Jabach (- Primsweiler): (Ball 56A3; KBS681) The Wemmetsweiler - Lebach-Jabach section closed from 14 April 2003 to allow building of a new south-to-west curve to avoid reversal at Wemmetsweiler station. The December 2003 DB timetable says reopening (originally planned for 14 October 2003; R.2916) will be ‘from a date to be announced’.

3529][AT] St.Pölten - Ober Grafendorf - Kirchberg an der Pielach: (Ball 75A3-74B2) Niederösterreich province are reportedly proposing to convert this lower section of the electrified Mariazellerbahn from narrow to standard gauge. This would leave the rest of the 760mm-gauge system split in two, the southern Kirchberg - Mariazell section (R.0980), famously scenic and likely to survive in some form, and the threatened diesel-worked Ober Grafendorf - Mank section (R.0981), lightly used except by schoolchildren, and already cut back twice (Ruprechtshofen - Wieselburg an der Erlauf from 17 January 2000 and Mank - Ruprechtshofen from 9 June 2001). A similar proposal could see regauging to standard of the lower Ybbstalbahn (Waidhofen an der Ybbs - Gstadt - Ybbsitz; R.0979; Ball 74A2-74B2) leaving the upper section (Gstadt - Lunz am See) as 760mm-gauge with excursion traffic only, perhaps with status similar to that of the eastern section (Lunz am See - Kienberg-Gaming) with its 760mm-gauge summer tourist trains. (partly Today’s Railways, #97, January 2004)

3530][AT] (Leobersdorf -) Wittmannsdorf - Steinabrückl - Wöllersdorf: (R.1892; Ball 75B2) This c.10km section lost its passenger service (latterly minimal; BLN 749.094) from 1 June 1996 (BLN 779.0219), and sees only occasional freight use, but ÖBB are to electrify it and reintroduce passenger trains, running semi-fast from Wien through to Wöllersdorf and connecting there instead of Wiener Neustadt with Gutenstein branch diesel railcars (Wiener Neustadt - Bad Fischau-Brunn - Feuerwerksanstalt - Wöllersdorf - Gutenstein; BLN 840.0621). This will relieve the load on Wien - Wiener Neustadt fast trains, while offering a competitive journey-time. Target reopening-date is 2005. (Today’s Railways, #96, December 2003)

3531][AT] (Innsbruck - Arlberg tunnel -) Langen am Arlberg - Blisadona tunnel - Klosterle (- Braz - Bludenz - Feldkirch): (R.1662; Ball 78B3) Doubling of ÖBB’s important Arlberg route continues. At the western portal of the 10km Arlberg tunnel, Langen station has been rebuilt and the section west to Klosterle has been realigned through the new 2.4km double-track Blisadona tunnel, opened 3 October 2003. The old alignment is being lifted. Braz - Bludenz is the next section to be doubled. (Today’s Railways, #96, December 2003)

3532][SE] Stockholm light rail: Ropsten - Gåshaga brygga: (R.1420; Ball 30A2) The Lidingöbana on the island of Lidingö, part of the network of Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, the Greater Stockholm passenger transport authority, is reportedly threatened with closure ‘before the next general election in 2006’.

3533][ES] Guillarei avoiding line: (O Porriño -) Las Gándaras - Tui: (EGTRE ES04/8; Ball 7B2) The new curve became available in October 2003 (R.3387) but the December 2003 timetable shows no passenger train yet booked to use it. A PTG railtour on 1 February 2004 may be the first such train. Las Gándaras did not appear in the 1972 RENFE timetable, but had one train each way Mon-Fri in the May 1990 timetable. The halt appeared in the 1993 Ball atlas, but by the May 1994 timetable no trains were calling, and it has subsequently disappeared completely from the timetable

3534][IT] Modena FS - Modena ATCM: (R.2616; Ball 47B2) The c.5km new connection, largely underground, between the electrified standard-gauge lines of the national Ferrovie dello Stato and the local Azienda Trasporti Consorziale di Modena was at one time planned for opening in May 2002, but has been much delayed. Locally advertised as opening from the 14 December 2003 timetable-change, it did not do so, and buses were still linking the two lines on 30 December. Our reporter was told the connection would not open before the end of January 2004.

3535][GR] Athinai trams: (R.2400) Over 80% of the track had been laid by the end of 2003, and on 21 December 2003 a tram made the first test run from the main depot at Hellenikon along the coastal route to the Olympic Games sailing centre at Aghios Cosmas. Target opening-date for the 24km system is May 2004. (http://www.lrta.org)

3536][CZ] Praha trams: (R.1818) The 3.5km Hlubocepy - Barrandov extension was inaugurated on Friday 28 November, with full service from 29 November 2003. (http://www.lrta.org)

3537][CZ] (Zatec -) Brezno u Chomutova - Chomutov: (Ball 35B1) Planned for January 2004, the opening of the new single-track alignment near Brezno (R.3363) will make its lengthy (1758m) tunnel the longest in the Czech Republic. (Today’s Railways, #96, December 2003)

3538][SK][AT] (Bratislava hlavná stanica -) Zohor - Záhorská Ves: (R.3095; Ball 41B2) From 2 September 2003 Bratislavska Regionalna Kolajova Spolocnost began running 1949-vintage Class 830 diesel-electric railcars and trailers as regular passenger trains from the Slovakian capital Bratislava 26km north-west to Zohor and through on to the 14km Zohor - Zahorska Ves branch. The start of BRSK’s similar local service through on to the 24km Zohor - Rohoznik branch (R.3286) was delayed when their rivals, national train-operators Zeleznicna Spolocnost (ZSSK), raised the sale price of two further elderly railcars. From 1 January 2004 BRSK, set up by Bratislava district council with worldwide train-operators Connex as minority shareholders, were to lease both branches from track-authority ZSR. BRSK also propose Bratislava - Zohor - Malacky and Bratislava - Pezinok - Trnava passenger trains. (Today’s Railways, #96, Dec 2003)

On 18 December 2003 our reporter left Wien Südbahnhof (Ost) at 12:15 and made an interesting short circular afternoon-trip Wien - Marchegg ÖBB - Devinska Nova Ves ZSR - Zohor - Záhorská Ves ZSR - (ferry) - Angern ÖBB - Wien. At Devinska Nova Ves ZSSK booking-office no BRKS tickets were on sale. BRKS train Os 2308 Bratislava 13:02 - 13:32 Zohor - 13:54 Záhorská Ves was that day a hired ÖBB diesel-hydraulic locomotive #2143.020 and two ÖBB Schlieren second-class coaches, all labelled with BRKS stickers and with BRKS onboard staff (though no-one asked to see tickets). Attached to the rear, the train conveyed a BRKS Class 830 railcar for the Zohor - Rohoznik branch. From Zahorska Ves it was a short walk to the international ferry across the river Morava/March (Morava in Slovak, March in German). This is Austria’s only border-point reached by a river-ferry. West of the river it was a further gentle stroll to Angern on the Wien - Angern - Bernardsthal ÖBB (- Breclav CD) Nordbahn. From Zahorska Ves station to Angern station (BLN 789.0438) the walk plus the short ferry-trip took about 25min. After a beer in a bar near Angern station our man boarded the 15:12 hourly train south-west to Wien and was back home there, at Mitte station, by 16:00.

3539][CN] Shanghai magnetic-levitation guideway: Lo Yang Road - Pudong airport: (R.2697) The 30km 400km/h German-designed Transrapid magnetic-levitation line began regular service on Monday 29 December 2003, though trains were running for part of the day only. All-day service was to start in February 2004. (Erik’s Rail News)

3540][US] Willits - Northspur - Fort Bragg, CA: (R.2639, 3112) The bankrupt California Western Railroad ceased running their Fort Bragg - Northspur Skunk tourist-train operation at the end of the summer 2003 season, and their tracks have since lain out of use. In late December 2003 a federal court approved purchase of CWR by Sierra Railroad, another short line. SERA (Oakdale - Jamestown - Standard, CA) say they hope to have CWR running again by May 2004. (Trains newswire)

3541][US] Houston, TX light rail: (R.3442) The city’s first light-rail line (12km, 16 stops) was inaugurated on Thursday 1 January, with free rides until 4 January. Revenue service was to begin Monday 5 January 2004. (mainly http://www.lrta.org)

3542][US] Cincinnati, OH - Savannah, GA: private land-cruise train with Amtrak haulage: The private owners of four individual preserved classic long-haul passenger cars Chapel Hill, Vista Dome, Oliver Hazard Perry and Birch Grove are planning a lengthy and scenic trip from their base in Cincinnati, OH during the week 14-21 May 2004, and hope that other private-stock owners will sign up to make a 12-car consist to be hauled by nationalised Amtrak, who have operating rights over the US railroad network. Estimated price per car for the movement is USD7900. Individual owners would market beds on board their own car. From Cincinnati the train would take the ex-Southern Railway, now Norfolk Southern, Royal Palm route (less respectfully known as the ‘rat hole’, perhaps from the limited clearance in its tunnels which prevent the passage of double-stack container trains) south through Kentucky and Tennessee to Macon in Georgia, then continue east to the Atlantic coast at Savannah for a two- or three-day stopover. The returning train would head north-east up the coast, then turn inland north-west via Spartanburg, SC to take the scenic ex-Clinchfield, now CSXT, route north through South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky as far as Russell, near Ashland, KY. For the final stage back to Cincinnati, the consist would be coupled to Amtrak’s timetabled passenger train, the westbound Cardinal (Washington, DC - Ashland, KY - Cincinnati, OH - Chicago, IL). Interested individual passengers can call +1 513 422 9472 during US daytime hours.

3543][FR] Abbeville - Eu - Le Tréport-Mers-les-Bains: (Ball 14A3-13B3) Freight traffic, sporadic in 1996 (BLN 780.0234), subsequently petered out, but after several years with only passenger workings the line in January 2004 saw trains carrying stone for reconstruction of the sea-wall at Le Tréport. The stone, from quarries at Caffiers and Marquise-Rinxent on the Calais - Boulogne line, was taken forward in trains loading to 900t (400t tare) by two SNCF Class BB66000 diesel locomotives whose crew were specially outbased at Abbeville.

3544][FR] (Lyon -) St.Germain-des-Fossés (- Vichy - Riom - Clermont-Ferrand): (Ball 47A1) RFF in autumn 2003 obtained a declaration of public utility allowing them to build an east-to-west avoiding line enabling Lyon - Clermont-Ferrand cross-country trains to avoid reversal in St.Germain-des-Fossés station. (Today’s Railways, #97, January 2004)

3545][FR] Toulouse VAL metro: (Basso-Combo - Marengo-SNCF -) Jolimont - La Roseraie - Argoulets - Balma Gramont: Metro line A, which uses the driverless véhicule automatique léger equipment pioneered in Lille, opened 26 June 1993, its 10km being mostly underground. On 20 December 2003 it was extended beyond former terminus Jolimont a further 2200m north-east, with three new stations. Map and description are at http://www.urbanrail.net, the former MetroPlanet site.

