Euro Gunzel

How do trains change to daylight savings time?

Posted on April 11, 2019 by Marcus Wong

Timekeeping is something that railways take seriously – but what happens to trains when the clocks changes from ‘normal’ time to daylight savings, and an hour is either lost or gained?

Germany

Deutsche Bahn cancel trains due to run in the ‘missing’ hour, while overnight trains just keep on running.

From Spiegel Online, via Google Translate.

Time change at the train
Daylight saving time starts on the night of Sunday. A railway spokesman explains how the 12,000 station clocks are changed – and why suburban trains are cancelled.
Spiegel Online: Would Deutsche Bahn like to abolish the time change?
Stauß: We have arranged ourselves well with that. They have been around for many years – it’s been routine for us for a long time. The total of 12,000 station clocks are already centrally controlled, and the conversion works flawlessly.
Spiegel Online: But trains do not get a problem when the night is suddenly one hour shorter than on Saturday?
Stauß: For the trains that drive this night, we have to take that into account in the timetable. This works well, and the costs are limited.
Spiegel Online: Do not the trains have any delay?
Stauß: The impact on customers is very low because there are hardly any passenger trains in the middle of the night. The night trains usually have longer stays anyway, so-called travel times buffers that they use that night. Some commuter trains are also missing. The S-Bahn, for example, scheduled to start at 2.15 clock, just does not drive, because the hour at night, yes, does not exist.
Spiegel Online: And what about freight trains?
Stauß: In fact, they drive a lot at night, but here too the time change is unproblematic. On the one hand because of the time buffers in the timetables, on the other hand, because a possible later arrival of the goods at the customer on a non-working Sunday is usually not as serious as on a working day.

France

The same thing happens for French rail operator SNCF (via Google Translate).

At the start of summer time, the night Intercités roll and try to recover a few minutes on their schedule to get closer to the theoretical time but will arrive late at the arrival station.
At the end of winter time, the Intercités at night stop at a station between 2 and 3 am and arrive at the scheduled time at their destination station.

Netherlands

Dutch railfan website Treinenweb explains how Nederlandse Spoorwegen deals with the change.

The railways and the summer and winter time
In the night of last Saturday on Sunday, summer time started again and we were allowed to move the clock one hour forward. A pressing question that we regularly hear is: How do the night trains run during these time differences in summer and winter? And what does the station clock do? We have sorted it out ….
Summer time
As soon as daylight saving time starts and the clock moves forward by an hour, the train will be canceled from 2:04 AM as an example, because after 1:59 AM the clock will automatically advance to 3:00 AM. In this case nothing special changes to the train number.
Winter time
In the night when the summer time goes to winter time, there is therefore an extra hour, and so two trains run at the same time, but then at the moment that the summer time passes to the winter time. An extra train is then simply inserted. This then departs at 2.04 a.m. and in the new time difference an hour later also at 2:04 a.m.

Russia

But for the Trans Siberian things get really complicated.

As explained by The Man in Seat 61:

Russian trains used to run to Moscow time whilst in Russia, even if local time was 7 hours ahead of Moscow. However, but RZD Russian Railways ended this century-old practice from August 2018 and now use local time in all their timetables and booking systems.
Fun with time zones…
Russia made Daylight Saving Time (DST) permanent in 2011 making Moscow GMT+4 all year round but in 2014 they changed their minds and abolished it altogether, so Moscow is now GMT+3 all year round. So China is now permanently 5 hours ahead of Moscow as they too have no DST. Mongolia was also permanently 5 hours ahead of Moscow and on the same time as Beijing, until the Mongolians changed their minds and reintroduced DST in March 2015 making them GMT+8 (Moscow +5, Beijing+0) in winter but GMT+9 (Moscow+6, Beijing+1) in summer. But in 2017 they’ve changed their minds again and have once more abolished DST so Mongolia is now GMT+8 or Moscow time +5 all year round.
Until someone changes their mind again, of course.

Clear as mud?

Simpler times ahead?

