ESTONIA | Railways

[Tin_Can]

Nice! I was just looking for Koidula station photos,but almost all of them were old,taken during construction.

Btw,on Monday (1st August) station starts it's fulfilling it's job as real border station - customs & border crossing paperworks can be done in Koidula now. Before it was done in city of Tartu and this resulted dangerous situations,where trains waiting for border crossing were stopping in the middle of Tartu. Entire station should be completed by September,when x-ray system is fully functional.

Bit more information:
Koidula station is mainly meant for Estonian-Russian freight traffic,but can (and will) also serve passenger trains.
Length of tracks on station territory: 25+ km.
Length of asphalt access roads for cars: 6km
There are 10 tracks in station.
Station size ~100ha.
Can service 40+ freight trains/24h.

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Sry,can't remember exact models (I heard about it long time ago),but afaik,new locomotives were also US made.

Btw,interesting thing about the EVR future - service life for C36 locomotives should end around 2015-2020,considering that they were refurbished in early 2000s and according to EVR, C30's & C36's service life was expected to be >20 years. So,we don't have to wait very long to see new locomotives and this time I'm pretty sure that these will be European made (*looks jealously at Lithuanian railways* )

You do realize who the builder of equipment such as the Class 66 is, right?

Not all EuroEquipment is European in origin. A lot is--but not all.

[Tin_Can]

Yeah,I know. But still,local European manufacturers (such as Siemens) have higher chance of winning any future tenders,as they supply spare parts,perform maintenance etc lot quicker than others.


Anyway,smth more real:

Procurement for feasibility study of Tallinn-Tartu-Riga & Tallinn-St.Petersburg routes.
...International transportation connections development is a sector,which needs attention,to improve Estonian competitiveness. Regular train service could fill that priority especially on St'Petersburg & Riga direction...
...Thus study is ordered to find answers to questions,which would be direct starting expenses and profits of Tallinn-Tartu-Riga & Tallinn-St.Petersburg and on which extent those lines would need government support.
To be more precise,contractor assignment is to:
• give overview of current passenger volumes on Riga & St.Petersburg direction and predict future changes in passenger demand.
• bring out potential travel time on both lines,given the infrastructure developements by 2015 (120km/h on Estonian track sections)
• make suggestions,considering demand & potential travel time,for trains circulation.
• predict potential passenger numbers for both lines
• give overview potential rolling stock types and suggestion for best rolling stock & it's volume and determine it's cost
• carry out separate financial analysis for Tallinn-Riga,Tallinn-St.Petersburg and both lines and determine subsidy need for time period of 2015-2030.
...
Is procurement related to project/program funded by EU funds?
No.
...
Is procurement funded by structural fund?
No. (Tin_Can - I take it that it's EU structural funds)
...
Procurement offers are asked from:
a) Tallinn's Technical University (TTÜ)
b) Rakendusuuringute Keskus CentAR OÜ
c) Anseri-Konsultit OY
d) Ernst & Young Baltic AS
...

Starting assignement
Cost-benefit analysis of opening Tallinn-Tartu-Riga and Tallinn-St.Petersburg lines
International transportation connections are considered as one of top priorities for development in close future,to improve Estonian competitiveness.
In terms of low accessibility to/from Estonia,small number of airline routes are brought out,but in shorter distances (300-500km) it's often better to offer railway connections. Of Estonia's close region cities,Riga & St.Petersburg suitable for railway links because of sufficient demand.
Right now there is only one international railway line through Estonia - Tallinn-Moscow (there is also connection from Valga to Riga). Most of traffic between Tallinn & Riga and Tallinn & St.Petersburg is road traffic,in addition to raod traffic there is growing bus service. Tallinn-St.Petersburg train service was last operational in 2008,on Tallinn-Riga direction service hasn't been for over 10 years. For a long,bad state of infrastructure was prohibiting competitive travel time,thus passengers chose other modes of transportation.
For now,situation has considerably improved,especially in Estonia,where big half of Tallinn-Tartu-Valga and Tallinn-Narva railways are 120km/h. With
Praeguseks on olukord aga märkimisväärselt paranenud, seda eriti Eestis, kus nii Tallinn-Tartu-Valga kui ka Tallinn-Narva raudteetrassil saab suuremas osas sõita kiirusega 120 km/h. With the economic growth phase situation has become favorable for the re-opening rail lines.

Despite that,at the moment there aren't any private companies willing to take risks of reopening railway lines. Thus we are in situation,where St.Petersburg and/or Riga connections ,which in their quality would meet expectations of Estonian citizens,tourists and business travellers,need (atleast in close future) government support for either first time investments (purchase of new rolling stock) or covering running costs.
Because of that,work assignment is to make calculations,which would be direct costs for starting Tallinn-Tartu-Riga and Tallinn-St.Petersburg lines & profits and to what extent government support is needed for running those lines.
...
Assignment 1

To give overview of current railway infrastructure situation on Valga-Riga and Narva-St.Petersburg lines: track situation,completed railway repairs & reconstruction works,set speed limits,capacity & it's use etc.
To give overview of Tallinn-Tartu-Riga and Tallinn-St.Petersburg railway infrastructure repair & reconstruction needs and planned developments within next 5 years.

Assignment 2

To give overview of current volume of international travellers between Tallinn,Tartu & Riga and Tallinn & St.Petersburg,separately bringing out bus,airplane & car users.
Passenger numbers have to be evaluated by bigger regions,where potential stations could be located once the service is operational - in case of Tallinn-Riga line Tallinn,Tapa (connecting station for Rakvere & Ida-Virumaa),Tartu,Valga,Valmiera,Riga. For Tallinn-St.Petersburg line Tallinn,Tapa (connecting station for Tartu & Southern Estonia),Rakvere,Jõhvi,Narva,St.Petersburg.

Predict changes in passenger demand until 2030,given the variables affecting demand for different transportation types (for example - income),population changes and economic growth.

Assignment 3

To bring out estimated travel time for both lines,considering infrastructure developments by 2015 (120km/h on whole route length in Estonia) Depending on demand,choose stations where would be useful to stop.
To show achievable time saving,when in sections top speed would be 160km/h instead of 120km/h (Tallinn-Tapa,Tapa-Tartu,Tartu-Valga,Valga-Valmiera,Valmiera-Riga)
Also,to evaluate time loss brought by stopping in smaller stations (Jõgeva,Elva,Sigulda) in case of different top speeds (120km/h and 160km/h)

Assignment 4

Make suggestions,given the current demand & potential travel times,for train circulation,if onyl Tallinn-Riga line is serviced,only Tallinn-St.Petersburg line is serviced or both lines are serviced.
To bring out the need and possibilities for integrating local train schedules (for transport to Tapa,Valga) Bring out stops,where it would be efficient to stop,considering competing transportation services (especially buses) travel time.

Assignment 5
Predict passenger numbers for both potential railway line in 2015-2030,given most important sections,predicted demand (Assignment 2),travel time (2015),proposed circulation,ticket fees etc.
In case of ticket fees,analyse which would be optimal ticket price,which would maximise profits.
To bring out how many passengers would come over from competing transportation services - separately from airplanes,buses,cars - and how much would be demand for additional transport option.

Assignment 6

To give overview of potentially usable types of roiling stock:
diesel trains,diesel-electric trains; multiple unit,separate locomotive & passenger cars,separate locomotive & passenger cars with drive head etc. Give recommendations which rolling stock would be best for running Tallinn-Riga & Tallinn-St.Petersburg lines.
Give recommendations,which should rolling stock amount - number of trains and capacity. Also,which would be number of needed units,when only Tallinn-Riga line is serviced,only Tallinn-St.Petersburg line is serviced or both lines are serviced. Bring out estimated costs for different rolling stock acquisition.
Recommend comfort levels of trains (which passenger classes,seat parameters & layout,extra services etc) Compare similar lines in service and comfort of rolling stock used on them and services offered.

Assignment 7
Separately run financial analysis for starting Tallinn-Riga, Tallinn-St.Petersburg and both lines and bring out subsidy need for 2015-2030.
Financial analysis must include expenses for starting and operating railway lines,incl. needed investment costs for starting different lines have to be shown,operating costs given most important expenses.
Feasibility study must include profits earned directly from operating lines,separately bringing out ticket profits and other potential profits.

Study is expected to be completed 3 months after contract is signed.

Estonian government is launching study for (re-)opening Tallinn-Tartu-Riga (Estonia<>Latvia) and Tallinn-St.Petersburg (Estonia<>Russia) passenger service. All that text above are procurement terms & work assignments for winning analytics firm,so it gives good insight of what and when it is wanted.
Considering current speed of procurements and time reserved for study (3 months),I believe that by next summer study results should be made public.

Tallinn-Tartu-Riga line was last operational ~15 years ago and was shut down because bad railway conditions made it impossible for trains to maintain reasonable speeds & compete with bus service between those cities.
Over the years tracks have been reconstructed along this line. Right now there are Estonian Edelaraudtee & Latvian Pasažieru Vilciens meeting in border town of Valga,so by switching trains it's possible to travel between Tallinn,Tartu & Riga. Only downside is that those trains are local trains are basically stop at every village (travel time is terrible )
Tallinn-St.Petersburg line has been on & off again for many years. Last service was shut down in 2008,prior to economic crisis,because of dropping passenger numbers.
Line itself was considered to be popular as in addition to locals it allowed for tourists to travel to/from St.Petersburg. St.Petersburg city officials have shown great interest in restoring the line and possibilities for Finnish-Russian style (Sm6 trains between Helsinki & St.Petersburg) service,where border controls are made on-board,could make it very popular line.

[Tin_Can]

Few more photos of Koidula railway border station:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

[Tin_Can]

Shunting locomotives procurement by EVR Cargo has ended and this is the outcome:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

EVR Cargo is buying 16 Chinese DF7G-E shunters.



Eesti Raudtee board of directors confirmed purchase of 16 new DF7G-E diesel-electric shunting locomotives for 30,2 million euros. First locomotive arrives to Estonia in the end of next year,for type testing period. 15 remaining locomotives will be supplied in second quarter of 2013. Although locomotives are produced in China,engines & most of their parts are made in Europe & America.
Locomotive will be produced by Beijing
Feb.7th Railway Transportation Equipment Co., Ltd,which is part of China CNR Corporation Limited.

New shunters will replace old ChME-3 locomotives.

Link to manufacturer website: http://www.chinacnr.com/p349.aspx?Ca...136&ParentID=2

In our region Chinese have previously sold electric locomotives to Belarus.

[greentrainman]

Hi Tin Can
Been watching your photos of Tallinn as well as this thread. While in Estonia recently, I spent a while at Ulemiste on the foot bridge over the freight yard and watched men building the new tracks at the back of the yard. With a rail crane they carried packs of sleepers over to a pile of rails and when they had completed a length of track the crane lifted it onto a wagon. I should think they were making about 5 or 6 a day!!

[Tin_Can]

Originally Posted by greentrainman

Hi Tin Can
Been watching your photos of Tallinn as well as this thread. While in Estonia recently, I spent a while at Ulemiste on the foot bridge over the freight yard and watched men building the new tracks at the back of the yard. With a rail crane they carried packs of sleepers over to a pile of rails and when they had completed a length of track the crane lifted it onto a wagon. I should think they were making about 5 or 6 a day!!

Really? I had no clue that they were assembling them in Ülemiste. I did knew that railway construction companies keep both new and old,salvaged tracks there. In spring I counted about ~15 full cars with assembled tracks in Ülemiste - that's roughly about several good kilometres of new railway tracks. And old tracks are piled next to railyard tracks in huge stacks all the way to city border.
It gives pretty good idea,on how large extent railway reconstructions are currently going on here

[hammersklavier]

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Shunting locomotives procurement by EVR Cargo has ended and this is the outcome:

That bad boy has a road switchery look...I thought Eesti Raudtee was trying to use more EuroEquipment? (You know, like Siemens, Bomby TRAXX, Skoda, Vossloh, etc.)

[Tin_Can]

Originally Posted by hammersklavier

That bad boy has a road switchery look...I thought Eesti Raudtee was trying to use more EuroEquipment? (You know, like Siemens, Bomby TRAXX, Skoda, Vossloh, etc.)

According to Estonian forumers,there wasn't enough time given for procurement by EVR and only Russian & Chinese companies managed to enter tender,that's why results are so odd. GM asked for more time before they could have made their offer,but was turned down European producers probably didn't even notice the tender before it was already over.
Cause of this rushing were new EU CO2 regulations for locomotives which will be implemented in next year. It would give >25% increase of prices for locomotives,which don't comply with those regulations and are produced 2012 onwards. In this case they probably hope that Chinese manage to produce cheap locomotives really fast (in another words - in this year)
The deal hasn't been approved by government yet,so maybe smth might change. In fact there are many odd things about this tender - Chinese won on second voting,only after EVR had replaced their board of directors & CEO...previous board of directors voted against purchase of Chinese locomotives! Makes you wonder why they're pushing so desperately for those Chinese locomotives...

[greentrainman]

Hi Tin Can
Regarding the track building at Ulemiste, I took some photos and when I have worked out how to post them, I shall do so

[Tin_Can]

Originally Posted by greentrainman

Hi Tin Can
Regarding the track building at Ulemiste, I took some photos and when I have worked out how to post them, I shall do so

That would be great! You should check out this first > http://www.skyscrapercity.com/forumdisplay.php?f=25, it gives extensive overview how to post photos & link various stuff to forum and has testing section etc.

[Tin_Can]

Small update:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Photo update of track repairs in Tallinn's central train station. Two tracks are completed and two are U/C. New tracks are weird...looks like EVR Infra has been scavenging their old salvaged tracks and is using them for construction. Normally it wouldn't matter much,as long as tracks are in good condition,but in case of central train station is there really a point of laying used tracks? It's not like they can rebuild tracks every years there. It would make sense to use new tracks,to extend the time between current & next reconstruction as long as possible.
Oh,and track switches have wooden sleepers. Does that give smoother ride for trains? What's the benefits of using wooden sleepers over concrete ones in track switches? Don't those have very high wear?