3546][FR][BE] Mont-Saint-Martin Triage SNCF - Y Aubange SNCB: (Ball 17B1) The new southwest-to-northwest curve (R.2907) is to open from 31 March 2004, according to French sources. (Trans-fer, November 2003)

3547][BE] (Oostende - Torhout -) Kortemark - Westrozebeke (- Ieper): (BLN 800.0182; Ball 7A2) This remaining section of NMBS line 63, latterly a long siding serving a military site at Westrozebeke, closed to all traffic from 2 June 2003. (Trans-fer, November 2003)

3548][BE] Antwerpen Centraal: (R.1628, 2280, 3370; Ball 9B3) From the December 2003 timetable-change, the (original) upper level was restored to full use, now with six terminal tracks instead of the former ten. A long atrium or light-well has been created between the two groups of three tracks, allowing natural light through the fine old train-shed roof down to the new tracks still under construction, four terminal platforms at the lower (street) level and four through platforms at the deep (sub-surface) level, the latter due to come into service with the south-north tunnel at the end of 2006. (Trans-fer, December 2003)

3549][BE] Pepinster - Spa - Spa-Géronstère: (Ball 9B1; SNCB 44) Géronstère, terminus of this single-track electrified branch, was renamed Spa-Géronstère on 15 December 2002. Since it had long served the southern part of the town of Spa rather than a separate place, it is perhaps surprising that SNCB/NMBS did not rename it earlier. (Trans-fer, November 2003)

3550][LU][FR] Bettembourg - Dudelange-Usines - Volmerange-les-Mines: (Ball 18A1) CFL’s new terminus at Volmerange, inaugurated 12 December and opened for public services on 15 December 2003 (R.3489), is just inside France, next to a large car-park. With (Esch-sur-Alzette -) Audun-le-Tiche (reopened 27 September 1992; BLN 698.010) and (Thionville -) Hettange-Grande (- Bettembourg) (inaugurated 29 January 2000; R.0619) it becomes the third such station provided with a service to cater for French-resident commuters who work in Luxembourg, especially those travelling into congested Luxembourg city. (Trans-fer, December 2003)

3551][AT] Wien: (Nussdorf -) Donaukaibahnhof - Freudenau Hafen - Klein Schwechat (- Zentralverschiebebahnhof Kledering): (R.0312; Ball 77B2) Destroyed in 1945, a bridge over the river Donau is to be rebuilt, linking the Donaukaibahnhof - Freudenau Hafen freight branch on the north-east (right) bank to the Klein Schwechat - Albern Hafen freight branch on the south-west bank. The Donaukaibahnhof - Freudenau Hafen - Klein Schwechat section is to be electrified, restoring a useful through freight route from north and east of Wien via the Freudenau container-terminal and Klein Schwechat to the south end of the huge Wien-Kledering yard. (Today’s Railways, #97, January 2004)

3552][DK] Roskilde - Høje Taastrup - Glostrup - Hvidovre Fjern - Vigerslev - Kalvebod - Ørestad - Tårnby - Københavns Lufthavn Kastrup: (Ball 9A2) Due to pathing problems, direct Roskilde - Kastrup airport local trains (R.1078) are to be withdrawn from January 2005, and passengers will need to travel via København H. (Today’s Railways, #97, January 2004) This may leave the west-to-southeast Hvidovre Fjern - Vigerslev - Kalvebod curves without passenger services.

3553][PT] (Entroncamento - Abrantes - Castelo Branco -) Covilhã - Guarda: (Ball 18A2) Notwithstanding R.3160, this temporarily-closed section at the northern end of the Linha da Beira Baixa saw buses continuing to replace trains after 14 December 2003 and, indeed, ‘until further notice’.

3554][PT] (Porto São Bento - Porto Campanhã - Trofa - Lousado -) Santo Tirso - Guimarães: (R.3071; Ball 7B1) Latterly an isolated section of unelectrified metre-gauge, the Santo Tirso - Guimarães line closed 7 January 2002 (R.1896). The new electrified broad-gauge line that has replaced it follows a rather straighter alignment, with all level-crossings removed. Opened for revenue service at 14:00 on Monday 19 January 2004, it now has suburban trains from Porto São Bento terminus through to Guimarães, taking 1h10min (ten round-trips Mondays-Fridays, eight at weekends and holidays, plus a few short workings). The new timetable shows no timings for the former halts Cuca, Pereirinhas and Nespereira.

3555][ES] Metrotren Asturias: local trains in the Oviedo / Gijón area: (Ball 3A3) The Metrotren project in the province of Asturias integrates broad-gauge RENFE and metre-gauge FEVE suburban services around Oviedo and Gijón with a view to boosting their use, the Metrotren brand-name being used for interchange stations and for joint ticketing. A ten-trip Metrotren integrated ticket is a good buy. Both operators however continue to use the term Cercanías for their suburban trains locally.

Electrification and track-doubling have formed a major part of the project investment. All RENFE passenger lines were already electrified, and their (León -) Pola de Lena - Soto de Rey - Oviedo section was effectively double (R.3435, 3465). Oviedo - Villabona de Asturias - Gijón is conventional double track, with the left-hand running that is normal in north-west Spain. Villabona de Asturias - Nubledo - Avilés - San Juan de Nieva is double north to Nubledo and single beyond. Nubledo - Avilés is to be doubled. RENFE’s Soto de Rey - La Felguera - El Entrego branch (R.3406) remains single track.

On the FEVE metre-gauge network, electrification was completed in May 2003 of the ring (Oviedo - San Pedro de Nora - Trubia - Pravia - Avilés - Veriña - Gijón - Florida - El Berrón - Oviedo) plus four branches that it throws off, west along the Ferrol line (Pravia - Cudillero), north to the coast (Pravia - San Esteban de Pravia), east along the Santander line (El Berrón - La Carrera - Pola de Siero - Infiesto) and south (El Berrón - La Felguera - El Entrego - Pola de Laviana). In effect, all FEVE passenger routes in the area are now electrified except Trubia - Fuso de la Reina - Ablaña - Collanzo. Of the FEVE circle Florida - El Berrón and El Berrón - Oviedo are already double while Oviedo - San Pedro de Nora and Avilés - Veriña - Gijón are to be doubled. On the Santander line FEVE have extended double track from El Berrón east to just short of La Carrera station and plan to double another 2km east on a re-alignment to Pola de Siero. El Berrón - La Felguera is likewise double, but in December 2003 only one track was available while engineering work took place.

New stations include several on the Gijón - El Berrón - Laviana line since the 1991 FEVE map, and more are in service or in prospect in the Oviedo area. On FEVE’s El Berrón - Argüelles-Fuentespino - Meres - Colloto - Parque Principado - La Corredoria - Oviedo section, Argüelles-Fuentespino is a new halt, in use in January 2004 but not appearing in any official timetable or poster. Parque Principado is recently opened and advertised. La Corredoria is to open mid-2004, and is a joint station at the point where the double-track FEVE line converges with RENFE’s Gijón - Oviedo double-track. On the (Soto de Rey -) El Caleyo - La Manjoya - Llamaquique - Oviedo section of RENFE’s main line, building of La Manjoya station is to start during 2004 (replacing La Manjoya station on FEVE’s Oviedo - Fuso de la Reina line that closed in 1999; BLN 846.0148). Llamaquique is to be a subsurface urban station, opening by mid-2006.

New lines are planned, notably in Gijón, where both RENFE and FEVE lines are to be extended eastward by 2007, with five new joint RENFE-FEVE stations (Gijón-Jovellanos - El Humedal - Begoña - El Bibio - Gijón-Viesques). A new Jovellanos station will replace Jovellanos RENFE and the adjacent La Braña FEVE. El Humedal will replace the present joint terminus, Gijón-Cercanías RENFE/Gijón FEVE. The line will then enter a new 3538m tunnel east beneath the town, with two more stations, one named Begoña and one called El Bibio near the Plaza de Toros, before the new terminus at Viesques, east of the town. A separate project, also with a target-date of 2007, is a new 2.6km single-track metre-gauge branch off the (Gijón -) Avilés - Santiago del Monte (- Pravia) line from Santiago del Monte to Asturias Aeropuerto.

The upper Nalón valley is served by RENFE’s (Oviedo - Soto de Rey -) La Felguera - El Entrego line on one side of the river and FEVE’s (Gijón - El Berrón -) La Felguera - El Entrego (- Laviana) line on the other. A plan to rationalise these branches, recently announced but not yet agreed locally nor financed, would see a new joint La Felguera station at which RENFE trains would terminate. RENFE’s La Felguera - El Entrego section would close and FEVE’s La Felguera - El Entrego (- Laviana) section would be realigned underground, releasing land for redevelopment in a densely populated area with much decaying old industry.

3556][ES] Madrid - Castejón de Ebro - Pamplona / Logroño: Variable-gauge trains off the Madrid - Guadalajara-Yebes - Calatayud - Plasencia de Jalón (- Zaragoza) standard-gauge high-speed line (R.3389) can now use the gauge-changer at Plasencia de Jalón (Ball 12B1; R.3434) to join the Madrid - Torralba - Calatayud - Plasencia de Jalón (- Zaragoza) classic broad-gauge line just south of Grisén. Trains from the new or the old route can then continue by the south-to-west Grisén - Cabanas de Ebro broad-gauge curve avoiding Zaragoza, thus running through without reversal to Castejón de Ebro and beyond to Pamplona or to Logroño. Until January 2004 the twice-daily through Madrid - Pamplona broad-gauge trains via the classic route in fact used the Zaragoza avoiding curve while the once-daily Madrid - Logroño Intercity reversed at Zaragoza.

Inaugural runs through the Plasencia intercambiador were made by a Madrid - Pamplona through train on 15 January and a Madrid - Logroño train on 16 January, and full variable-gauge services to both provincial capitals began Monday 19 January 2004. Madrid - Pamplona trains worked by variable-gauge Altaria sets have gained 40min by taking the standard-gauge line, and the daily Madrid - Logroño Altaria is 1h20min faster than the Intercity it replaced, thanks to using both the standard-gauge line and the avoiding curve. An interesting new route to and from the French frontier (Madrid - Pamplona - Hendaye) is offered by a third pair of Altaria trains that now runs Madrid - Pamplona non-stop in just under 3h30min. The northbound mid-day Altaria arrives at Pamplona an hour before a Barcelona - Zaragoza - Pamplona - Hendaye Talgo, allowing a Madrid - Pamplona - Hendaye journey in 6h55min, comparable to the time via Burgos. Southbound, the connection is slacker, the Irún - Pamplona - Madrid journey taking 7h48min.

Three of the four new gauge-changers (at Plasencia de Jalón, Huesca and Lleida; R.3434) are therefore now in use by regular passenger trains. The fourth intercambiador just west of Zaragoza-Delicias passenger station (Ball 13A1) has been used to test new stock and may have seen an occasional diversion, but seems mainly intended for use by variable-gauge trains between Barcelona and the north-west of Spain - which are not expected to run until part at least of the Lleida - Barcelona standard-gauge high-speed line is ready.

3557][ES] Zaragoza - Tardienta - Huesca - Ayerbe - Jaca - Canfranc: (Ball 13A1-13A3) Zaragoza - Tardienta is new 25kV 50Hz standard-gauge alongside classic 3000V dc broad-gauge; Tardienta - Huesca is former broad-gauge, now 25kV 50Hz mixed-gauge with three running-rails (R.3336); and Huesca - Canfranc is unelectrified broad-gauge awaiting possible 25kV 50Hz electrification and conversion to standard-gauge (R.3498). All the line’s broad-gauge trains remain diesel-worked, including its Zaragoza - Huesca regional trains, continuing twice daily to Jaca and Canfranc.

The standard-gauge to Huesca saw both formal inauguration and start of revenue service on Tuesday 23 December 2003 as planned. RENFE’s present commercial offer of passenger trains on this line is rather odd. One variable-gauge Altaria electric set runs Madrid - Zaragoza - Huesca daily, all the way on the standard-gauge. This is clearly sub-optimal use of specialised rolling-stock but RENFE do not have enough standard-gauge AVE electric sets available. One variable-gauge Tren Regional Diesel runs Zaragoza - Huesca - Jaca daily, using the Brava gauge-changer at Huesca (R.3434), thus justifying both its diesel traction and its gauge-changing ability. As the Brava equipment is claimed to take only seconds to change the gauge of wheelsets (http://www.caf.es/20/innovacion_brava.asp), the 10-15min gained on the Zaragoza - Huesca section is not lost north of Huesca. However, most of the TRD workings are Zaragoza - Huesca, and since 7 January 2004 Calatayud - Zaragoza, in both cases entirely on standard-gauge track under the wires. The TRDs seem to perform rather well, Calatayud - Zaragoza taking only 40min by TRD compared to 34min by AVE and Altaria. (While TGVs have seen diesel haulage beyond the French electrified high-speed network, for example, on the La Roche-sur-Yon - Les Sables d’Olonne branch, the converse, a regular service of diesel trains on a dedicated high-speed electric line, does seem a wasteful novelty! However, until new sets on order are delivered, RENFE just do not own a moderately-high-speed standard-gauge electric train, abundant elsewhere in Europe.)

From mid-January to mid-April 2004 (exact dates not specified) major engineering works affect the line north of Huesca. Part of the job is being done at night, but Huesca - Jaca - Canfranc is closed Mondays to Thursdays, with buses replacing all trains. The Friday-morning Canfranc - Huesca and Sunday-afternoon Huesca - Canfranc services are also by bus, to avoid stabling a train-set for several days at Canfranc, or running it back and forth light. Given the many onerous speed restrictions on the line, buses can maintain the train timings easily. After completion Huesca - Canfranc times are to be reduced by one hour. The works are mainly on trackbed stabilisation, drainage and two false tunnels, aimed at preventing the heavy local rainfall from causing landslips undermining or blocking the track. Rails and sleepers in poor condition are reportedly being replaced by second-hand material from the abandoned FC Santander-Mediterráneo (R.3497). This is ominous, and would seem a false economy, but it is not known how the present works relate to the strategic project of conversion to standard-gauge (R.2141).

