The development of rail transport in recent years has made the railway industry and European governments to direct all their attention to a very important issue: railway interoperability, which contributes to cross-border continuity. Transport operators face major pressure from the industry sector, especially the road sector, as well as from various organizations in order to improve their services. Therefore, operators should become an integrated part of national and European traffic. In order to provide efficient and high-quality transport services, railway companies should insist on implementing new generation technological solutions so as to provide interoperable transport.
“Aside from the need to rehabilitate the existing railway network, transport operators should activate in a competitive environment; they should speed up the implementation of advanced communication and signalling technologies, especially ERTMS. The decision to implement the ERTMS system stems from national economic and social objectives, not only from purely economic aspects. The key parameters of this decision-making process are represented by the medium and long-term strategy and its expansion. These considerations are determined by economic and eco-friendly transport strategies”, said Andrei Vuţă, Service Account Manager at Kapsch, for Railway Pro Magazine.
One of the most efficient technological solutions for interoperability is the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), a system which needs no additional intermediary technology in order to ensure interoperable transport.
At European level, the implementation of ERTMS Level 1 and Level 2 raises issues for both railway organizations and companies, especially in terms of costs.
The main advantages of the ERTMS system are safety and interoperability, which are valid for both Levels. In addition, Level 2 allows trains to operate at a higher commercial speed, thus improving a train’s capacity on the network. ERTMS Level 1 and Level 2 reduce investments costs for cross-border traffic locomotives, as well as the transit time interval, and facilitate the authorization process. The communication between the tracks and the train is mainly based on an interlocking structure which uses eurobalises (ETCS) to transmit information. The disadvantages reside in the fact that, in case of high traffic density (railway hubs), the GSM-R capacity may not be sufficient. Another disadvantage is that rail infrastructure managers, who already own a high capacity, will not obtain many benefits with the introduction of ETCS.
There are, however, major differences between ERTMS Level 1 and Level 2. “In case of ERTMS Level 1, the transmission is based on balises or loops and it uses the existing signalling equipment. Level 2, however, requires a modern signalling infrastructure. As for the data transmission, in case of ERTMS Level 1, the information is transmitted from the track to the vehicle through adaptors. Level 2 is based on the signalling system and the movements of the train are constantly monitored through the so-called block centre radio. Level 2 constantly monitors the speed of the train, the correct route, the direction of the vehicle and the operating instructions”, said Henrik Klaner, Sales Director at Thales, Germany, for Railway Pro Magazine.
The choice between ERTMS Level 1 and Level 2 should be based on the technical and operational state of the existing interlocking system, as well as the execution of the renewal works, the line/network along which the system is being implemented (new or existing tracks) and the ERTMS level of implementation. “An intelligent implementation of ERTMS Level 1 is almost as good as a transitional Level 2 implementation, until the interlocking system has to be changed. Several interest groups claim that ERTMS Level 2 is cheaper. However, they often neglect the costs required to change or modernise the interlocking system and the installation of the ERTMS system for new or older trains. ERTMS Level 1 also provides the possibility to operate trains at high speed, similar to Level 2”, said Poul Frøsig, UIC ERTMS / ETCS Project Manager, for Railway Pro Magazine.
The implementation of these systems requires investments in order to provide efficient transport services. “The investment costs for ETCS Level 1 are not very high, compared to ETCS Level 2 – the installation of a radio network and RBC. It depends on the infrastructure and on the Level which it can support, considering the number of trains/hour, the maximum speed etc. Also, the transition from one Level to another can easily be done”, added Henrik Klaner.
Many transport operators face challenges in terms of reducing costs within the company. One method of reducing costs is to reduce any additional investments, for instance, in case of the equipment installed on a locomotive. “If we were to consider the benefits of such an investment compared to the initial costs, the operator can reach the following conclusion: eventually, their costs will be reduced and they will increase their traffic capacity on the network by consolidating long-term performance and competitiveness”, explained Henrik Klaner.
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