Siemens Mobility has obtained Germany’s Federal Railway Authority (EBA) approval for Vectron locomotive equipped with the ETCS Baseline 3. Approval for Sweden has already been received and additional countries will follow.
ETCS Level 2 enables continuous communication between the locomotive and rail route. With the system, train drivers receive their driving commands, such as permitted speed, targeted speed and distance, directly on their display rather than from trackside signals as in the past. All data required for operation is transmitted to the locomotive from the rail line’s control center – the Radio Block Center (RBC) – via the GSM-R digital railway radio system and is monitored. The train’s speed, position and direction are provided by the locomotive’s computer and continually reported to the control center.
Compared to ETCS Baseline 2, which is currently used in most countries, ETCS Baseline 3 has many new features, including a universal braking curve model, which will simplify the deployment of an ETCS on-board equipment throughout Europe.
“The approval for operating with ETCS Baseline 3 marks an important milestone for our locomotive business. Siemens Mobility is pioneering the system’s early implementation in the rail industry. By driving digitalization, we are enabling our customers to make their infrastructure and their trains intelligent and to guarantee availability,” Sabrina Soussan, CEO of Siemens Mobility, said.
48 customers are using 980 Vectron locomotives, which have already covered more than 260 million fleet kilometers. They are approved for operation in 17 European countries and Turkey.
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