ERTMS has become the major global standard signalling system of the future.
At the end of two days of intense debate animated by major ERTMS player: ADIF with the “Spanish strategy and experiences with ERTMS”, the European Commission, the Industry and the European Railway Agency the floor was taken by the UIC Platform on the subject “ERTMS next steps and future evolutions” chaired by Mr Hansjörg HESS of SBB, Vice-Chairman of the UIC ERTMS Platform.
The “point of no-return” was reached in 2007 in Bern at the last UIC ERTMS World Conference. All ERTMS elements are now available for a fast and feasible ERTMS migration in Europe. ERTMS next steps are simply to focus resources and financial efforts to realise fast and feasible migration over the six freight corridors and all over Europe. The ETCS specifications SRS 2.3.0d are now available. They are the current consolidated and interoperable standards, which are the single technological baseline unifying all previous versions. The European Commission approved the ERTMS European Deployment Plan set by Member States. Beyond the mandatory deployment on the six priority ERTMS corridors by 2015-2020 the plan foresees a complete roll-out on the whole Trans-European Network. ERTMS is ready and needed.
The tight interaction in the triangle IMs-RUs-Suppliers is strongly needed together with the system integration in order to realise the planned ERTMS deployment.
The UIC ERTMS Platform was established in 2006 with the strategic role to foster the ERTMS migration compliant with the rail sector’s interests as a whole. It is a Forum for strategic debates and common goals where railway members set viable migration strategies and mutually inform each other outside the legal frame. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed in July 2008 in Rome, between the European Commission and the European Railway Associations, concerning the strengthening of cooperation to accelerate the deployment of ERTMS, is a fundamental reference point outlining the Platform’s work. The ERTMS Platform Chairman and Vice-Chairman represent UIC and the Platform at the MoU Steering Committee to ensure its application. This enables the Platform to express its position and to make proposals with reference to the decisions made by the MoU. All the railways in Europe thus have the opportunity to put forward their points of view by presenting them to the ERTMS Platform.
