European Train Control System


The European Train Control System is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System. It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible safety systems currently used by European railways. The standard was also adopted outside Europe and is an option for worldwide application. In technical terms it is a kind of positive train control.
ETCS is implemented with standard trackside equipment and unified controlling equipment within the train cab. In its advanced form, all lineside information is passed to the driver wireless inside the cab, removing the need for lineside signals watched by the driver. This will give the foundation for a later to be defined automatic train operation. Trackside equipment aims to exchange information with the vehicle for safely supervising train circulation. The information exchanged between track and trains can be either continuous or intermittent according to the ERTMS/ETCS level of application and to the nature of the information itself.
The need for a system like ETCS stems from more and longer running trains resulting from economic integration of the European Union and the liberalisation of national railway markets. At the beginning of the 1990s there were some national high speed train projects supported by the EU which lacked interoperability of trains. This catalysed the Directive 1996/48 about the interoperability of high-speed trains, followed by Directive 2001/16 extending the concept of interoperability to the conventional rail system. ETCS specifications have become part of, or are referred to, the Technical Specifications for Interoperability for control-command systems, pieces of European legislation managed by the European Union Agency for Railways. It is a legal requirement that all new, upgraded or renewed tracks and rolling stock in the European railway system should adopt ETCS, possibly keeping legacy systems for backward compatibility. Many networks outside the EU have also adopted ETCS, generally for high-speed rail projects. The main goal of achieving interoperability had mixed success in the beginning.
Deployment has been slow, as there is no business case for replacing existing train protection systems, especially in Germany and France which already had advanced train protection systems installed in most mainlines. Even though these legacy systems were developed in the 1960s, they provided similar performance to ETCS Level 2, thus the reluctance of infrastructure managers to replace these systems with ETCS. There are also significant problems regarding compatibility of the latest software releases or baselines of infrastructure-side equipment with older on-board equipment, forcing in many cases the train operating companies to replace ETCS equipment after only a few years. Switzerland, an early adopter of ETCS Limited Supervision, has introduced a moratorium on its planned roll-out of ETCS Level 2 due to cost and capacity concerns, added to fears about GSM-R obsolence starting in 2030.

History

The European railway network grew from separate national networks with little more in common than standard gauge. Notable differences include voltages, loading gauge, couplings, signalling and control systems. By the end of the 1980s there were 14 national standard train control systems in use across the EU, and the advent of high-speed trains showed that signalling based on lineside signals is insufficient.
Both factors led to efforts to reduce the time and cost of cross-border traffic. On 4 and 5 December 1989, a working group including Transport Ministers resolved a master plan for a trans-European high-speed rail network, the first time that ETCS was suggested. The Commission communicated the decision to the European Council, which approved the plan in its resolution of 17 December 1990. This led to a resolution on 91/440/EEC as of 29 July 1991, which mandated the creation of a requirements list for interoperability in high-speed rail transport. The rail manufacturing industry and rail network operators had agreed on creation of interoperability standards in June 1991. Until 1993, the organizational framework was created to start technical specifications that would be published as Technical Specifications for Interoperability. The mandate for TSI was resolved by 93/38/EEC. In 1995, a development plan first mentioned the creation of the European Rail Traffic Management System.
Because ETCS is in many parts implemented in software, some wording from software technology is used. Versions are called system requirements specifications. This is a bundle of documents, which may have different versioning for each document. A main version is called baseline.

Baseline 1

The specification was written in 1996 in response to EU Council Directive 96/48/EC99 of 23 July 1996 on interoperability of the trans-European high-speed rail system. First the European Railway Research Institute was instructed to formulate the specification and about the same time the ERTMS User Group was formed from six railway operators that took over the lead role in the specification. The standardisation went on for the next two years and it was felt to be slow for some industry partners – 1998 saw the formation of Union of Signalling Industry, including Alstom, Ansaldo, Bombardier, Invensys, Siemens and Thales that were to take over the finalisation of the standard.
In July 1998, SRS 5a documents were published that formed the first baseline for technical specifications. UNISIG provided for corrections and enhancements of the baseline specification leading to the Class P specification in April 1999. This baseline specification has been tested by six railways since 1999 as part of the ERTMS.

Baseline 2

The railway companies defined some extended requirements that were included to ETCS, leading to the Class 1 SRS 2.0.0 specification of ETCS. Further specification continued through a number of drafts until UNISIG published the SUBSET-026 defining the current implementation of ETCS signalling equipment – this Class 1 SRS 2.2.2 was accepted by the European Commission in decision 2002/731/EEC as mandatory for high-speed rail and in decision 2004/50/EEC as mandatory for conventional rail. The SUBSET-026 is defined from eight chapters where chapter seven defines the ETCS language and chapter eight describes the balise telegram structure of ETCS Level 1. Later UNISIG published the corrections as SUBSET-108, that was accepted in decision 2006/679/EEC.
The earlier ETCS specification contained a lot of optional elements that limited interoperability. The Class 1 specifications were revised in the following year leading to SRS 2.3.0 document series that was made mandatory by the European Commission in decision 2007/153/EEC on 9 March 2007. Annex A describes the technical specifications on interoperability for high-speed and conventional rail transport. Using SRS 2.3.0 a number of railway operators started to deploy ETCS on a large scale, for example the Italian Sistema Controllo Marcia Treno is based on Level 1 balises. Further development concentrated on compatibility specification with the earlier Class B systems leading to specifications like EuroZUB that continued to use the national rail management on top of Eurobalises for a transitional period. Following the experience in railway operation the European Union Agency for Railways published a revised specification Class 1 SRS 2.3.0d'' that was accepted by the European Commission in April 2008.
This compilation SRS 2.3.0d was declared final in this series. There were a list of unresolved functional requests and a need for stability in practical rollouts. So in parallel started the development of baseline 3 series to incorporate open requests, strip off unneeded stuff and combine it with solutions found for baseline 2. The structure of functional levels was continued.