3558][ES] Madrid-Atocha - Sol-Gran Vía - Alonso Martínez - Nuevos Ministerios - Madrid-Chamartín: (Ball 21A2) To provide extra capacity, RENFE are to build a new south-to-north broad-gauge tunnel west of the existing very busy double-track broad-gauge tunnel under the centre of Madrid. The new tunnel will be for Cercanías local trains only, and will run from Madrid Atocha Cercanías, the subsurface platforms beneath Madrid Puerta de Atocha main station, with intermediate stations at Sol-Gran Vía (interchange with two metro lines), Alonso Martínez (metro interchange) and Nuevos Ministerios (with platforms alongside the present RENFE station in tunnel, plus metro interchange). The new line will not only relieve the present tracks, but by allowing more through services will also ease the pedestrian routes within Atocha station whose stairs are often choked with people changing trains. Target opening-date is 2007-08. (http://www.rafcercamadrid.com/RAF/index.aspx)

Later a third south-to-north Atocha - Chamartín tunnel is to be built, to standard-gauge, without intermediate stations, running beneath the Calle de Serrano slightly to the east of the existing tunnel. This tunnel will link the two existing high-speed standard-gauge lines out of Atocha (Madrid - Sevilla and Madrid - Zaragoza - Lleida) with the new line under construction out of Chamartín (Madrid - Segovia - Medina del Campo / Valladolid). Significant design work has not yet started.

3559][ES] Mallorca: Palma - Sóller: (Ball 38A1-38A2) The managing director of this 28km 1200V dc railway through the island’s northern mountains says a change from the present 914mm-gauge to metre-gauge is being considered. If the aim is for Transports de les Illes Balears to work it along with their own regauged Palma - Inca - Sa Pobla / Manacor lines (R.3081), perhaps the change may take effect when the Ferrocarril de Sóller company’s concession ends in 2011 (R.3501). Such a change could lead to scrapping of the existing heritage stock, possible de-electrification of the Soller line, and a more uncertain future for the 914mm-gauge Sóller - Port de Soller/Puerto de Sóller tramway extension.

3560][IR][PK] (Tehran - Bafq -) Kerman - Bam - Fahraj - Zahedan (- Mirjaveh RAI - Qila Saveh PR - Quetta): (R.0586, 2059) During 2003 the long-planned link between the railway networks of west and south Asia, enabling an all-rail journey from Istanbul to the Indian subcontinent, came a little closer. In February 2003 Rah Ahan Iran (= Iranian railways) said that track-laying was complete on the 224km Kerman - Bam section, filling part of the 547km gap between RAI’s standard-gauge system and Zahedan, the Iranian end of the broad-gauge (1676mm) line worked as part of Pakistan Railways. (http://www.msedv.com/rai/news.html) The destructive earthquake at Bam in December 2003 did not seriously damage the new section, for on 28 December the UK Department for International Development reported that the railway to Bam was again open. Given no new financial or other problems, RAI say they hope to complete the Bam - Zahedan link by March 2007, but pace of construction in recent years has been spasmodic, and Iranian efforts seem rather to be concentrated on the Mashhad - Bafq (- Bandar Abbas) line, of which c.250km have been built. In December 2003 Iran’s deputy transport minister said that this line should be completed ‘next year’ - presumably meaning by March 2005, since the Iranian year ends in March. This would significantly shorten the rail route from five land-locked countries of the former Soviet Union (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan) south to an Iranian seaport. A map of Iran’s railways is at http://www.rajatrains.com.

3561][PK][IN] Lahore - Wagah PR - Atari IR (- Amritsar - Delhi): The only rail border-crossing between Pakistan and India that has operated in recent years (R.1435) closed 1 January 2002 at a time of political tension, but reopened 15 January 2004, with an international passenger service (Samjota/Samjhauta Express) twice-weekly on Mondays and Thursdays, and a daily freight train to start on 18 January. Timings for the c.30km cross-border journey on the Pakistan Railways diesel-hauled passenger train are Lahore 08:00 - 09:00 Wagah (lengthy stop for security checks before departure at 12:00) - 12:30 Atari (arriving platform 2, for Indian customs and immigration checks), leaving Atari (platform 3) at 13:30 for the run back to Wagah and Lahore. The connecting Indian train, overnight to and from Delhi, is #4001/2 Atari 20:05 - 03:45 Delhi 21:00 - 04:40 Atari. (The Nation; Dawn; Deccan Herald)

3562][CN] Beijing - Shanghai: high-speed fixed-link: On 29 December 2003 public services began on the short (30km) Shanghai Lo Yang Road - Pudong airport line (R.3539), the world’s first commercial use of German Transrapid magnetic-levitation technology, but on 16 January 2004 the Chinese government ruled out as too expensive the use of ‘maglev’ for the proposed fast surface link from the northern capital south-east across the country to its largest city, on the coast. A high-speed conventional railway, perhaps using Shinkansen or TGV technology, is likely to be built instead, with a target opening-date before the Olympic Games are held in Beijing in summer 2008. (China Daily, quoted in The Guardian, 17 January 2004)

3563][AU] (Adelaide -) Alice Springs - Darwin: (R.3342) The first freight train over the new Alice Springs - Darwin south-to-north transcontinental railway set off on 15 January 2004 as planned (R.3100) on its two-day journey from Adelaide. Operators Freightlink will run five trains a week to Darwin. Passenger operators Great Southern Railway will launch their weekly Adelaide - Alice Springs - Darwin Ghan on its inaugural 2979km journey on 1 February 2004.

3564][US] Cincinnati, OH - Chattanooga, TN: Financed and still owned by the city of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Southern line opened from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, in 1873-1880, with a gauge of 1524mm (5ft), and was subsequently operated by a succession of lessees, latterly the Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific, itself controlled from 1895 by Southern Railway, and from 1982 by Norfolk Southern. In 1886 the entire 540km (338mi) route was converted to standard 1435mm-gauge in a single thirteen-hour possession! Its ‘rat hole’ nickname (R.3542) derived from its 27 tunnels of restricted loading-gauge. By the 1950s the restrictions had become operationally intolerable, and by 1963 they had been sidelined by a variety of engineering works, including a number of deviations which can be traced in the SPV Railroad Atlas of North America: Appalachia & Piedmont. Three are in Kentucky, on the McKinney - King’s Mountain, Tateville - Greenwood, and Cumberland Falls - Flat Rock sections. One is in Tennessee on the Helenwood - Robbins section. (article on railroads of Cincinnati in Trains magazine, September 2002; former station-names are from reprinted 1910 Official Guide)

3565][US] Amtrak operating rights: When nationalised Amtrak (a US federal government creation more formally known as the National Railroad Passenger Corporation) began operating passenger trains on 1 May 1971, they acquired the right to run over the tracks of railroad companies that had chosen to pay up and contract with Amtrak to buy themselves out of the increasingly unremunerative inter-city passenger business. Three significant companies decided against an Amtrak contract and therefore were obliged by federal law to continue running their own inter-city passenger trains, but Southern Railway eventually contracted with Amtrak in 1979, and Denver & Rio Grande Western in 1983. Rock Island left the passenger business by going into liquidation. Amtrak’s rights to run passenger trains were not restricted to the routes of the specific services running on 30 April 1971, and as the 1971 railroads have gradually merged, the running powers have become applicable to the systems of successor companies. However, Amtrak do not have universal rights over the whole US rail network (R.3542).

An important example is in northern New England. The last Boston & Maine passenger train from Portland, Maine, ran on 29 October 1960, and B&M had already been authorised to abandon all inter-city passenger service before May 1971, so they did not need to contract with Amtrak - who did not therefore acquire running powers over B&M or their present freight-railroad successors, Guilford Rail System and associated companies. Thus, when Amtrak, with state backing, sought in the 1990s to launch a new Boston, MA - Portland, ME service, they faced serious delay due to opposition from Guilford, who were resistant to hosting passenger trains on their tracks. Amtrak had to negotiate new rights to run the Downeaster, and though the service eventually began on 14 December 2001 (R.2445), legal difficulties continued, for example over maximum speeds for the passenger trains. Amtrak have throughout sought to run at 126km/h (=79mph), the usual speed allowed by the safety authority, the Federal Railroad Administration, for lines without signalling incorporating safety features similar to the British automatic warning system. Guilford however imposed a limit of 94km/h (=59mph), allegedly because this is the maximum their (newly upgraded) track will permit. Forcing the passenger traffic to trundle along at a similar speed to freight no doubt simplifies the job of dispatching trains and finding paths on single track, but it does nothing at all for the commercial attractiveness of Amtrak’s service. The federal Surface Transportation Board ruled in favour of Amtrak on 31 January 2003, but Guilford have challenged this by raising an action in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.

3566][US] Miami, FL - Key West, FL: Florida East Coast Railway’s 251km Key West Extension was perhaps the railway with the highest proportion of bridges and viaducts per km ever built. In 2004 the unique but short-lived (1908-1935) line hopping from island to island along the Florida Keys can still be traced by its disused viaducts, now National Historical Monuments, paralleling US Highway 1. Some notes on this line are at http://www.rinbad.demon.co.uk/us_key_w.htm.

3567][DE] Nordhausen trams on metre-gauge heritage railway: (R.2290; Ball 41B3) Trams on new route #10 are to begin operating on 1 May 2004, running from the northern tram-terminus at Krankenhaus (= hospital) south on the town’s electrified metre-gauge track to the main-line DB Hauptbahnhof; turning west to join the metre-gauge Harzer Schmalspurbahnen railway at their nearby Nordhausen Nord terminus; then heading north under auxiliary diesel power on unelectrified HSB track from Nordhausen Nord to Ilfeld (km10.7). (Tramways & Urban Transit, November 2003)

3568][DE] (Langenlonsheim -) Stromberg - Simmern - Büchenbeuren - Morbach (- Hermeskeil): (Ball 48B1-48A1) The (Langenlonsheim -) Stromberg - Simmern section of the Hunsrückbahn closed to passengers 1 June 1984 and Simmern - Morbach (- Hermeskeil) at the end of the 1976 summer timetable. Stromberg - Morbach closed to freight in 2001, but Langenlonsheim - Stromberg has (or had in 2002) freight worked by Bahngesellschaft Waldhof AG. According to the 2002 Schweers+Wall Eisenbahnatlas Deutschland, infrastructure company RP Eisenbahn GmbH were then leasing Langenlonsheim - Morbach from DB, but the line was due to revert to DB Netz AG from 1 January 2003. RP Eisenbahn’s surrender of the lease suggests that Land Rheinland-Pfalz have abandoned their plan for restoration of passenger trains from Langenlonsheim to the Büchenbeuren - Hahn Flughafen branch (R.0634, 1250). Ryanair customers arriving at Hahn for Frankfurt will no doubt continue to enjoy their 100km bus journey.

DB Netz are now formally advertising the disused Stromberg - Simmern - Morbach infrastructure for take-over by another party, from the beginning of March 2004 (‘64km of single-track non-electrified secondary line currently closed due to trackwork deficiencies; no reliable commitment has been given regarding a rail connection to Hahn airport which would justify retention of the line as part of the national network’). If no-one comes forward to take over the line, DB Netz will no doubt seek its statutory abandonment. Just before the March date in the advertisement, on Saturday 28 February 2004, Eifelbahn Verkehrsgesellschaft are to run a railtour from Koblenz Hbf via Bingen Hbf, Langenlonsheim and Stromberg to Simmern, using a heritage Class 798/996 railbus set.

