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A third of trains 'may be cancelled' this winter
Published: 25 Oct 12 10:49 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20121025-45775.html
Millions of train passengers in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) could be faced with disrupted journeys this winter if a regional coal plant is shut down as planned - causing power shortages, a rail boss warned on Thursday.
- Snow, sleet and fog signal start of winter - National (24 Oct 12)
- Electricity bills to increase by €60 a year - Business & Money (15 Oct 12)
Currently the Datteln coal plant - scheduled to be decommissioned at the end of December - delivers three quarters of the electricity used DB trains in the state.
Electricity from the old coal plant guaranteed the smooth running of the rail network, especially on cold days, when its electricity demand skyrockets, said Grube.
"If decommissioning goes ahead and nothing happens, there's a big danger that the rail [network] could have bottlenecks in supply on very cold winter days in the morning," he warned.
"In such cases we have to take trains out [of service] to avoid the network collapsing. We discussed it with the board: it could be up to 30 percent of the train operation in NRW," he said.
The connection of Datteln IV, a replacement power plant, to the grid has been delayed by planning problems and has become stuck in a legal battle.
Meanwhile, Grube said DB was working on building converters to smooth out electricity supply from other sources for use by trains - which require a different frequency than households and industry.
But they would not be ready before until early 2014 and Grube has demanded plant operator E.ON be given an exceptional permit to continue running the older coal plant beyond the end of the year.
The Local/jlb
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Your comments about this article:
I was recently in Berlin and I had to wait 90 minutes for a train from Schonefeld airport. Then a 20 minute wait for an S-Bahn from Alexanderplatz to Friedrichstrasse, 2 stations away in the city center on a track where about 6 different lines travel. All because they chose to cut back on repair facilities for the trains to save money. In 2009, almost the entire S-Bahn fleet had to be taken out of service for safety reasons, all because they chose to save money. Recently, someone's arm got stuck in the door and was snapped off because the safety in the doors didn't work, all to save money.
Oh, and it's not like they don't have the money. The DB gets the most cash from the German govt of any agency and they had no problem building the ridiculous, unneeded Berlin Hauptbahnhof or destroying the Stuttgart inner city for Stuttgart 21.