Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are extremely useful in many different sectors, including transport. Europe declared the initial services of its own GNSS, Galileo, in 2016. It represented an enormous step forward in terms of performance, quality and diversity of service, as well as offering independence and autonomy to its users.

Unlike the United States’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS and China’s BeiDou (with which, on the other hand, it is interoperable), Galileo is the world’s first GNSS that is designed specifically for civil use and with different user groups and services (e.g. open, high-precision, authenticated, governmental, emergency/search and rescue, etc.) in mind. It also offers unprecedented levels of accuracy and signal quality.

European projects such as RAILGAP, in which Ineco is taking part alongside Adif and CEDEX, build on previous research into the use of GNSS positioning. / PHOTO_MITMA

In the railway sector, GNSS-based applications can be used to optimise logistics, improve the management of rolling stock, and offer information services to passengers. At the same time, they also offer an inexpensive means of improving safety and supervision, by making it possible to replace physical ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) balises with virtual equivalents. Using satellite positioning in conjunction with ERTMS will lower the cost of rolling out a system that the European Commission is currently deploying along the Continent’s main rail corridors –a task being coordinated by Ineco (see ITRANSPORTE 70)–, particularly with regard to regional lines and those with less traffic.

From physical balises to virtual ones

Along with Adif (Spanish Rail Infrastructure Manager), CEDEX (the Centre for Study and Experimentation in Public Works, which is part of MITMA, the Spanish Ministry of Transport, Mobility and the Urban Agenda) and a number of other international partners, in recent years Ineco has taken part in several European innovation projects designed to test and define the use of satellite technology in the railway sector.

To date, the tests that use trains in a real-world setting (such as the tests for the ERSAT GGC project in 2019; see ITRANSPORTE 68) have shown that Galileo is more suitable than the other systems. However, the technology still presents a number of technical hurdles that need to be overcome before commercial solutions can be brought to market. The geography of certain sections of line and the presence of elements such as tunnels, overpasses, natural obstacles and urban areas create so-called ‘shadow areas’ in the transmission of the GNSS signal, which in turn limits the operation of the virtual balises. There are also other problems derived from intentional interference, such as jamming or spoofing. However, the use of other technologies and navigation systems may help to resolve these issues.

The use of GNSS for railway operations depends to a large extent on the nature of the environment. For this reason, it is necessary to classify and identify the factors that contribute to operation under degraded conditions

The RAILGAP (RAILway Ground truth and digital mAP) project, which began in early 2021 and will continue until 2023, is a continuation of earlier research in this field. Part of the Horizon 2020 Programme and managed by the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), RAILGAP is led by the Italian railway infrastructure manager Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI) and boasts numerous participants, including Radiolabs, Hitachi Rail STS, RINA, Trenitalia, ASSTRA, Adif, CEDEX, Ineco, DLR, Université Gustave Eiffel and Unife.

The project’s aim is to develop innovative, high-precision solutions that make it possible to obtain so-called ‘ground truth’ data and digital maps of the railway lines, which are essential in order to determine the trains’ positions efficiently and reliably. ‘Ground truth’ data will provide time-based geographical coordinates for the trains, along with dynamic variables such as speed and acceleration. To achieve this, it will be necessary to gather enormous amounts of train-related data, collected from various types of sensors, which will be used to improve mapping accuracy in ‘shadow areas’ such as urban areas, areas with lots of vegetation or trenches, etc.

The solutions proposed are based on the use of other sensors such as cameras, LIDAR and inertial measurements units, along with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, to improve the positioning capacity provided by GNSS in ‘shadow areas’. Inertial sensors are used to detect the forces acting on the train, which makes it possible to estimate its movement over time; while optical sensors (cameras and LIDAR), combined with AI systems, make it possible to calculate the train’s position relative to key elements located along the track. In turn, this enables the train to be positioned with pinpoint accuracy, under optimal conditions.

The 30 satellites (24 operational and six spares) that will make up the Galileo system once its full operational capability is reached (initial services began in 2016) will be able to locate receivers with a margin of error of less than one metre. Additionally, Galileo is interoperable with the United States’ GPS, Russia’s GLONASS and China’s BeiDou systems.

RAILGAP will help to make the ERTMS –as well as the monitoring and control systems for the modernisation of regional and local lines– more sustainable, thereby reducing energy consumption.

