6 CONFERENCE REVIEW: RAIL NETWORK SOLUTIONS 2011


Craig Waters Editor, European Railway Review


Rail Network Solutions 2011


29 September 2011 • Mercure Budapest Buda Hotel • Hungary www.europeanrailwayreview.com/rns


Europe’s leading signalling experts raise opinions and debate


On 29 September 2011, European Railway Review held its annual Rail Network Solutions Conference, this year in Budapest, Hungary. The event attracted over 120 delegates and with an unrivalled speaker line-up of signalling industry experts, the conference proved a great success.


On the day before the conference, a number of speakers and delegates were given the opportunity to ride The Children’s Railway (operated by MÁV – the main Hosts of Rail Network Solutions 2011). Located in the hilly outskirts of Budapest, on the right side of the river Danube, the 11km-long narrow gauge line runs through the woods of the hills. It is operated by children aged 10-14 under the supervision of adult railway attendants. Children operate the switches and signals, print tickets and make passenger announcements. This special trip, on a beautifully sunny day, made the perfect start to a successful conference. First to take the stand with an introductory


presentation was István Tömpe, Director of Infrastructural Development at MÁV, with facts and figures to prove that MÁV is a dominant public transport service provider in Hungary. István gave details of line section development projects that are to be completed between 2011 and 2013 and also proposals for projects


European Railway Review Volume 17, Issue 6, 2011


right up to 2020. István also explained that the company’s rolling stock investment for the period 2006-2012 will be approximately 140 billion HUF and include vehicles such as Bombardier TRAXX locomotives, Siemens DESIRO DMUs and Stadler FLIRT EMUs. Poul Frøsig, ERTMS/ETCS Project Manager at


the UIC then introduced himself as the conference Chairman and welcomed the next speaker, Lőrinc Czakó, Railway Infrastructure Expert for the Ministry of National Development in the Department of Transport Infrastructure for Hungary. Lőrinc explained the institutional and legal background and how the National ERTMS Deployment Plan fits into Hungary’s railway development. Next was Szilard Kovesdi, Infrastructure


Leader at GySEV – Associate Hosts of Rail Network Solutions 2011. He gave some general information about the company before giving important technical and service data, ongoing and realised reconstruction projects and of


course plans and developments concerning GSM-R and ETCS. To the stand next was Zsolt Novák,


Signalling Expert in the Telecommunication Department of MÁV, with a status update of current and future ERTMS plans in Hungary. Zsolt explained the national requirements that MÁV will have to deal with including operational rules and the functionality of existing interlocking systems. Level crossing applications made up another element of Zsolt’s presentation before he finished by saying that MÁV is really looking forward to having an up-to-date control-command system in place which is capable of ensuring a better per - formance on its railway network. Next to the stand was Danilo Širnik, Project


Manager at Slovenian Railways, with an interesting presentation to give an update on Corridor D – the line from Valencia to Budapest via Slovenia. Danilo provided details about the ETCS levels along the Corridor D route, plus financing schemes, rolling stock details, the creation and management of the Corridor D EEIG and overall project progress (trackside and onboard) so far in 2011 in each country that the Corridor runs through.


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