3569][DK] København Flintholm: (Ball 9A2) The city’s new Flintholm station opened 24 January 2004, at the point where DSB’s Hellerup - Ryparken - Bispebjerg - Nørrebro - Fuglebakken - Grøndal - Flintholm - KB Hallen - Ålholm - Danshøj - Vigerslev - Ny Ellebjerg north-south cross-city Ringbane (avoiding the main station København H) intersects with the new 6km Vanløse - Flintholm - Lindevang - Solbjerg - Frederiksberg metro section (converted from S-Tog line; BLN 833.0429; R.3266) and with the København H - Valby - Langgade - Peter Bangsvej - Flintholm (- Frederikssund) S-Tog line. Flintholm’s interchange role is expected to make it Denmark’s third busiest station by 2010. (partly Erik’s Rail News)

3570][SE] Göteborg trams: (R.2979) The 1.4km new section of line from Ullevi south along Skånegatan to Korsvägen opened 20 September 2003, with consequent route changes. (Tramways & Urban Transit, November 2003)

3571][PT] Porto São Bento - Porto Campanhã - Trofa - Lousado - Santo Tirso - Guimarães: (Ball 7B1) The Guimarães branch reopened throughout on 19 January 2004 (R.3554) after conversion from metre- to broad-gauge and electrification, but REFER’s large capital investment will not be swiftly recouped by CP, who charge a modest EUR1.75 for a Porto - Guimarães one-way journey. (Metro do Porto charge EUR1 for the much shorter two-zone trip currently possible on their new standard-gauge light-rail line A; R.2653) Though no timings are shown, former halts Cuca, Pereirinhas and Nespereira are named in the new Guimarães branch timetable-leaflet, so CP may possibly intend to reintroduce calls there once all signalling and station works are complete. On 4-5 February 2004 all the new passing-loops east of Lousado remained rusty and out of use; only two of the four new platforms at Guimarães were operational; and the branch was being run with only one moving train at a time. Some trains ‘crossed’ at the terminus: the 16:50 arrived at platform 2 as the 17:06 prepared to leave from platform 1, and the 09:50 arrival coupled up to a previous arrival sitting in platform 1, making an eight-coach 10:06 Guimarães - Porto departure.

The new electrified broad-gauge terminus at Guimarães has four parallel platforms, numbered 1-4 from north to south, all of full height and at least eight coaches long, connected by a walkway behind the buffer-stop line at the east end. An overall roof covering the eastern half of the platforms is supported on the eastern and southern sides by solid walls which effectively restrict access to passengers entering either via the new station building or out-of-hours by an adjacent wicket-gate. The new building - a stark concrete edifice with none of the beautiful blue-tile azulejo decoration traditional on Portuguese stations - lies north of, and at the eastern end of, platform 1, with road frontage to the north. Slightly to the west of it, a cafe remained open in the old station building, though this seemed shuttered up on the road side and accessible only from the new platform 1. Outside the station a bay serves country buses such as those to Fafe, but not town services. Passengers arriving by rail have little to tell them that the historic town-centre of Guimarães is only a short walk the ‘wrong way’ down a one-way street. East of the eastern wall of the new station, about a third of the former railway land has been regraded to become a station car-park at a level slightly lower than the former metre-gauge running-lines. On the southern edge of the car-park, farthest from the station approach-road, stands a traditional cylindrical water-tank, silver-painted, with the station-name Guimarães clearly highlighted in relief on a black band. Radical rebuilding has eliminated most other traces of the metre-gauge era, but east of the car-park the base remains of the far abutment of a now-vanished rail bridge over a track or lane, and beyond it the embankment, cut back and landscaped, that once carried the railway east towards its former terminus Fafe.

3572][PT][ES] (Lisboa - Entroncamento - Abrantes - Torre das Vargens -) Marvão-Beirã CP - Valencia de Alcántara RENFE (- Cáceres - Madrid): (R.1380; Ball 27A3) The only cross-border passenger train by this route, the Lisboa - Madrid overnight, is hauled by a CP electric locomotive to Entroncamento, a CP diesel to Valencia de Alcántara, then a RENFE diesel to Madrid. CP’s diesel returns with the westbound train, but RENFE need to roster two locomotives for the working, for the east- and westbound trains cross between Valencia de Alcántara and Cáceres. Apart from the Lisboa - Madrid overnight, trains on the Entroncamento - Abrantes section seem now to be electrically-worked, some by units. Even a Lisboa - Entroncamento - Abrantes - Covilhã regional train calling at most stations changed locomotives at Abrantes.

3573][PT] Lisboa: Roma/Areeiro - Entrecampos - Sete Rios: The station in the north of the city shown as Areeiro in the 1993 Ball atlas (25B1) had been renamed Roma/Areeiro by the time the January 2001 Quail map was published. In early February 2004 CP’s Entrecampos - Queluz-Massama local services that formerly started and terminated at Entrecampos Poente were running instead from tracks 1 and 2 at Roma/Areeiro, stabling in sidings east of the station. (A few such trains in peak hours run through from/to Lisboa Oriente.) From the first weekend of September 2003 private-sector operators Fertagus also extended their Entrecampos - Campolide - Fogueteiro cross-river services at the Lisboa end and these now run from tracks 3 and 4 at Roma/Areeiro. The Fertagus trains reverse in the platforms and the tracks east of the platforms leading to the storage sidings seemed not to be used. At Entrecampos the once-busy extra island platform called Entrecampos Poente (poente = west; R.0104) now sees little activity. Track 2p looked well rusted and out of use while track 3p handles only a single daily working (IR801/807 Figueira da Foz 08:05 - 11:31 Entrecampos Poente 13:34 - 17:14 Figueira da Foz).

3574][PT] (Lisboa -) Sete Rios - Campolide - Fogueteiro - Coina - Penalva - Pinhal Novo - Venda do Alcaide - Palmela - Setúbal: (R.0424; Ball 25B1-26A2) CP’s pair of long-distance Algarve trains IC580/4 Faro - Lisboa Oriente - Faro (R.3271) remain the only passenger working over the Fogueteiro - Pinhal Novo section, but once their whole route is wired Fertagus Roma/Areeiro - Fogueteiro local electric units will run east to Pinhal Novo, then south to terminate at Setubal. In January 2004 the two new intermediate stations on the Fogueteiro - Pinhal Novo section (R.3271) were still unnamed. At Pinhal Novo the classic Barreiro - Pinhal Novo main line trails in, and the Pinhal Novo - Venda do Alcaide - Palmela - Setúbal - Praias-Sado - Aguas de Moura - Pinheiro loop diverges south (R.3464, 3495). Pinhal Novo’s old platforms had been replaced, slightly to the east, by an island and a new main platform with the existing station building at its western end. The building was being redeveloped and the ticket-office was in a temporary portable cabin to the west of it. South of the signal-box, further new platforms seemed to be under construction. Rebuilding of Venda do Alcaide and Palmela stations looked nearly complete.

3575][PT] (Lisboa / Barreiro - Pinhal Novo - Poceirão - Pinheiro -) Ermidas-Sado - Torre Vã - Funcheira - Pereiras - Tunes: (R.3074; Ball 26A2-33A2) On the main Linha do Sul south to the Algarve, Ermidas-Sado - Funcheira doubling was in progress in January 2004, with heavy work concentrated near the closed Torre Vã station. All the open passenger stations on the Funcheira - Tunes section, with the exception of Pereiras, had been equipped with the new raised platforms.

3576][PT] Lagos - Tunes - Albufeira - Loulé - Almansil-Nexe - São João da Venda - Faro - Vila Real de Santo Antonio: (R.3496; Ball 33A2) Remodelling of the Linha do Algarve continues. At Lagos a local railway enthusiast said that the new signalling was ready from Friday 16 January 2004 and came into use over that weekend. The platforms of the new station seem to have come into use at the same time, though passengers were still having to use the ticket-office and other facilities of the old station. At Tunes a new footbridge was being erected in mid-January at the northern end, connecting the platform next to the station building with the island platform. Albufeira’s new footbridge was also nearly complete. At Loulé the line through the platform next to the station building had been reinstated. East of Almansil-Nexe some realignment seems to have been undertaken. Faro football stadium, well west of the town and not far from the existing station of São João da Venda, was being given its own new station with passing-loop. Faro station itself was a building site. The western end had new terminal bay platforms on the north side, with a run-round track between the longer two of the three platform roads. The two former through passenger platforms had been demolished and their tracks had gone. The third line through the station, formerly the goods line, was the only track available for trains east towards Vila Real, and part of the goods-shed platform was in use as a temporary passenger platform for such services.

3577][ES] Madrid: Villaverde Bajo - Vallecas - Vicálvaro - Hortaleza - Madrid-Chamartín: (EGTRE ES04/17; Ball 22A3-22A3) This circuitous route, giving access from western and southern Spain round the east side of the capital to Chamartín station, was used in January 2004 by overnight trains #335 Lisboa - Madrid-Chamartin and #347 Algeciras - Madrid-Chamartin, perhaps to avoid the busy Atocha - Chamartin tunnel (R.3558) during the morning peak. Timings suggest that the reverse workings #332 Madrid-Chamartin - Lisboa and #344 Madrid-Chamartin - Algeciras run via Atocha.

3578][IT] Modena RFI - Policlinico - Modena ATCM (- Sassuolo ATCM): (R.2616, 3534; Ball 47B2) The c.5km new section, largely underground, linking the 3000V dc standard-gauge lines of the national Rete Ferroviaria Italiana and the local Azienda Trasporti Consorziale di Modena finally opened on 26 January 2004. The single intermediate station serves the city’s main hospital. Initially only 13 pairs of trains daily were using the new link, all running through on the 16km ATCM line to Sassuolo, but more services were to be added later in 2004. In the first week patronage was low, but the through trains were not shown in timetables and even on Modena ATCM station no indication was given that they were running.

Modena - Sassuolo began as a steam tramway, but it was then narrow-gauge, and after it was converted to standard-gauge in 1932 it was always operated by electric railcars, so the inaugural working on 26 January 2004, classic 1930s stock hauled by a 1911-built steam locomotive, may well have been the first standard-gauge steam train ever to have run on the line!

3579][BG] Bulgaria: 760mm-gauge: The 104km Cherven Bryag - Oryakhovo line in northern Bulgaria closed 1 October 2002 (R.2486, 2511; Ball 52B3) and a later German report of its reopening to passengers (R.2591) seems to have been incorrect. An attempt to run a special train on 8 June 2003 was thwarted by thieves having stolen parts of the track. The same fate seems to have befallen the 16km Pazardzhik - Varvara section, closed at the same time. Only the 125km Septemvri - Varvara - Bansko - Dobrinishche line continued to offer narrow-gauge passenger services in 2003 (R.2893; Ball 52B2). (Continental Railway Journal, #136, winter 2003-04)

3580.1][IN] Madhya Pradesh / Maharashtra narrow-gauge: the system centred on Nainpur Jn: (R.2801.5; H8 on official Railway Map of India) At the end of 2003 the South Eastern Railway operated, in the provinces of Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra in central India, a system of 762mm-gauge (=2ft6in) lines still extending to some 700km, probably the largest such system in the world, taking a minimum of four days to traverse. As with other metre- and narrow-gauge railways, considerable lengths have already been converted to India’s 1676mm broad-gauge (=5ft6in). Further conversion is under way, and Indian Railways propose to convert the whole remaining system, perhaps by 2010. The main purpose of conversion is not so much to provide better service for local villagers as to open up more direct routes for through broad-gauge traffic, especially freight, on a national network that needs to make full use of capacity. The advantages to local users are however considerable: as an example, Jabalpur - Gondia by narrow-gauge took ten hours, but after regauging the journey should take only five.

3580.2] Interchange from the broad-gauge can now be made at five places: Jabalpur on the Mumbai - Jabalpur - Allahabad main line; at Chhindwara with the (formerly narrow, now broad) (Amla -) Khirsadoh - Chhindwara branch; at Nagbhir Jn with the (formerly narrow, now broad) Chandrapur - Nagbhir Jn - Gondia (- Balaghat Jn) secondary line; at Nagpur Jn with the Mumbai - Nagpur - Kolkata main line; and at Itwari Jn, 5km from Nagpur.

3580.3] Geographically right in the centre of India, Nainpur Jn can be regarded as the hub of this narrow-gauge system, and is perhaps the busiest 762mm-gauge junction in the world, with four routes radiating from its well-used station: north (Nainpur Jn - Jabalpur; 71km); south (Nainpur Jn - Balaghat Jn - Katangi; c.156km); east (Nainpur Jn - Mandla Fort; 30km); and south-west (Nainpur Jn - Chhindwara - Itwari Jn - Nagpur Jn; 290km). This last line continues south (Nagpur Jn - Itwari Jn - Naghbir Jn; 111km). Each of the lines has at least three departures and arrivals daily at Nainpur. Trains are timed to meet there, resulting in a frenzy of activity about three times a day, including some services running through during the small hours. Nainpur has no hotels but its First-Class Waiting-Room offers acceptable refuge from the cold night air for a few hours.

