Upgrading of freight railways to meet operational and market demands

Abstract

The European objective of a modal shift of freight transports to railways will require extensive upgrading of
existing railway lines. This is due to the fact that very few dedicated freight railways are currently being built and
existing lines were built for traffic demands at the time of construction. A transition to increased and enhanced
railway freight operations can therefore be costly and complicated. To minimize negative effects, a guideline for
upgrading was developed within the Capacity4Rail project. The current paper presents the major findings from
this guideline. In particular, it outlines different upgrading possibilities and their implications, and details
structured approaches to upgrading analyses. Setting out from the Capacity4Rail handbook, the current paper
discusses possibilities for upgrading of substructures, bridges, tunnels, and the track structure. In these areas, an
overview of challenges and possibilities is presented together with examples of experience from operational
upgrading. The paper concludes that freight line upgrading using a more streamlined approach, as outlined in the
guideline, is a necessity if EU objectives on modal shifts in transportation are to be met. Further, it demonstrates
why a political drive is necessary to increase efforts to upgrade freight lines.