Study on feasibility of SATCOM for railway communication

Final Report
1.5.1 Cost Benefit Analysis
Figure 6: Non-technical and non-functional criteria compliance matrix
The cost benefit analysis conducted as part of this study estimates the full lifecycle costs and
assesses the possible sources of revenue for each SATCOM GSM-R-replacement candidate.
Comparable terrestrial solutions have also been included for benchmarking purposes.
Regarding the scope of the analysis, the timespan considered ranges from 2020 to 2040 and the
geographic scope includes the EU‘s current 28 member states, plus Norway and Switzerland. The
analysis is segmented at key stakeholder level (limited here to Railway Undertakings and
Infrastructure Managers, and not taking into account other stakeholders who may interact with these).
1.5.1.1 Costs
The methodology makes use of a top-down approach to determine the overall operational
requirements, which are then translated into infrastructure and deployment requirements based on
each solution‘s technical features. Thereafter, a unit capital expense is applied to each concept, with
the annual maintenance expenditures sized likewise. Finally, the data rates required to operate the
railway communications services are computed based on telecommunications performance and
market-sourced service costs.
The results are presented as a ―delta‖, where the total cost of a specific solution is compared against a
baseline, by default GSM-R.
1.5.1.2 Revenues
The revenues side of the analysis has only been performed for broadband solutions, since it has been
assumed that only these candidates can fully support value added services. The analysis is based on
traffic and demand forecasts. Based on it, the revenue model is built upon unit tariffs per user. The
demand has been sized according to EUROSTAT demographic statistics.
1.5.1.3 General Outlook
The results show a clear difference between narrowband and broadband SATCOM solutions, the latter
expected to require significantly larger investments. Additionally, there is a clear business model
differentiation between SATCOM and terrestrial pool of candidates, while SATCOM solutions offer
mainly OPEX-driven models and terrestrial solutions strongly dominated by CAPEX investments.
1.6 MAIN FINDINGS AFTER THE ASSESSMENT
This section provides findings regarding technical, multi-technology and non-technical criteria
according to the assessment carried out with the SATCOM systems listed in Table 5.
1.6.1 Findings regarding Technical criteria
After analysing the SATCOM solutions, the following conclusions can be drawn:
Doc.Nº: SRAIL-FNR-010-IND
Edit./Rev.: 1/1
Date: 16/02/2017
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