Ineco is taking part in all of the project’s eight work packages and will lead the process of calculating ‘ground truth’ based on a solution involving the hybridisation of sensors. It also plays a major role in identifying and characterising the optical sensors required by the project, particularly cameras and LIDAR sensors. The activities that comprise work package 7, which focuses on the implementation of the digital map, will also draw on Ineco’s experience in applying AI to images in order to identify key elements, as it has done in other projects for Adif.

To this end, Ineco will develop the algorithms that make it possible to use the images captured by optical and stereoscopic cameras to recognise relevant elements on the track and position them using advanced image processing techniques and AI.

For its part, Adif is also working on all of the work packages, as well as operating a test vehicle (as it did previously for the ERSAT GGC project). The Railway Interoperability Laboratory from CEDEX (which is a world leader in ERTMS; see IT32 and 53) will focus on the architecture of the equipment inside the train and on the data collection phase, as well as the integration of the data in the laboratory.

RAILGAP proposes the use of cameras, LIDAR sensors or inertial measurement units, along with AI technology, to improve GNSS positioning in ‘shadow areas’.

Previous projects

Ineco, Adif and CEDEX have previously taken part in other research and innovation projects with a focus on GNSS applications in railways, such as ERSAT GGC (2017-2019), which also formed part of the Horizon 2020 programme (see ITRANSPORTE 69), and GATE4RAIL (2018-2021), part of Shift2Rail, a sector-specific programme developed by the European Commission to promote innovation in the railway industry.

The aim of the ERSAT GGC project, which involved 14 companies from five European countries, was to study the implementation of satellite technology in the ERTMS using virtual balises. To achieve this, a methodology was defined and several software tools were developed in order to classify a railway line with a view to implementing virtual balises along the length of the track.
The project also included some trials spread across three countries (France, Italy and Spain), where input data was gathered and later fed into the classification tool.

Additionally, 2018 saw the launch of GATE4RAIL, which aimed to improve the virtualisation of ERTMS tests based on satellite positioning. Ineco formed part of the consortium that carried out the project, which was led by Radiolabs (Italy) and also included RFI (Italy), Ifsttar (France), M3Systems (Belgium), Unife (Belgium), CEDEX (Spain), Bureau Veritas Italia (Italy) and Guide (France). Together, the consortium members developed a platform comprised of three blocks: GNSS, train and track. The challenge was to perform a simulation with modules from each block, located in different countries. In this project, which came to an end in 2021, Ineco’s role focused on system architecture and defining scenarios, in addition to providing data on obstacles via the GNSS4RAIL tool.

Challenges facing the use of GNSS in the railway sector

THE TRAIN OF THE FUTURE? A driverless train transporting minerals for the multinational corporation Rio Tinto in Pilbara, Western Australia. / PHOTO_RIO TINTO

For the railway sector, the use of GNSS presents a number of challenges of both a technical and cross-cutting nature. Cross-cutting challenges include those related to protection, cyber-security, legislation and regulation, standardisation, and speed of implementation; while the technical challenges include issues such as dealing with interference, the multipath effect, the integrity of the satellite signal, the overcoming of communication ‘shadow areas’ such as tunnels and mountains, highly complex lines that incorporate forks and junctions, and more precise recognition of parallel lines and stations.

With regard to the future of GNSS in the railway sector, a number of short, medium and long-term milestones have been identified. The most immediate goal is to be able to locate trains with optimum precision, as this will make it possible to increase track capacity. Another milestone is the development of virtual balises based on the continuous transmission of PVT data, which will reduce costs. Forthcoming developments also include detection of movement of rolling stock while the on-board ETCS is disconnected (this is known as cold movement detection, or CMD).

Medium-term goals include the development of ERTMS Level 3, whose defining characteristic is moving-block signalling. This technology will greatly increase the current ability to manage line capacity.

Long-term milestones include driverless trains, although a number of initiatives in this area –such as the Rio Tinto Driverless Cargo Line in Australia– already exist. This driverless line, known as the ‘robot train’, incorporates 1,700 kilometres of track and 220 monitored locomotives. It records 12 GB of data traffic per day and uses automatic train detection logic based on ERTMS Level 2. Using this architecture, the multinational mining corporation Rio Tinto has developed predictive models that can detect potential failures in upcoming operations and recommend maintenance activities. As one would expect, final approval of these activities lies with the technical personnel.

