Starting in January, 622 km of lines are in exclusive ETCS operation in the Czech Republic, Správa železnic, the rail infrastructure manager announced.
After years of intensive work, which included thousands of test runs, training of hundreds of employees and coordination with transport operators, Správa železnic is fully prepared for this new phase of signalling integration. In addition to higher transport safety, ETCS will also enable future increases in train speeds.
“The implementation of ETCS is an extremely complex project that places high demands on the coordination of all parties involved – from the Railway Administration [Správa železnic] to technology manufacturers to carriers and their staff. As with any such significant technological change, there is a phase of fine-tuning the details so that all the parts finally fit together like in a well-adjusted machine. The Czech Republic is therefore among the first European countries to introduce exclusive ETCS operation on such an extensive network,” the Czech Minister of Transport Martin Kupka said.
The European signalling system will now be supervising approximately 50,000 trains per month travelling 4 million train-kilometres per month, which is 70 times the previous level. As these are mainly key sections of the main corridors, this represents more than 42% of the train operating performance and capacity on the Czech Railways network. On the busy regional section from Olomouc to Uničov, exclusive ETCS operation has been implemented for almost two years.
Since September, trains have been running under the supervision of ETCS on the section Prague-Běchovice – Česká Třebová and in the railway junction Pardubice’s all lines that will switch to exclusive operation this month. Currently, roughly 30% of the trains run under the system’s supervision on these lines, with the goal of gradually increasing the share to 50%.
The planned introduction of exclusive operation with ETCS as the single signalling system is taking place gradually in the four weeks in January.
There are four rail routes that operate under exclusive operation with ETCS:
- Česká Třebová – Olomouc – Dluhonice – Prosenice/Přerov (launched on January 1, 2025);
- Břeclav – Bohumín (from January 8, 2025);
- Česká Třebová – Adamov, Modřice – Břeclav (from January 15,2025);
- Prague-Běchovice – Pardubice – Česká Třebová (from January 22, 2025).
In implementing ETCS, Správa železnic proceeded according to the National Implementation Plan set by the government and the national authorities are committed to implementing ETCS based on a previous decision of the European Commission.
“ETCS is one of the most ambitious projects in the history of Czech railways, not only in terms of technical complexity and costs. The introduction of exclusive operation is comparable to moments such as the transition from steam locomotives to electric ones,” Jiří Svoboda, the Director General of the Czech Railways.
Since August 1, operators have been obliged to operate under ETCS on lines that are already equipped with this system, if they use a vehicle with the appropriate on-board unit and are driven by a properly trained driver. In the second half of the year, more than one hundred thousand trains ran in this test mode.
The supervision of the European signalling system thus significantly increased the safety of travel on the main corridors even before the introduction of exclusive operation. The availability of the system has also gradually increased. Connection failures occurred in only 1.3% of journeys in November.
Hundreds of vehicles will be running under ETCS supervision every day from January 2025, and more than 1,000 train drivers have had to undergo training. 500 dispatchers can also work with the system, not only from both central control sites in Prague and Přerov, including stand-by controllers, but also emergency dispatchers who will manage traffic directly at the stations.
To provide more information about the project and the single European signalling system ETCS, Správa železnic launched a dedicated website, which explains the principles of the system’s operation from the perspective of passengers and railway employees and details about the further expansion of ETCS.
In November 2022, Správa železnic launched the ETCS trials on the 29 km single-track Olomous – Uničov regional line which was modernised and electrified and in 2023 exclusive ETCS operation began. The project has contributed to the reduction of travel time from 40 minutes to less than half an hour.
In December 2022, Správa železnic announced that from 2025, exclusive ETCS operation will be mandatory on a significant part of the rail network.
