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ProRail

January 01, 1970

ProRail (Dutch pronunciation: [proːˈreːl]) is a Dutch government organisation responsible for the maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure (not the metro or tram), the allocation of rail capacity, and controlling rail traffic. Prorail is a part of NS Railinfratrust, the Dutch railway infrastructure owner.

ProRail
Company typeGovernment agency
IndustryRail Transport
Founded1 January 2003
Headquarters
Utrecht
,
Netherlands
ProductsRail Infrastructure Management, Railway Capacity Allocation, Traffic Control
Revenue € 1.286 billion (2017)
€ 39 million (2017)
€ 0 (2017)
Number of employees
4,399 (2017)
ParentMinistry of Finance
(ownership)
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
(management)
Websitewww.prorail.nl
The headquarters of ProRail, de Inktpot, with the UFO

Its Utrecht headquarters is in the former offices of Nederlandse Spoorwegen (known as De Inktpot, "The Inkwell"), the largest brick building in the Netherlands. The building currently features a "UFO" on its facade resulting from an art program in 2000.

History edit

The creation of ProRail can be traced back to policies of the Dutch government implemented during the 1990s; it was decided that rail operations should be reorganised, and that the private sector should have a greater involvement in their operations, in order to improve operations.[1] In 1998, the first outsourced small-scale maintenance operations took place. Despite this direction, government ownership of the national railway infrastructure operator has been retained.[1] Instead, ProRail was established on 1 January 2003 when three separate organisations responsible for rail infrastructure in the Netherlands were merged.[2] Upon its creation, ProRail became responsible for the total cost of ownership and the long-term availability of the rail infrastructure, as well as to avoid operational safety being compromised.[3][4]

One early reform of the organisation, implemented for the 2007–2011 timeframe, was for all contracts to be publicly tender based on performance and process specifications.[1] This was intended to facilitate effective competition to be awarded contract work while retaining the public service orientation sought by the government.[1] Key functions, such as track inspection, had transitioned to the private sector by 2006.[1] Jan Swier, ProRails Strategic Advisor for Maintenance and Renewals, noted that there were initial concerns over this safety-critical work being performed externally, yet the work has been effectively performed, aiding by the introduction of sophisticated track inspection machinery. All track is inspected twice per month while busy main lines can be inspected as often as once per week.[1] Trackwork, such as grinding, was largely outsourced; working practices also changed, moving from corrective grinding to preventive grinding to both ease and lower the cost of the work. The implementation of real time asset monitoring was also pursued, by 2006, approximately 1,000 switches in The Netherlands had been equipped with remote condition monitoring equipment.[1][5]

In the late 2000s, in response to repeated year-on-year rises in both passenger and freight traffic on the network, ProRail developed a new 'Triple A' strategy to deliver a 50 percent increase in capacity, to be achieved via the adoption of smarter planning, the reorganisation of train services, and new construction works. In late 2008, the Ministry of Transport allocated €4.5 billion for a multi-year investment to introduce the Triple A strategy along several key railway corridors.[6][7] During the early 2010s, ProRail trialed high-frequency twin-track operations as a means of expanding capacity.[8]

Throughout the 2010s, ProRail has increasing the use of digital working practices and technologies throughout its operations; amongst other changes, various paper forms have been replaced with digital counterparts delivered via mobile devices.[9][10][11] Trials of technology for various purposes, such as digital visual indicators of train occupancy, have been carried out.[12] Continuous weather monitoring now routinely informs operations so that services can be reshaped where appropriate to minimise the impact of bad weather even prior to its arrival.[13] The organisation has also made use of digital twins of key pieces of infrastructure to improve maintenance operations.[14] In 2021, the ProRail Monitoring Platform (PMP) was revealed, which monitors the majority of infrastructure assets overseen by the organisation and it intended to enable the transition from condition-based monitoring to performing predictive maintenance, facilitating more efficient use of resources.[15]

In 2014, the organisation released a report on various scenarios for rolling out the next generation European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) across the Netherlands.[16] The Dutch government directed that digital railway signaling be rolled out nationwide; ProRail and NS have partnered to implement ERTMS and will initially focus upon retrofitting rolling stock for level 2 operations.[17] During March 2022, ProRail announced that the French company Thales Group had been selected to provide signaling apparatus, referred to as the Central Safety System (CSS), in support of the ERTMS rollout.[18] In September of that year, the multinational engineering firm Arcadis were contracted to provide engineering services for the rollout.[19]

