It is the first of 41 gigantic railway modernization projects. There have been no trains running on the Riedbahn route since mid-July due to construction work. The railway confirms the schedule.
Around 100 days after the start of the general renovation of the Riedbahn, the railway is still on schedule and has started installing new technology for electronic signal boxes. The laying of the tracks on the important route between Frankfurt and Mannheim is almost complete, the phase of the large machines is coming to an end, said DB infrastructure boss Berthold Huber in Gernsheim in southern Hesse.
Lots of challenges during construction
Huber assumes that the schedule will be adhered to by December 14th and that the route will be reopened before the timetable change. “Not everything goes the way you imagine every day,” and sometimes quick decisions have to be made. Nevertheless, we are on schedule. You’ve never built anything so compressed. “It’s like climbing a mountain for the first time.” However, the experiences are important for the other planned general renovations.
Rail transport should become more reliable
The Riedbahn is the first of 41 heavily used rail corridors that are to be comprehensively renovated and modernized in the coming years. It is a building block to make rail transport significantly more reliable again in the future. A main reason for the numerous delays, especially in long-distance transport, is the dilapidated state of the railway infrastructure in Germany. The costs for the Riedbahn renovation are expected to amount to around 1.3 billion euros. According to Huber, the Riedbahn was chosen as a pilot because it is essentially a centerpiece.
The extent of the construction project in a hurry
According to Huber, 104 kilometers of track and a million meters of cable have been laid so far and 361 overhead line pylons have been replaced. According to the Siemens project manager, Guido Rumpel, eight signal boxes will be equipped with over 600 signals, around 330 point drives, 880 digital counting points and over 3,500 tracking devices. The signal boxes and a large part of the signals and point drives have been installed, the signal box software is in the release phase. At the same time, conventional signaling technology was also installed because not all trains can communicate with modern technology. At some point all signal lights will disappear and all trains will then be controlled using modern technology.
Risks to the schedule
The project manager for the general renovation, Julian Fassing, sees the weather as the biggest risk factor for the planned completion. And then everything has to be removed. The question is: “Is the right element in the right place and doing the right thing?”
Source: Stern
