ERTMS: Working to reduce complexity and cost

ERTMS deployment in Europe continues to lag behind expectations, amid concerns about complexity and rising expense. European suppliers believe that focusing on the essential functions and minimising any variations in implementation will help to drive down costs and facilitate a faster rollout in the coming years. Chris Jackson investigates.

It is now a quarter of a century since the European Rail Traffic Management System was enshrined at the heart of European railway legislation. Building on the EU’s Interoperability Directive 96/48, the first version of the Command, Control & Signalling TSI issued in 2002 painted a vision of a fully interoperable control system for the much-mooted trans-European high speed rail network.

Since that time, the scope has been widened to include conventional mixed traffic lines, as the technical core of the putative Single European Railway Area. Meanwhile, key elements of the ERTMS architecture have been adopted by railways around the world (p18), most notably the European Train Control System and the GSM-R communications network. However, the much-desired goal of full interoperability remains a distant prospect, amid concerns about complexity and rising costs.

At the end of August, the European Commission’s ERTMS Deployment Management Team published the results of a study analysing the cost drivers affecting trackside deployment. This followed its similar investigation into the cost of onboard equipment completed last year (RG 6.26 p49).

This story was originally published by Railway Gazette. Read the full story at Railway Gazette →