During June 2022, ProRail appealed to the Dutch government to subsidise train operators of both passenger and freight services, noting that its charges has to comply with the European rules for consumer compensation, yet the sector would suffer due to double digit price rises.[20] In January 2023, figures released for 2022 showed that rail users had been subject to some of the worst performance statistics recorded in recent years in terms of delays and cancellations, which was in part attributable to strikes.[21] That same month, RailGood, an employers’ organisation representing the rail freight industry, publicly claimed that ProRail was letting down rail freight operators; specific complaints included increased infrastructure charges for 2023, which RailGood referred to "excessive", as well as allegations of mismanagement of the railway infrastructure.[22]

Operations edit

Railinfrabeheer edit

Railinfrabeheer (Rail Infrastructure Management, RIB) takes care of the infrastructure. This does not include most sidings on private property, these were sold off to Strukton Rail Short Line BV in 2015. Maintenance is carried out by several contractors, including VolkerRail, Strukton and ASSET Rail. Part of this division is the Incidentenbestrijding (Incident Response Unit) which manages various incidents on the network, like breakdowns, collisions or derailments.

Timetable Management edit

The capacity the whole railway network is controlled by ProRail. Every year on the second Sunday of December the new timetable for the following year goes into effect. Planning this new timetable is done years in advance. In the planning stage all users can state the train services they wish to operate in this year.

Companies using the ProRail network are:

  • Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS), using most of the network for long-distance intercity-services and local trains along the same lines. This network is commonly known as hoofdrailnet (main rail network).
  • NMBS/SNCB, Thalys, Eurostar and DB, which operate various international services to neighbouring countries (including local trains to those countries).
  • Connexxion (including Breng), Qbuzz, Arriva and Keolis on the other contracted lines. Arriva is the biggest in this respect, with train running in the north, east and south of the country.
  • Cargo operators including DB Cargo, Rotterdam Rail Feeding, CapTrain, Rail Force One and Lineas. Most other cargo operators plan their trains shortly before departure, and thus are managed by Traffic Control.
  • RailExperts, Train Charter Services and many cargo operators use the network for charters, ad-hoc trains or empty movements. These are mostly planned at short notice, using empty pathing provided in the timetable.

Railverkeersleiding edit

Railverkeersleiding (Traffic Control) is responsible for managing current operations on the network. Traffic Control is the section which operates signals and communicates with drivers. Short-term planning, less than 52 hours before the day of the train service, is also part of this division. All companies use this facility to compensate for unplanned events.

Funding edit

Funding for ProRail is primarily provided via a government subsidy, on top of which fees are charged to the various railway operators (called infraheffing).[1] The government subsidy totalled around €2.5 billion from 2014–2017,[23] and the infraheffing totalled approximately €200 million in 2006, the remaining income was listed as 'other'. The fee that the public transport operators initially had to pay for this is lower than the cost, but has been progressively increased over time.[24] In 2003, it was €0.64 per train km and €0.54 to €2.16 for stopping at a station.[citation needed]

Performance oriented maintenance edit

Railways in the Netherlands are not maintained by ProRail itself. Instead, it is subcontracted to recognised maintenance contractors.[24] This model has been contrasted with that of the privately owned British rail infrastructure owner RailTrack, although ProRail has stated that it has intentionally made efforts to learn from the shortcomings of Railtrack, which had collapsed prior to ProRail's creation.[1] The Dutch railway network is subdivided into 21 areas.[25] For each area, all of the regular maintenance is contracted as one package, which is won by the contractor that submits the best offer. The contractor receives a fixed sum per month, and is fined in case of failure to meet the required performance. Contractors are incentivised to minimise cost, while ensuring good performance of the assets. This is called prestatiegericht onderhoud (performance oriented maintenance).[26]

As of 2019, the recognised maintenance contractors are:

