Page 44 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

Schumann, Tilo. Meyer zu Hörste, Michael. Heckmann, Andreas. Lemmer, Karsten.

Table 2 shows the results of the operational analysis of the different speed levels. The average
speed between Paris and Vienna is increasing by 53%, whereas the average speed of all passengers
using a part of line is increasing by 23%. The big percentage of using classical railway and the
access and egress times reduce this kind of speed. But this value tells us to require big efforts
for a network-wide increase of speed and the combination of fast access transport modes like
urban public transport or private car or car-sharing in less-dense populated areas.

The number of necessary trainsets is similar over the speed levels, because the higher speed allows
a more intensive use of trains which compensates the higher demand. The traffic (operational)
performance increases by 57%, though the speed is doubled and the energy consumption triples.
This figure shows the faster growing effort compared to a regressive benefit. The operational
performance of the trainsets is impressively high; at 600 km/h the project-defined limit of one
million kilometres per year is exceeded. A very intensive maintenance is necessary. Probably
this will be a big part of the operational cost. The life expectancy probably won’t be 30 years as
those by other rail vehicles, especially taking the lightweight construction into account. Thanks
to a compulsory reservation and the relative small vehicle size, it’s possible to reach high seat
utilization of above 80%.

Table 2: Compilation of operational aspects for the speed levels

300 km/h 400 km/h 500 km/h 600 km/h

Average speed between Paris and Vienna [km/h] 244 297 338 375
Average speed of all passengers using the line at
least for a part of the journey including dwell/ 119 130 138 146
access/egress times [km/h]
Specific energy consumption at wheel level 21.0 34.5 48.9 66.4
[Wh/(km * seat)]
Number of NGT trainsets (incl. 10% operational
buffer) 37 40 42 44
Operational performance on the line Paris-
Vienna [Mio trainset-km/year] 29.4 36.3 40.7 46.3
Average operational performance of one NGT 1 052 000
trainset [km/year] 786 000 916 000 973 000 (above limit)
Seat utilization (reservation compulsory) 81% 86% 87% 84%

42 360.revista de alta velocidad