The European Union is set to abandon daylight saving time in 2021 – with Feargus O’Sullivan from CityLab explaining why:

After years of discussion, members of the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly in March 2019 to abolish the practice of turning the clocks forward and back by one hour each spring and autumn.
While this is a significant pronouncement for a parliament that doesn’t get much coverage, the real force behind the decision lies elsewhere—not just in Europe’s national governments, but specifically in their transportation ministers.
In a largely borderless union where many airports, some major railway stations, and even a few public transit systems serve more than one country, the potential for transit chaos from mismatching clocks is substantial.
“It would make no sense if Germany or Hungary and Italy and Austria had different time systems,” said Austrian Transport Minister Norbert Hofer to newspaper Die Welt.

And elsewhere in the world

In America Amtrak trains do the same ‘wait an hour’ trick when daylight savings time ends.

Fall and spring time changes
Amtrak operates according to prevailing local time, either standard time or daylight saving time. At the spring time change (second Sunday in March), Amtrak trains travelling overnight will become one hour late and will attempt to make up the time. At the fall time change (first Sunday in November), Amtrak trains travelling overnight will normally hold at the next station after the time change then depart on time. Arizona does not observe daylight saving time. Please observe footnotes in schedules for trains serving Arizona to determine your departure or arrival time.

While in Australia interstate rail operator NSW TrainLink just keeps running their trains on NSW time when they cross the border into Queensland, a state that doesn’t observe daylight savings time.

Posted in Trains | Tagged America, Amtrak, Australia, Deutsche Bahn, France, Germany, Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Netherlands, rail operations, Russia, Russian Railways, SNCF | Leave a comment

Moscow’s deepest metro station at Park Pobedy

Posted on March 28, 2019 by Marcus Wong

The Moscow Metro is known for deep stations, but Парк Победы (Park Pobedy) is the winner – at 73 metres underground it is the deepest station in the city, and third deepest in the world by mean depth.

Underground there are two separate island platforms.

With mirrored colour schemes.

Linked by a staircase over the central set of tracks.

Intended to provide cross platform interchange to passengers, at the time of my visit one half of each island platform was blocked off.

But these tracks are now in use, following the extension of the Kalininsko–Solntsevskaya line in 31 January 2014.

And the escalators

As you might expect for a deep station.

It’s a long escalator ride to the top.

But that isn’t all – once you reach the top, a second much smaller escalator takes you the final leg to the ticket gates.

So how many steps are there?

Each step is numbered, and I spotted step #687 on my visit.

But Wikipedia gives a different figure.

It also contains the longest escalators in Europe, each one is 126 metres (413 ft) long and has 740 steps.

I’m confused!

And more debate

The Wikipedia talk page for Park Pobedy opens up another can of worms:

Please, read, what I wrote in Russian Wikipedia. I found a mistake, which is coping from one newspaper to another. We don’t know, who and how counted the depth as 84 meters, but it’s completely incorrect information.
I found 3 reliable sources, which showed that the main escalator is shorter than 65 meters (one is the sources says it’s 63,4 meters, and it looks like a correct information). Then I found reliable source with information about a small escalator and an elevator. Everybody can use his own eyes and even a ruler to check the information (there are stairs near from the escalator and elevator). If you add the dimensions up, you will get 63.4 + 3.6 + 4.98 = 71.98 meters. It’s a real depth of the platform of the station near the exit.
The rail head is 1.1 meters below the platform (it’s a standard), the surface above the station is almost flat, so the real depth of the station (depth of real head on the center of the station) is about 73 meters.

With Russian language Wikipedia giving the following:

Official sources quote different depth for the station: 74 meters, 80 meters, 84 meters, 90 meters. However the sum of the heights of the platform, the slopes of the escalators and the staircases of the lobby does not match these figures.
According to the data published by the metro escalator service, the height of the main escalator is 63.4 meters, and the height of the small escalator in the lobby is 3.6 meters. The turnstile vestibule is connected to the surface by a staircase and an elevator with a height of 4.94 meters. The height of the passenger platform from the level of rail heads is 1.1 meters.
Thus, the depth of the station is 73 meters, as detailed on the Moscow City Planning Policy Department website.

Sorted?

And another escalator titbit

Something I noticed at Park Pobedy was the long stretch of horizontal steps before the escalator commenced the descent.

