EC Authorises Increase in Dutch Aid for European Train Control System
December 12, 2006
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The European Commission (EC) approved a Dutch state aid measure for a budgetary increase from €15 million to €25 million to support installation of the European Train Control System (ETCS), a signalling and speed control system and the new European standard for train control.
The objective of the aid measure is to lower the investment costs for freight locomotives on the Betuwe route between Rotterdam and Germany, which will be opened in January 2007. Dutch authorities have partially compensated the installation costs of the ETCS in freight locomotives, which will use this route. The budgetary increase was not found to be disproportionate since railway operators will still pay half of the overall investment costs of the installation of ETCS on their fleet.
The ETCS concept is simple: Information is transmitted from the ground to the train, where an on-board computer uses it to calculate the maximum authorised speed and then automatically slows down the train if necessary.
Europe is currently host to more than 20 different ground systems. Their incompatibility is a major technical barrier to international traffic. In order to remove it, the ETCS has to be deployed trackside and train-borne. As it is technically not possible to switch immediately from the old national systems to the new standard on the whole European network, some trains need to be fitted with ETCS alongside the existing systems during a transition period. The introduction of the new standard, therefore, requires a considerable investment by railway undertakings.
Source: European Commission.