Ineco is a member of the international consortium awarded the RAILGAP (Railway Ground truth and digital MAP) project, part of the Horizon 2020 Programme of the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency (GSA). CEDEX (Spanish Centre for Studies and Experimentation of Public Works) and the manager of Spain’s railway infrastructure, Adif, are also members of the consortium, led by Rete Ferroviaria Italiana (RFI).

RAILGAP will collect massive quantities of data from commercial trains. Its focus will be to develop innovative high-precision tools to collect basic route data and digital mapping for railway lines with unprecedented accuracy. The project, which started in Autumn 2020, will allow reduced energy consumption by ERTMS and command and control systems, increasing their economic and environmental efficiency.

In December 2017, this European project, financed by the GSA (European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency) as part of the H2020 Programme, began with a set duration of 24 months. The 14 European companies from five EU countries that participated in the ERSAT GGC project are RFI (project coordinator), Hitachi STS (formerly Ansaldo, technical coordinator), RINA, Trenitalia, Radiolabs, Italcertified and Bureau Veritas for Italy; Adif, CEDEX and Ineco for Spain; IFSTTAR and SNCF for France and UNIFE for Belgium.

The final objective is to contribute to the standardisation of the certification process for the adoption of satellite navigation systems (GNSS) in the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) standard. The scope of the project was very ambitious, working towards the consolidation of an improved ERTMS functional architecture that includes GNSS, safety studies, definition of a procedure for the classification of railway lines in relation to the ‘virtual balise’, development of a set of tools to assist in this classification, measurement campaigns in three countries (France, Spain and Italy), analysis of the data in the laboratories, evaluation of the architecture, procedure and tools by independent NoBos (Notified Bodies) and, finally, dissemination of the results and activities of the project in different national and international forums.

The ‘virtual balise’ concept has been under development for several years in previous projects launched by GSA, ESA and Shift2Rail, and consists of providing positioning information to the train by means of GNSS signals, instead of the physical balises required by ERTMS.

The ‘virtual balise’ concept has been under development for several years and consists of providing positioning information to the train by means of GNSS signals, instead of physical balises

For this purpose, the onboard equipment will consist of a new module called Virtual Balise Reader (VBR), which will process the GNSS signals and compare the GNSS coordinates with the list of coordinates onboard, reporting the corresponding virtual balise to the Eurocab when the coordinates stored for it are reached. This will make it possible to reduce the number of physical balises installed on the tracks, with the resulting savings for infrastructure managers, (Adif in the case of Spain) in terms of installation tasks, maintenance, theft, etc. This requires adequate reception of the GNSS signal at the points where the physical balises are to be installed, and therefore requires the classification of the railway lines according to the ‘quality’ of the GNSS signal received in each section.

The procedure will identify the sections/points where it is feasible to deploy a virtual balise so that the performance of the GNSS signal in terms of availability and accuracy meets the requirements.

The participation of Spanish companies in ERSAT GGC was distributed in such a way that CEDEX collaborated on the measurement campaign, integrating the tools in its laboratory and analysing the results of the different campaigns, contributing significantly to the customer’s last Demo. For its part, Adif purchased the necessary equipment for the campaign and provided a line and a laboratory train to carry out the measurements to be analysed at a later date.

Lastly, Ineco played a key role by participating in almost all of the work packages, contributing its knowledge in the areas of GNSS and ERTMS given its experience in previous projects such as GRAIL, GRAIL 2, NGTC and STARS. In particular, the company contributed to the consolidation of the functional architecture of ERTMS, the definition of several tools for the toolset, the participation in the Spanish measurement campaign, the analysis of the data from the Italian and Spanish campaigns, and lastly, contributing to the demonstration with the customer and the dissemination activities.

Measurement campaign in Spain

For the test campaign in Spain, Adif selected a line equipped with a Telephone Blocking (TB) system and with low traffic density. Specifically, line No 528 of the Conventional Network between Almorchón (Badajoz)-Mirabueno (Córdoba), which is of type E, with a total length of 130.1 kilometres and which is not electrified, although the runs were made on the section between the Almorchón and La Alhondiguilla stations, which is 94 kilometres long and has a maximum speed of 60 km/h.

