BB21 is an extensive innovation programme to improve the capacity and quality of the railway network. It is expected that in ten years time the number of passengers will double. More trains will run, at higher frequencies and more diversity in speed. More operators will service more customers with more products than today. These developments are close at hand. They will demand an enormous effort, but they will offer new opportunities, open new markets. To grab those opportunities, it is necessary to find creative solutions for the capacity problem. BB21 is such a solution. The BB21 project is presently in a research phase. Infrastructure capacity can be enhanced by: (1) Reducing headways, by employment of moving blocks; (2) Reducing track occupation by allocation in smaller sections; (3) More efficient departure process; (4) Issuing advisory speeds to trains to handle conflicts more fluently; and (5) by optimisation of the transport process by higher train frequencies and direct connections. BB21 reduces infrastructure investments and operational costs considerably. But, more important, BB21 offers the opportunity to create new developments, to initiate changes rather than just to follow them, and to opt for those means and methods that best fit the organisations involved.
Samenvatting