International Railway Journal - October 2008 - (Page 35) Signalling ETCS: Switzerland takes the next step The European Train Control System (ETCS) is definitely on the way, despite initial misgivings. As Anitra Green reveals, Switzerland successfully operated 10 million train-km with ETCS Level 2 by August, paving the way for the introduction of a simplified version of the system nationwide. S WITZERLAND’s achievement with ETCS also marks a milestone in Europe. Despite not being a member of the European Union (EU), Switzerland has been one of the pioneers in developing ETCS and now claims to have more experience with it than any other country in Europe. As Mr Karel Vinck, European coordinator for the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), said recently in Bern: “Switzerland has played an exceptional part in developing the system, for which we are very grateful.” The Swiss started using ETCS Level 2 on the new high-speed line between Mattstetten and Rothrist in 2006, and on the newly-opened Lötschberg base tunnel the following year. Since then the system has fully proved itself regarding capacity, reliability, and stability, as the operators - Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) and BLS - and the Swiss Federal Office for Transport (BAV) all agree. They now plan to introduce the cheaper and simpler ETCS Level 1 Limited Supervision on the entire Swiss network by 2017, and then upgrade higher speed lines to Level 2 at a later stage. The new Gotthard and Ceneri base tunnels will be equipped with Level 2 when they open in 2019. The cost of the initial installation on the conventional network is estimated at SFr 370 million ($US 337 million), but according to Mr Hansjörg Hess, head of infrastructure with SBB, the overall investment in the entire ETCS project could reach SFr 1 billion. Hess freely admits that when he joined SBB over four years ago, he was not sure that the system would be a success, but he is now proud that so many trains use it. A total of 580 locomotives from 20 classes have been equipped so far. Capacity can be boosted by 10 to 20%, and the mix of passenger and freight trains (2:1) can be optimised. Headways are currently between 3 and 4 minutes, but Hess hopes to reduce this to 2 minutes. A brief look at the figures for the Lötschberg base tunnel in the period since ETCS came into full operation on December 9 2007 up to July 31 2008 supports his optimism. There were only four short interruptions to operations: 98.4% of trains ran to schedule, and the rest (mainly freight) were diverted to the old mountain line. Mr Eduard Wymann of BLS, who is head of the New Transalpine Railway (Neat) project in Switzerland, broke down the figures: of the 1.6% of diversions, only 0.2% was related to IRJ October 2008 35
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