Page 14 - Operation Lifesaver Estonia / Annual Report 2012
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© Operation Lifesaver is a international, non-profit education and awareness program dedicated to ending
tragic collisions, fatalities and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on railroad rights of way.
Founded in Estonia on 19 November 2004 -
Railway transport has significant advantages
compared to the other modes of transport the most
important of which is independence from weather
conditions. It allows transporting large quantities of
people efficiently, environment friendly and safely.
In addition, if we compare the fastest trains with
cars then train driving speed equals to the speed
of racing cars driving on an autodrome. Meanwhile,
railways can be crossed only at designated locations
and people should not trespass to railway track or
railway area. This might cause problems for other
road users and create new dangers.
What is the safety situation at Edelaraudtee AS’s
infrastructure and which changes took place in
2012?
In 2012 there occurred no railway accidents on the
infrastructure managed by Edelaraudtee AS. This is
the first time after the year 1997. The worst year for
us was 2007 when we had 12 accidents. We have
done many things to achieve such good results. We
have reduced the overall number of level crossings
by 2 and increased the number of level crossings
with traffic lights from 17 to 27. Edelaraudtee AS
Has also improved the technical level of all its
level crossings. OLE’s activities in promoting safety
that are participated by Edelaraudtee AS play an
important role.
For the first time in Edelaraudtee AS’s history
was built a completely new station building with
passenger platforms that is located in Kohila. This
improved the well-being and safety of passengers
in that station considerably. Before that the last new
station building was built in Pärnu in 1976.
Thanks to the reconstruction of Kohila station tracks
the Kohila level crossing involves only a single-track
section and as a result of rebuilding station tracks in
Viljandi, the passenger platform is no longer located
in bushes but right in front of the station building.
We have added car parks to all the stations and
stops with new passenger platforms and the
number of cars parked there grows constantly. This
is one of the factors increasing the number of train
passengers and reducing the load of traffic and level
of danger on the roads.
The maximum driving speed for trains on Türi-
Viljandi line is 120 km/h and Lelle-Türi line 100 km/h
instead of former 70 km/h and 80 km/h respectively.
The DR drains cannot drive this fast due to the short
distance between stops. On some sections of Türi-
Viljandi line trains could make even 140 km/h if an
express train making such speed could be launched.
The application of technology as a train control
component allowed us to start using single driver
operation without increasing the level of safety risk.
The number of train delays was the lowest for the
last 5 years. Our company introduced many new IT
solutions for passenger trains (notification, ticketing
and train positioning).
OLE’s activities in promoting safety that
are participated by Edelaraudtee AS play
an important role.
Alar Pinsel
Edelaraudtee AS, Chairman of Management Board
