HSL 4

HSL 4
Course of HSL Zuid and HSL 4
Route length:	40 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	25 kV 50 Hz  ~
Top speed:	300 km / h
Legend HSL Zuid 54.5 35.9 State border Netherlands - Belgium 19.9 Noorderkempen E10 waterplas Antwerp – Lage Zwaluwe route 0.0 47.9 Y Luchtbal route from Lage Zwaluwe 46.8 Antwerp-Luchtbal Albert Canal North-south connection Antwerp 43.5 Antwerp-Centraal Old line from Antwerp-Centraal Antwerp-Berchem Route to Brussels

The HSL 4 , also known as Hogesnelheidslijn 4 , is the Belgian part of the high-speed railway line Schiphol – Antwerp which connects Amsterdam ( Netherlands ) and Antwerp ( Belgium ). The Dutch part is called HSL Zuid . On June 15, 2009, regular operations began on a section between Noorderkempen and Antwerp.

course

Location and course of HSL 4 in the Belgian high-speed network

Paris – Antwerp

The French part of the Paris – Amsterdam connection is called LGV Nord and runs from Paris Gare du Nord via Lille to Belgium. There the new line is called HSL 1 , which leads to Brussels South station. The existing railway line to Antwerp is used north of Brussels ; There, a newly built tunnel station will be approached under Antwerp Central Station so that the trains no longer have to turn in the above-ground terminus , but can cross directly under the city ​​(see article on Antwerp Central Station ).

Antwerp – Dutch border

The new HSL 4 line begins north of Antwerp and follows the E 19 motorway . At the Dutch border near Hazeldonk it merges into HSL-Zuid and continues to Rotterdam . In Brecht (Belgium) , the new long-distance railway station was Noorderkempen built.

history

In 1986, at a ministerial conference, a decision in principle on a high-speed line was taken. In 1996 the HSL-Zuid was decided by parliament as a major project and an agreement was reached with Belgium on the extension.

Construction work began in March 2000.

At the end of 2000, the four applicants for the operating license were announced:

• Arriva Nederland and Deutsche Bahn

• Connexxion , CGEA- Connex and SJ International

• NS Reizigers , NV Koninklijke Luchvaartmaatschappij (KLM) and

• Stagecoach Holdings

The signing of a management agreement for the period between 2006 and 2020 was expected on October 12, 2001. The line should go into operation in autumn 2006; an hourly pair of trains was to run from Amsterdam to Brussels, half of these trains on to Paris. Further express connections should be set up between The Hague and Brussels and between Breda and Brussels.

In the spring of 2004, the SNCB announced that they would not offer any traffic between Antwerp and Breda after the completion of the HSL Zuid due to a lack of profitability.

Numerous difficulties, especially with the ETCS train control system , led to multiple delays.

The Noorderkempen long-distance train station went into operation on May 29, 2009, and regular operations from there to Antwerp began on June 15.

Thalys high-speed trains in Amsterdam Centraal station

business

The route has been used by several Dutch intercity lines with a maximum of 200 km / h since June 15, 2009 .

The Thalys high-speed train , which connects Amsterdam, Brussels and Paris, has been traveling the full length of the route at a maximum of 300 km / h since December 13, 2009 .

Between December 9, 2012 and January 18, 2013, 10 Fyra trains also used the route per day and direction. On January 18, 2013, the use of the trains was stopped by a driving ban by the Belgian supervisory authority and was not resumed.

technology

The route is divided into block sections with a largely constant length of around 1.6 km. ETCS (initially SRS 2.2.2 with additional changes from subset 108, later consolidated to SRS 2.3.0) is used for train protection. Normal operation at up to 300 km / h takes place under ETCS Level 2 , as a fallback level - for speeds up to 160 km / h - ETCS Level 1 with reduced block division is used. The block identifiers of the route are partially equipped with a light substitute signal . The minimum headway times are 3 minutes under ETCS Level 2 or 6 minutes under ETCS Level 1. A transition from ETCS Level 2 to ETCS Level 1 is possible after the train has stopped. Between HSL 4 and HSL Zuid - for the first time in Europe - the transition between two national ETCS Level 2 systems was implemented at 300 km / h. Level 1 is used as a fallback level in the event of faults in the GSM-R radio or the ETCS centers ( Radio Block Centers , RBCs). Trains of both levels can run on the route at the same time.

The decision to use ETCS on HSL 3 and HSL 4 was made in 1999, parallel to the decision to use TBL 2 on HSL 2 .

The electrification of the line was supported by the SNCF as part of a temporary technology transfer .

See also

• HSL 1
• HSL 2
• HSL 3
• HSL Zuid

literature

• Infrabel: HSL high-speed line 300 km / h on the Belgian rail . Goejint Graphics NV, Ostend 2009, ISBN 978-90-814792-2-6 (Dutch: HSL Hogeshnelheidslijn 300 km / u op het Belgische spoor .).

Web links

Commons : HSL Zuid  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Information about the high-speed line

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Faster to Belgium in the ICE . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International . 2009, issue 8–9, p. 412
2. ↑ Notification of prequalification for the Dutch HGV . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International. Issue 12/2000, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 548.
3. ↑ Announcement preliminary decision for HSL-Zuid . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International. Issue 11/2001, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 486.
4. ↑ Message SNCB does not want to operate HGV Antwerp - Breda . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International. Issue 6/2004, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 272.
5. ^ Peter Badcock: Dutch wait for HSL South to bloom . In: International Railway Journal. 49th year, issue 2, February 2009, pp. 16-19.
6. ↑ ^{a b} Amar Aouati: ERTMS / ETCS / GSM-R on the Belgian high speed lines L3 and L4 . In: signal + wire . tape 99 , no. 6 , 2007, ISSN  0037-4997 , p. 31-34 .
7. ↑ Vincent PASSAU: The high-speed cross-border ERTMS operation between The Netherlands and Belgium. (PDF; 3.8 MB) In: Danish Rail Conference 2012. Alstom Transport, May 2012, accessed on April 20, 2017 (English). 
8. ^ Jean-Jacques Gehrenbeck: Cross-border operation at 300 km / h . In: signal + wire . tape 99 , no. 3 , 2007, ISSN  0037-4997 , p. 32-35 .
9. ^ To Van den Abeele, Johan Verschaeve: Train control and train protection in Belgium - today and tomorrow . In: signal + wire . tape 99 , no. 11 , 2007, ISSN  0037-4997 , p. 14-18 .
10. ↑ News in brief . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International. Issue 10/1998, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 436.