Kone Escalators explains the purpose of these flat steps:

Horizontal (level) steps are required at each landing of an escalator to enable passengers to safely board and disembark the moving step band. They allow passengers to steady themselves and position their feet correctly on the steps before reaching the transition curve into the inclined section. When disembarking, horizontal steps allow passengers to safely step off the moving step before their feet touch the combs

As well as the minimum number of flat steps needed:

The minimum number of horizontal steps at each landing under EN 115-1 is two, for vertical rises up to 6000 mm and step speed below 0.5 m/s.
For greater rises and step band speeds up to 0.65 m/s, three horizontal steps (1200 mm) at each landing are required.
Escalators with a step band speed in excess of 0.65 m/s require a minimum of four horizontal steps (1600 mm) at each landing.

With research suggesting more flat steps results in fewer falls:

It is believed that the number of flat steps at the upper and lower landings has an effect on the risk of falls. They provide the passenger with time to adjust his/her stance prior to the steps forming. The European escalator standard, EN115, requires two flat steps at each landing (three steps where the rise is more than 6 m). Public service escalators are specified with five steps at the upper landing and four steps at the lower landing.

Which makes me I wonder how many other deep metro stations have similar escalators.

Posted in Trains | Tagged escalators, metros, Moscow, Moscow Metro, Russia | Leave a comment

Kiev or Kyiv – what to call the Ukrainian capital

Posted on March 14, 2019 by Marcus Wong

During my 2012 trip to Europe the only reason I had for visiting Kiev was to visit Chernobyl, but I ended up loving the city so much I was sad to leave it so soon. But one thing I never realised was the politics behind the name of the city, and Ukraine itself.

Is the city called Kiev or Kyiv? Adam Taylor explains in this piece at Business Insider:

You see, from almost the very moment we began writing about Ukraine and the EuroMaidan protests, Ukrainians have been politely e-mailing us, asking us to not write Kiev, but to write Kyiv instead. “Here we say ‘Kyiv’ not ‘Kiev,’” Taras Ilkiv, a Ukrainian journalist who recently wrote an article for Business Insider on the protests, explained in an email, “because ‘Kiev’ is the Russian word.” It’s simple: in Ukrainian, the word for the city is Київ, while in Russian, it reads as Киев.
Transliteration is always a bit of a strange thing, but it’s especially complicated in Ukraine, where roughly one sixth of the population is ethnic Russian, speaking Russian, and another sixth are ethnic Ukrainian, but speak Russian too. Given a history of Russian domination, both during the Soviet period and before, it’s understandable that language has become a big issue in the country.

Which leads to another contentious name – why Ukraine isn’t ‘The Ukraine’. Again Adam Taylor explains:

Chances are if you find yourself talking about the ongoing protests in Kyiv, you’ll slip up and refer to the country in which Kyiv is situated as “the Ukraine.”
It’s an understandable mistake, perhaps — until its independence in 1991, when Ukrainian leaders formally asked the world to drop the “the” and just refer to their country as “Ukraine,” “the Ukraine” was commonly used in English. And many people still default to it — but, to be blunt, it’s totally wrong.
But why did we come to refer to Ukraine as “the Ukraine” in the first place? While there are examples of country names that are preceded by “the,” this is usually only done when the country name refers to a group or a type of political organization — for example, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands.
Ukraine does not fit into this group.
It may seem like a minor detail, but many people are angered by the addition of “the” to Ukraine, arguing that it is being used to help sideline Ukrainian statehood.

You learn something every day – and I’ve got a lot of “the Ukraine” references to remove!

Posted in Everyday life | Tagged Kiev, language, Russia, statehood, Ukraine | Leave a comment

Russian level crossings bite back!

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Marcus Wong

As I travelled across Russia by train there was an interesting feature at every level crossing we passed through – massive steel plates that lifted out of the roadway, preventing cars from driving around the boom gates.

Some level crossings also had a gatehouse located alongside.

With a gatekeeper on duty.

Ready to wave ‘all clear’ to the train as it passed by.

But even steel plates aren’t enough of a deterrent to some motorists who want to race across the tracks.

And unfortunately they wont protect you if the level crossing suffers a ‘wrong side’ failure, and doesn’t trigger for an approaching train.