3580.4] Jabalpur - Nainpur Jn - Balaghat Jn - Katangi: The Jabalpur - Balaghat north-south route (187km) is the spine of the network, with packed trains loading to eight bogie coaches running four times daily, including an overnight working, taking 7-9 hours. Nainpur Jn - Katangi trains run twice a day, morning and evening, reversing at Balaghat. The Katangi service used to run Gondia - Balaghat - Katangi, but the 34km Balaghat - Gondia section has closed for conversion to broad-gauge, and in December 2003 only the trackbed remained as evidence of a line visited in December 2002. Local buses make the link for passengers. New bridges and earthworks are already well advanced along the c.40km Balaghat - Katangi section, which will be the next for closure and conversion, before reopening as a Gondia - Balaghat - Katangi broad-gauge branch.

3580.5] Nainpur Jn - Mandla Fort: On this 30km branch one of the three trains works through from Balaghat, with the locomotive running round at Nainpur, another runs through from Nagpur, with a nominal 1h layover at Nainpur, and the third originates at Nainpur. The branch trains, like those on the ‘main line’, comprise rakes of several coaches so at worst are only comfortably full. From the north-facing junction the line heads east through dry and almost treeless countryside, with camels to be seen by the lineside. The many level-crossings are a new handicap, for the line no longer employs crossing-keepers and traincrew operation of gates involves stopping twice. These delays, plus lack of co-operation from road-users, make the unchanged timetable unworkable and late arrivals inevitable, though turnround time at Mandla and layover time at Nainpur allow on-time departures, in theory at least. The station at Mandla Fort is on the outskirts of the town, surrounded by open scrubby desert, though some of the space was once clearly occupied by sidings and the like. Nothing like a fort was visible from the station.

3580.6] Nainpur Jn - Chhindwara - Itwari Jn - Nagpur Jn: The 290km journey, reversing at Chhindwara, is the longest continuous run on the narrow-gauge in India, involving some thirteen hours on an unpadded wooden seat! The line has three through services daily, one train in each direction running overnight. The train stops at about 35 stations, descending steadily from dry upland (noticeably colder, especially at night) through varied scenery including extensive eucalyptus forest. North of Chhindwara the train encountered track works and ploughed its way through some indiscriminately shovelled ballast, with much crunching, grinding and flying stones - and a tirade of abuse (needing no translation) from the driver to the leader of the track-gang. One of the coaches had badly broken springs that made it tilt at an alarming angle, but it survived its run of over 140km to Chhindwara, where it was finally removed with the usual drama associated with such procedures in India: staff arguing; driver of shunting locomotive getting conflicting instructions and consequently going off in wrong directions; and passengers looking on in a state of resigned, rather cheerful curiosity!

3580.7] Nagpur Jn - Itwari Jn - Naghbir Jn: This southernmost remaining section of the narrow-gauge system has three return services daily, with one pair shown in the public timetable as starting or terminating 5km south-east of Nagpur Jn at Itwari Jn, also an interchange station with the broad-gauge, which runs parallel on the Nagpur - Itwari section. In fact these ‘short workings’ run empty directly from or to Motigarh, a traction depot, carriage sidings and works accessed by a triangular junction on the Nagpur - Itwari narrow-gauge running line about 3km out of Nagpur. It proved possible to ride the empty stock from Itwari Jn to Motigarh, make a hurried visit to the works, chat to railway staff, and catch the next empty train around the third side of the triangle back into Nagpur, the last leg in the locomotive cab! The 111km run is through landscape that is naturally dry and scrubby but has patches of well-irrigated agriculture. The trains typically load to eight bogie coaches, well filled, though very close to Naghbir they become empty rather abruptly. It seems Naghbir Jn has few attractions in its own right or as an interchange station with the broad-gauge.

3581][IN] Delhi metro: (R.2409, 2695) A further 4.5km extension (Tis Hazari - Tri Nagar) opened 2 October 2003. (Tramways & Urban Transit, November 2003)

3582][KR] Seoul - Chonan - Taejon - Daegu - Kyongju - Busan: Korea’s first section of high-speed railway (Seoul - Daegu) is to open 1 April 2004. French-built 300km/h TGV clones will then run the 409km from the South Korean capital Seoul to the south-eastern port city of Busan in 2h40min against 4h10min with classic trains and track. When the second section of high-speed line (Daegu - Busan) opens in 2008, Seoul - Busan journey-time will drop to 2h10min. (Erik’s Rail News)

3583][AU] Adelaide - Alice Springs - Darwin: Great Southern Railway’s Ghan left Adelaide’s Keswick Rail Terminal at 12:10 on Sunday 1 February 2004 for its 2979km south-to-north transcontinental journey via the 1420km new Alice Springs - Darwin line (R.3563). The kilometre-long inaugural train comprised two locomotives and 43 coaches, making it the longest passenger train in Australian history, which had to be divided across three platforms to fit into the Keswick station. Train-crew numbered 40, including eight on-board chefs to prepare meals for the 330 passengers, many of them paying premium fares to ride on the first train. Arrival in Darwin was in the afternoon of Tuesday 3 February. The regular weekly service from Adelaide was to continue on 8 February, timetabled as in R.2516. (ABC News Online; http://www.gsr.com.au/ghan/index.htm)

3584][US] Anchorage - Anchorage Airport (ANC): Alaska Railroad’s 3km airport branch reopened as planned (R.2415) and was reported as back in use during summer 2003 shuttling cruise-ship passengers from and to their flights, with a Class GP40-2 diesel-electric locomotive on each end of the train. (Continental Railway Journal, #136, winter 2003-04)

3585][US] Tacoma, WA - Frederickson - Chehalis, WA and Frederickson - Morton, WA: The Chicago, Milwaukee, St.Paul & Pacific Railroad, sliding towards extinction, for years deferred track maintenance on their lines around Puget Sound, which closed in the late 1970s. For a period a subsidiary of timber group Weyerhaeuser operated part of this system in support of logging operations. However in the early 1990s Tacoma Rail, who were already providing local freight service to the city of Tacoma’s industrial Tideflats, bravely acquired 211km (=132mi) of the former Milwaukee Road, from Tacoma south-west to Chehalis and south to Morton. With some 275km of track, city-owned Tacoma Rail thus became one of the larger ‘short lines’ in America, their aim being not only to handle freight but in the longer term to develop the dilapidated or impassable track as a scenic tourist route between the city and stately Mount Rainier, in its National Park with 2M visitors a year. The Mountain Division of Tacoma Rail took over operations in November 1998. The city raised some USD6.3M in grants and donations while Tacoma Rail worked to restore the track. The whole system is now passable, but some sections remain limited to freight trains travelling no faster than 16km/h. Tacoma Rail’s nine freight customers include aerospace company Boeing, who bring in material for building aircraft wings at Frederickson, but in 2003 the largest customer, Spanaway Lumber, went bankrupt. Much remains to be done before tourist trains can run. To offer an acceptable two-hour journey, the tracks must be safe enough for 40km/h at least, and it takes time for the narrow margin of freight-revenue over operating-cost to pay for catching up with decades of neglected maintenance. (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

3586][US][CA] Chicago, IL - Port Huron, MI - Sarnia, ON - Toronto, ON: The USA will have one fewer passenger service crossing its frontiers when, from 26 April 2004, Amtrak’s Chicago - Toronto #364/365 International ceases being international and is cut back to run Chicago - Port Huron only. Passenger trains will no longer run via Canadian National’s 1.87km tunnel beneath the St.Clair River, which forms the border at this point (BLN 767.0514). On the Canadian side it seems that VIA are to continue with a Sarnia - Toronto service. It would be of interest to know what lies behind the decision: perhaps CN preferring to sell paths through their busy tunnel to more remunerative freight trains; the US Department of Homeland Security having another bout of paranoia (R.1941, 1999); Amtrak and VIA failing to agree through timings; or continuing financial problems with state (R.2851) or federal subsidy. America will be left with three passenger services to Canada, (Seattle, WA - Vancouver, BC; New York, NY - Toronto, ON; New York, NY - Montréal, QC) and none to Mexico.

3587][TN] Tunisia: On the SNCFT standard-gauge system, the Tunis - Mateur - Bizerte line linking the capital to the port and former French naval-base had two branches from Mateur. The Mateur - Tamera (- Tabarka) line westward now runs only as far as Tamera, having been severed beyond there due to water-barrage works, perhaps in the 1990s, and the Mateur - Beja - Sidi m’Himech branch is completely closed. On the metre gauge system, the line across the town square at Sousse has been severed and is out of use. Tunis - Bir Bou Regba - Kalaa Kebira - Sousse - M’Saaken - Sfax (- Gabès / Metlaoui) trains that call at Sousse reverse in Sousse station and retrace their path to Kalaa Kebira before taking the Sousse avoiding line on a new alignment south to M’Saaken, where they rejoin the old Sousse - Sfax route south. The daily Tunis - Sousse - Monastir - Mahdia train does the same as far as M’Saaken, where it turns north on the old Sfax - Sousse route before taking another new curve to Sousse Zone Industrielle where it joins the Sousse - Monastir line. Sousse Sud now has only local services. Further south (Tunis -) Kalaa Khasba - Tabeditt - Metlaoui is reportedly still passable, but with a 45km/h limit. M’Saaken - Moknine and the Metlaoui - Tozeur branch are reportedly closed. (European Rail yahoogroup)

3588][IN] Nadiad Jn - Petlad Jn - Bochansan Jn - Bhadran: (RMI D8) Built at the behest of the Gaekwar (= ruler) of Baroda (= Vadodara), this 762mm-gauge line opened c.1920 from Nadiad in Gujarat province, on the Western Railway’s Ahmadabad - Nadiad - Vadodara (- Mumbai) broad-gauge main line, and makes flat crossings with two broad-gauge branches off the main line (Anand - Petlad - Khambhat and Vasad - Bochansan - Kathana) before reaching the sleepy settlement of Bhadran. Other narrow-gauge lines in the area were all converted to broad-gauge by the early 1990s. The four trains daily that once ran the full 59km length of the line have been reduced to a solitary Nadiad - Petlad - Bochansan - Bhadran working, taking c.3h each way (running daily except Sundays according to staff, not daily as shown in the Indian Bradshaw timetable). An additional Nadiad - Petlad round-trip runs daily (not Sundays only as shown in Bradshaw). Most of the traffic seems to be on this 38km section, and south of Petlad the train is not busy. Petlad shed staff take pride in the line’s two Class ZDM5 diesel locomotives (#537 and 538) and have never let them become simultaneous failures! A ramp at Petlad allows narrow-gauge stock to be run on and off broad-gauge wagons, and on 29 December 2003 a smart-looking coach was being delivered from works in this manner. A little to the south at Bochansan Jn signs still advise rather hopefully the connectional opportunities that are available once a day. At Bhadran the rather derelict station presents a sad sight where once - as it says on the walls - a proud station-master would have co-ordinated passengers, goods and packages.

3589.1][IN] The Gaekwar of Baroda’s narrow-gauge lines centred on Dabhoi Jn: (RMI D8) Also built at the behest of the Gaekwar of Baroda, and still in Gujarat but on the southern side of the river Mahi, this 762mm-gauge system’s first line, from Miyagam in 1862, initially used bullock traction. The Dabhoi Jn - Samlaya - Timba Road line to the north is now closed but four routes still radiate from Dabhoi: west (Dabhoi Jn - Pratapnagar - Vishvamitri Jn - Jambusar Jn; 80km; 2 trains a day); south-west (Dabhoi Jn - Miyagam Karjan Jn; 33km; 5 trains a day); south (Dabhoi Jn - Chandod; 17km; 2 trains a day); and east (Dabhoi Jn - Chhuchhapura Jn - Bodeli; 25km; 2 trains a day; and Dabhoi Jn - Chhuchhapura Jn - Tankhala; 53km; 2 trains a day). Both Vishvamitri, just south of the city of Vadodara, and Miyagam Karjan offer interchange with the Western Railway’s (Delhi -) Vadodara - Mumbai broad-gauge main line. Traction seems exclusively Class ZDM5 diesel locomotives, of which 12 were seen. Dabhoi Jn still has quite a British atmosphere - until you leave the station. Our reporter could identify nothing that looked like a hotel but he enjoyed free and exclusive use for a night of the Upper Class Waiting Room, with tap and toilet, much as a European traveller might have done in the days of the British Raj. Over the several days of his visit in December 2003 the staff on this system were very friendly, in particular a Senior Commercial Inspector who offered him breakfast, and the train-crews who allowed him more than one footplate ride, including driving experience!

