Brussels, 25/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - There is still too much incompatibility between the different train speed control systems in Europe: currently, there are more than 20 different signalling systems in operation in Europe at a time that the EU is seeking to promote the transport of goods by rail instead of by road. The decision taken on Wednesday 25 January on the European Train Control System (ETCS), means that the European Commission has taken another step towards the interoperability of rail throughout the Union.
The ETCS is the European standard for train signalling and speed control and includes an element from the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). The ETCS concept means that 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 decision that the Commission has adopted underpins the general use of the ETCS in the EU by strengthening the authorisation and certification procedure for railway lines and trains that are equipped with it. The decision stipulates that the mechanisms on board the trains be tested beforehand in accredited laboratories. By exchanging a national control system for its European equivalent millions of euros can be saved, but it is also the competitiveness of rail and the transport of freight in a single market that come out winning.
The Commission aims to introduce the ETCS in freight and high-speed train corridors. It believes that at this stage 4,000 km of railway lines are already equipped with the ETCS and that another 4,000 have planned to install it, which will double the network in the next two or three years. (MD/transl.fl)