Baseline 3

While some countries switched to ETCS with some benefit, German and French railway operators had already introduced modern types of train protection systems so they would gain no benefit. Instead, ideas were introduced on new modes like "Limited Supervision" that would allow for
These ideas were compiled into a "baseline 3" series by the ERA and published as a Class 1 SRS 3.0.0 proposal on 23 December 2008. The first consolidation SRS 3.1.0 of the proposal was published by ERA on 26 February 2010 and the second consolidation SRS 3.2.0 on 11 January 2011. The specification GSM-R Baseline 0 was published as Annex A to the baseline 3 proposal on 17 April 2012. At the same time a change to Annex A of SRS 2.3.0d was proposed to the European Commission that includes GSM-R baseline 0 allowing ETCS SRS 3.3.0 trains to run on SRS 2.3.0d tracks. The baseline 3 proposal was accepted by the European Commission with decision 2012/88/EU on 25. January 2012. The update for SRS 3.3.0 and the extension for SRS 2.3.0d were accepted by the European Commission with decision 2012/696/EU on 6. November 2012.
The ERA work programme concentrated on the refinement of the test specification SRS 3.3.0 that was to be published in July 2013. In parallel the GSM-R specification was to be extended into a GSM-R baseline 1 until the end of 2013. The German Deutsche Bahn has since announced equipping at least the TEN Corridors running on older tracks to be using either Level 1 Limited Supervision or Level 2 on high-speed sections. Current work continues on Level 3 definition with low-cost specifications and the integration of GPRS into the radio protocol to increase the signalling bandwidth as required in shunting stations. The specifications for ETCS baseline 3 and GSM-R baseline 0 were published as recommendations SRS 3.4.0 by the ERA in May 2014 for submission to the Railway Interoperability and Safety Committee in a meeting in June 2014. The SRS 3.4.0 was accepted by the European Commission with the amending decision 2015/14/EU on 5. January 2015.
Stakeholders such as Deutsche Bahn have opted for a streamlined development model for ETCS – DB will assemble a database of change requests to be assembled by priority and effect in a CR-list for the next milestone report that shall be published on fixed dates through ERA. The SRS 3.4.0 from Q2 2014 matches with the MR1 from this process. The further steps were planned for the MR2 to be published in Q4 2015 and the MR3 to be published in Q3 2017. Each specification will be commented on and handed over to the RISC for subsequent legalization in the European Union. Deutsche Bahn has expressed a commitment to keep the Baseline 3 specification backward compatible starting at least with SRS 3.5.0 that is due in 2015 according to the streamlined MR2 process, with the MR1 adding requirements from its tests in preparation for the switch to ETCS. The intention is based on plans to start replacing its PZB train protection system at the time.
In December 2015, the ERA published the Baseline 3 Release 2 series including GSM-R Baseline 1. The B3R2 is publicly named to be not an update to the previous Baseline 3 Maintenance Release 1. The notable change is the inclusion of EGPRS in the GSM-R specification, corresponding to the new Eirene FRS 8 / SRS 16 specifications. Additionally B3R2 includes the ETCS Driver Machine Interface and the SRS 3.5.0. This Baseline 3 series was accepted by European Commission with decisions 2016/919/EC in late May 2016. The decision references ETCS SRS 3.6.0 that was subsequently published by the ERA in a Set 3 in June 2016. The publications of the European Commission and ERA for SRS 3.6.0 were synchronized to the same day, 15 June. The Set 3 of B3R2 is marked as the stable basis for subsequent ERTMS deployments in the EU.
The name of Set 3 follows the style of publications of the decisions of the European Commission where updates to the Baseline 2 and Baseline 3 specifications were accepted at the same time – for example decision 2015/14/EU of January 2015 has two tables "Set of specifications # 1 " and "Set of specifications # 2 ". In the decision of May 2016 there are three tables: "Set of specifications # 1 ", "Set of specifications # 2 ", and "Set of specifications # 3
". In that decision the SRS and DMI are kept at 3.4.0 for Set 2 while updating Set 3 to SRS and DMI 3.6.0. All three of the tables are updated to include the latest EIRENE FRS 8.0.0 including the same GSM-R SRS 16.0.0 to ensure interoperability. In that decision the SRS is kept at 2.3.0 for Set 1 – and the decision of 2012/88/EU was repealed that was first introducing the interoperability of Set 1 and Set 2 based on GSM-R Baseline 0.
Introduction of Baseline 3 on railways require installation of it on board, which require re-certification of trains. This will cost less than first ETCS certification, but still around €100k per vehicle.
The first live tests of Baseline 3 took place in Denmark July 2016. Denmark wants to install ERTMS on all its railways, and then use Baseline 3.
British freight and passenger operators have signed contracts to install Baseline 3 in their trains, the first around 2020.

