InnoTrans 2018

Infrabel confirms Belgium’s role as ETCS pioneer Infrabel aims to be one of the top three European infrastructure man- agers in terms of rail safety. In or- der to live up to that ambition, the company has been installing the European Train Control System (ETCS) on Belgium’s national rail network since 2009. ETCS pioneer Since that year, Belgium has prided itself on being an ETCS pioneer. Rightly so… In 2009, Belgium became the first coun- try in the European Union to be linked border to border by high- speed lines, some of which were equipped with ETCS from the very beginning. The same year, the company also installed ETCS Level 2 on its high-speed line at the border crossing between Belgium and the Netherlands. It marked the first time that a border crossing between two countries anywhere in the world was fully equipped with Level 2. Since then, Infrabel has been work- ing assiduously, determined to let its entire rail network, one of the densest in Europe and totalling 6,515 kilometres (4,048 miles) of track, benefit from the ETCS safe- ty coverage and shift to an ETCS- exclusive rail network by 2025. In 2015, Belgium became the first country in Europe to have its part of the freight corridors (North Sea- Mediterranean) equipped with ETCS. By the summer of 2018, Infrabel had already deployed ETCS Level 1 Full Supervision on 23 % of its rail infrastructure network and Level 2 Full Supervision on most of its high speed lines. Now Infra- bel has for the first time equipped a line of its conventional (non-high- speed) rail network with ETCS Level 2. The first is for line 73 be- tween De Panne and Diksmuide, a railway that runs straight through the battle fields where the First World War was fought exactly a century ago. Luc Lallemand , Infrabel’s CEO, is proud of his company’s achieve- ment: “Of all the countries with a master plan to equip their nation- wide rail networks with ETCS, Belgium is the first to install Lev- el 2 Full Supervision on a conven- tional line, superposing it upon the existing line-side signalling. In doing so, Infrabel reconfirmed Belgium’s pole position in Europe when it comes to the implementa- tion of ETCS.” Jo De Bosschere , who is the head of the department in charge of installing ETCS on the Belgian rail network, adds: “For us, line 73 serves as a pilot line from which we will learn many lessons. In 2019, we plan to start with the rollout phase of ETCS level 2.” Safety first In its ambition to deploy ETCS on its entire rail network, Infrabel opted for a mix of three variants: Level 1 Full Supervision, Level 1 Limited Supervision, and Level 2 Full Supervision. As Program Manager at Infrabel, Kenny Van Heuverswijn is in charge of the Level 2 leg of his company’s Mas- ter Plan. “ETCS Level 2 is without a doubt one of the biggest revolu- tions in the rail domain”, he says. “All future digital enhancements in the field will be based on Level 2.” The realisation of the project was a technical challenge, involving more than seventy Infrabel col- leagues who worked day and night to achieve the important milestone. Van Heuverswijn oversaw the pro- gress. “It is much harder to equip a conventional line with ETCS, su- perposed upon line-side signalling, in a brown field than it is to equip a green field high-speed line”, he explains. “First of all because the existing line-side signalling limits your flexibility. Second, there are far more possibilities in routing, more speed limits, and more operational scenarios to be covered, both in nominal and degraded mode. All of this makes the signalling equipment on a non-high-speed line more com- plex and left us with more possible “rules” that had to be translated into “ETCS language”. Additionally, we had to take into account that there would be mixed traffic on the line, that is both ETCS compatible trains with different braking capabilities and non-compatible trains, all the while guaranteeing a fall back to the lateral signalling with national Automatic Train Protection. Finally, we had to develop an interface with the existing electronic interlocking both in normal as degraded situa- tions. The combination of all those things made this specific project particularly challenging.” David Van de Sype , who is the manager of Infrabel’s Area North West where line 73 is situated, is happy with the commissioning of ETCS level 2 on one of his lines. Van de Sype: “For Infrabel it is all about safety first. And this sys- tem will allow for fewer incidents caused by excessive speed or signal passing.” For more information on Infra- bel’s “Master Plan ETCS”, please contact: Pieter Van Eyndhoven Communication Officer “Master Plan ETCS” pieter.vaneyndhoven@infrabel.be CC BY-SA 4.0 - Nicolas Ykman (Infrabel) Anzeige “Infrabel reconfirmed Belgium’s pole position in Europe when it comes to the implementation of ETCS.” Luc Lallemand, CEO Infrabel In July 2018, Belgian rail infrastructure manager Infrabel has for the first time deployed ETCS Level 2 Full Supervi- sion on a conventional railway line, superposed upon the line-side signalling. The achievement establishes the com- pany’s role as an ETCS pioneer and marks an important milestone in Infrabel’s “Master Plan” to shift to an ETCS- exclusive rail network by 2025, all the while strengthening the company’s ambition to make the Belgian rail network one of the safest in Europe.