Proceedings 2002/2003 - IRSE

MIGRATION TO ERTMS ON EXISTING LINES 69
have 100% of his ticket reimbursed on the spot if his
train arrives more than five minutes late.
There are other railways where the reason for
going to ERTMS/ETCS would be to simplify the onboard
layout, to get a simpler architecture, to use
less space or to reduce costs by having less
equipment than the previous solution of juxtaposing
several national kinds of equipment in order to be
able to cross borders. Freight operators, and all
operators of cross-border trains, will be in this
situation in the near future and for some it has
already started.
There are already commercial projects in more
than ten countries. Further projects are expected
shortly in most of these countries, and in half a
dozen others besides.
In central and eastern Europe and Luxembourg,
the choice is mostly for ERTMS/ETCS Level 1 at
present (see Figure 7). In most cases, projects affect
existing lines that are being refurbished. Countries
involved include Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech
Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Slovakia and
Slovenia. The main reason for going to ERTMS/
ETCS is to increase safety. The presence of a large
amount of European finance in many of the projects
Figure 7 – Countries With Level 1
also means that ERTMS/ETCS is the only real
choice.
In France and Germany, the principal countries in
Europe in terms of rail traffic and network size, the
railways do not yet have clear plans for migration to
ERTMS/ETCS. Both countries now have separate
infrastructure owners and railway operators, with
differing requirements. Both countries also have
large installed bases, and the existence of this
investment has to be taken into account in the
migration strategy.
In Italy the infrastructure owner (RFI) and train
operator (Trenitalia) have committed themselves to
ERTMS/ETCS Level 2 for all new high-speed lines,
starting with the second high-speed line in Italy,
Rome to Naples, which will be commissioned at the
end of 2004 (see Figure 8). The next three lines –
Bologna to Florence, Milan to Bologna and Turin to
Milan – are already well advanced at various stages,
and there are several others in the pipeline. For
existing conventional lines, RFI and Trenitalia are
actively deploying the local intermittent system
(SCMT) at the present time; this gives compatibility
Figure 8 – ERTMS/ETCS in Italy
with ERTMS/ETCS.
In Finland and Sweden there are large installed
bases of national ATP systems, both trackside and
trainborne. The main needs at present are to tackle
obsolescence and to obtain the additional functions
and flexibility that a new system would offer – hence
ERTMS/ETCS. For the migration path though the
most urgent need is for Specific Transmission
Modules (STMs), to retain the ability to run on lines
equipped only with the existing system. The vast
investments that have been made recently will then
be kept for a time, the railways equipping the rolling
stock first and then modernising the trackside step
by step as requirements arise.
In Spain, as in Italy but probably on an even larger
scale, there are plans for a high-speed network with
ERTMS/ETCS Level 2 as the core of the signalling
and communications system. The western part of
the Madrid to Barcelona high-speed line, from
Madrid to Lleida, will be in operation in 2003 (see
Figure 9). It will have Level 2 as the main system,
with Level 1 and some conventional lineside signals
and the associated national ATP system as backups.
A branch from this high-speed line, from
Zaragoza northwards to Huesca (and later to
Canfranc on the border with France), will be
equipped with Level 1 and will also be commissioned
in 2003.
Figure 9 – ERTMS/ETCS in Spain