Deployment planning

The development of ETCS has matured to a point that cross-border traffic is possible and some countries have announced a date for the end of older systems. The first contract to run the full length of a cross-border railway was signed by Germany and France in 2004 on the high-speed line from Paris to Frankfurt, including LGV Est. The connection opened in 2007 using ICE3MF, to be operational with ETCS trains by 2016. The Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Italy have a commitment to open [|Corridor A] from Rotterdam to Genoa for freight by the start of 2015. Non-European countries also are starting to deploy ERTMS/ETCS, including Algeria, China, India, Israel, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia. Australia will switch to ETCS on some dedicated lines starting in 2013.
The European Commission has mandated that European railways to publish their deployment planning up to 5 July 2017. This will be used to create a geographical and technical database that can show the ETCS deployment status on the Trans-European Network. From the comparative overview the commission wants to identify the needs for additional coordination measures to support the implementation. Synchronous with the publication of ETCS SRS 3.6.0 on 15 June 2017 the Regulation 2016/796/EC was published. It mandates the replacement of the European Railways Agency by the European Union Agency for Railways. The agency was tasked with the creation of a regulatory framework for a Single European Railway Area in the 4th Railway Package to be resolved in late June 2016. A week later the new EU Agency for Railways emphasized the stability of B3R2 and the usage as the foundation for oncoming ETCS implementations in the EU. Based on projections in the Rhine-Alps-Corridor, a break-even of the cross-border ETCS implementation is expected in the early 2030s. A new memorandum of understanding was signed on InnoTrans in September 2016 for a completion of the first ETCS Deployment Plan targets by 2022. The new planning was accepted by the European Commission in January 2017 with a goal to have 50% of the Core Network Corridors equipped by 2023 and the remainder in a second phase up to 2030.
The costs for the switch to ETCS are well documented in the Swiss reports from their railway operator SBB to the railway authority BAV. In December 2016 it was shown that they could start switching parts of the system to ETCS Level 2 whenever a section needs improvement. This would not only result in a network where sections of ETCS and the older ZUB would switch back and forth along lines, but the full transition to ETCS would last until 2060 and its cost were estimated at 9.5 billion Swiss Franc. The expected advantages of ETCS for more security and up to 30% more throughput would also be at stake. Thus legislation favours the second option where the internal equipment of interlocking stations would be replaced by new electronic ETCS desks before switching the network to ETCS Level 2. However the current railway equipment manufacturers did not provide enough technology options at the time of the report to start it off. So the plan would be to run feasibility studies until 2019 with a projected start of changeover set to 2025. A rough estimate indicates that the switch to ETCS Level 2 could be completed within 13 years from that point and it would cost about 6.1 billion Swiss Franc. For comparison, SBB indicated that the maintenance of lineside signals would also cost about 6.5 billion Swiss Franc which however can be razed once Level 2 is effective.
The Swiss findings influenced the German project "Digitale Schiene". It is estimated that 80% of the rail network can be operated by GSM-R without lineside signals. This will bring about 20% more trains that can be operated in the country. The project was unveiled in January 2018 and it will start off with a feasibility study on electronic interlocking stations that should show a transition plan by mid 2018. It is expected that 80% of the network have been rebuilt to the radio-controlled system by 2030. This is more extensive than earlier plans which focused more on ETCS Level 1 with Limited Supervision instead of Level 2.

Alternative implementations

The ETCS standard has listed a number of older Automatic Train Controls as Class B systems. While they are set to obsolescence, the older line side signal information can be read by using Specific Transmission Modules hardware and fed the Class B signal information to a new ETCS onboard safety control system for [|partial supervision]. In practice, an alternative transition scheme is used where an older ATC is rebased to use Eurobalises. This leverages the fact that a Eurobalise can transmit multiple information packets and the reserved national datagram can encode the signal values from the old system in parallel with ETCS datagram packets. The older train-born ATC system is equipped with an additional Eurobalise reader that converts the datagram signals. This allows for a longer transitional period where the old ATC and Eurobalises are attached on the sleepers until all trains have a Eurobalise reader. The newer ETCS-compliant trains can be switched to an ETCS operation scheme by a software update of the onboard train computer.
In Switzerland, a replacement of the older Integra-Signum magnets and ZUB 121 magnets to Eurobalises in the Euro-Signum plus EuroZUB operation scheme is under way. All trains had been equipped with Eurobalise readers and signal converters until 2005. The general operation scheme will be switched to ETCS by 2017 with an allowance for older trains to run on specific lines with EuroZUB until 2025.
In Belgium, the TBL 1 crocodiles were complemented with Eurobalises in the TBL 1+ operation scheme. The TBL 1+ definition allowed for an additional speed restriction to be transmitted to the train computer already. Likewise in Luxembourg the Memor II was extended into a Memor II+ operation scheme.
In Berlin, the old mechanical train stops on the local S-Bahn rapid transit system are replaced by Eurobalises in the newer ZBS train control system. Unlike the other systems it is not meant to be transitional for a later ETCS operation scheme. The signalling centres and the train computer use ETCS components with a specific software version, manufacturers like Siemens point out that their ETCS systems can be switched for operating on ETCS, TBL, or ZBS lines.
The Wuppertal Suspension Railway called for bids on a modernization of its train protection and management system. Alstom won the tender with a plan largely composed of ETCS components. Instead of GSM-R the system uses TETRA which had been in use already for voice communication. The TETRA system will be expanded to allow movement authority being signaled by digital radio. Because train integrity will not be checked, the solution was called as ETCS Level 2+ by the manufacturer. Train integrity is the level of belief in the train being complete and not having left coaches or wagons behind. The usage of moving blocks was dropped however while the system was implemented with just 256 balises checking the odometry of the trains that signal their position by radio to the ETCS control center. It is expected that headways will drop from 3,5 minutes to 2 minutes when the system is activated. The system has been inaugurated on 01/09/2019.

