The EU Agency for Railways organised 15 October an ERTMS seminar addressed to IPA and EUMedRail representatives with the objective of increasing their understanding on ETCS technology and exchanging practices on signaling systems.
Throughout the seminar, delegations from Western Balkans and Southern Mediterranean countries expanded their knowledge on the European train protection system ERTMS, including the Regulatory framework, the technical components and had an introduction to ETCS.
Participants also discussed with experts from the EU Agency for Railways the railway radio communication system, GSM-R, which is expected to be followed by the Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS) from 2030 onwards. The migration challenges and planning of investments raised interest from many of the representatives, too.
The following days, on 16 and 17 October, experts participated in the CCRCC #ERTMS2019 - conference “The Engine for the Digital Future”. This benchmark event gathered almost 500 experts from the Railway sector, including Railway Undertakings, Infrastructure Managers, Industry Suppliers and decision makers from across the world.
The CCRCC 2019 dealt with the progress made on the ERTMS EDP (Deployment Plan) and high-level experts from Denmark, Italy, Belgium and Spain shared their experience on how they are making progress to meet the targets set by the ERTMS EDP. The Agency is the ERTMS system authority that manages the technical specifications for the European Train Control System (ETCS) and the Global System of Mobile Communications – Railway (GSM-R). The meeting revised the new responsibilities of the EU Agency for Railways regarding the ERTMS set by the Fourth Railway Package.
Since June 2019 ERA acts as authority for the certification of SMS but also authorization of railway vehicles. The new task authorising vehicles, including ERTMS on-board subsystem, marks an important milestone too. This goes in parallel to the process of ERMTS trackside approval. This conference assessed the challenges that the Future Rail Mobile Communications System (FRMCS) will represent as a successor of GSM-R. European Union and national representatives together with railway stakeholders voiced their opinion on the role that ERTMS, digitalisation and big-data should have and put forward the challenges that these new features represent for the railway industry innovation.
For further information on the Euromed and IPA participation to the ERTMS event, please contact us by email.