Railroad completely reorganizes its construction plans
During the European Football Championship, construction work has made train travel difficult for passengers. A new concept is intended to bring more reliability: Construction work is now only allowed to take place in specified time windows. Whether this will work, will be shown at the Riedbahn.
The German Railways aim to organize the numerous construction works on the overloaded rail network in a different way and bundle them. The schedule is intended to be made more reliable by the corporation. "We will continue to build at this high level, so we now have to fundamentally change our approach," said Philipp Nagl, CEO of the new railway infrastructure subsidiary InfraGo. "The biggest burden for train passengers and freight transport companies are the constantly changing schedules due to the endless number of small-scale measures." This will change with the new principle. "We simplify the complex process of running and building."
In order to stem the decay of the aging network at many locations, more construction work has become necessary in recent years. These regularly disrupt the passenger and freight traffic and lead to train failures and delays. Construction work is reported to InfraGo as they occur, and then a possible time window is made available, after which the schedule must be adjusted.
Since this often happens quite suddenly for smaller works, uncertainty and little reliability arise among passengers. Not all necessary construction works are carried out in one go, but are spread over months or even years. This leads to constant restrictions on the same track and confusion and frustration among customers.
Building in the future
The railways aim to organize building differently in the future. For both large investment projects and small maintenance works, regular time windows, so-called containers, should be established. Construction works must then be carried out within these time corridors. For smaller maintenance works, such as signal checks or point inspections, these time windows could occur in a weekly or even monthly rhythm. For large projects, the railways plan longer, but fixed time periods per year.
The advantage: The railway no longer needs to change the schedule due to short-term construction works. Anyone who wants to build must use one of the fixed time windows. The schedule can be set up early around these corridors. "Through the new principle, the medium-term requirement for schedule adjustments that we have in the course of the year is halved," emphasized Nagl. In addition, the individual trades must coordinate better and bundle construction works. This means: After construction work has been carried out on a section according to the new rules, it must be left idle for a certain time.
Riedbahn closed for five months
The railways plan to organize building differently in the future. For both large investment projects and small maintenance works, regular time windows, so-called containers, should be established. Construction works must then be carried out within these time corridors. For smaller maintenance works, such as signal checks or point inspections, these time windows could occur in a weekly or even monthly rhythm. For large projects, the railways plan longer, but fixed time periods per year.
The advantage: The railway no longer needs to change the schedule due to short-term construction works. Anyone who wants to build must use one of the fixed time windows. The schedule can be set up early around these corridors. "Through the new principle, the medium-term requirement for schedule adjustments that we have in the course of the year is halved," emphasized Nagl. In addition, the individual trades must coordinate better and bundle construction works. This means: After construction work has been carried out on a section according to the new rules, it must be left idle for a certain time.
The Riedbahn will be closed for five months for major modernization work. The schedule will be adjusted accordingly. Passengers are advised to plan their journeys accordingly.
At large construction projects, it can indeed take five to seven years before construction is allowed to resume there, Nagl emphasized. "The shorter or longer the construction window, the shorter or longer the subsequent construction-free period." This is intended to ensure that all necessary work is completed within a single phase of closure. The new model is expected to be implemented for smaller projects starting from mid-July. For major investments, the company plans to adapt its approach by no later than 2027.
The initiation for the new concept were the plans for the Riedbahn, InfraGo's CEO continued. The stretch between Frankfurt and Mannheim is the first of a total of 40 highly frequented railway corridors that are to be fully closed and then extensively renovated over several months in the coming years.
Just as in this case, all necessary construction work must be completed during the full closure period. "We have noticed how much coordination is possible," Nagl emphasized. Construction work on the Riedbahn begins on this Monday. The line will then be closed for five months. Here it will be shown whether the new construction concept of the railway really works.
The German Railways are investing in infrastructure to improve reliability, focusing on organized construction work in time windows. This will reduce the impact of frequent small-scale measures on train traffic and schedules.
Under this new approach, major modernization work on the Riedbahn is scheduled for a five-month closure to allow for extensive renovations and coordinated construction, demonstrating the effectiveness of this new construction concept.