Coordination between Adif, Ineco, CEDEX, IFSTTAR and DLR was key to the success of the hours and 20 runs were carried Spanish campaign. A static calibration test lasting 12 hours with 20 runs was carried out over 10 days of the campaign, at different times, in order to cover the various satellite positions of both the GPS and Galileo constellations. With all the data collected (GNSS signals, images and odometry), we moved on to an analysis phase, where the set of tools also developed in the project would make it possible to classify the line regards to the main local hazards to the GNSS signal on railway lines: interference, multipath, NLOS (Non-line-of-sight) and degraded performance.

All measurements were made on a Talgo laboratory train (BT-02), which was equipped with:

• GNSS Antenna: AntCom G8-PN
• GNSS Receiver: Javad Delta3
• GNSS Receiver: Septentrio AsteRx2e
• Splitter
• Laptops
• UPS
• Video camera
• Fisheye system

Main GNSS local feared events on railways. /
SOURCE_ERSAT GGC PROJECT

Tool development (Degraded performance indicator)

Ineco contributed to the development of different tools used to classify the areas of the train lines as green, yellow or red, for the placement of the virtual balise. In particular, two tools were developed to be integrated into the project:

1. SBAS_Health_Monitoring_tool (SHMT): assigns a health status to each GPS satellite by analysing the message received from EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service).
2. GNSS4Rail: a simulation tool that makes it possible to manage a highly accurate 3D model of the railway line environment (both in rural and urban environments) based on a surface model and the ability to launch point or time simulations along the entire line with different GNSS constellations (GPS and/or Galileo) and for any time frame. The inclusion of the Galileo constellation was an added value to the project and enabled multiconstellation simulations (use of several GNSS constellations), following the path traced by safety market applications. Moreover, the prognosis capability provides a clear advantage over other applications that only analyse real, static data from the past.

The GNSS4RAIL tool provides the following advantages in the deployment phase:

• Support for feasibility analysis and planning of the deployment of virtual balises on the line.
• Preliminary identification of feasible sections for deployment.
• Analysis both along the railway line (spatial domain) and for a time interval (time domain).
• Minimises the data acquisition campaigns with an auscultation train mainly thanks to the temporal analysis.

Advantages in the operation phase:

• Support as a performance predictor of deployed virtual balises.
• Provides pre-tactical information to the management of GNSS-based railway operations.

The possible uses of the tool are not limited to the specific application of the virtual balise; it can also be used to determine in advance the ‘coverage’ of the GNSS signal at any point on a line and at any given time, and these results can be used for other applications such as operations planning, fleet control, passenger information, ticketing, maintenance, etc. It can also be applied in other sectors such as road transport, maritime operations in ports and VLL drones/aircraft air operations in U-Space.

Last November, Minister of Public Works, Íñigo de la Serna, presented the Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan 2017-2020, whose aim is to integrate and coordinate all of the innovation activities of the companies and institutions involved in the Public Works Group. With a planned investment of 50 million euros over a period of three years, the Plan starts in February 2018 with the launch of cross-cutting initiatives and projects throughout the Group so that ‘it will function as a collaborative group working within a network’, explained the minister.

Through the Plan, the Public Works Group is taking a major step forward in line with the European Commission’s H2020 programme, a financial instrument that seeks to ensure competitiveness through research and innovation. At the national level, the Plan is part of the government’s strategy on innovation, in which the Digital Agenda for Spain and the Spanish Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation play particularly significant roles.

Thanks to the National Smart Cities Plan developed by the State Secretary for the Information Society and Digital Agenda (SESIAD) in collaboration with Ineco, Spain is a pioneer in the development of smart cities, having established a number of guidelines on platform interoperability that have become an international benchmark. The platform ecosystem proposed in the Innovation Plan follows these guidelines, ensuring that the different transport initiatives complement and can be integrated into the advances made in smart cities. The result is a common strategy based on a solid model.

The Transport and Infrastructure Innovation Plan also uses BIM (Building Information Modelling) as a cross-cutting element for all of the initiatives, given the strategic role that it needs to play in the future of Spanish innovation (see report).

A cutting-edge transport system

Transport plays a key role in the overall development of societies and their economies. The way in which people and goods move through an area largely defines its social, economic and environmental fabric, which is why actions in transport and infrastructure are a vital part of any basic strategy in the ongoing process of expansion and modernisation of societies.

For this reason, the Plan is committed to putting technology at the service of the citizen, using innovation to make advances in safety, accessibility and sustainability. These advances need to be accompanied by greater economic and social profitability through an increase in the efficiency and effectiveness of public and private investment.

The Innovation Plan is structured around four main dimensions to achieve these objectives: digitisation, