ESTONIA | Railways

[Tin_Can]

Elektriraudtee has released new renders.

Diesel Stadler Flirt in central train station.
image hosted on flickr


Diesel train interior.
image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


Diesel train exterior.
image hosted on flickr


And yes,that's a diesel train run by our electric railways (STFU Edelaraudtee!)

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr


Full gallery (includes new layout plans,check it out!): http://www.flickr.com/photos/elektri...57624526624551

[Rebasepoiss]

Worth mentioning here as well.

Originally Posted by Rebasepoiss

Another 2 nice videos by the same user:
Rapla-Tallinn


Viljandi-Türi before repairs (2010)

[Dakkus]

Why is it, actually, that Elektriraudtee is operating also diesel services? What will happen to Edelaraudtee? Did it somehow want to give up the operation or did somebody want to get rid of Edelaraudtee?

[Tin_Can]

Originally Posted by Dakkus

Why is it, actually, that Elektriraudtee is operating also diesel services? What will happen to Edelaraudtee? Did it somehow want to give up the operation or did somebody want to get rid of Edelaraudtee?

Yeah,there's some dissatisfaction about Edelaraudtee service,on both public & government levels. There's an opinion,that Edelaraudtee is a money leeching private company who doesn't care about improving their service. Unfortunately it's true - company receives enough profits to run most of their lines WITHOUT subsidies,but their still demand more money from government. Not to mention their poor service schedules and rolling stock (ancient RVR DR1A's,which often break down)...

I guess government saw opportunity to move regional railway service to more reliable company - Elektriraudtee is government owned (unlike Edelaraudtee,which is private company).

There's a lot uncertainty what will happen in next few years when new DMU's arrive - Edelaraudtee could be nationalized and merged with Elektriraudtee or it could continue as private company,which only operates lines owned by themselves (Tallinn-Pärnu & Lelle-Viljandi) or they will rent new trains from Elektriraudtee and improve their operations under strict government supervision.

[Tin_Can]

Taken yesterday:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Photo update of Ülemiste station reconstruction works. Deadline is in December and looks like there won't be any delays (although it's suspicious if works will be completed before Xmas),as pedestrian tunnel & platforms are almost finished now. Btw,if you take a good look at the last photo,then you'll also notice new fences on the right side of the tracks. So by now railways between Smuuli bridge & Ülemiste junction are all fenced,which definitely helps to improve safety.

[Tin_Can]

Video of MEV-1 electric shunter in action in Pääsküla depot.

Video by Youtube user 2M62. ©

[Pro rail baltica]

..Speaking of electric trains.. Has there been any discussion about AC electifying Estorian railways?

For example Belarus is AC electrifying their east-west and north-south rail infra even at this very moment. Financing is done by Chianese investments.

http://translate.google.fi/translate...%26start%3D700


..Why Estonia could not repeat what Belarus is doing??

[Tin_Can]

Despite extensive reconstruction works currently ongoing at Western half of electric railways,there isn't much point of changing 3 kV DC at the moment as entire Estonian electric railway network is separated from neighbouring countries and is relatively small.

Maybe 5-10 years from now on it will be considered,once Rail Baltica and proposed electrification of Tallinn-St.Petersburg line reach planning phases...

[XAN_]

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Maybe 5-10 years from now on it will be considered,once Rail Baltica and proposed electrification of Tallinn-St.Petersburg line reach planning phases...

But October Railway (the one in St. Peterburg) is 3000 V DC, as well as Latvia... So the appearance of AC electrification in Estonia are highly unlikely, unless as part of some great project of 1435 railway or something...

Originally Posted by Pro rail baltica

..Why Estonia could not repeat what Belarus is doing??

Well, Belarus already have extensive network of AC electrification, used not only for suburban trains, but also for freight and intercity\euronight trains. Extending of existing network is easier and cheaper, and also Belarus neighbours - Lithuania, South-West railway and Moscow railway are also AC-electrified.

[Tin_Can]

First Estonian Stadler Flirt EMU is taking shape in Stadler Rail's Hungarian production plant.

[Pro rail baltica]

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

once Rail Baltica and proposed electrification of Tallinn-St.Petersburg line reach planning phases...

Could you please share some links related into this plan?

[Tin_Can]

Originally Posted by Pro rail baltica

Could you please share some links related into this plan?

It's not a solid plan,it's just a wild rumour from newpapers:

Originally Posted by Tin_Can

Entire Tallinn-St.Petersburg line could be electrified by 2018.

Russia plans to electrify section between Jaanilinn/Ivangorod and St.Petersburg by 2015. As Russia needs all possible routes to accommodate passenger flow of 2018 FIFA World Cup visitors,there's a tiny chance that Estonia will electrify Aegviidu-Narva section,which in turn will increase top speeds on that route.

Kaido Simmermann,Eesti Raudtee CEO:

Sources: http://sport.err.ee/jalgpall/480943c...6-af6447f26321
http://www.epl.ee/news/eesti/jalgpal....d?id=63758574

[Tin_Can]

Photo update of recently completed Ülemiste station in Tallinn.

Entrance on Ülemiste road.


Pedestrian tunnel. Those grooves on the right are probably meant for advertising billboards. Tunnel and the station itself is very solidly built and vandalism proof,but I'm afraid that sooner or later tunnel gets covered with graffiti






Last remaining old platform has been demolished and currently workers are doing site clean-up.




Entrance on Suur-Sõjamäe street.








+ small bonus - Eesti Raudtee's hyrail maintenance truck. Oh and you can see new fences behind it. As I mentioned before,entire railway between Smuuli viaduct and Ülemiste junction has been fenced off.