Levels of ETCS

ETCS is specified at four numbered levels:
Level 0 applies when an ETCS-fitted vehicle is used on a non-ETCS route. The trainborne equipment monitors the maximum speed of that type of train. The train driver observes the trackside signals. Since signals can have different meanings on different railways, this level places additional requirements on drivers' training. If the train has left a higher-level ETCS, it might be limited in speed globally by the last balises encountered.

Level 1

Level 1 is a cab signalling system that can be superimposed on the existing signalling system, leaving the fixed signalling system in place. Eurobalise radio beacons pick up signal aspects from the trackside signals via signal adapters and telegram coders and transmit them to the vehicle as a movement authority together with route data at fixed points. The on-board computer continuously monitors and calculates the maximum speed and the braking curve from these data. Because of the spot transmission of data, the train must travel over the Eurobalise beacon to obtain the next movement authority. In order for a stopped train to be able to move, there are optical signals that show permission to proceed. With the installation of additional Eurobalises or a EuroLoop between the distant signal and main signal, the new proceed aspect is transmitted continuously. The EuroLoop is an extension of the Eurobalise over a particular distance that basically allows data to be transmitted continuously to the vehicle over cables emitting electromagnetic waves. A radio version of the EuroLoop is also possible.
For example, in Norway and Sweden the meanings of single green and double green are contradictory. Drivers have to know the difference to drive beyond the national borders safely. In Sweden, the ETCS Level 1 list of signal aspects are not fully included in the traditional list, so there is a special marking saying that such signals have slightly different meanings.

Limited Supervision

Whereas ETCS L1 Full Supervision requires supervision to be provided at every signal, ETCS L1 Limited Supervision allows for only a part of the signals to be included, thus allowing to tailor the installation of equipment, only to points of the network where the increase in functionality justifies the costs. Formally, this is possible for all ETCS levels, but it is currently only applied with Level 1. As supervision is not provided at every signal, this implies that cab signalling is not available and the driver must still look out for trackside signals. For this reason, the level of safety is not as high, as not all signals are included and there is still reliance on the driver seeing and respecting the trackside signalling. Studies have shown that ETCS L1 LS has the same capacity as plain Level 1 FS for half the cost. Cost advantages come from reduced efforts necessary for calibrating, configurating and designing the track equipment and ETCS telegramms. Another advantage is, that Limited Supervision has little requirements for the underlying interlocking, hence it can be applied even on lines with mechanical interlockings as long as LEUs can read respective signal aspects. In contrast Level 2 requires to replace older interlockings with electronic or digital interlockings. That has led to railway operators pushing for the inclusion of Limited Supervision into the ETCS Baseline 3. Although interoperable according to TSI, implementations of Limited Supervision are much more diverse than other ECTS modes, e.g. functionality of L1LS in Germany is strongly based on PZB principles of operation and common signal distances.
Limited Supervision mode was proposed by RFF/SNCF based on a proposal by SBB. Several years later a steering group was announced in spring 2004. After the UIC workshop on 30 June 2004 it was agreed that UIC should produce a FRS document as the first step. The resulting proposal was distributed to the eight administrations that were identified: ÖBB, SNCB/NMBS, BDK, DB Netze, RFI, CFR, Network Rail and SBB. After 2004 German Deutsche Bahn took over the responsibility for the change request.
In Switzerland the Federal Office of Transport announced in August 2011 that beginning with 2018 the Eurobalise-based EuroZUB/EuroSignum signalling will be switched to Level 1 Limited Supervision. High-speed lines are already using ETCS Level 2. The north–south corridor should be switched to ETCS by 2015 according to international contracts regarding the TEN-T Corridor-A from Rotterdam to Genova. But it is delayed and will be usable with December 2017 timetable change.

Level 2

Level 2 is a digital radio-based system. Movement authority and other signal aspects are displayed in the cab for the driver. Apart from a few indicator panels, it is therefore possible to dispense with trackside signalling. However, the train detection and the train integrity supervision still remain in place at the trackside. Train movements are monitored continually by the radio block centre using this trackside-derived information. The movement authority is transmitted to the vehicle continuously via GSM-R or GPRS together with speed information and route data. The Eurobalises are used at this level as passive positioning beacons or "electronic milestones". Between two positioning beacons, the train determines its position via sensors. The positioning beacons are used in this case as reference points for correcting distance measurement errors. The on-board computer continuously monitors the transferred data and the maximum permissible speed.

Level 3

With Level 3, ETCS goes beyond pure train protection functionality with the implementation of full radio-based train spacing. Fixed train detection devices are no longer required. As with Level 2, trains find their position themselves by means of positioning beacons and via sensors and must also be capable of determining train integrity on board to the very highest degree of reliability. By transmitting the positioning signal to the radio block centre, it is always possible to determine that point on the route the train has safely cleared. The following train can already be granted another movement authority up to this point. The route is thus no longer cleared in fixed track sections. In this respect, Level 3 departs from classic operation with fixed intervals: given sufficiently short positioning intervals, continuous line-clear authorisation is achieved and train headways come close to the principle of operation with absolute braking distance spacing. Level 3 uses radio to pass movement authorities to the train. Level 3 uses train reported position and integrity to determine if it is safe to issue the movement authority. Level 3 is currently under development. Solutions for reliable train integrity supervision are highly complex and are hardly suitable for transfer to older models of freight rolling stock. The Confirmed Safe Rear End is the point in rear of the train at the furthest extent of the safety margin. If the Safety margin is zero, the CSRE aligns with the Confirmed Rear End. Some kind of end-of-train device is needed or special lines for rolling stock with included integrity checks like commuter multiple units or high speed passenger trains. A ghost train is a vehicle in the Level 3 Area that are not known to the Level 3 Track-side.