Through the CEF2, in July 2024, Správa železnic secured a total co-financing of EUR 43.9 million for ETCS L2 trackside deployment. The selected projects for co-financing are:
- EUR 2.8 million for ERTMS L2 deployment on the 8.5 km Nezamyslice – Kojetín section;
- EUR 2.1 million for upgrading and retrofitting of 3 traction trains with ETCS L2 Baseline 3;
- EUR 9.55 million for the installation of the interlocking system on 19 km of track in the Masarykovo station of Praha and the ETCS L2 trackside deployment of on the Praha-Liben–Praha Masarykovo nádraží–Praha-Bubny–Praha-Holešovice section over a total length of 27.6 km;
- EUR 17.2 million for the ETCS L2 trackside development on two sections of railway totalling 102.7 km;
- EUR 9.38 million for the modernisation of the interlocking equipment needed for ETCS L2 installation on rail sections totalling 28.7 km;
- EUR 2.9 million is the co-financing available for upgrade of the signalling and remote-control system the deployment of ETCS L2 and GSM-R on the Plzen-Nyrany–Chotesov railway section.
The ETCS system will be gradually expanded on the lines in the Czech Republic. First, the remaining sections of the main lines will be equipped, and gradually the local lines will be equipped.
The strategy for the period 2024 – 2033 with a 2050 perspective, the ETCS operation on the Prague-Uhříněves – Prague main station route was under preparation while authorities monitored the ETCS on the state border with Germany – Dolní Žleb – Kralupy nad Vltavou route.
Some other ETCS trackside projects being in different development phases are on the following lines:
- Modřice – Adamov;
- Infrastructure modification for exclusive ETCS operation on Břeclav – Prague section;
- Brno – Havlíčkův Brod – Kolín;
- Infrastructure modification for the exclusive operation of ETCS on Břeclav – Kolín section;
- Mosty u Jablunkova – Dětmarovice;
- Ostrava – Havířov – Český Těšín;
- Břeclav – Petrovice u Karviné;
- Brno – Blažovice (on Brno – Přerov line);
- Hranice na Moravě – Horní Lideč – Střelná;
- České Velenice – České Budějovice – Horní Dvořiště;
- Milovice – Prague main station;
- Liberec – Česká Lípa;
- Uničov – Šumperk – Zábřeh n. M.
Czechia intends to deploy the ETCS on the entire TEN-T network by 2030 representing almost 5,200 km of lines. The procedure for gradually equipping the entire rail network is based on the Plan for the Modern Control of the Czech Railways, approved in 2021 aiming at equipping and introducing exclusive operation of ETCS level 2 on the TEN-T network by 2030. The other lines will gradually be equipped with either ETCS level 2 or ETCS level 1 Limited Supervision or ETCS Stop level.
The plan to install the ETCS shows that until 2030 the new signalling technology will be deployed on 4,600 km of lines when 5,400 km of railway lines will be already equipped with the new system. This represents 60% of the entire rail network which ensures 98% of the traffic performance.
ETCS deployment on vehicles
According to some statistics of Správa železnic, around 1,153 vehicles completed relevant tests, elements and components for operation on the lines equipped with ETCS. Of the total, 811 vehicles are owned by Czechia, and 342 vehicles are owned by foreign railway undertakings. In August, České dráhy has announced that the ETCS was installed on 422 vehicles and work continued for 750 class locomotives, on RegioSpider and RegioShark DMUs, InterPanter EMUs, first generation of RegioPanters units and 471 class CityElefant suburban DMUs. In August, 1,850 drivers were trained to drive under the ETCS signalling.
In June 2023, under the CEF2 call for proposals, České dráhy secured EUR 23.7 million co-financing to retrofit 161 vehicles of nine different types with ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3. CD Cargo also secured EUR 16.3 million co-financing to retrofit 99 electric locomotives of six different types with ERTMS on-board equipment Level 2 Baseline 3. In additiona, Metrans obtained a EUR 4.9 co-financing to retrofit of 26 Traxx locomotives with ETCS L2, Baseline 3 operating in the Czech Republic.
Under the third CEF Transport call for proposals, in July, Arriva vlaky secured EUR 2.57 million for ETCS Baseline 3 retrofitting project for 848 passenger trains operating on Czech rail network.
From 2018 to 2024, railway undertakings secured CZK 7.2 billion (EUR 287 million) to deploy ETCS on-board technology. 67 projects which involve 1,227 vehicles were implemente.
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