IP/05/321
Brussels, 17 March 2005
ERTMS: a major European project for the rail
networks
The European Commission and the rail industry (manufacturers,
infrastructure managers and undertakings) today signed a memorandum of
understanding in Brussels on the deployment of the European Rail Traffic
Management System (ERMTS) on a key part of the European network. “ERTMS is
a major industrial project being implemented by Europe, a project which will
serve to make rail transport safer and more competitive. We cannot create a
European rail system without an overarching instrument to link the national rail
systems together,” noted Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European
Commission with responsibility for transport. “The fact that all the
players have agreed to the wide-scale installation of this system should, over
the next ten years, generate investment worth more than four billion on the
major priority routes of the trans-European network alone. The leverage effect
of the ERTMS project is further evidence that the 20.3 billion euros being
proposed for the trans-European transport network in the 2007-2013 European
budget is fully justified.”
The ERTMS concept is simple: information is transmitted from the ground to
the train, where an on-board computer uses it to calculate the maximum
authorised speed and then automatically slows down the train if necessary. The
on-board computer has to understand the information sent from the ground, yet
Europe is currently host to more than 20 different ground systems. For instance,
no fewer than seven signalling systems have had to be installed on the
high-speed Thalys train between Paris and Brussels, generating extra costs and
an increased risk of breakdowns.
Deployment of ERTMS will enable trains to carry a single European system on
board, thus reducing costs for infrastructure managers. Equally suited to
high-speed and conventional railway lines, the system will significantly enhance
network safety. Its deployment, which will entail analysis of the current and
potential capacity of the European corridors, calls for a coordinated strategy
involving all players in the sector, it being technically impossible to replace
the increasingly outdated national systems all at once.
The memorandum of understanding sets out a strategy of coordinated migration,
with the existing systems to be phased out as soon as possible. The Commission
will appoint a coordinator to implement the memorandum of understanding with all
the players involved. As regards financing, particular attention will be given,
in relation to the trans-European networks, to providing funding for studies and
projects focusing on the system's deployment.
First developed in the 1990s thanks to a European research programme, and
then funded via the trans-European network budget, ERTMS represents a
considerable breakthrough in the promotion of network interoperability. After 15
years of joint work by the industry and the operators, the system has now
reached maturity and is ready for large-scale deployment. The indicative
timeframe for that deployment is 10 to 12 years.
|