ERTMS Regional

A variant of Level 3 is ERTMS Regional, which has the option to be used with virtual fixed blocks or with true moving block signalling. It was early defined and implemented in a cost sensitive environment in Sweden. In 2016 with SRS 3.5+ it was adopted by core standards and is now officially part of Baseline 3 Level 3.
It is possible to use train integrity supervision, or by accepting limited speed and traffic volume to lessen the effect and probability of colliding with detached rail vehicles. ERTMS Regional has lower commissioning and maintenance costs, since trackside train detection devices are not routinely used, and is suitable for lines with low traffic volume. These low-density lines usually have no automatic train protection system today, and thus will benefit from the added safety.

GNSS

Instead of using fixed balises to detect train location there may be "virtual balises" based on satellite navigation and GNSS augmentation. Several studies about the usage of GNSS in railway signalling solutions have been researched by the UIC and ESA. Experiences in the LOCOPROL project show that real balises are still required in railway stations, junctions, and other areas where greater positional accuracy is required. The successful usage of satellite navigation in the GLONASS-based Russian ABTC-M block control has triggered the creation of the ITARUS-ATC system that integrates Level 2 RBC elements – the manufacturers Ansaldo STS and VNIIAS aim for certification of the ETCS compatibility of this system.
The first real implementation of the virtual balise concept has been done during the ESA project 3InSat on 50 km of track of the Cagliari–Golfo Aranci Marittima railway on Sardinia in which a SIL-4 train localisation at signalling system level has been developed using differential GPS.
There is a pilot project "ERSAT EAV" running since 2015 with the objective to verify the suitability of EGNSS as the enabler of cost-efficient and economically sustainable ERTMS signalling solutions for safety railway applications.
Ansaldo STS has come to lead the UNISIG working group on GNSS integration into ERTMS within Next Generation Train Control WP7, whose main scope is to specify ETCS virtual balise functionality, taking into account the interoperability requirement. Following the NGTC specifications the future interoperable GNSS positioning systems, supplied by different manufacturers, will reach the defined positioning performance in the locations of the virtual balises.

Train-borne equipment

All the trains compliant with ETCS will be fitted with on-board systems certified by Notified Bodies. This equipment consists of wireless communication, rail path sensing, central logic unit, cab displays and control devices for driver action.

Man Machine Interface

The Man Machine Interface is the standardised interface for the driver, also called "Driver Machine Interface". It consists of a set of colour displays with touch input for ETCS and separate for GSM-R communication. This is added with control devices specific for the train type.

Specific Transmission Module

The Specific Transmission Module is a special interface for the EVC for communicating with legacy Class B ATP systems like PZB, Memor and ATB. It consists of specific sensing elements to lineside installations and an interface for hardware and logic adapting interface to EVC. The EVC must get special software for translation of legacy signals to unified internal ETCS communication. The driver is using standard ETCS cab equipment also on non ETCS lines. The STM enables therefore the usage of the ETCS equipped driving vehicle on the non-equipped network and is today essential for interoperability.

Balise Transmission Module

The Balise Transmission Module is an set with antennas and the wireless interface for reading data telegrams from and writing to eurobalises.

Odometric sensors

The odometric sensors are significant for exact position determination. In ETCS Level 2 installations are rare installation of eurobalises as definite milestones. Between such milestones the position is estimated and measured relative to the last passed milestone. Initially it was tested, that in difficult adhesive conditions axle revolution transmitters would not give required precision.

European Vital Computer

The European Vital Computer also called Eurocab is the heart of local computing capabilities in the driving vehicle. It is connected with external data communication, internal controls to speed regulation of the loco, location sensors and all cab devices of the driver.

Euroradio

The Euroradio communication unit is compulsory and is used for voice and data communication. Because in ETCS Level 2 all signalling information is exchanged via GSM-R, the equipment is fully doubled with two simultaneous connections to the RBC.

Juridical Recording Unit

The Juridical Recording Unit is part of the EVC for recording the last actions of the driver, last parameters of signalling and machine conditions. Such a train event recorder is functionally equivalent to the flight recorder of aircraft.

Train Interface Unit

The Train Interface Unit is the interface of the EVC to the train and/or the locomotive for submitting commands or receiving information.

Lineside equipment

Lineside equipment is the fixed installed part of ETCS installation. According to ETCS Levels the rail related part of installation is decreasing. While in Level 1 sequences with two or more of eurobalises are needed for signal exchange, in Level 2 balises are used for milestone application only. It is replaced in Level 2 by mobile communication and more sophisticated software. In Level 3 even less fixed installation is used. In 2017 first positive tests for satellite positioning were done.

Eurobalise

The Eurobalise is a passive or active antenna device mounted on rail sleepers. Mostly it transmits information to the driving vehicle. It can be arranged in groups to transfer information. There are Fixed and Transparent Data Balises. Transparent Data Balises are sending changing information from LEU to the trains, e.g. signal indications. Fixed Balises are programmed for a special information like gradients and speed restrictions.

