Europe builds for 1914
Europe is rebuilding its railways for war the way it last did before the First World War. Four years of war in Ukraine point to a different measure: how fast a network can be repaired once it is hit.
The EU’s new regulation on military mobility follows the mobilisation list: bridges that carry tanks, border permits in days rather than weeks, priority for the army over the timetable. It is a railway for the opening weeks of a crisis.
In Ukraine the front has been the whole country for four years, and the railway has kept the country working. Russian strikes have damaged 492 locomotives since 2022, and the fleet has an average age of 46 years. Track is repaired in hours. The locomotive is what cannot be replaced.
In northern Sweden, Trafikverket is clearing lines closed since 2012 to get redundancy back. The decision to run trains on them has not been taken.
Go deeper: Europe is building for 1914. Ukraine is teaching 2026.
Every freight operator says InfraGO got worse
GERMANY: Every freight operator that answered a survey by two German rail associations said operational quality at infrastructure manager DB InfraGO has deteriorated since the merger. Their second joint assessment gives the company the mark “ungenügend” – insufficient.
Thirty-six companies answered. One said quality had improved since DB Netz and DB Station&Service were merged on 1 January 2024. Two thirds said network capacity had fallen. The survey is the associations’ own, and they are parties in the dispute over track access charges.
The transport ministry’s state secretary told the event that the state of the infrastructure is “nicht akzeptabel”. The performance agreement that will govern DB InfraGO reaches the Bundestag in November.
Full story: Freight operators report no improvement at DB InfraGO
PKP Intercity doubles down on the Griffin 200
POLAND: PKP Intercity has ordered 32 more Griffin 200 multi-system locomotives from Newag under an option the operator values at PLN 775.3m net, roughly EUR 180m. The order takes a January 2024 contract from 63 to 95 units and the Griffin 200 fleet to 110.
Twelve of the base order are in service, 20 are expected by the end of 2026, and the option units follow in 2028 and 2029. PKP Intercity attributes the decision to a low failure rate in its own operating data.
Newag has applied to extend the locomotive’s approval to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, with a first commercial run in the Czech Republic planned from December. Germany and Austria are still under review.
Full story: PKP Intercity orders 32 more Griffin 200 locomotives
Norske Tog moves Class 72 upgrade from Alstom to VR FleetCare
NORWAY: VR FleetCare has completed the first of 34 Norske Tog Class 72 commuter trains at Tillberga in Sweden. The programme replaces a 36-train contract Norske Tog terminated with Alstom in 2025.
Alstom was to have all 36 trains back in service by the end of 2025. It had taken in two, neither counted as finished, when Norske Tog ended the contract in July last year. The Finnish company’s programme runs to 2029.
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