Railway industry suppliers are always looking for new ways to develop and test their products before introducing them to market. AŽD Praha has taken this to the next level by buying and operating its own line. Zdenek Chrdle and Vladimír Kampík tell David Burroughs how the company is benefiting from this novel approach.
The railway industry has always rightly been known for its high safety standards, but meeting such high standards can slow the introduction of new technologies as they go through the stringent testing and development phases required.
This can result in difficulties testing new technologies on operational railways, as operators can be reluctant to allow the introduction of new innovative components. In order to remove this barrier, Czech signalling developer and supplier AZD Praha came up with a novel solution: to buy its own railway.
The opportunity presented itself in 2016, when infrastructure manager SZ (formerly SZDC) was looking to consolidate its network by selling under-used lines. AZD was initially interested in the 22km Dolní Bousov – Kopidlno line, says AZD European affairs director, Mr Vladimír Kampík. However, after preparing the bid documents for the line, the company decided it would also bid for the 38km Cízkovice – Obrnice line in the Ústí region.
Dubbed the “Plum Railway” due to the fruit trees that used to grow alongside its tracks, the line was put out of commission due to its slow speeds and state of disrepair, with the last passenger services running in 2007.
After the bids for both lines were successful, AZD began upgrading them to an operational standard, including enhancing drainage along the entire trackbed of the Plum Railway, replacing rails and sleepers, modifying track geometry and installing ERTMS to increase the maximum speed along the line to 100km/h.