Euroloop

The Euroloop is an extension for Eurobalises in ETCS Level 1. It is a special Leaky feeder for transmitting information telegrams to the car.

Lineside Electronic Unit

The Lineside Electronic Unit is the connecting unit between the Transparent Data Balises with signals or Signalling control in ETCS Level 1.

Radio Block Centre

A Radio Block Centre is a specialised computing device with specification Safety integrity level 4 for generating Movement Authorities and transmitting it to trains. It gets information from Signalling control and from the trains in its section. It hosts the specific geographic data of the railway section and receives cryptographic keys from trains passing in. According to conditions the RBC will attend the trains with MA until leaving the section. RBC have defined interfaces to trains, but have no regulated interfaces to Signalling Control and only have national regulation.

Operation modes in ETCS

abbreviation and DMI symbolfull nameused
in level		description
FS
Full Supervision1, 2, 3the locomotive pulls the train, ETCS has all required information
LS
Limited Supervision1, 2, 3This mode is new to SRS 3.0.0
OS
On Sight1, 2, 3on-sight ride
SR
Staff Responsible1, 2, 3the driver was granted permission to pass faulty signals
SH
Shunting0, 1, 2, 3
PS
Passive Shunting0, NTC, 1, 2, 3This mode is new to SRS 3.0.0
UN
Unfitted0the line is not fitted with ETCS: the system will only observe master speed limit and train protection is left to older systems
SL
Sleeping0, NTC, 1, 2, 3second locomotive controlled from the leading one
SB
Stand By0, STM, 1, 2, 3
TR
TripNTC, 1, 2, 3
PT
Post Trip1, 2, 3the train overpassed the order to stop, full braking will be executed
SF
System Failure0, NTC, 1, 2, 3trainborne ETCS equipment detected its failure
IS
Isolation0, STM, 1, 2, 3driver disconnected ETCS
NP
No Power0, NTC, 1, 2, 3
NL
Non Leading0, NTC, 1, 2, 3second locomotive with its own driver
SE
STM EuropeanSTMThis mode has not been implemented by any vendor and was removed by SRS 3.1.0
SN
National SystemNTC
RV
Reversing1, 2, 3

ETCS test laboratories

Three ETCS test laboratories work together to bring support to the industry:
To be a reference laboratory ERA is .

Future

GSM is no longer being developed outside of GSM-R, the manufacturers have committed to supplying GSM-R till at least 2030. The ERA is considering what action is needed to smoothly transition to a successor system such as GPRS or Edge.

Deployment

In July 2009, the European Commission announced that ETCS is mandatory for all EU-funded projects that include new or upgraded signalling, and GSM-R is required when radio communications are upgraded. Some short stretches in Switzerland, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, and Belgium are equipped with Level 2 and in operation.

ETCS corridors

Based on the proposal for 30 TEN-T Priority Axes and Projects during 2003, a cost/benefit analysis was performed by the UIC, presented in December 2003. This identified ten rail corridors covering about 20% of the TEN network that should be given priority in changing to ETCS, and these were included in decision 884/2004/EC by the European Commission.
In 2005 the UIC combined the axes into the following ETCS Corridors, subject to international development contracts:
The Trans-European Transport Network Executive Agency publishes ETCS funding announcements showing the progress of trackside equipment and onboard equipment installation.
Corridor A has two routes in Germany – the double track east of the Rhine will be ready with ETCS in 2018, while the upgrade of the double track west of the Rhine will be postponed.
Corridor F will be developed in accordance with Poland as far as it offers ETCS transport: Frankfurt – Berlin – Magdeburg will be ready in 2012, Hanover to Magdeburg – Wittenberg – Görlitz in 2015. At the other end Aachen to Oberhausen will be ready in 2012, the missing section from Oberhausen to Hanover in 2020. The other two corridors are postponed and Germany chooses to support the equipment of locomotives with STMs to fulfill the requirement of ETCS transport on the corridors.