3589.2] Dabhoi Jn - Pratapnagar - Vishvamitri Jn - Jambusar Jn: At Pratapnagar, 28km west of Dabhoi, is the works for the system, which was not visited, but from the passing train looked empty. At 31km from Dabhoi, the narrow-gauge line runs beneath the broad-gauge at Vishvamitri to enter its own station at right-angles to the main line. After long layovers at both Pratapnagar and Vishvamitri, the train continued (without our reporter) to Jambusar Jn on the Bharuch Jn - Samni - Jambusar Jn - Kavi 762mm-gauge line (which he had visited in 2001). These layovers, and the low line speeds, make the two daily trains slow even by narrow-gauge standards, taking 5h to cover 80km.

3589.3] Dabhoi Jn - Miyagam Karjan: Heading south-west across land that supports thriving agriculture where irrigated, but only scrubby vegetation otherwise, the 33km run into the broad-gauge station at Miyagam Karjan takes c.1h30min. Two more narrow-gauge branches from here to the south (Miyagam Karjan - Choranda Jn - Moti Koral; 28km, and Miyagam Karjan - Choranda Jn - Malsar; 38km) are difficult to visit, for each has only one round-trip a day starting at the branch terminus and running largely during hours of darkness.

3589.4] Dabhoi Jn - Chandod: The afternoon train, only comfortably loaded, ran around the rather fetid outskirts of Dabhoi past a magnificent carved gate that once formed part of a continuous but long-demolished town wall, and off into pleasant agricultural countryside seemingly dominated by tobacco production. The 17km run takes only 40min, possibly the shortest run on the Indian narrow-gauge. Intermediate stations are in poor condition, but the terminus at Chandod is well kept, and still has its station-master selling traditional Edmondson-pattern card tickets.

3589.5] Dabhoi Jn - Chhuchhapura Jn - Bodeli (- Chhota Udepur): This line used to run farther east, but the Bodeli - Chhota Udepur section closed in 1990. One of the two Dabhoi - Bodeli daily workings runs through from and to Pratapnagar. The Dabhoi - Bodeli run takes c.1h30min for the 25km. For no obvious reason the eastbound train had a locomotive on front and rear, and only the rear locomotive and coaches returned as the next westbound train. Chhuchhapura Jn (known even to local people as CCP!) is east-facing and the two through trains daily from Dabhoi reverse here for their 38km run south through dry and dusty desert landscape on the Chhuchhapura - Tankhala branch. The whole branch is subject to severe speed-restrictions, initially 25km/h falling to 15km/h for the last 24km - so the train-crew deemed it suitable to hand over to a novice driver for several hours! A fine feature on the line is a slender fenceless bridge over the waters of a broad canal bringing irrigation water south from Rajasthan. At the dusty terminus, Tankhala, the crew took our reporter to their rest room, shared their lunch and posed for more photographs, before letting him drive all the way back to Dabhoi.

3590][IN] Bilimora Jn - Waghai: (RMI D9) From the Western Railway’s (Delhi -) Vadodara - Vishvamitri - Miyagam Karjan - Bilimora - Mumbai broad-gauge main line, this 762mm-gauge line, another of the Gaekwar’s creations still benefiting Gujerat, runs 65km east up into the Satmala hills. The two trains a day work out and back from the terminus, but their timings allow an 8h round-trip from Bilimora with an hour at Waghai. The line is quite scenic except for the section that seems to bisect an aggregates quarry. Leaving tranquil pools and lakes flanked by lush vegetation, the line climbs at its eastern end into drier uplands where eucalyptus trees flourish. Substantial timber traffic was once carried, but - as virtually everywhere on the narrow-gauge - no freight trains now run. The station at Waghai is somewhat run-down. Traction is two Class ZDM5 diesel locomotives (#510 and 539), but rusting at the back of Bilimora’s small shed lies what remains of Class W 0-6-2T #585 Bilimora, built 1923 by WG Bagnall and condemned in 1999.

3591][IN] Pulgaon - Arvi: (official Railway Map of India G9) From Pulgaon on the Mumbai - Pulgaon - Nagpur - Kolkata broad-gauge main line, Central Provinces Railways in 1917 opened this 35km 762mm-gauge branch north to the town of Arvi. Central Railway now run two trains a day (except on Sundays, though this exception is not made clear in the Indian Bradshaw timetable), using two rebuilt Class ZDM4A diesel locomotives (#200 and 217) to haul rakes of four bogie coaches across dry scrubby semi-desert scenery. The round-trip takes a little over three hours, including 30min at the branch terminus, now an educational centre. The station-master at Arvi, kept busy with paperwork by his two trains a day, was proud of his British signals, though these are completely defunct, the line being worked by ticket. The run-round loop’s outer point is still worked by a century-old lever-frame, a solid piece of ironmongery bearing the inscription ‘Railway Signal Co Ltd, Liverpool, England 1895’. The Class ZP 4-6-2 steam locomotives that came from the Bangalore area and worked the line from 1976 until 1997 were in December 2003 still at Pulgaon, #2 and 3 (allegedly ‘preserved’) in the yard next to the broad-gauge station and #5 (allegedly ‘condemned’) at the back of the small locomotive shed a few hundred metres up the branch. All three seemed in a similar state of dereliction.

3592][IN] Raipur Jn - Abhanpur Jn - Dhamtari and Abhanpur Jn - Rajim: (official Railway Map of India H9) From Raipur on the Mumbai - Nagpur - Raipur - Kolkata broad-gauge main line, the South Eastern Railway’s Y-shaped system runs south to Abhanpur Jn (km27) and Dhamtari (km72), with a 17km branch to Rajim. The stock stables overnight at the solitary 762mm-gauge platform outside and to the south of the main station, while the Class ZDM4A locomotives, four or more of them, use a dive-under to run to and from the depot on the north side of the broad-gauge line. Three trains daily run from Raipur through to Dhamtari, offering branch connections, and a fourth runs through to Rajim. At termini and major junctions the line retains tall signal-boxes clad in corrugated-iron, but it has eliminated level-crossing keepers, leading to late-running of up to 1h30min on the nominal 1h Raipur - Abhanpur timing, trashing the whole timetable! Raipur was the only place on the 2003 visit to India where an officious guard asked our reporter not to take photographs, for no real reason. More normal were the reactions of other staff on the line, with a station-master asking for copies of pictures taken locally to be sent to his address, and a train-crew offering a ride in the cab on the promise of reprints of group photos of themselves and all their friends.

3593][IN] Ranchi Jn - Lohardaga: (RMI J8) This South Eastern Railway 762mm-gauge line was visited on 21 December 2003, ten days before it was to close on 31 December 2003 for conversion to a broad-gauge branch. Daily (except Tuesdays, an exception not mentioned in the Indian Bradshaw) the single mixed goods-and-passenger train left Ranchi at 06:30, taking a timetabled 4h15min to run 69km west to Lohardaga. Though Lohardaga is a sizeable town, and the surrounding area was able to feed the line with heavy bauxite traffic, the tribal population are poor by Indian standards, with low literacy. The train was well used, with local people cramming the coaches and riding on the roofs of coaches and vans. The eastbound Lohardaga - Ranchi run took over 5h30min, mainly because of lengthy calls at intermediate stations to load agricultural produce in enormous sacks into the box vans. Such traffic would of course be seasonal and difficult to allow for in the timetable. Though the line had no fewer than six Class ZDM4A diesel locomotives, these must all have been in poor condition, for the one selected to haul the train kept failing and required much tinkering to revive it. New earthworks and bridges were already evident along the line, as were big stockpiles of broad-gauge sleepers and other material, but local opinion was that trains would not be running again during 2004. When service resumes, SER are to offer two trains a day, with journey-times halved.

3594][IN] Rupsa Jn - Bangriposi: (RMI K9-K8) From the Kolkata - Chennai (= Calcutta - Madras) East Coast main line this South Eastern Railway 762mm-gauge line headed north-west inland for 83km. As the sun rose over Rupsa Jn on 23 December 2003 the timetable-board still bore the times of the day’s narrow-gauge trains, as did the current Indian Bradshaw, but the ticket-clerk said the line ceased to operate in about June 2003, and was being converted to a broad-gauge branch. Material stockpiles were evident but none of the track around Rupsa had been touched. The last narrow-gauge coach sat on its broad-gauge transporter wagon waiting to be piggy-backed into history.

3595][IN] Naupada Jn - Gunupur: (RMI J10-I10) Further south-east on the East Coast main line this South Eastern Railway 762mm-gauge line also runs north-west inland for 90km, climbing into the high land of the Eastern Ghats, whose tribes have their own local languages and agricultural lifestyles. The line, built at the behest of the prince of Parlakimidi and opened in 1900, is scenic. Dome-shaped mountains rear up from the fertile plains, which grow all manner of fruits, nuts and vegetables. Two round-trips a day operate, with a rake of four bogie coaches, only comfortably full. Timekeeping has been ruined by elimination of level-crossing keepers, for delays are cumulative: the 05:30 Naupada - Gunupur due at 08:15 arrives at 09:30; the 10:15 Gunupur - Naupada due back at 13:15 arrives at 14:30; the 13:45 Naupada - Gunupur leaves at 15:30; and the evening Gunupur - Naupada due at 21:30 arrives at c.24:00! Traction is two Class ZDM5 diesel locomotives (#523 and 532) which took over from steam on 23 April 1992, the date being affirmed by being painted on the shed wall. The narrow-gauge coaching-stock is unusual in being finished in the two-tone blue livery normally reserved for broad-gauge air-braked stock. The foreman said he sought special permission for this paint-scheme from his superiors, who obviously thought the likelihood of customer confusion too small to be of concern! It may seem odd that a relatively lightly-trafficked line should be a candidate for conversion to broad-gauge, but the converted branch may be extended north-west to join the Vizianagaram - Raipur broad-gauge line at or near Singapuram Road, providing an alternative cut-off route from the coast, saving time and reversal of freight trains. The narrow-gauge branch may have closed on 31 December 2003, but is likely to have been reprieved for a year.

3596][IN] Shantipur Jn - Krishnagar City Jn - Nabadwip Ghat: (RMI L8) Originally owned by the private company McLeod & Co, and transferred to the Eastern Railway in 1966, this 28km 762mm-gauge line lies on the eastern bank of the river Ganga (= Ganges) north of Kolkata. It shares its southern terminus with the terminus of the electrified broad-gauge Kolkata Sealdah - Shantipur branch, and its intermediate station at Krishnagar City Jn lies beside the electrified broad-gauge Kolkata Sealdah - Krishnagar City - Lalgola line, affording a second point of transfer. From Shantipur the train runs in an almost straight line north across perfectly flat country, mostly through the backyards of villagers living very close to the line, but this section has but one intermediate halt, and loadings are light. By contrast, at Krishnagar crowds crush on for the mercifully short run to Nabadwip Ghat, on the river Ganga. Loadings on the return journey are similar. The three round-trips a day take 1h40min one way. Single-ended diesel railcars (#7031 and 7041) towing matching trailer vehicles (#7038, 7040, 7042 and 7045) form two train sets, which require running round and turning on turntables. Similar units are found on the Bardhamman Jn - Katwa Jn lines (R.2801.4), but those also have other traction. The diminutive coaches, requiring a tall passenger to crouch when boarding, make an incongruous sight sitting in the same station as a twelve-car broad-gauge electric unit with vehicles the size of a barn! No obvious sign was seen of imminent broad-gauge conversion, but with flat terrain and a complete absence of major engineering works the conversion would be easy and would provide a useful alternative electrified loop - at the expense of losing a charming narrow-gauge railway.

