THE THIRD Rail-Tech Europe rail and infrastructure exhibition is being held in Utrecht on April 3-5. The exhibition and its associated conferences will form an important European forum for railway industry suppliers and operators.
Inside the exhibition hall will be a 160m stretch of track, but additional exhibition space will be available for rolling stock exhibitors at Utrecht’s main station. The event will be held concurrently with Infra-Tunnel 2001, whose visitors will also be invited to the Rail-Tech exhibition.
The main theme for the April 4-5 conference at the Royal Dutch Jaarbeurs centre in Utrecht is ’cost-effective rail infrastructure’. Topics for the opening day include European infrastructure policy, Japanese and European magnetic levitation systems, the European Train Control System and the Ecotrack track maintenance planning tool.
The second day will focus on slab track, covering design, slab/soil interaction, construction and life-cycle costs. A short workshop will be held to discuss potential and future developments of this approach to permanent way.
Rolling stock manufacturers Alstom, Bombardier and Siemens will all be exhibiting. A Coradia Lint 41 diesel railcar for Syntus will be displayed in front of the exhibition centre, and Alstom’s stand in the exhibition hall will focus on infrastructure and signalling products.
Railpro will be showing its overhead line contact systems designed to meet the demand brought about by Dutch plans to use 25 kV 50Hz rather than 1·5 kV DC on new lines. Industrial rubber and acoustic product manufacturer Phoenix Benelux Koni will exhibit its hydraulic dampers for locomotives and other rolling stock. Wheel manufacturer and bogie components supplier Lucchini of Italy will be exhibiting, as will bogie specialist Stork RMO. Rolling stock refurbishment and consultancy company NedTrain, suspension component producer Trelleborg Industrial AVS and seating manufacturer Compin will all have stands.
Consultancy firms present will include AEA Technology Rail (which last year acquired the NS consultancy business NSTO), ARS Traffic & Transport Technology and Holland Railconsult.
Computer Products Professional Benelux will be displaying systems for process control, remote control, data acquisition, event recording, distributed control and telemetry. Rail and electrical engineering works, maintenance and digital services provider Strukton Railinfra will also be exhibiting.
Track recording and analysis company Eurailscout and Danish measuring equipment supplier Greenwood Engineering will be present, as will the Holland Rail Industry group of 35 manufacturers. Italy’s Emanuel SRL will be promoting its workshop equipment.
Track component suppliers with stands will include rail maker Voest-Alpine, German materials supplier Vossloh Rail Systems and WBG Weichenwerk Brandenburg. Point heating machine manufacturer Pintsch Aben is attending, as are Swiss switch and crossing component supplier Schwihag, specialist track, rolling stock and component builder Kloos Oving and Dutch baseplate, ballastless track and fastening manufacturer Edilon.
Nieaf-Smitt will be showing its range of relays and timers, and signalling, train control and information systems provider NMA Railway Signalling will be in attendance.
The Betuwe Route project will have a stand to promote the freight line currently being built across the Netherlands between Rotterdam and the German border (p247). The HSL-Zuid project organisation will be providing information on the 300 km/h new line fromAmsterdam to the Belgian border. Belgian high-speed line construction project manager TUC Rail will offer visitors a range of information about its work.
Railway Gazette International looks forward to welcoming visitors on Stand B362
