SIGNALLING & TELECOMS
Another step forward for ERTMS
Richard Tomlin, business development manager for signalling at Hitachi Rail Europe, discusses how the company will implement its European Train Control System (ETCS) technology on two Class 37 locomotives.
N European Train
etwork Rail has awarded Hitachi Rail Europe a contract to implement its Control System (ETCS)
technology on two Class 37 locomotives.
West Coast Railways’ locos will be retro-fitted with Hitachi’s technology for operational use on the Cambrian Line in Wales, which has been the early adopter and testbed for European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) technologies in the UK.
To run rolling stock on this stretch of track, from Shrewsbury into Wales down to Aberystwyth and up to Porthmadog and Pwllheli, all trains have to be fitted with ETCS Level 2. The system replaced the legacy RETB (Radio Electronic Token Block) system on the rural, largely self- contained line.
At the moment there are 24 passenger trains fitted with ETCS that run on the line and there are three of Network Rail’s ‘yellow fleet’ NDS (National Delivery Service) locomotives.
Richard Tomlin, business development
manager for signalling at Hitachi Rail Europe, told us that there is no fall-back signalling on the Cambrian Line. But it is demonstrating, very
84 | rail technology magazine Aug/Sep 14
ETCS is a common signalling system which has been developing over the last 15 years to enable train services to cross frontiers and boundaries between different countries without the need to change signalling systems or locomotives.
Following on from the first UK ERTMS scheme on the Cambrian Line in 2011, Network Rail is now embarking on a phased trackside and associated train fitment implementation programme, to realise the benefits of a radio- based in-cab signalling system with less trackside infrastructure.
Significant start
Tomlin said: “Landing this contract is quite a significant start for us, as it is the first formal contract that we’ve won for our ETCS on-board signalling system.
“It will be a huge benefit for West Coast Railways as an operator, as they will have two vehicles that can come out of the platform at Shrewsbury that can then transition from
effectively, to the UK industry and operators that ETCS is here to stay and Network Rail has a programme to drive this going forward.
ETCS Level 0 onto ETCS Level 2 (see box out) and receive all the signalling data going down the line. I’m sure they’ll be capitalising on that from next year onwards.”
Prior to being awarded the contract, Hitachi held a successful ‘proof of concept’ demonstration of its ETCS on a Class 97 Locomotive, known as the Verification-Train 3 trial.
Tomlin said that trial (discussed in detail in the August/September 2013 edition of RTM) was “really significant” as the company, with Network Rail and DB Schenker, conducted it to demonstrate that Hitachi was capable of delivering ETCS signalling in the UK.
During that project, locomotive 97301 was also successfully retrofitted with the Hitachi on- board system to prove interoperability with
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164