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i "The ProRail outsourcing way". globalrailwayreview.com. 14 February 2006.
  2. ^ Railned and RIB merge as ProRail Railway Gazette International February 2003 page 62
  3. ^ "Innovative solutions to old problems". globalrailwayreview.com. 3 November 2005.
  4. ^ "ProRail's management of tracks and turnouts". globalrailwayreview.com. 30 July 2007.
  5. ^ "Beneficial monitoring: not whether, but when?". globalrailwayreview.com. 26 September 2007.
  6. ^ "Facilitating traffic growth in the Netherlands: the 'Triple A' strategy approach". globalrailwayreview.com. 23 January 2009.
  7. ^ "Triple A approach tested in practice gives valuable results". globalrailwayreview.com. 28 January 2010.
  8. ^ "14 trains per hour on a 2-track rail section? The Dutch prove that it IS possible!". globalrailwayreview.com. 15 February 2011.
  9. ^ "ProRail Uses Low-Code Automation to Deliver Reliable Transportation". mendix.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  10. ^ Kuijpers, Ard. "ProRail and M+P put the entire Dutch railway system into a computational model". mp.nl. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  11. ^ "ProRail: Innovating to future-proof the Dutch rail network". paconsulting.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  12. ^ "NS/ProRail – Improving Safety and Comfort on Train Platform". dandad.org. 2014.
  13. ^ Robinson, Elliot (19 December 2022). "How does ProRail deal with extreme weather conditions?". globalrailwayreview.com.
  14. ^ "Case Study: The Netherlands: Improving Transport Infrastructure". esri.com. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  15. ^ Miller, Matt (16 April 2021). "ProRail optimizes operations in one of the world's busiest railways". aveva.com.
  16. ^ "Railway map ERTMS Version 3.0 – Memorandum on Alternatives". government.nl. 1 April 2014.
  17. ^ "PRORAIL, The Netherlands". ertms.be. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  18. ^ "Thales is selected by ProRail to implement its ERTMS central safety system in Netherlands". Thales Group. 11 March 2022.
  19. ^ "ProRail appoints Arcadis to support safer rail travel with roll out of ERTMS in the Netherlands". Arcadis. 1 September 2022.
  20. ^ Steffers, Kenneth (6 June 2022). "ProRail to plead with Dutch government for compensation of transport operators". railtech.com.
  21. ^ Séveno, Victoria (4 January 2023). "ProRail: 2022 was one of the worst years for train travel in the Netherlands". iamexpat.nl.
  22. ^ "ProRail is failing the Dutch rail freight sector, says organisation". 5 January 2023.
  23. ^ (PDF). p. 30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  24. ^ a b Leijten, Martijn; Koppenjan, Joop (November 2010). "Asset management for the Dutch railway infrastructure". Next generation infrastructure systems for eco-cities. pp. 1–6. doi:10.1109/INFRA.2010.5679222. ISBN 978-1-4244-8477-5. S2CID 24798254.
  25. ^ https://maps.prorail.nl/portal/sharing/rest/content/items/1fbce2d13ee2468582ea76a2606fdae3/data [bare URL PDF]
  26. ^ "Spooronderhoud / PGO". ProRail.

