In December 2009, the European Railway Agency (ERA) awarded a three-year frame-contract for the development of ETCS testing specifications to a consortium made up of CEDEX, DLR, MULTITEL, RINA and TIFSA. The first lot of activities, which will define the architecture of the testing requirements and the work methodology, is currently under development. The testing specifications for the control-command system represent an integrating part of the set of reference documents for Baseline 3 of ETCS. These documents have already been submitted to the European Railway Agency as part of the recommendations for 2012.
Baseline 3 of ETCS is a compatible evolution of Level 2.3.0, which represents in fact the basis for the development of the current system. Through its programme, ERA develops and consolidates Baseline 3 of ETCS, with the support of the competent organisations and in accordance with the provisions stipulated in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) concerning the European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS). Through a separate contract, ERA disposed the update of the editing software in order to facilitate and formalise the testing procedures. The contractual frame which stipulates the supply of the necessary software (Test Sequence Debugger) was defined in cooperation with DG MOVE and ERTMS users, who will receive proper financial support from the TEN-T Agency. According to ERA requirements, the consortium will provide the experience and knowledge of ETCS experts: technical methods and various climate testing scenarios, considerable experience and know-how in the testing of commercial products and prototypes from all ETCS manufacturers. During the development of the testing specifications, these experts will make an independent revision of the System Requirement Specifications (SRS), bringing a major contribution to the consolidation and validation of a set of coherent Level 3 specifications. CEDEX, a specialized testing laboratory located in Madrid, is an institution of the Spanish Infrastructure Ministry, with a major role in the validation of ETCS specifications and associated products. DLR is the national German aerospace centre, which is involved in ETCS testing and research, in collaboration with its own institute for transport systems. MULTITEL is an innovative centre set up by the Polytechnic University in Mons, Belgium. It activates in the field of telecommunications, signalling, image processing and ETCS systems. RINA is a Notification Body, with competences in ETCS and GSM-R assessment and testing and the development of technical methods for ETCS specifications.
TIFSA is a consultancy company, which specializes in ETCS implementation. These five entities, which make up the consortium selected by ERA, act both as consultants for the Spanish Infrastructure Ministry and as notified bodies for DG MOVE.
Major focus on railway safety
The Common Safety Methods (CSM) apply when a major modification is proposed for the railway transport system. These methods harmonise the modification process and guarantee the fact that the existing safety levels are properly monitored and maintained. The overall objective of these safety measures related to risk assessment is to facilitate access to the railway transport service market and allows cross-acceptance of the results.
“EC Regulation on Common Safety Methods for risk assessment” 352/2009, published in the Official Gazette, will enter into force in July 2010.
The Common Safety Methods facilitate access to the railway transport service market and favour cross-acceptance of the results on risk assessment by harmonising the risk management processes used to asses the safety levels and conformity of safety requirements, as well as the exchange of information between various players on the railway market in regards to safety assessment at the level of the various interfaces used in the railway sector; last but not least, by harmonising the results obtained by applying a risk management process.
Starting July 2010, this Regulation will have to be applied for all the major technical modifications that affect vehicles, as defined in article 2, letter (c) of Directive 57/2008, as well as for all the significant changes related to structural subsystems, as defined in article 15, paragraph (1) of Directive 57/2008 or in accordance with the respective Technical Specification for Interoperability.
by Elena Ilie
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