Level crossing in Russia. pic.twitter.com/CuK3XFbRpa
— Russian Dash Cams (@CamsRussian) February 5, 2018

Posted in Trains | Tagged level crossings, Russia, Russian Railways | Leave a comment

How the TGV has shrunk France

Posted on February 14, 2019 by Marcus Wong

Here is an interesting find – graphs comparing the reductions in travel time to cities across France, thanks to the introduction of the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) high-speed rail network.

Photo by Didier Duforest, via Wikimedia Commons

Travel times in 1957.

And fifty years later in 2007.

The graphs were created by Anne-Aël Durand and Gary Dagorn using data from the SNCF’s Open Data platform, and were published in the Les Décodeurs section of French newspaper Le Monde as “Comment le TGV a rétréci la France” (How the TGV has shrunk France).

Posted in Trains | Tagged France, high-speed rail, Paris, TGV, Train à Grande Vitesse | Leave a comment

ОПЭ1 electro-diesel locomotives of the former USSR

Posted on January 31, 2019 by Marcus Wong

An electro-diesel locomotive is a unit that can operate from either an external electric power source, or standalone with an onboard diesel engine, and on the railways of the former USSR is an interesting example – the ОПЭ1 and subsequent developments.

Novocherkassk Electric Locomotive Plant (NEVZ) archives, via Russian Wikipedia

Developed in the 1960s to work on the open cut mine railways of the USSR, electrified with 10 kV AC 50 Hz overhead lines, a ОПЭ1 locomotive can be made up of a mix of four different kinds of unit:

electric section (E) featuring a traction transformer, rectifier, pantograph, and driver’s cab.
autonomous power supply section (T) featuring a diesel-generator set from a M62 diesel locomotive, and driver’s cab.
motor section (M) featuring traction motors on locomotive bogies beneath a side dump freight wagon.
motor booster section (M) featuring traction motors beneath a shortened locomotive body.

Which can then be arranged in a variety of ways:

Three sections (electric locomotive, diesel locomotive and motor section) – the primary combination of traction units, able to work under overhead wires or autonomously (traction and braking in both modes are created by all 12 traction motors);
Two sections (an electric locomotive and diesel locomotive, without motor section) – able to work under overhead wires or autonomously (power from both modes with rheostatic braking by 8 traction motors);
One electric locomotive section (electric locomotive, without motor section or diesel locomotive) – work with the train in electric mode (4 traction motors);
One diesel section (diesel locomotive, without a motor section or electric locomotive) – powered by a diesel generator (4 traction motors, but no resistive braking provided).

Following the collapse of the USSR production of the ОПЭ1 locomotive slowed, with a total of 417 electric/diesel locomotive combinations, 52 motor dump cars, and 32 traction power boosters manufactured by the time production ended in 2002.

Photo by Вадим Анохин, via Wikimedia Commons

The design was further refined as the ОПЭ1А introduced in the 1970s, which saw the locomotive body shrunk, improving the visibility for the train driver in the reverse direction.

photo by Серёга, via Wikimedia Commons

More photos and video

ОПЭ1 locomotive shunts a rake of side dump wagons.

Locomotive ОПЭ1-298, a combination of electric, diesel and motor booster units.
Locomotive ОПЭ1-343, made up of one electric unit and two side dump wagons.
ОПЭ1 locomotives at work at the Kemerovocoal mine in southwest Siberia

And related locomotives

The ОПЭ1 design concept was also applied to the ОПЭ2 electric locomotives developed in the 1970s – each features a ‘control’ electric locomotive coupled to two ‘motor dump cars’ to provide extra tractive power.

While American railroads call such locomotives slugs:

A railroad slug is an accessory to a diesel-electric locomotive. It has trucks with traction motors but, unlike a B unit, it cannot generate power on its own since it lacks a prime mover. Instead, the slug is connected to a powered locomotive, called the mother, which provides the needed electrical power to operate the traction motors, and the motor controls.

Which look much the same as the USSR examples already seen.

jpmueller99 via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Electro-diesel locomotives at Wikipedia
OPE1 at Russian Wikipedia
OPE2 at Russian Wikipedia
ОПЭ1А at Russian Wikipedia

Posted in Trains | Tagged freight trains, locomotives, mining, rail freight, Russia, Soviet Union | Leave a comment

A whistle stop tour of Sinaia railway station, Romania

Posted on January 17, 2019 by Marcus Wong

As I travelled across Romania by train, the railway station at the mountain resort of Sinaia in Prahova County caught my eye.

