Brussels, 27/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - In the form of a recommendation, on Thursday, the European Commission adopted common characteristics for the trans-European high-speed rail system. Complying with these characteristics will make it possible for HSTs to move more freely across Europe. They will, moreover, provide a significant improvement in safety as a result of the development of ERTMS (the European Rail Traffic Management System) which will make it possible to harmonise railway signalling and telecommunications systems. For Loyola de Palacio, European Commission Vice-President responsible for transport policy, these characteristics are an essential investment, in the sense that, by ensuring total interoperability of national networks, they will help avoid excessive production costs and make it easier to open up new high-speed trans-European links in the years to come, thereby helping revitalise rail.
The characteristic adopted are designed to ensure the interoperability of all the national rail systems as a result of the establishment of Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSIs). Taking into account the volume and technical nature of the TSIs laid down, the Commission has decided to fix already the main elements of the system, and in particular the infrastructure and track gauges, platform length and height, power-supply voltage and signalling. This approach will make it possible not only to provide the concrete technical elements needed to guide the infrastructure projects in progress but also to avoid a much longer and bureaucratic process of approximating the national standards. The technical characteristics included in the specifications are the fruit of lengthy discussions the Commission has had with experts representing the different parties concerned from the rail sector (infrastructure managers, rail companies, builders of rolling stock, etc.).
Among the characteristics adopted are ERTMS specifications, which cover train's control/command aspects, signalling and telecommunications. This system is the product of different programmes - research notably - financial backed by the EU. ERTMS allows makes it possible to control the spacing between trains and emergency braking, thus drastically reducing the risk of collision. It also allows for better management of the capacity of existing infrastructures, by allowing a considerable proportion of bottlenecks to be removed and avoiding changes of locomotives at frontiers. Finally, it permits the creation of a single market in railway equipment at European level instead of a fragmented market. Consequences: a cost reduction of some 25-50% compared with the most modern systems at present installed, thus making it possible to have easier recourse to the most developed safety technologies for the benefit of all users.