3597][FR] Nérac - Mézin: (Ball 60B2-60B1) From Port-Sainte-Marie on the Bordeaux - Toulouse main line the freight-only Port-Sainte-Marie - Vianne - Nérac - Condom line heads south. The short Nérac - Mézin branch diverging south-west is to see a new tourist-train operation, the first in the département of Lot-et-Garonne. Two rail-inspection draisines withdrawn from SNCF stock at Brive-la-Gaillarde depot were conveyed by lorry to Nérac and unloaded by crane at a level-crossing on the sunny afternoon of 4 February 2004, road haulage being cheaper than SNCF’s quoted price for Brive - Nérac delivery by rail. Two flat wagons are to be fitted with benches to become open passenger vehicles for use in dry weather. Nérac - Mézin tourist trains may begin running in April 2004. If they are successful, the run may in future extend north of Nérac to Vianne.

3598][FR] Barbentane - Rognonas - Châteaurenard-de-Provence - Plan-d’Orgon: (Ball 65A1-75A3) The Association du Train Touristique du Centre Var, operators of a Picasso railcar on the Brignoles - Carnoules line (R.1454, 1722; Ball 75B3-76B2), were unable to obtain agreement to use steam traction there because of the high risk of forest fires, so an 0-6-0T steam locomotive #030TU46 and three coaches have transferred to the BdR line just south of Avignon. The Régie Départementale des Transports des Bouches-du-Rhône plan to run Châteaurenard - Barbentane tourist trains during 2004 (R.3486).

3599][MC][FR] Monaco-Monte Carlo - Monte-Carlo Country-Club (- Menton SNCF - Ventimiglia FS): (Ball 77B3-67B1) A structural problem leading to subsidence caused closure of this underground section of the Côte d’Azur main line beneath Monaco from 20 June 2003 (R.3051, 3327), and repairs took months longer than expected. The tunnel was to reopen on Saturday 21 February 2004 for Monaco - Ventimiglia local TER shuttle services, using one track only, and from Friday 27 February normal traffic was to resume on both tracks. (European Rail yahoogroup)

3600][DE] Germany: narrow-gauge freight: Freight traffic appears to remain on at least part of four narrow-gauge lines:

• Inselbahn Wangerooge (Westanleger - Saline - Wangerooge Bf / Westen; R.3058; Ball 16A3; 5.4km)
• Inselbahn Langeoog (Langeoog Hafen - Langeoog Bf; R.3059; Ball 15B3; 2.6km)
• Brohltalbahn (Brohl - Oberzissen - Brenk - Engeln; BLN 827.0266; Ball 48A3; 17.5km)
• Harzer Schmalspurbahnen (Steinbruch Unterberg - Eisfelder Talmühle - Nordhausen Nord; BLN 777.0170; Ball 41B3)

HSB carry ballast south in standard-gauge wagons on Rollböcke bogies. No freight runs on the other parts of the HSB system (Wernigerode - Drei Annen Hohne - Eisfelder Talmühle; Drei Annen Hohne - Brocken; Gernrode - Alexisbad - Stiege - Steinbruch Unterberg; Alexisbad - Harzgerode; Stiege - Hasselfelde). The Döllnitzbahn (Oschatz - Mügeln - Kemmlitz; BLN 790.0457; Ball 43B2-43A2) would be glad to offer a freight service but had no actual contracts in February 2004. The Wendelsteinbahn (Waching - Wendelstein Bergbahnhof; R.1757; Ball 71B1; 1500V dc) and the Bayerische Zugspitzbahn (Garmisch - Grainau - Zugspitzplatt / Schneefernhaus; R.0761; Ball 70B1-79A3; 1650V dc) both carry light freight in the form of supplies for mountain-top restaurants. Only the Inselbahn Wangerooge is run by a company in the DB group. All the others mentioned are Nichtbundeseigene (= non-federally-owned) railways, mostly companies in which local authorities have an interest. All are metre-gauge except the Döllnitzbahn which is Saxon 750mm-gauge.

3601][DE] Dannenberg Ost - Dannenberg West - Lüchow (- Wustrow - Salzwedel): (Ball 18B1) Deutsche Regionaleisenbahn GmbH took over the infrastructure on 29 September 2000, but though a contract to convey schoolchildren was talked about (R.0628, 1046, 2392) this 20km section of the Jeetzeltalbahn was still seeing no regular use as 2004 began. Special trains were however to run on 28-29 February 2004, in connection with DRE’s annual general meeting in Lüchow.

3602][DE] (Essen Hbf -) Essen-Steele - Überruhr - Kupferdreh - Langenberg (Rheinland) - Neviges - Wuppertal-Vohwinkel (- Wuppertal Hbf): (Ball 34A3-34A1) Shown in the 1998 Ball atlas as ‘under electrification’, the Prinz Wilhelm Eisenbahn (R.1750) is indeed being extensively upgraded, with continuous welded rail on concrete sleepers, overhead wires and new level-crossing equipment, to become part of the S-Bahn network. On 29 October 2003 diesel push-pull trains were working Essen - Langenberg, under new wiring all the way, but buses were replacing Langenberg - Vohwinkel trains. Track, overhead, signalling and level-crossing teams were all working on the closed section around Neviges. Target-date for completion was mid-December 2003, but was not attained.

3603][DE][NL] Mönchengladbach - Wegberg - Dalheim DB - Vlodrop NS - Roermond: (Ball DE-37A2) In October 2003 the formerly extensive layouts at Wegberg and Dalheim were seen to have been much reduced, with only a single platform at Dalheim for the lightweight railcar shuttling from Mönchengladbach. Westwards, the disused track to Vlodrop in the Netherlands appeared to be in reasonable condition, but had been left without maintenance for so long that young birch trees and well-established shrubs completely blocked an attempt to walk across the border by the railway route. Much vegetation-clearance and remedial work will need to have been done by September 2004 if Dalheim - Roermond trips (R.3492) are to run.

3604][DK] Randers - Randers Regnskov (- Randers Havn - Bombardier works) and Randers - Strømmen - Allingåbro (- Pindstrup - Ryomgård): (R.3145, 3146; Ball 2B2-3A2) Though the Danish railway museum’s main exhibition site is at Odense (R.3154; Ball 7A2), most of their working steam and diesel locomotives are based at Randers shed. Open days there over the weekend 22-23 May 2004 are to see several special trains, mostly running on regular passenger lines. Some non-passenger track will be traversed, however: shuttle trains are to run from Randers station a short distance to the shed and, on Sunday 23 May only, a train hauled by 4-4-0 steam locomotive K563 is to run from Regnskov platform on the north harbour line via Randers station 20km east to Allingåbro. Regnskov - Allingåbro runs with varying traction are also advertised for Wednesdays 2,9,16,23,30 June, 7,14,21,28 July, 4,11 August; and Sundays 5,12 December 2004. (http://www.museumstog.dk)

3605][PT] Viana do Castelo funicular: (Ball 7A2) From a lower station just above Viana do Castelo main-line platforms, a 632m-long metre-gauge funicular, the Elevador de Santa Luzia, ran to an upper station 180m above sea-level, near the Santuario de Santa Luzia. Opened in 1921, the line offered rather unreliable service in recent years - though its operators were, unusually, the national railways, CP. Out of use in January 1996, the funicular was back in operation by April 1996 (BLN 780.0243). Again out of use in April 1999 (BLN 850.0272), it reopened later in 1999 and during winter 1999-2000 was said to have been working at weekends, holidays and on the third Friday of the month (R.0533). It closed again in 2001. In early 2004 Viana do Castelo town council reportedly decided to repair the line and reopen it, with a target-date of summer 2005.

3606][PT] Porto funicular: Ribeira - Batalha: (Ball 7A1) Metro do Porto (http://www.metro-porto.pt/uk/) inaugurated their new Funicular dos Guindais on 18 February, and public service began 19 February 2004. From Ribeira station on the Avenida Gustavo Eiffel, near the lower deck of (famous French engineer) Eiffel’s Ponte Dom Luis I across the river Douro, the 281m-long line climbs to Batalha station, 61m above on the Rua Augusto Rosa in upper Porto. The lower half is steep (maximum gradient 33%) and offers spectacular views from the 25-person cars. When it reaches the ancient town walls, the line levels and the single track splits to form the passing-loop. Beyond, the line continues in tunnel, gaining hardly any more height. Service is every 10min 08:00-19:00 daily except Mondays, with journey-time of 2min. A ticket costs EUR0.80, valid for any number of trips within one hour. The line also forms part of zone Z2 of the city’s integrated Andante ticketing system. An earlier funicular, opened 4 June 1891, followed a similar though longer course (412m, gaining 114m height), but closed 5 June 1893.

3607][PT] Viseu funicular: (Ball 17B3) The medium-sized town of Viseu in northern Portugal has lost both its metre-gauge railway connections: the Santa Comba Dão - Viseu Linha do Dão closed 1988 and the Sernada do Vouga - Viseu Ramal de Viseu closed 1 January 1990 (BLN 697.08). Both were lifted in the 1990s (R.0450). Viseu is however to have a 400m-long funicular, under construction in early 2004 from Feira de San Mateus to Sé Catedral. Target opening-date is summer 2005.

3608][ES] Salamanca - Salamanca La Alamedilla (- Ciudad Rodrigo - Fuentes de Oñoro RENFE - Vilar Formoso CP): (R.1958; Ball 19B3) Most regional trains from Madrid and Valladolid now continue south-west beyond Salamanca’s five-platform main station to serve the single platform of Salamanca La Alamedilla, which had opened by May 2001. Some eastbound regional services start at La Alamedilla. Overnight trains #313/310 Hendaye/Irún - Lisboa Santa Apolónia, the only passenger workings on the line from La Alamedilla west towards Portugal, pass without calling.

3609][ES] Madrid: avoiding lines: (Ball 22A3) Westbound TrenHotel #332 Madrid-Chamartin - Lisboa Santa Apolónia, like eastbound #335, is booked by the circuitous route round the east of the city (Villaverde Bajo - Vallecas - Vicálvaro - Hortaleza - Chamartín; R.3577), not by the city-centre tunnel (Villaverde Bajo - Santa Catalina - Atocha - Chamartín; R.3558). A different route (Villaverde Bajo - Santa Catalina - Bifurcación Museo - Delicias - Príncipe Pío - Las Rozas - Pinar de las Rozas) is used by overnight trains #941/940 Málaga - Bilbao Abando, which make no calls in the Madrid area. They are the only passenger trains booked on the Santa Catalina - Bif Museo section. The line from Bif Museo north via Principe Pio, and all three sides of the Las Rozas triangle, have local Cercanías services (R.1960). This triangle’s complex arrangement of burrowing and flying junctions facilitates change from right-hand running (on the two routes converging from the city) to left-hand running (on the route north-west to Villalba de Guadarrama), the only place in Spain to have such a layout.

3610][ES] Válencia Fuente San Luís - Alfafar-Benitússer: (Ball 30B1) Much as in 1997 (BLN 822.0128), this single-track east-to-south curve is used by a pair of overnight trains (TrenHotel #947/944 Barcelona Sants - Cádiz) to avoid reversal at Valencia Nord terminus. The curve may also be used with an extra reversal before or after a call at Valencia Nord to allow a through train to keep special vehicles (for example car-carrying wagons) on the front or rear (R.1585). Overnight trains TrenHotel #997/994 Barcelona - Granada / Málaga reverse at Valencia Nord.

3611][ES] La Encina triangle: In connection with their 1997 realignment (BLN 814.0554) of the electrified broad-gauge (Madrid - Albacete -) La Encina - Moixent/Mogente (- Valencia) main line, RENFE built an electrified south-to-northeast curve (Caudete - Moixent/Mogente; Ball 32B2 not shown), completing a triangle at La Encina and allowing Alacant - Valencia running without reversal. All three sides have reasonably frequent passenger services. However Caudete halt, at the southern vertex, has a sparse (and not very useful) service in the 2004 timetable, seeing calls by one pair of local trains running on Fridays and Sundays only (#4400/4403 FSuO Albacete - La Encina - Caudete - Villena - Caudete - Moixent - Valencia). In each direction the train calls at Caudete on its way to reverse at Villena and passes Caudete without stopping on the way back.

3612][ES] Córdoba - Rabanales (- Linares-Baeza): (Ball 36A3) Rabanales station, in use by early 2000, serves a university campus a few km east of the city, its only service a broad-gauge RENFE regional Cordoba - Rabanales shuttle run under contract to the university, at times to suit classes there, with no weekend or holiday trains. Timings are published in a separate table, downloadable from RENFE’s website in Acrobat Portable Document Format. When exactly did Rabanales open?

