Rhealys

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Rhealys is a consortium of German ( DB ), French ( SNCF ), Luxembourg ( CFL ) and Swiss ( SBB ) railways to prepare European high-speed traffic between Paris and Luxembourg , south-west Germany and Switzerland . The registered office of the company is Luxembourg.

The name Rhealys is an acronym from Rhe in, Al sace and Lys , i.e. the route traveled along the Rhine - Alsace - France, the latter symbolized by the Fleur-de-Lys .

Although Rhealys prepared the connections listed below, the international train connections between France and Germany have been operated by the newly founded Franco-German company Alleo since mid-2007 . The connections between France and Switzerland are operated by the Lyria company.

Project company Rhealys SA

The company was founded on May 9, 2000 by DB, SNCF, SBB and CFL in Brussels . The company received the working title Rhealys based on Thalys . The company is a public limited company under Luxembourg law .

Share of partner railways:

  • Deutsche Bahn AG: 30%
  • French SNCF: 30%
  • Swiss Federal Railways: 25%
  • Luxembourg Railways: 15%

The tasks of the company included, among other things, the preparation of timetables and technical harmonization.

With the start of high-speed traffic between Paris and Frankfurt am Main, the project company was to be converted into an operating company in 2006 (status: May 2000).

High speed traffic

Route Network-Rhealys.png

High-speed line Paris – Baudrecourt (near Metz )

The start of operations on this route with speeds of up to 320 km / h took place on June 10, 2007 (see main article: LGV Est européenne ).

France – Luxembourg

On this day, the travel time between Paris and Luxembourg was reduced from 3:35 hours to 2:15 hours. The TGV has been in use on this connection since June 26, 2006 , but without reducing travel times.

France – Germany

On the same date, the travel time between Paris and southern Germany was also reduced by two hours.

Northern route: Frankfurt – Paris

From June 10, 2007 , the Frankfurt am Main – Paris route was initially served by one pair of trains per day; two more only ran between Saarbrücken and Paris. As of December 2007, operations began in full with five pairs of trains a day on the entire route. Modified ICE 3 trains and the French TGV POS , which has been tested on German routes since November 2005, are used for cross-border traffic . On the German side, the trains stop in Mannheim , Kaiserslautern and Saarbrücken. The maximum operational speeds in France are 320 km / h, between Mannheim and Saarbrücken only 160 km / h. One of the reasons is the lack of the safety system ( LZB ) required for faster driving in Germany on this upgraded route; With regard to the ETCS system, which is currently under development , the Federal Minister of Transport has prohibited retrofitting the route with LZB. Even still crossings to eliminate, especially between Neustadt on the Wine Route and Kaiserslautern. Due to the many curves, the route only allows a maximum speed of 80 km / h in places.

Southern route: Munich – Stuttgart – Paris

At the same time, traffic on the Stuttgart – Paris route was started with four pairs of trains a day. From December 2007 a pair of trains was tied to Munich. The TGV POS is used exclusively here.

France – Switzerland

On the connection from Paris via Basel to Zurich , travel time was reduced by around 1.5 hours. Four TGVs reach Basel in 3:30 hours, Zurich three TGVs in 4:30 hours. Since the timetable change in December 2011, the TGVs have been running to Switzerland via the LGV Rhin-Rhône ; this reduced the travel time by another half an hour.

Further planning

The second stage of implementation envisages an extension of the new line to Vendenheim (near Strasbourg ) for the TGV Est on the French side , which should be completed by around 2012. On the German side, further expansion of the existing line is not expected; Travel times can only be shortened through the future establishment of ETCS (expected around 2010). However, the reopening of the railway line over the Rhine bridge in Wintersdorf near Rastatt is being discussed, which would enable a significant reduction in travel times between Germany and France.

See also

Stretch:

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Rhealys report for Europe . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 7/2000, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 320.
  2. ↑ News update shortly . In: Eisenbahn-Revue International , issue 5/2000, ISSN  1421-2811 , p. 198.
  3. ^ Richard Latten, Spoorwegen 2007, p. 207, Alkmaar (NL) 2006, ISBN 978-90-6013-465-8