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The openETCS® concept consists of two components: a commercial one, requesting open source licensed ETCS OBU software, plus a three-year openETCS® R&D project within the ITEA2 cluster of the EUREKA R&D framework. Now almost halfway through, the project has already reached one of its mayor milestones – providing a tools…
ERTMS development was launched in 1989. The objective was to shape a harmonised and unified system for signalling, train control and train communication. The main drivers of this decision were not only to facilitate interoperability across the European railway and to improve technical compatibility (e.g. compatibility between vendor solutions) but…
11 April 2014 | By Manfred Pisek, Leader of the Operational Requirements Management Department, ÖBB Infrastructure / Stefan Gaider, ETCS Infrastructure Project Leader – Engineering Services, ÖBB Infrastructure
When planning first began to implement ETCS Level 2 in Austria, ÖBB – the Austrian Federal Railways – was also faced with the challenge of creating and adapting its operational rules and procedures at that time. Therefore, in parallel to the technical projects for GSM-R, infrastructure and rolling stock etc.,…
12 March 2014 | By Thales Group
For an amount of roughly €100 million, a Thales-led consortium has been awarded a contract by Poland’s Rail Operator, PKP Polish Lines S.A...
2013 was a busy year for GSM-R. System implementation in Europe is progressing well with very few European railways left that have not reached at least one of the implementation stages. New tenders in Slovenia and Hungary have successfully been finalised and GSM-R continues its expansion worldwide including, among others,…
In this Signalling & Telecoms supplement: ETCS in operation on Spanish high-speed, commuter and three-rail lines (Ignacio Jorge Iglesias, Technical Coordination Director for High-Speed, Adif), Comparison of Control Centres and Railway Operating Centres (Chris Carson, Head of Service Delivery, East Coast Main Line Company Ltd)...
17 October 2011 | By Siemens
Siemens Mobility and Logistics to equip the Nordbahn route between Vienna & Břeclav with ETCS...
4 August 2011 | By Stefan Rameder, System Integration Officer for the ÖBB ETCS Programme, ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG
After years of preparation and comprehensive calls for tenders from suppliers, Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) has placed all orders for the implementation of the European Train Control System (ETCS). In February 2010 the final purchase order was placed, concerning system integration. During the past two years, a company-wide programme group…
31 May 2011 | By Libor Lochman, Deputy Executive Director, the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER)
The legal environment of the European rail system has dramatically changed during the last two decades. The three rail packages have caused a completely new structure of the railway business and induced an introduction of a number of new actors on the European railway market. Furthermore, in order to enable…
In this paper, we will try to provide a general overview about the state-of-the-art aspects of satellite positioning systems and their usage in the railway safety assessment field, in particular in the On-Board Technological Systems (OBTS) assessment processes. Obviously CENELEC norms are applied in Italy, but the national peculiarities request…
15 February 2011 | By Kris Przelaskowski, Retired Senior Signalling Engineer
In the past, Poland (with its 23,000km railway network) badly needed a good operational radio communication system. The first simple analogue system started in 1972 connecting the harbours of Gdynia and Gdansk with Silesia. The radio-telephone network has provided good communication between dispatchers and running trains along the whole route…
10 December 2010 | By Pio Guido, Head of the ERTMS Unit, European Railway Agency (ERA)
Railways epitomise the triumph of engineering. From the early exploits of technological progress in the Victorian age, to the most recent speed records, from the age of steam power to the age of power semiconductors, engineering prowess has always been closely associated with the railway world. Engineers have been successful…
31 May 2010 | By Juan Hernández, Planning and Functional Coordination Direction, Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF)
The aim of this article is to present the current situation of the ETCS deployment on the Spanish network managed by the Spanish Infrastructure Manager (Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias – ADIF). It covers the situation in the newly built High-Speed Network (UIC gauge) and the deployment over the existing conventional…
31 May 2010 | By David Sanz García Global Product Line Manager ERTMS Invensys Rail Dimetronic
The ERTMS/ETCS system currently being deployed on high-speed lines in Spain is the latest state-of-the-art signalling system, and in consequence the most complex signalling system available on the market. The complexity of the ERTMS system requires a great deal of effort to test and validate all application data, much more…
31 May 2010 | By Emmanuel Brutin, Senior Public Affairs Manager, UNIFE
ERTMS, and more specifically its rail component ETCS, is arguably the technology that has caused most controversy and emotional debate amongst the railway community during the past decade. In many ways, this grand project, coordinated by the European Union, is now reaching a new and important phase in its history.…
