"The Japanisation of the Dutch Railways"

[bikkuri bahn]

An interesting paper, perhaps some of the forum members from the Netherlands would enjoy reading (click on the top link):

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&lr=&q=related:28F0k1vxa4gJ:scholar.google.com/&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ei=PWY7UZ_QN4inkgXEwIHQDw&ved=0CGgQzwIwCQ

 

Powerpoint presentation by ProRail about some of the issues raised in the above article:

http://it13rail.ch/downloads/presentations/IT13_1701_2_2_Hofstra_K.pdf

 

A blog by a signaling engineer, with some observations taken from above as well as other thoughts:

http://signalling.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/signals-are-key/

Edited March 9, 2013 by bikkuri bahn

[ToniBabelony]

Very interesting read! I wasn't aware of the fact that the Dutch Railways (NS) were on an exchange program with Japan, but for me personally, it was very noticeable that the NS was heavily investing in a Japanese-style network and operation. I guess the presumptions I have had for years are actually true...

[Davo Dentetsu]

It sure wouldn't hurt the Dutch.  Seems like every year or so there's some sort of major mishap on the rail lines.  Let's see how they go.

[ToniBabelony]

Well, it's true there are major mishaps on the railways, but not stuff like massive derailments and crashes. It's more about technical failures and the weather. The thing is, Dutch love to complain, so that's why it gets quite the coverage. However, the rail network in the Netherlands is very dense, hence the comparison to Kyushu in the paper, so if something goes wrong, a big part of the commuter network is affected. Especially when people miss a connection or one of the main lines is affected.

 

Anyway, I'm looking forward to the future of railways in the Netherlands! Maybe if the network runs smooth, the trains are made less crowded (more usage of maximum network capacity), maybe the railfan culture will boom as well. :P

[Densha]

I read about it for the first time somewhere last year, some people from Prorail went to Japan for investigating the Japanese railway network already years ago. That was the reason for the plans to get rid of many switches and signals.

I find it a bit curious that they compare Tokyo station to Utrecht Centraal station, I would rather compare it with Shinjuku station. As you can see in the PDF file Utrecht Centraal has a lot of sidings that are used to park the trains after or in-between services and they are built almost on the railway emplacement and connected to most platform tracks. Because this is the only way to get a train those switches are simply needed. The other thing is that most platforms are split up to offer better changing between trains, and to save space. The last thing is that from Utrecht Centraal there are about 6 directions to go to and you need switches (or one of the flyovers) to get there. Considering all these things it's almost impossible to get this all with less signals.

This may be interesting to look at, the official Prorail railway map which was finally revamped in December 2012 after many years. http://www.prorail.nl/publiek/spoorkaart/Pages/default.aspx

[Davo Dentetsu]

I will also say the UK really would do some good if they gave their system such a kick up the bum also.