Photo by Andrei Stroe, via Wikimedia Commons

Căile Ferate Române 4-6-0 steam locomotive 230-039 was plinthed outside the station.

Along with a 1948 Skoda VOS draisine (inspection railcar), supposedly converted from car once owned by communist leader Ana Pauker.

But a memorial plaque on the platform didn’t make much sense until I got home, and could research further.

It read:

În acest loc a fost asasinat I.G. Duca,
președinte al Consiliului de miniștri.
Jertfa iubirei sale de neam și țară.
29 Xll 1933.

Which translates to:

In this place was assassinated IG Duca,
chairman of the Council of Ministers.
The sacrifice of his love for nation and country.
29 December 1933.

The plaque marks the spot where Romanian Prime Minister Ion G. Duca was assassinated by members of the fascist Iron Guard movement in 1933.

Posted in Trains | Tagged Căile Ferate Române, heritage railways, Romania, steam trains | Leave a comment

German railfans exploring the world of rail

Posted on January 3, 2019 by Marcus Wong

For many railfans their interest in railways ends at the border of their own country, with little interest in the trains found elsewhere in the world. But it seems that German railfans are an exception to this, being happy to follow trains wherever they run.

I first noticed this when I was looking up the Richards Bay Coal Line in South Africa, and the only Wikipedia page on the subject was in German – nothing in English, and nothing in Afrikaans.

Photo by Pechristener, via Wikimedia Commons

A history of the tramways in Yangon, the largest city in Myanmar – the German language page is three times as long as the English one.

Unknown photographer, via Wikimedia Commons

A track plan for the MTR Light Rail system in Hong Kong – drawn by a German.

As was the track plan for the Hongkong Tramway system.

But why? Science and technology form a large part of German culture, which presumably combined with a open worldview means a German railfan is more likely to take an interest in the railways elsewhere in the world.

Footnote

There is a German company called Tanago that runs guided railway photography tours to offbeat locations all over the world.

Posted in Trains, Trams | Tagged Germany, Hong Kong, Myanmar, railfans, South Africa | 4 Comments

Exploring the bizarre world of VDNKh

Posted on December 20, 2018 by Marcus Wong

On the outskirts of Moscow is VDNKh – originally built by an exhibition centre to show off the achievements of the Soviet Union, by the time I visited in 2013 it was a bizarre mix of fairground meets flea market, set amongst a collection of Soviet architecture.

Established in 1935 as the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV) (Russian: Всесоюзная Сельско-Хозяйственная Выставка; Vsesoyuznaya Selsko-Khozyaystvennaya Vystavka), each pavilion showcased the achievements of a geographical region of the Soviet Union.

The park was further expanded in 1948 when the Soviet Council of Ministers issued a decree ordering a unification of VSKhV with the All-Union Industry Exhibition, which formed today’s Выставка достижений народного хозяйства (ВДНХ) (Vystavka Dostizheniy Narodnogo Khozyaystva (VDNKh)) – literally the “Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy”.

By 1989 the exhibition had expanded to an exhibition area of 700,000 square metres across 82 pavilions, many dedicated to a particular industry or field, but following the collapse of the Soviet Union the exhibitions were closed, replaced by a variety of tenants.

Exploring the pavilions

The centre has a diversity of architecture.

The original pavilions are of Stalinist style.

Some small and understated.

While others were far grander.

Some imitated buildings found elsewhere, like those of the resort city of Sochi.

And of the Moldavian SSR.

But others are modern.

Over the years some pavilions had been renovated.

Receiving modernist facades.

That hide the original design behind.

But today restoration is the order of the day.

Into the fairground

I visited VDNKh at Christmas time.

An ice skating rink occupied the main square.

With pony rides on offer.

And sideshow games.

Food stalls.

Kids rides.

And a miniature train.

Beneath a ferris wheel.

Then into the pavilions

If you look up on entering the pavilions, the ornate ceilings catch your eye.

But look down and it’s a dive.

