Diesel locomotives for cross-border trains in Europe

摘要

Anyone taking a look at the situation prevailing in the cross-border transport of freight by road will find themselves inevitably asking the following questions: * Why is it that a lorry that has been given a national approval in one country is allowed to run throughout Europe without any restrictions (apart from a very limited number of exceptions)? * Why is it that a lorry with a right-hand drive is allowed to run in countries that drive on the right without the mandatory requirement for a driver's mate? * Why is there no requirement for foreign lorry drivers to master the national languages of all the countries they drive through? * Why is it that a lorry only needs one set of headlights that it can use throughout Europe? If we manage to answer these questions honestly and to transpose the replies to the operation of a railway, we shall then have the key to overcoming the railway's barriers in our hand. The harmonization of the European railways has become bogged down on account of traditional, national interests. European rail freight is still a long, long way away from true interoperability. But there is light at the end of the tunnel! By exploiting the experience gained in drawing up the Technical Specification for the Interoperability of high-speed railways, work is now starting on the specification for the interoperability of trains on the conventional railway network. The areas this work is concentrating on are, in particular: * harmonization of railway safety, * creating the best-possible specifications for interoperability, * the proper functioning of the Railway Agency as a conflict-resolution body for differences in opinion between the national authorities, * the European Union's accession to OTIF (the Intergovernmental Organization for International Carriage By Rail). The companies that are members of the VDB (German Railway Suppliers Organization) are already working with complete commitment today, leveraging their experience and their accumulated know-how, in the interests of European interoperability in railway transport, with the intention of attaining the goals described above.