This week the Rail System Department organised the 4th edition of the ERTMS Training Programme. On this occasion, Mrs Françoise El Alaoui, who is coordinating this training, welcomed the 50 participants (10 of them from France, 7 from Korea, 5 from Belgium and 3 from UK among others) and introduced the first session led by Prof Peter Winter to explain the basis of the Traffic Management System.
The ERTMS Training Programme aims at giving a complete overview of the ERTMS system at an international level. On this occasion Libor Lochman from CER was asked to present the legal and political background during a second session.
The INESS project was then presented by Emmanuel Buseyne to explain how it will help deliver ERTMS-compliant interlockings.
In the afternoon, workshops were organised on practical country cases (the Spanish ERTMS system, the Thalys ERTMS system among others).
The second day focused on the corridor approach with Stefan Wendel from the ERTMS Users Group presenting the implementation of ERTMS on the EU Corridor A from Rotterdam to Genoa. It was obvious that ERTMS is most relevant on an international scale.
A moment appreciated by all participants was the training on the ERSA simulator, software allowing the simulation of a train being driven in real conditions and with various ERTMS scenarios including the handover from the national legacy system to ERTMS.
Dan Mandoc from UIC then organised the GSM-R presentation followed by a workshop based on country cases for France and Romania.
On the third day, the training offered a full session to demonstrate the contribution of ERTMS to a more sustainable transport system. Thanks to the results of the UIC Study on ERTMS benchmark on costs, the UIC Study on the optimisation of ETCS from the viewpoint of capacity, the Open ETCS project and the improved safety, participants could understand why ERTMS is a step forward to a sustainable transport system.
Finally, the last day ended with the roll out and future development, presenting the issue of braking curves. Poul Frosig presented the UIC generic ERTMS Regional project already implemented by Trafikverket in Sweden but which has also spread as a pilot project in more and more countries each year (UK, Slovenia, France).