Australia

In Belgium the state railway company SNCB led all activities for introduction of ETCS since the end of the 1990s. The interest resulted from new High Speed Lines under construction, the development of the ports at the Atlantic and technically rotting national signalling systems.
in 1999 the council of SNCB decided the opening of HSL 2 with proprietary system TBL 2, but all following lines should use ETCS. To rise the level of security on conventional lines, it was thought to use ETCS L1 for compatibility. But because of high costs for full implementation on rolling stock, it was chosen to select standard components from ETCS for interfacing locos and rails to easy support existing infrastructure. The balises were sending information with reserved national paket type 44, compatible with common signalling. The system was named TBL1+. Later it can be complemented with standardised ETCS information. This is the same migration path as chosen in Italy or Switzerland.
In 2003 the SNCB selected a consortium to supply ETCS for the next high-speed lines with Level 2 and fallback with Level 1.
It was chosen to supply ETCS L1LS first and later migrate to L1FS. So it was started tendering the renewing of 4000 signals with TBL1+ and L1 including support for 20 years in 2001. In 2006 Siemens was selected for delivery.
Following the privatisation of SNCB in 2006 a split-off company Infrabel stepped in to be responsible for the whole state railway infrastructure. It continued the introduction of ETCS railway infrastructure, whereas SNCB was responsible for rolling material. Following some serious accidents caused by missing or malfunctioning protection systems, there was the obvious target to raise the security level in the whole network.
The first line in ETCS operation was HSL 3 in 2007, which is 56 km long. Because of lack of trains equipped with ETCS, the commercial start of operations was in 2009 with ICE 3 and Thalys trains. The operations started with ETCS SRS 2.2.2 and were later upgraded to 2.3.0.
The HSL 4 high-speed line was constructed at the same time as HSL 3 and so got the same ETCS equipment. Testing began in 2006 and commercial traffic started about 2008 with locomotive-hauled trains under Level 1. In 2009 commercial high-speed traffic started under ETCS L2 with supported Thalys- and ICE-trains like on HSL 3. A special feature is the first full-speed gapless border crossing under ETCS L2 supervision with HSL Zuid.
In 2009 all railway lines in Belgium were covered by GSM-R, a foundation of ETCS L2 installation and also useful in L1 operation.
In 2011 was released a first national ETCS–Masterplan, which was renewed in 2016. It names following four phases of ETCS introduction:
The first conventional railway line, which was equipped with ETCS L1, was Brussels–Liège. It started public service in March 2012.
Next was in December 2014 the Liefkenshoek rail link with ETCS L2 in Antwerp, connecting the north and south banks of Scheldt by tunnel for cargo traffic.
Infrabel has budgeted about 332 Million Euro for signalling including ETCS in 2015. After tendering it was given in summer 2015 a long time order to the consortium of Siemens Mobility and Cofely-Fabricom about the installation of ETCS L2 on more than 2200 km of rails. The order includes the delivery of computer based interlockings for the full network until 2025.
The complete Belgian part of the European north-south Corridor C with a length of about 430 km is crossable with ETCS L1 since the end of 2015. According to Infrabel was this the longest conventional railway supported with ETCS in Europe.
Summarizing at end of 2015, there were 1225 km mainlines usable with ETCS L1 or L2.
In 2016 was given an order for 1362 double deck coaches of Belgium type M7. They are to be delivered between 2018 and 2021 and have a complete ETCS equipment for replacement of older types.

China (People's Republic)

In Croatia, Croatian Railways deployed Level 1 on the Vinkovci–Tovarnik line in 2012.

Denmark

Germany intends to use Level 1 only as Limited Supervision – neither Full Supervision nor Euroloops will be installed.
The first project that was intended to implement ETCS was the Köln–Frankfurt high-speed rail line that had been under construction since 1995. Due to the delays in the ETCS specification a new variant of LZB was implemented instead.
The next planned and first actual implementation was on the Leipzig-Ludwigsfelde main line to Berlin. There, SRS 2.2.2 was tested together with a PZB and LZB mixed installation in conditions of fast and mixed traffic. The section was co-financed by the EU and DB to gain more experience with the ETCS Level 2 mode. Since April 2002 the ETCS section was in daily usage and in March 2003 it was announced that it had reached the same degree of reliability as before using ETCS. Since 6. December 2005 an ETCS train ran at 200 km/h as a part of the normal operation plan on the line north of Leipzig to obtain long-term recordings. As of 2009, the line had been decommissioned for ETCS and is henceforth in use with LZB and PZB. The ETCS equipment seems partly not to be upgradable.
In 2011, the installation of ETCS L2 was ordered for 14 Mio EUR following the reconstruction and enhancement of the railway line Berlin-Rostock. A first part of 35 km was finished at the end of 2013 between Lalendorf and Kavelstorf.
The newly built Ebensfeld–Erfurt segment of Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway as well as the Erfurt–Leipzig/Halle high-speed railway and the upgraded Erfurt–Eisenach segment of the Halle–Bebra railway are equipped with ETCS L2. The north-eastern part is in commercial use since December 2015 exclusively with ETCS L2 SRS 2.3.0d. The southern part started test running and driver training in the end of August 2017 and regular operation with ETCS L2 in December 2017. Starting in December 2017 there are about 20 high-speed trains per day from Munich to Berlin. ECTS on the western part was also scheduled for commencing operation in December 2017 but commission was delayed until August 2018.
Germany will start replacing all its PZB and LZB systems in 2015, to be finished by 2027. During 2014 it was planned to use a dual equipment for the four main freight corridors to comply with the EC 913/2010 regulation. Further testing showed that a full ETCS system can increase capacity by 5-10% leading into a new concept "Zukunft Bahn" to accelerate the deployment, presented in December 2015. The overall cost reduction of about half a billion euro may be reinvested to complete the switch to ETCS that may take about 15 years. The Deutsche Bahn expects to get further federal funding after the next German federal elections in 2017. In a first step, another 1750 km of existing railway lines are planned to be equipped with ETCS until 2023, focusing on the Rhine-Alpine corridor, the Paris–Southwest Germany corridor and border-crossing lines.
With Germany pressing for Baseline 3, neighbouring countries like Austria intend to update their vehicle fleet, especially modernizing the GSM-R radio on the trains. One of the last additions to B3R2 was the usage of EDGE in GSM-R. This is already widely deployed in the German rail network.
In January 2018 the project "Digitale Schiene" was unveiled that intended to bring about a transition plan by mid 2018. Deutsche Bahn intends to equip 80% of the rail network with GSM-R by 2030 razing any lineside signals in the process. This will bring about 20% more trains that can be operated in the country. In the process 160,000 signals and 400,000 km of interlocking cables become dispensable. The Digital Rail project came about shortly after the Nuremberg–Erfurt high-speed railway was operational in December 2017 being the first high-speed line to have no lineside signals anymore. After some teething problems with radio reception it settled within the expected range of usability.
Priority is on the 1450 km Rhine Corridor that is about to be equipped with ETCS Level 2. Bringing ETCS to the corridor has been agreed on at the EU level in 2016 as part of the TEN Core network that has expectations set to 2023. The Digital Rail project of 2018 has set the completion date to 2022 for using ETCS Level 2 while Switzerland intends to switch to ETCS Level 2 no later than 2025. Switzerland is expecting an increase in capacity of 30% that will probably come out the same on congested sections along the Rhine.

