The European Commission, the European Union Agency for Railways, and the rail sector organisations signed the 4th memorandum of understanding on cooperation on the deployment of the European rail traffic management system (ERTMS) at the international trade fair for transport technology, InnoTrans, in Berlin on Tuesday 20 September.
This memorandum of understanding sets the technical specifications in line with CCS TSI (Control Command Signalling Technical Specification for Interoperability), reduces and simplifies national rules, and paves the way for future ERTMS developments, in line with Shift2Rail (see EUROPE 11492).
Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc said she was expecting the digitisation of ERTMS to contribute much to improving the competitiveness of the sector. She expressed her concern at the rail sector’s loss of competitiveness against other forms of transport (road, air) and international competition.
She again highlighted, therefore, the importance of fair international competition and indicated that she would keep a particularly close eye on public procurement conditions in bilateral negotiations. The Commission is currently in negotiations with Japan, a country where access to public contracts is especially difficult, and the United States, as part of the trade talks on the transatlantic partnership (see EUROPE 11613). (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)