A train control system for low-traffic lines migrating to new communications technologies and fully compatible with ETCS, will fulfill all requirements of interoperability and rail safety
UIC together with European stakeholders and the support of Romanian railways and authorities, are holding a conference on final dissemination and evaluation of “SATLOC and GNSS” on 24 and 25 April in Brasov, Romania, allowing a positioning of railways by satellite fully compatible with the ETCS train control system.
The conference was opened on Thursday 24 April by Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Director General of UIC in the presence of Mr Daniel Loupour, GNSS Supervisory Authority, representatives of the host railway CFR, Mr Costel Comana, Regiotrans Brasov, the Mayor of Brasov, representatives of railway companies, manufacturers, universities and research institutes such as IFSTTAR, and UIC (Hans-Günther Kersten, Director Rail System Department, George Barbu, UIC Senior Advisor for Signalling).
The purpose of the “SATLOC and GNSS application to rail dissemination conference” consists in directly acknowledging the feasibility and efficiency of the full speed supervision train control, compatible with ETCS and migrating to new technologies (such as satellite) on the natural path of technological progress.
The event is being held in Brasov, Romania, where “SATLOC” pilot line Brasov-Zarnesti is in function. The technical visit will enable to discover the first real scale application of train control based on ETCS but with GNSS absolute positioning of trains and with wide-band train-ground communication.
“SATLOC”, as an economically viable positioning system based on new communications technologies, will meet all requirements of rail safety and interoperability in full harmony with ETCS standards, especially for low-traffic railway lines.
As UIC Director General Jean-Pierre Loubinoux stressed in his opening speech, “”SATLOC” is a real example of how innovation can produce viable, expandable solutions for low-density lines” and ”it is expected that this product will enable drastic cost reduction, expandability, interoperability, an alignment of the railway control-command and signalling to the world leading technologies” .
He added:
beside the immediate functional facilities, “SATLOC” is demonstrating that modern tools of computer simulation and geo-referencing of railway routes can predict the safe application of the GNSS on any route. All this through a live demonstrator opens new doors to the progress of ETCS”
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A film commissioned by the European Union and produced with UIC’s coordination will illustrate the technical principles of SATLOC and report on the “SATLOC” live experimentation from 24 – 25 April in Brasov.