With a rabbit warren of shops occupying what were once grand spaces.

Need a new remote control?

A cheap watch?

Camera equipment?

A computer mouse?

A spare part for your sewing machine?

Binoculars or a magnifying glass?

Pet supplies?

Or ladies fashion?

It’s all here!

And the seedy underbelly

Fishing reels alongside replica pistols that shoot BBs.

Hunting knifes.

Tactical torches, stun guns and imitation pistols.

And the office for a stun gun manufacturer.

Have you ever seen an odder collection of retailers?

So capitalism won?

Just take a look at the forest of foreign cars beneath the front gate.

Further reading

Russia Beyond have a piece titled Soviet Era Theme Park that dives deeper into the history of VDNKh.

Since my visit in 2013 the restoration of the park has accelerated, which is covered by The Calvert Journal in Empire state of mind: how do you update a vast Stalinist exhibition space for the present day?

The administration of the park and the Moscow City Government have so far displayed a marked tendency to restore the Exhibition to its condition in 1954, favouring Stalinism over Modernism. In 2014, the facades of two modernist facades were hastily taken down, in defiance of the law.

Russian-language Wikipedia has a list of pavilions and structures at VDNKh, with the history of each pavilion detailed on this interactive park map.

Posted in Tourism | Tagged architecture, fairground, Moscow, Russia, shopping, VDNKh | Leave a comment

A familiar looking face on the Ploiești Tramway

Posted on December 6, 2018 by Marcus Wong

The tramways of Romania usually don’t get much attention from transport enthusiasts of the English-speaking world, but this Tatra KT4D tram in Ploiești, Romania did.

Photo by Smiley.toerist via Wikimedia Commons

Thanks to the colour scheme – a copy of the white, yellow, red and blue livery found in Adelaide, Australia.

So how did the a colour scheme end up duplicated on the opposite side of the world?

Welcome to Adelaide

The ‘TransAdelaide’ livery in Adelaide has been used on buses since 2000.

And is also found on their fleet of Flexity trams, delivered in 2005 to the same design as Frankfurt.

Over to Romania

Unfortunately my exploration of Ploieşti consisted of a whistle stop tour by train.

Where the only landmark I saw was the Astra oil refinery.

But Wikipedia has a short history of the Ploiești Tramway:

The tram in Ploiești was opened in 1987 and originally consisted of six routes. 1998 saw route 105 close, and by 2003 only lines 101 and 102 were still in operation.
The initial fleet was Timiș 2 trams made by Electrometal Timișoara and V3A trams by ITB București Main Workshops. However by the late 1990s and early 2000s, they were replaced by Tatra KT4D trams from the town of Potsdam, Germany.
Modernisation works were started around 2014 and in 2016 the tram system was reopened, with modernised and up to date infrastructure.

Digging around the TransPloieşti internet forum gave me one lead – in December 2014 tram #105 was the first of the Tatra KT4Ds to be refurbished.

The first refreshed tram emerged in October 2015, and the comparisons with Adelaide followed soon after – I found this post by Cristian P. on the SkyscraperCity forums:

Schema de culoare e copiata de la tramvaiele din Adelaide.

Which translates to:

The colour scheme is copied from the Adelaide trams.

So why did Ploieşti choose these colours? I finally found an explanation in this article on the refurbishment program by Observatorul Prahovean.

Thanks to an internal program set up at TCE Ploieşti, operator of the Ploieşti Tramways, ten trams out of a total of 24, will be repaired and repainted into the colours of Ploieşti’s coat of arms (white, blue, red) and yellow, the colours of public transport common.

Which begs another question – what does the Ploieşti’s coat of arms look like?

The coat of arms of Ploiești consist of a blue shield, loaded with two golden lions, with a red tongue, which sustain a silver, uprooted oak tree. Everything is put on a red scarf with the inscription of M.V.V. (Mihai Viteazul-Voievod)

I can see the resemblance, but no way did Ploieşti come up with the livery on their own!

Bonus video

One thing you won’t see in Adelaide is snow – here is KT4D #075 headed through a Romanian winter.

Further reading

Tram diagrams:

Posted in Trams | Tagged Adelaide, Australia, lookalikes, Ploiești, Romania | Leave a comment