THERE are 12 locations where ETCS/ERTMS components and systems are being tested, and 10 countries have made a commitment to implement it at Levels 1 and 2. No railway is as yet committed to Level 3, although it is expected to be rolled out for application on high speed lines in around 2006.

The pilot sites will provide valuable feedback for railways and suppliers, allowing changes and improvements to be made and the experience consolidated into the Interoperability Association’s change control process.

Austria and Hungary: Level 1 functional tests were completed in November 1999 on the 26 km Parndorf - Hegyeshalom and the 27 km Lebeny-Mosonszentmiklos - Hegyeshalom sections of the Wien - Budapest main line.

France: Level 1 trials are to start in July on a 10 km section of the Tournan - Marles-en-Brie line to the east of Paris, with an overlay of the equipment on the KVB automatic train protection system. Another site is on a 25 km section of TGV Jonction, where maximum speed is 270 km/h and the equipment will be overlaid on the TVM continuous speed control. Suppliers are Alstom and CSEE.

Germany: Testing of Levels 1, 2 and 3 at up to 200 km/h is to take place on the Ludwigsfelde - Jüterbog section of the Berlin - Halle main line. Four locos began trials in March.

Great Britain: Levels 1 and 2 are to be tested on the Old Dalby test track in connection with the West Coast Main Line upgrading. Two Class 309 EMUs have been fitted for trials. Level 1 tests are to be finished by October, and Level 2 trials by March 2002.

Italy: Trials began in October last year on the direttissima, where the 66 km Firenze - Arezzo section has been fitted with Alstom equipment and the 20 km between Arezzo and Rigutino with Ansaldo’s Avanrail equipment.

Netherlands: The first ERTMS movement authority was sent on April 1 on the Heerlen - Maastricht line, with a test train running in full supervision mode; this test line has Alstom equipment. Trials are planned to start in August using Adtranz components between Meppel and Leeuwarden. All three levels will be tested, and in each case two locos have been fitted.

Spain: Functional and interoperability tests were completed in July 2000 on the La Sagra - Mora section of the Madrid - Sevilla AVE line. Level 1 trials at up to 220 km/h with four locos are due to begin in October on the 38 km Albacete - Chinchilla section of the Madrid - Valencia main line, where Adtranz and Dimetronic equipment is being used.

Switzerland: Swiss Federal Railways is equipping the 35 km Zofingen - Sempach section of the Olten - Luzern main line with Level 2. Adtranz equipped 63 locos, Alcatel supplied solid-state interlockings, and Siemens provided GSM-R. Trials are to be completed this year.

Implementation

Austria and Hungary: Tendering is in hand for Level 1 installation from Wien to Budapest, which is to be operational by the end of 2002.

France: Tenders will be called in 2002 for Level 2 to be installed in 2006 on the planned TGV-Est line and on the line to be built between Nîmes and Montpellier.

Bulgaria: Level 1 is to become operational on the Plovdiv - Burgas line by mid-year. Around 1100 balises are being installed, and 144 vehicles are being fitted, including one type of EMU and three classes of locomotive.

Germany: Level 2 is expected to be operational by the end of 2002 on the main line from Berlin to Halle and Leipzig. Elsewhere, ETCS Level 2 will replace LZB automatic train control on 3 000 route-km, requiring 2 000 locos and traction units to be fitted.

Great Britain: Level 2 is to be implemented on the London - Crewe section of the West Coast Main Line, with Level 1 from Crewe to Glasgow.

Italy: According to Mauro Morretti, Director of Infrastructure at FS, Level 2 is to be installed on 1400 km of high speed line. Roma - Napoli is to have Levels 1 and 2 by 2004. After this, it will be fitted on Milano - Bologna (185 km), Bologna - Firenze (83 km) and Torino - Venezia (310 km).

Luxembourg: The entire 274 km network will have Level 1 ETCS.

Netherlands: The first stage of implementation will see ETCS fitted on three routes; tenders are in hand for the 110 km Betuwe route with Level 2, the 30 km Amsterdam - Utrecht main line, with Level 2 for completion by 2006, and Level 2 on the 93 km of the HSL-Zuid high speed line by 2006. In the second stage, ETCS will be used to increase capacity on existing lines as part of the BB21 project (RG 9.99 p587).

Spain: The first section of the 350 km/h Madrid - Barcelona line, now under construction, is to have Levels 1 and 2 operational by the end of 2002, and the signalling contract has been awarded to Alstom and the Cobra consortium. According to Javier Figuera, National Project Manager, ERTMS, at Spanish National Railways, more than 7000 km of new or upgraded lines are candidates for ERTMS.

Switzerland: SBB plans to install ETCS at Levels 1 and 2 throughout its network by 2010, with priority going to the Bern - Olten new line and the Basel - Chiasso route by 2004-05.

Contracts for GSM-R installations have been let in Germany (Arcor), Sweden, the Netherlands, Britain (Siemens), Italy, and Burlington Northern Santa Fe is developing a pilot installation in the USA.

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