Brussels, 26/01/2012 (Agence Europe) - It is clear that there is unease over the roll-out of the European Railways Traffic Management System (ERTMS) on Europe's railways. A number of non-European countries, including China, India and Saudi Arabia, have begun deploying the ERTMS on new railway lines. The European nations, however, remain reticent about fully subscribing to the ERTMS, principally because of the disproportionately high implementation and authorisation costs, and the way the network has grown up. At a meeting of the Rail Europe Forum, an association founded by 15 MEPs to facilitate dialogue between the institutions and the rail sector, which took place in the European Parliament on Wednesday 25 January, Antonio Preto, Head of Cabinet of European Industry Commissioner Antonio Tajani, expressed pleasure that 50% of ERTMS equipment, designed and produced in Europe, was sold to non-EU countries but regretted that EU nations were not more enthusiastic. This situation, of course, concerns the whole rail sector which is still caught in a tangle of some 20 national systems which have to co-exist. Even though member states have to inform the European Commission by the end of this year of their intentions on putting the ERTMS in place by 2015, many within the sector are calling for the Commission to act more firmly to speed up deployment of the system in the EU, settle persistent problems and extend the area of responsibility of the European Rail Agency. (MD/transl.rt)