Btw,I've heard from inside sources that EVR Infra is up to two weeks behind schedule with their works in central train station. I hope they manage to pick up the pace,otherwise those works continue all the way into winter



Brand new signage lights post.






You can see sections with wooden sleepers here.




Anyway,trains do move lot smoother there and make less noise. I haven't used electric trains lately,so I can't tell how much it has improved ride quality,but I think the difference is huge.

[Hasper]

New tracks are weird...looks like EVR Infra has been scavenging their old salvaged tracks and is using them for construction. Normally it wouldn't matter much,as long as tracks are in good condition,but in case of central train station is there really a point of laying used tracks?

Is there really a point of laying new tracks? Speeds are low, loads are low. So everything is fine. It is quite common thing, when they use old main line tracks on stations.

Oh,and track switches have wooden sleepers. Does that give smoother ride for trains? What's the benefits of using wooden sleepers over concrete ones in track switches? Don't those have very high wear?

It is cheaper and easier to build. And cheaper to maintain. And as it is a passenger only station, it won't wear off so quickly.

[Tin_Can]

Well,we'll see what they will use on Southern end of tracks leading to central train station. Some track switches there lead to Kopli freight station and face heavy traffic. They might use concrete sleepers for track swithces there.


Small update of things going on in Tallinn:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Photo update of track repairs in Tallinn's central train station. Not much has happened in past week,apart from new track ballast being placed. Only interesting change are few new posts of overhead wires. This means that to some extent track layout has already been altered in central station

You can see new ones here (old ones have weathered dark colour)


Photo update of Ülemiste station platforms reconstruction works. Afaik,trains should already stop at new platform on direction heading to city and last remaining bits of old platform will be demolished shortly. Here's how it looked yesterday:



Deadlines on this banner are hopelessly outdated. I think it's more reasonable to assume that Ülemiste station platforms will be completed by winter and pedestrian tunnel by next summer.

[Tin_Can]

Update from yesterday:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Photo update of track repairs in Tallinn's central train station. Old track next to central train station has been removed and new track bed has been laid. New tracks will be probably laid within this week and this leaves only two more tracks to go (I doubt that those few tracks behind EVR building will be replaced - those are rarely used) in Tallinn's central train station + replacing track switches at tracks leading to central train station & Kopli freight station.

[Tin_Can]

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Port Of Sillamäe has bought TEM TMX locomotive.

Port of Sillamäe has bought Lithuanian made TEM TMX shunting locomotive and has become the first foreign company to do that. Sillamäe port is also negotiating an option of buying second TEM TMX shunter. Port's CEO said that they considered several options,but finally chose Lithuanian made locomotive,as it had best price/quality ratio.

Sillamäe TEM TMX is high powered shunter with 1550 kW Caterpillar engine (slightly more powerful than Lietuvos Geležinkeliai TEM TMX's)
It's is able to pull 7,000 tons.
Cost of shunter: 1,9 million euros

TEM TMX locomotive is joint production of Vilnius Locomotive Repair Depot (Lithuania),CZ Loko (Czech) and Transmasholding (Russia)

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Few photos of Port of Sillamäe TEM TMX:

Exterior


Interior

TEM TMX (also called TEM TMH) is Lithuanian produced shunting locomotive. Co-designed by CZ Loko and Transmasholding (who also produces parts for shunters and is owner of Lithuanian production facility) Afaik,15 have been produced so far - 14 are used by Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) and 1 by Port of Sillamäe. Lithuanian shunters are powered by 1455kW Caterpillar engine (CAT 3512 B),while Estonian one is powered by 1550kW Caterpillar engine (CAT3512C).

[Rebasepoiss]

2 very nice videos of Estonian railways:

Pechory-Tartu line, Orava-Tartu section. 05.2011


Narva-Tallinn line, Püssi-Tallinn section. 10.2011

[Tin_Can]

Few fresh photos,taken yesterday:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Photo update of Ülemiste station platforms reconstruction works. Yay,they have moved the new platform on direction exiting the city next to pedestrian bridge! There's a faint hope,that they will build new stairs from pedestrian bridge to new platform.









+ small bonus showing how messy and obscure life has become because of all those reconstruction works. Okay,ordinary electric train picking up passengers,you might think...


...except this isn't Aegviidu-Tallinn train,but Tallinn-Aegviidu train (if you don't believe me,then check the train lights) If you don't get the odd situation - electric train going to Aegviidu is on the "wrong side" and has stopped next to station platform on direction heading to city.

[Tin_Can]

EVR Infra AS Tallinna Päästerong (Tallinn's railway rescue train)

Click on the photo for larger view.

[Tin_Can]

Few photos of Ülemiste freight yard in Tallinn.



Click on the photo for larger view.


Click on the photo for larger view.


Future of our railways,if you will.