[Tin_Can]

First Stadler Flirt wagon,meant for Estonia, has been painted to new Elektriraudtee livery and is ready for assembly.

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[Tin_Can]

Private company plans to buy Stadler trains which will be used on Tallinn-St.Petersburg line.

Estonian bus company Lux Express announced today that they plan to enter railway market and are going to buy two new trains from Stadler Rail. Trains will be used on Tallinn-St.Petersburg line. Decision was made because of very high passenger numbers on Lux Express bus routes between two cities.

Line will become operational in first half of 2015.

[Dakkus]

Originally Posted by Stainless

I don't think train ferries will be that useful along this route. As the ferry goes direct from Tallinn to Helsinki there is little point in carrying a train across the sea for the few km to central Helsinki. The current ferries are very popular with locals of both cities. In comparison the crossing on the route to Copenhagen is a long distance from any city on either side so it makes loading the train convenient. Also Finland has a different gauge, that train offloads cargo onto a short standard gauge section in Turku for transfer onto Finnish gauge. This short section is refered to as 'little Sweden'.

Finland isn't only Helsinki, nor is Estonia only Tallinn. And then there's this place called "Europe"
If there is no train connection, a trip from Tampere to Riga will look like this:
Take a train to Helsinki (2h), interrupt what you were doing and leave the train, then walk 200 m to tram with a lot of luggage. Take the tram number 9 to the west harbour, line in the queue and do the check-in for the ship. Wait for one hour until it's 20 minutes to your ship's departure, then board the ship. Boarding the ship of course includes hauling your luggage another couple hundred meters. Find a nice place for your luggage, find something to do for two hours until your ship arrives to Tallinn. In Tallinn leave the ship (walking once again some 200 m) and then either walk further 700 m to the tram stop and take the tram for two stops to get to the Tallinn train station or alternatively, haul your luggage on foot all the 1,3 km to the station so that you don't need to worry about buying the tram ticket. Wait until the train's departure time, board the train, you are at last in the train that brings you to your destination!

When the train connection exists, this is what you do:
You board the train in Tampere, you continue to Tallinn, either changing trains in Tallinn or continuing further with the same train.

This gets even more important if flying becomes so expensive that train is the only feasible way for anybody else than businessmen for traveling to Europe...

Also, extending the Lapland-Helsinki night trains to Estonia would make a lot of sense, as well, because such trains could reach Tallinn before noon and be at a reasonable time in Tartu. And how about having a night train begin in Oulu a bit after 16, pass Tampere at 22 and the Vuosaari harbour in the eastern end of the Helsinki metro line a bit before midnight, arrive by ship to Tallinn a bit after three in the night and continue through the Baltics, being in Kaunas around 8:30 and in Warsaw at 11:30. Even continuing further south to Krakow (arrival at 15) could make sense, as would leaving a few sleeper cars to the Riga train station to wait for morning, like they do in Stockholm. This has been calculated with an average speed of 100 km/h which seems to be how fast the intercity train from Oulu to Helsinki runs. All such connections are impossible without a train connection from Finland to Estonia.

The funny thing is, when Rail Baltica gets connected to Finland, they will probably have to introduce gauge switching, because Finland has too much passenger traffic for converting routes to 1435 mm and too little inhabitants to build dedicated high speed tracks in 1435 mm as was done in Spain. At that point it will suddenly become clear to everyone, why building the tracks 1435 mm all the way to Tallinn was a very stupid idea. Once you have gauge-switching trains, routes like Vilnius-Tartu or Warsaw-Riga-St. Petersburg will suddenly make a lot more sense than earlier. And then there will be a need for gauge switching equipment here and there instead of having just one at the Lithuanian-Polish border... And, did I already mention that gauge switchers don't really like ice and snow all that much, so they should be located as south as possible?

[Rebasepoiss]

The reason why Rail Baltic will be 1435mm is because the chance of Tallinn-Helsinki tunnel being built is close to zero. To build RB 1520/24 mm just in case the Finns might some day use it is nonsense. It's a lot more logical for us to have it 1435mm.

[Tin_Can]

More bits & pieces of our first new Stadler DMU.



enging block (btw,it should show how easily accessible engines will be)

[Tin_Can]

Catenary reconstruction works on Western direction railways. Out of curiosity I visited Klooga area today to see how works have progressed. Klooga-Rand section is really impressive. Elektrizace železnic Praha a.s. has done outstanding work

Klooga station. Fairly modern look


Klooga station has mixed catenary at the moment - you can see old posts still standing and new ones have been also installed. It's understandable,why old posts haven't been removed - half the station is full of removed old caternary posts and even when I was there,excavator was chopping them up.








Right branch (which we are taking) heads to Klooga-Rand,while the left heads to Paldiski. Works are currently going on on latter section.


Caternary works on Western direction - Keila-Klooga-Paldiski,Keila-Riisipere & Tallinn-Keila railways will end in summer 2013.
Railway reconstruction on same railways should begin in next month. Once it's complete,entire Western direction will have 160km/h maximum speeds.

[Tin_Can]

Catenary reconstruction works on Western direction railways.

Klooga - Klooga-Rand railway.








Klooga-Rand station.


Well,that's all.


Caternary works on Western direction - Keila-Klooga-Paldiski,Keila-Riisipere & Tallinn-Keila railways will end in summer 2013.
Railway reconstruction on same railways should begin in next month. Once it's complete,entire Western direction will have 160km/h maximum speeds.