Greece

New high speed line Athens to Thessaloniki will be the first ETCS Level 1 in Greece. System expected to be ready by the end of 2021

Hungary

In Hungary, the Zalacséb–Hodoš line was equipped with Level 1 as a pilot project in 2006.
The Budapest–Hegyeshalom Level 1 was launched in 2008, and it was extended to Rajka in 2015.
The Békéscsaba-Lőkösháza line was equipped with Level 1 as an extension of the Level 2 network until further refurbishments will take place.
In Hungary Level 2 is under construction in the Kelenföld-Székesfehérvár line as a part of a full reconstruction, and planned to be ready before 2015.
In Hungary Level 2 is under construction, but due to problems with the installation of GSM-R, all of them are delayed.
The Level 2 system is under constructuion in several phases. Currently the Boba-Hodoš, Székesfehérvár station, Székesfehérvár-Ferencváros, Ferencváros-Monor, Monor-Szajol, Szajol-Gyoma and the Gyoma-Békéscsaba sections are under construction.
The GYSEV is currently installing Level 2 to the Sopron-Szombathely-Szentgotthárd line.

India

National Capital Region Transport Corporation has decided to equip European Train Control System on its Sarai Kale Khan hub in India's First Rapid Rail corridor-Delhi Meerut RRTS Route.

Indonesia

LRT Palembang is equipped with ETCS Level 1 for train protection system and PT. LEN Industri provides the trackside fixed-block signalling. The line is slated to open mid-2018.

Italy

In Israel ETCS Level 2 will begin replacing PZB in 2020. Three separate tenders were issued in 2016 for this purpose. Initial test runs of the system began on 31-March-2020. Concurrent with the implementation of ERTMS are railway electrification works, and an upgrade of the signaling system in the northern portion of Israel Railways' network from relay-based to electronic interlocking.

Libya

, Ansaldo STS was awarded a contract in July 2009 to install Level 2. This has stalled because of civil war.

Luxembourg

Procurement for ETCS started in 1999 and the tender was won by Alcatel SEL in July 2002. By 1. March 2005 a small network had been established that was run under ETCS Level 1. The track-side installations were completed in 2014 after spending about 33 million Euro.
The equipment of the rolling stock did take a bit longer. In early 2016 it became known that the new Class 2200 could not run on Belgium lines. In February 2017 the changeover of Class 3000 was not even started, and Class 4000 had just one prototype installation. However the problems were resolved later with the complete rolling stock having ETCS installations by December 2017.
The government had pushed for the changeover following the rail accident of Bettembourg on 14. February 2017. With the rolling stock being ready as well, the end date of the usage of the old Memor-II+-systems was set to 31. December 2019. With the decision of 29. January 2018 all trains have to use ETCS by default and it should be continued to use on tracks in Belgium and France as far as possible.

Mexico

ETCS equips and will equip the high-speed lines that link Tangier to Kénitra and Kénitra to Casablanca via Rabat. Other high-speed lines planned to link Casablanca to Agadir and Rabat to Oujda from 2030 will likely be equipped as well.

Netherlands

In August 2015 the eastern branch of the Østfold Line becomes first line with ETCS functionality in Norway.

Philippines

Level 1 is currently being installed in the Manila LRT Line 1 in preparation for the Cavite extension of the line.

Poland

, Level 1 was installed in 2011 on the CMK high-speed line between Warsaw and Katowice-Kraków, to allow speeds to be raised from to, and eventually to. The CMK line, which was built in the 1970s, was designed for a top speed of 250 km/h, but was not operated above 160 km/h due to lack of cab signalling. The ETCS signalling on the CMK was certified on 21 November 2013, allowing trains on the CMK to operate at.
In Poland, Level 2 has been installed as part of a major upgrading of the 346 km Warsaw-Gdańsk-Gdynia line that reduced Warsaw – Gdańsk travel times from five to two hours and 39 minutes in December 2015. Level 2 has been installed on line E30 between Legnica – Węgliniec – Bielawa Dolna on the German border and is being installed on the Warsaw-Łódź line.

Slovakia

In Slovakia, the system has been deployed as part of the Bratislava–Košice mainline modernisation program, currently between Bratislava and Nové Mesto nad Váhom, with the rest of the line to follow. The current implementation is limited to 160 km/h due to limited braking distances between the control segments.

Spain

selected ETCS Level 1 for signalling for Bangkok's Suburban Commuter to be open in early 2021. ETCS Level 1 will also be installed in mainlines extended from Bangkok to Chumphon, Nakhon Sawan, Khon Kaen, Si Racha and in shortcut line from Chachoengsao to Kaeng Khoi along with Double Tracking Phase I projects and ATP system upgrade of existing double track lines, both scheduled to be completed in 2022.

Turkey

, Level 2 is installed on the Ankara–Konya high-speed line designed for. The new high-speed line has reduced Ankara-Konya travel times from 10-1/2 hours to 75 minutes.

United Kingdom