Brussels, 10/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday, the European Commission decided to authorise the Netherlands to grant aid (€ 5 million for the period 2005 - 2007) for the deployment of the European Train Control System (ETCS) on the Betuwe railway line for freight trains, which is to be opened between Rotterdam and Germany in 2006. The Commission explains in a press release explains that the aid can amount to 50% of the eligible investment costs with a maximum of € 700.000 for freight locomotives that were permitted onto the Dutch railway network before 1 January 2004 and € 300.000 for those which were permitted after 1 January 2004. The number of requests for subsidies from each railway company, lease company or manufacturer is limited to one if the prototype is followed by conversion of a series of at least 2 locomotives of the same type; to two if the prototypes are followed by at least 9 locomotives of each type, and to three if the prototypes are followed by at least 14 locomotives of each type.
The ETCS 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. There are currently 20 different ground systems operational in Europe. Their incompatibility is a major technical barrier to international train transport. “In order to create a truly European railway network which is competitive for the transport of goods, we need to deploy the European Train Control System. This has a cost, in particular for the first railway undertakings that switch to ETCS. For this reason I consider this a matter of compensation rather than aid,” said Jacques Barrot, Vice-President of the European Commission with responsibility for transport. It is not technically possible to switch immediately from the old national systems to the ETCS on the whole European network, some trains need to be fitted with ETCS on top of the existing systems during a transition period. The Dutch scheme will actually avoid that the high investment costs disadvantage small railway operators in relation to the big state owned companies.
Together with the Global System for Mobile Communications for the Railways (GSM-R), ETCS is part of the ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System, see EUROPE 8912). A deployment plan for ETCS, covering the main lines of the Trans European Network, will be prepared with the help of a European Coordinator, whom the Commission will appoint shortly.