The first Flirt trains with Guardia signalling system are now operating in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany as part of the three-country trains operated by the Dutch operator Arriva.
The conversion and approval of the multiple units with the ETCS technology developed by Stadler has been successfully completed.
Stadler had already retrofitted multiple units from third-party providers as part of a pilot project in 2023 to enable a faster ETCS roll-out in Germany. The retrofitting project was undertaken by Stadler in collaboration with the operator Arriva. This included equipping 8 Flirt trains with Guardia system from Stadler.
The vehicles are now operating across borders of the three countries and currently the ETCS system is only required for operation on the Belgian routes. On the Dutch and German ones, the operation is still carried out with the Class B systems PZB and ATB, so that these also had to be integrated into the ETCS signalling system. This now enables cross-border operation of the vehicles and, for the first time, transfer-free operation between the metropolises of the so-called “tri-border region” of Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
“The introduction of ETCS on our three-country train fulfils a long-held wish. Our passengers can now travel from Liège to Aachen via Maastricht. Stadler has coordinated and realised the development and retrofitting of our fleet for Arriva with determination and perseverance. This was done in co-operation not only with the suppliers, but also with the regulatory authorities in Europe and the three countries involved,” Michiel Cusell, Regional Director of Arriva Limburg, said.
Stadler developed and supplied ETCS on-board solutions in collaboration with the technology company AngelStar. The high-performance ETCS-Guardia system with its proven electronic technology is already approved in several European countries and is currently in use in Switzerland, Poland, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Croatia and Slovenia.
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