European Railway Traffic Management System Advances with New Agreement

July 10, 2008 // Published as a news service by IHS

Deployment of ERTMS, which is equally suited to high-speed and conventional railway lines, will enable trains to carry a single railway signaling system on board.

This new European concept will reduce operating costs and enhance the efficiency of the system.

The EC contends that in order for ERTMS to succeed, first, there must be full technical compatibility between the tens of thousands of kilometers of track and the trains.

Second, deployment must be carried out swiftly and in a coordinated manner. Failing to equip just one kilometer of a route can seriously jeopardize the competitiveness of rail transport on the entire route.

The new memorandum of understanding addresses these two fundamental issues, mainly by:

• Using a single technical baseline for all railway lines equipped with ERTMS in the European Union (EU) up to the end of 2012 (the baseline being version 2.3.0d of the signaling specifications).
• Getting manufacturers to agree to include software updates in new contracts at a client's request. Clients (rail companies and infrastructure managers) currently complain about the excessive costs imposed by manufacturers.
• Agreeing on a program enabling a new version of the specifications (version 3) to be drawn up by the end of 2012 in such a manner that trains equipped with this new version can run on lines equipped with the old version.
• Improving and harmonizing test procedures for checking the compatibility and compliance of equipment.
• Accelerating deployment of ERTMS, particularly by adopting a binding European plan and equipping new engine models.

"ERTMS is a major industrial project being implemented by Europe. It is essential for improving the competitiveness and safety of the rail system and, therefore, for making rail transport more attractive to users," said Antonio Tajani, EC vice president responsible for transport.

"The memorandum of understanding signed today marks an important stage in the deployment of ERTMS," he added.

In the autumn, the EC will present a draft of this binding European deployment plan; at the beginning of 2009, it will publish a new call for proposals amounting to around €250 million to provide financial support for the deployment of the system from the trans-European transport networks budget.

Deployment of ERTMS on infrastructure is also eligible for financial support from the Regional Fund and the Cohesion Fund.

Background
Over 20 different signaling systems currently coexist on railway lines in Europe. For instance, the seven signaling systems installed on the high-speed Thalys train plying between Paris and Brussels increase the risk of breakdowns and generate extra costs. These costs are such that engines do not generally cross frontiers.

The ERTMS concept is simple: information is transmitted from the track to the train, where an on-board computer uses it to calculate the maximum authorized speed and to slow the train down automatically, if necessary. The on-board computer, therefore, has to understand the information sent from the ground.

ERTMS can bring about a significant increase in competitiveness. This is particularly true in the case of freight, when the system is deployed in a coordinated manner along a route and accompanied by relevant measures, such as harmonization of the operating rules or enhancement of the infrastructure, if necessary.

On the Rotterdam-Genova corridor, for example, the volume of goods transported could be doubled by 2020, which would be the equivalent of an additional heavy goods vehicle passing along this route every 37 seconds.

Around 2,000 kilometers of track is currently in use in the EU, but contracts already cover almost another 30,000 kilometers, as well as 5,000 vehicles, within Europe and even outside. These contracts consolidate the European rail industry's leading position in the world.

In March 2005, the EC signed a first memorandum of understanding with the railway sector, which had as chief aim to study the feasibility and economic viability of deploying ERTMS on major trans-European network routes.

The rail-freight and high-speed sectors are particularly affected by this project, which was first developed thanks to a European research program, and then funded from the trans-European network budget.

Source: European Commission.