External links edit

  • Nederlandse Spoorwegen
  • (pdf-file, 646 kB)
  • ProRail

January 01, 1970
prorail, dutch, pronunciation, proːˈreːl, dutch, government, organisation, responsible, maintenance, extension, national, railway, network, infrastructure, metro, tram, allocation, rail, capacity, controlling, rail, traffic, prorail, part, railinfratrust, dutc. ProRail Dutch pronunciation proːˈreːl is a Dutch government organisation responsible for the maintenance and extension of the national railway network infrastructure not the metro or tram the allocation of rail capacity and controlling rail traffic Prorail is a part of NS Railinfratrust the Dutch railway infrastructure owner ProRailCompany typeGovernment agencyIndustryRail TransportFounded1 January 2003HeadquartersUtrecht NetherlandsProductsRail Infrastructure Management Railway Capacity Allocation Traffic ControlRevenue 1 286 billion 2017 Operating income 39 million 2017 Net income 0 2017 Number of employees4 399 2017 ParentMinistry of Finance ownership Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management management Websitewww prorail nl The headquarters of ProRail de Inktpot with the UFO Its Utrecht headquarters is in the former offices of Nederlandse Spoorwegen known as De Inktpot The Inkwell the largest brick building in the Netherlands The building currently features a UFO on its facade resulting from an art program in 2000 Contents 1 History 2 Operations 2 1 Railinfrabeheer 2 2 Timetable Management 2 3 Railverkeersleiding 3 Funding 4 Performance oriented maintenance 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksHistory editThe creation of ProRail can be traced back to policies of the Dutch government implemented during the 1990s it was decided that rail operations should be reorganised and that the private sector should have a greater involvement in their operations in order to improve operations 1 In 1998 the first outsourced small scale maintenance operations took place Despite this direction government ownership of the national railway infrastructure operator has been retained 1 Instead ProRail was established on 1 January 2003 when three separate organisations responsible for rail infrastructure in the Netherlands were merged 2 Upon its creation ProRail became responsible for the total cost of ownership and the long term availability of the rail infrastructure as well as to avoid operational safety being compromised 3 4 One early reform of the organisation implemented for the 2007 2011 timeframe was for all contracts to be publicly tender based on performance and process specifications 1 This was intended to facilitate effective competition to be awarded contract work while retaining the public service orientation sought by the government 1 Key functions such as track inspection had transitioned to the private sector by 2006 1 Jan Swier ProRails Strategic Advisor for Maintenance and Renewals noted that there were initial concerns over this safety critical work being performed externally yet the work has been effectively performed aiding by the introduction of sophisticated track inspection machinery All track is inspected twice per month while busy main lines can be inspected as often as once per week 1 Trackwork such as grinding was largely outsourced working practices also changed moving from corrective grinding to preventive grinding to both ease and lower the cost of the work The implementation of real time asset monitoring was also pursued by 2006 approximately 1 000 switches in The Netherlands had been equipped with remote condition monitoring equipment 1 5 In the late 2000s in response to repeated year on year rises in both passenger and freight traffic on the network ProRail developed a new Triple A strategy to deliver a 50 percent increase in capacity to be achieved via the adoption of smarter planning the reorganisation of train services and new construction works In late 2008 the Ministry of Transport allocated 4 5 billion for a multi year investment to introduce the Triple A strategy along several key railway corridors 6 7 During the early 2010s ProRail trialed high frequency twin track operations as a means of expanding capacity 8 Throughout the 2010s ProRail has increasing the use of digital working practices and technologies throughout its operations amongst other changes various paper forms have been replaced with digital counterparts delivered via mobile devices 9 10 11 Trials of technology for various purposes such as digital visual indicators of train occupancy have been carried out 12 Continuous weather monitoring now routinely informs operations so that services can be reshaped where appropriate to minimise the impact of bad weather even prior to its arrival 13 The organisation has also made use of digital twins of key pieces of infrastructure to improve maintenance operations 14 In 2021 the ProRail Monitoring Platform PMP was revealed which monitors the majority of infrastructure assets overseen by the organisation and it intended to enable the transition from condition based monitoring to performing predictive maintenance facilitating more efficient use of resources 15 In 2014 the organisation released a report on various scenarios for rolling out the next generation European Rail Traffic Management System ERTMS across the Netherlands 16 The Dutch government directed that digital railway signaling be rolled out nationwide ProRail and NS have partnered to implement ERTMS and will initially focus upon retrofitting rolling stock for level 2 operations 17 During March 2022 ProRail announced that the French company Thales Group had been selected to provide signaling apparatus referred to as the Central Safety System CSS in support of the ERTMS rollout 18 In September of that year the multinational engineering firm Arcadis were contracted to provide engineering services for the rollout 19 During June 2022 ProRail appealed to the Dutch government to subsidise train operators of both passenger and freight services noting that its charges has to comply with the European rules for consumer compensation yet the sector would suffer due to double digit price rises 20 In January 2023 figures released for 2022 showed that rail users had been subject to some of the worst performance statistics recorded in recent years in terms of delays and cancellations which was in part attributable to strikes 21 That same month RailGood an employers organisation representing the rail freight industry publicly claimed that ProRail was letting down rail freight operators specific complaints included increased infrastructure charges for 2023 which RailGood referred to excessive as well as allegations of mismanagement of the railway infrastructure 22 Operations editRailinfrabeheer