New Delhi, Oct 28 : French railway giant Alstom has become the first company to be fully certified for the latest onboard and trackside European Train Control System (ETCS) 1 standards, which will improve safety, reliability abd punctuality of trains.
The company said in a statement on Wednesday, “Alstom has become the first company in the world to be fully certified for the latest onboard and trackside ETCS 1 standards.”
It said that the certifications were issued by independent railway certification and testing organisation, Belgorail.
The latest software evolution ensures interoperability with Baseline 3 Maintenance Release 2 for the complete railway system, it said.
ETCS is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) which provides a system of standards for train signalling management.
It is one of the most efficient train control system in the world, bringing significant advantages in terms of maintenance cost savings, safety, reliability, punctuality and traffic capacity.
Alstom said that it is a replacement for the legacy train protection systems and is designed to replace the many incompatible safety systems currently in operation.
“This explains why ETCS is increasingly successful outside Europe and is becoming the train control system of choice for countries such as India, Australia, Taiwan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia,” it said.
Jean Francois-Beaudoin, Senior Vice President, Alstom Digital Mobility, said, “We are proud to have yet again set a new standard in rail.We are on track to gradually replacing all the existing incompatible systems throughout Europe and optimising and boosting the international freight and passenger transport.”
According to Alstom, the first project includes application of the new standards on a conventional line in Italy’s Monza-Chiasso with revenue service planned for summer 2021, and the very high-speed line between Paris and Lyon with revenue service planned for 2024.
Alstom is a major supplier of onboard and trackside ETCS equipment via its ATLAS solution, representing 70 per cent of the world’s onboard rail systems in service and 18,000 km of tracks worldwide.
In total, Alstom has been contracted to equip 9,000 trains with Atlas onboard solutions, of which 1,100 vehicles will be equipped with the Baseline 3 Release 2 solution
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