3613][HR] (Rijeka -) Opatija - Ucka (- Lupoglav): (Ball 45B1) Partition of the former Yugoslavia in the early 1990s left Hrvatske Zeljeznice’s lines on the Istrian peninsula isolated from the main Croatian system and accessible by rail only via Slovenia. While a bus links Rijeka and Lupoglav through a 5km single-bore road-tunnel (R.0176, 1764), a new railway tunnelling under the Cicarija mountains would clearly be useful. Such a railway has been projected from time to time, and even begun more than once, but none of the routes has ever been completed. Various abortive railway works, and their traces left today, are described in an article and map in Continental Railway Journal, #136, winter 2003-04.

3614][US] Denver, CO - Moffat Tunnel - Winter Park - Orestod - Dotsero - Glenwood Springs - Grand Junction, CO - Provo, UT - Salt Lake City, UT: (R.2005) Named after a president of the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad, the 9.9km Moffat Tunnel, piercing the US Continental Divide at a height of 2817m c.80km west of Denver, opened 24 February 1928. In 1934 successor company Denver & Rio Grande Western opened their Orestod - Dotsero cut-off. Together these investments saved some 240km and at least four hours of travel time over the earlier circuitous Denver & Rio Grande route (Denver, CO - Pueblo - Royal Gorge - Tennessee Pass - Dotsero - Glenwood Springs, CO; BLN 829.0318). Soon the Moffat Tunnel route became that of the famous Chicago, IL - Oakland, CA San Francisco Zephyr, in whose operation D&RGW had a share.

When Western Pacific left the passenger business, the through Zephyr was withdrawn, from 22 March 1970 (R.2873). D&RGW replaced it between Denver and Salt Lake City by their own tri-weekly Rio Grande Zephyr, which at the birth of Amtrak in May 1971 was D&RGW’s sole passenger service. D&RGW decided not to enter a contract with Amtrak (R.3565) and continued to run the Rio Grande Zephyr themselves over their own scenic route. Amtrak’s new Chicago - Oakland train, initially unnamed, took up the historic San Francisco Zephyr name from 14 November 1971, but perforce took a much less scenic, though shorter, route through Wyoming on Union Pacific tracks (Denver, CO - Laramie, WY - Ogden, UT - Salt Lake City, UT). A dozen years elapsed before D&RGW signed up with Amtrak. From 23-24 April 1983 the Rio Grande Zephyr was to be withdrawn, and Amtrak’s Zephyr was to be re-routed via the Moffat Tunnel. Unfortunately, after the westbound Rio Grande Zephyr passed on 14 April 1983, a big landslide in the Wasatch Mountains temporarily blocked the Grand Jn - Provo section, and D&RGW Zephyrs had to be cut back to run Denver - Grand Jn only. However from 16 July 1983 Amtrak’s train, renamed (more accurately) California Zephyr, began to take the classic route through Colorado and Utah.

Today the Moffat Tunnel, now owned by UP as successors to D&RGW, hosts UP coal and general freight trains, Burlington Northern Santa Fe freights exercising trackage rights, a daily Chicago, IL - Emeryville, CA Zephyr - and the Denver - Winter Park Ski Train (owned by the city of Denver and running at winter weekends and on selected summer Saturdays 100km west to the resort of Winter Park, also city-owned).

For a month or more in summer 2004 (exact dates are not yet known) the Moffat Tunnel is to be closed for repairs, and the Zephyr is to revert temporarily to its pre-1983 Denver - Salt Lake City route, some 900km of ‘non-passenger’ track. During the Tunnel closure period, summer runs of the Ski Train will be cancelled. (Denver Post; Trains magazine; Passenger Train Journal, #194, February 1994; Amtrak: The First Decade, Alan Books, 1981; All Aboard Amtrak, Railpace Company, 1991)

3615][US] (Altoona, PA -) Holidaysburg - Roaring Spring, PA (- Martinsburg / Henrietta, PA): Always primarily a freight line, the Pennsylvania Railroad’s Morrison Cove secondary line south of Altoona did once have a passenger service, before 1941, essentially as a convenience for local residents and PRR workers. Roaring Spring PRR station has been restored by a local group. On Saturday 3 April 2004 an excursion train is to traverse the c.10km section in conjunction with a National Railway Historical Society event in Altoona, near the famous Horseshoe Curve (bookings to d63w@aol.com).

3616][PE] Lima metro: After more than a decade of delay, the Peruvian capital’s Tren Urbano opened for revenue service over a 10km six-station section on 18 January 2003 (R.2856) but in July 2003 service was suspended due to lack of finance to cover current costs. On 17 January 2004 the Ansaldo Breda six-car standard-gauge 1500V dc trains began running again - reportedly on Saturdays and Sundays only. (http://www.urbanrail.net)

3617][DZ] Méchéria - Béchar: Most of Algeria’s railways are standard-gauge, but the lengthy line that broadly parallels the Moroccan frontier south-westwards has the unusual gauge of 1055mm. In early 2004 French railways SNCF and Societé Nationale des Transports Ferroviaires Algériens signed contracts to build a 360km standard-gauge railway alongside the existing narrow-gauge line (which carries important mineral traffic) with a view to completion in 2008. SNCF are also to help in electrifying 300km of suburban lines around the capital Alger, also by 2008. (http://www.sncf.com/co/communiq/communiq265.htm)

3618][FR] (Argent - Salbris - Romorantin - Gièvres - Valençay - Luçay-le-Mâle -) La Foulquetière - Ecueillé - Heugnes (- Argy - Buzançais - Le Blanc): (Ball 35B1-45B3) L’Écho du Rail (#252, December 2003) quoted national holiday 14 July 2003 as the date that SABA reopened the 7km Luçay-le-Mâle - Ecueillé section of the metre-gauge CF du Blanc à Argent (R.3483). However Voie Étroite (#200, February/March 2004) reported preservation group SABA’s annual general meeting on 29 November 2003 as saying that only the section from SABA’s base at Ecueillé 6km north to ‘la base de loisirs et le plan d’eau de La Foulquetière’ was open during the short 2003 season, and only on seven days, a total of 818 passengers being carried. The first public train ran on Sunday 24 August and the last on Sunday 28 September, and two specials ran in October for FACS and COPEF (R.3306). The journey length was limited because of condition of track ‘and important works to be done’. The normal train was a Deutz locotracteur plus two carriages, with a flat wagon for the staff dealing with level-crossings. A contractor was to start on replacing sleepers on the 20km Ecueillé - Argy section in spring 2004 with a view to completion by 1 July 2004. In 2004 SABA plan to run public trains only on the 15km La Foulquetière - Ecueillé - Heugnes section, on Sundays 13 June to 26 September, and possibly also Wednesdays in July and August, with Saturdays available for charters. SABA hope to operate the whole 27km Luçay-le-Mâle - Ecueillé - Argy section in 2005, or 2006 at latest.

3619][FR] Feurs - Panissières monorail: (Ball 56A3) Born in Toulouse in 1834, French engineer Charles Lartigue pursued his career in Spain and Algeria before returning to France. His most famous work was the bizarre but modestly successful (1888-1924) Listowel - Ballybunion line in Ireland, since July 2003 the basis of a working museum ‘monorailway’ (R.3231). He also designed the similar but unsuccessful Feurs - Panissières line, built 1894-95 but never opened (R.2788). On 20 August 1895 a test train traversed this sinuous and steep 17km line, but it damaged the track on the way down to Feurs. On 22 August 1895 it made a round-trip without incident, proceeding cautiously and very slowly (12km/h maximum, 8km/h on curves). However, official approval to begin revenue operations was withheld because of concern about the train’s stability, and because associated works (including stations!) were incomplete. Another test in August 1896 ended when the twin-boilered locomotive failed at km9.8, lacking steam pressure to climb further. The département (= local authority) paid for a second locomotive in 1898, and a further test on 23 July 1898 was declared successful. However, by this time the département and the operating company (in which Lartigue’s involvement was barely disguised) were in dispute over finance. The company refused to start running the railway, and on 10 April 1899 the département retaliated by withdrawing their concession to operate. A proposal simply to lay a conventional narrow-gauge railway on the trackbed (which would have been quite practicable) never came to fruition. What remained of the monorail went for scrap and was sold in 1903. (Connaisance du Rail, #262/263)

3620][FR] Marseille trams: (Ball 75B2) The final public services on Marseille’s last tram route #68 (Noailles - Marseille-Blancarde SNCF - St.Pierre) ran on Thursday 8 January 2004, though the above-ground section saw farewell specials on the Friday morning. The tramway is to be reconstructed, extended and reopened (R.0298), with a target-date of 2007. The port city’s last trolleybus is to run in June 2004. (L’Écho du Rail, #254, February 2004)

3621][FR] Gardanne - Brignoles - Carnoules: (R.1454, 1722; Ball 75B3-76B2) Association Le Train Avenir du Centre Var (train-centre-var@wanadoo.fr) continue their campaign for passenger reopening by again running promotional trains from each end of the line to Brignoles on Sunday 16 May 2004. The promoters say it should be possible to travel from Nice, Toulon and Carnoules to Brignoles and depart to Gardanne and Marseille.

3622][MC][FR] Monaco-Monte Carlo - Monte-Carlo Country-Club (- Menton SNCF - Ventimiglia FS): (Ball 77B3-67B1) Modern Railways for March 2004 said that one track of the Côte d’Azur main line in tunnel beneath Monaco reopened Tuesday 17 February 2004 and that both were open on Saturday 21 February (a few days earlier than reported in R.3599).

3623][NL] (Groningen -) Groningen Noord - Sauwerd (- Delfzijl / Roodeschool / Eemshaven): (R.0135; Ball 2B3) Track-doubling (R.3131) was complete by October 2003, and the December 2003 timetable makes use of the improved capacity.

3624][NL] Rotterdam - Barendrecht - Dordrecht: (R.2284; Ball 3B2) Quadruple-tracking of the classic line near Barendrecht was completed by November 2003, and since the 14 December 2003 timetable-change all four tracks have been in use by passenger trains. (Today’s Railways, #99, March 2004)

3625][NL] Rotterdam trams: From Monday 1 March 2004 city tram line #23 was extended from its old terminus at Feijenoord Stadion over new track via Noorderhelling, Dwarsdijk and Groene Tuin to Groeninx van Zoelenlaan, continuing east and north over the former route of line #20 to terminate at Beverwaard. Line #20 has been cut back to terminate at Reyerdijk/Lombardijen, c.600m east of Lombardijen NS station. Line #2 has taken over the former route of line #20 from Lombardijen to Groeninx van Zoelenlaan and continues north for another 600m, using the new infrastructure of line #23, to terminate at Groene Tuin. Official inauguration of the new-track section was on Wednesday 3 March 2004. A map is at http://www.ret.rotterdam.nl/wijzigingen2004/BusnetIJsselmonde.pdf)

3626][NL] Barneveld aansluiting - Barneveld Noord - Barneveld Centrum - Lunteren - Ede Centrum - Ede-Wageningen: (Ball 4B3-4B2) This north-south link originally ran from Nijkerk on the Amersfoort - Zwolle line to Ede-Wageningen on the Utrecht - Arnhem main line, but in 1937 it was connected to the west-east Amersfoort - Apeldoorn line near Barneveld, and the northern Nijkerk - Barneveld section was abandoned. The double-track electrified Amersfoort - Apeldoorn main line carries four international trains (three to Berlin, one to Hannover) and Intercity trains from the western Netherlands to Deventer and Enschede, but has no stopping services, and at present no intermediate station. From Amersfoort local trains run 16km east to Barneveld junction, then turn south on 27km of single-track electrified line to Ede-Wageningen. In Barneveld and Lunteren the line and stations retain a classic rural railway character, but pass within 200m of shops. Central Ede has several level-crossings, and Ede Centrum’s single platform forms part of a square beside the main shopping street.

Population growth has changed the character of the three villages on the line, and the Amersfoort - Ede- Arnhem corridor now has about 500,000 inhabitants. Previous development proposals had included double-tracking, through Amersfoort - Barneveld - Ede - Arnhem services, faster trains with lighter rolling-stock, and even a branch extending south for c.8km to Wageningen Centrum, but in February 2004 Gelderland province adopted a different strategy. The existing simple halt at Barneveld Noord, in the Harselaar industrial estate just south of the junction, would be replaced by a park-and-ride station on the main line. Barneveld local council plan a hotel and conference-centre there to justify an extra stop by Intercity services from 20