edit Railinfrabeheer Rail Infrastructure Management RIB takes care of the infrastructure This does not include most sidings on private property these were sold off to Strukton Rail Short Line BV in 2015 Maintenance is carried out by several contractors including VolkerRail Strukton and ASSET Rail Part of this division is the Incidentenbestrijding Incident Response Unit which manages various incidents on the network like breakdowns collisions or derailments Timetable Management edit The capacity the whole railway network is controlled by ProRail Every year on the second Sunday of December the new timetable for the following year goes into effect Planning this new timetable is done years in advance In the planning stage all users can state the train services they wish to operate in this year Companies using the ProRail network are Nederlandse Spoorwegen NS using most of the network for long distance intercity services and local trains along the same lines This network is commonly known as hoofdrailnet main rail network NMBS SNCB Thalys Eurostar and DB which operate various international services to neighbouring countries including local trains to those countries Connexxion including Breng Qbuzz Arriva and Keolis on the other contracted lines Arriva is the biggest in this respect with train running in the north east and south of the country Cargo operators including DB Cargo Rotterdam Rail Feeding CapTrain Rail Force One and Lineas Most other cargo operators plan their trains shortly before departure and thus are managed by Traffic Control RailExperts Train Charter Services and many cargo operators use the network for charters ad hoc trains or empty movements These are mostly planned at short notice using empty pathing provided in the timetable Railverkeersleiding edit Railverkeersleiding Traffic Control is responsible for managing current operations on the network Traffic Control is the section which operates signals and communicates with drivers Short term planning less than 52 hours before the day of the train service is also part of this division All companies use this facility to compensate for unplanned events Funding editFunding for ProRail is primarily provided via a government subsidy on top of which fees are charged to the various railway operators called infraheffing 1 The government subsidy totalled around 2 5 billion from 2014 2017 23 and the infraheffing totalled approximately 200 million in 2006 the remaining income was listed as other The fee that the public transport operators initially had to pay for this is lower than the cost but has been progressively increased over time 24 In 2003 it was 0 64 per train km and 0 54 to 2 16 for stopping at a station citation needed Performance oriented maintenance editRailways in the Netherlands are not maintained by ProRail itself Instead it is subcontracted to recognised maintenance contractors 24 This model has been contrasted with that of the privately owned British rail infrastructure owner RailTrack although ProRail has stated that it has intentionally made efforts to learn from the shortcomings of Railtrack which had collapsed prior to ProRail s creation 1 The Dutch railway network is subdivided into 21 areas 25 For each area all of the regular maintenance is contracted as one package which is won by the contractor that submits the best offer The contractor receives a fixed sum per month and is fined in case of failure to meet the required performance Contractors are incentivised to minimise cost while ensuring good performance of the assets This is called prestatiegericht onderhoud performance oriented maintenance 26 As of 2019 the recognised maintenance contractors are ASSET Rail a joint venture by Arcadis and Dura Vermeer BAM Infra Rail Strukton Rail VolkerRailSee also editTransportation in the NetherlandsReferences edit a b c d e f g h i The ProRail outsourcing way globalrailwayreview com 14 February 2006 Railned and RIB merge as ProRail Railway Gazette International February 2003 page 62 Innovative solutions to old problems globalrailwayreview com 3 November 2005 ProRail s management of tracks and turnouts globalrailwayreview com 30 July 2007 Beneficial monitoring not whether but when globalrailwayreview com 26 September 2007 Facilitating traffic growth in the Netherlands the Triple A strategy approach globalrailwayreview com 23 January 2009 Triple A approach tested in practice gives valuable results globalrailwayreview com 28 January 2010 14 trains per hour on a 2 track rail section The Dutch prove that it IS possible globalrailwayreview com 15 February 2011 ProRail Uses Low Code Automation to Deliver Reliable Transportation mendix com Retrieved 27 May 2023 Kuijpers Ard ProRail and M P put the entire Dutch railway system into a computational model mp nl Retrieved 27 May 2023 ProRail Innovating to future proof the Dutch rail network paconsulting com Retrieved 27 May 2023 NS ProRail Improving Safety and Comfort on Train Platform dandad org 2014 Robinson Elliot 19 December 2022 How does ProRail deal with extreme weather conditions globalrailwayreview com Case Study The Netherlands Improving Transport Infrastructure esri com Retrieved 27 May 2023 Miller Matt 16 April 2021 ProRail optimizes operations in one of the world s busiest railways aveva com Railway map ERTMS Version 3 0 Memorandum on Alternatives government nl 1 April 2014 PRORAIL The Netherlands ertms be Retrieved 27 May 2023 Thales is selected by ProRail to implement its ERTMS central safety system in Netherlands Thales Group 11 March 2022 ProRail appoints Arcadis to support safer rail travel with roll out of ERTMS in the Netherlands Arcadis 1 September 2022 Steffers Kenneth 6 June 2022 ProRail to plead with Dutch government for compensation of transport operators railtech com Seveno Victoria 4 January 2023 ProRail 2022 was one of the worst years for train travel in the Netherlands iamexpat nl ProRail is failing the Dutch rail freight sector says organisation 5 January 2023 ProRail report 2015 PDF p 30 Archived from the original PDF on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 22 February 2016 a b Leijten Martijn Koppenjan Joop November 2010 Asset management for the Dutch railway infrastructure Next generation infrastructure systems for eco cities pp 1 6 doi 10 1109 INFRA 2010 5679222 ISBN 978 1 4244 8477 5 S2CID 24798254 https maps prorail nl portal sharing rest content items 1fbce2d13ee2468582ea76a2606fdae3 data bare URL PDF Spooronderhoud PGO ProRail External links editNederlandse Spoorwegen Network statement 2003 pdf file 646 kB ProRail Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title ProRail amp oldid 1190514314, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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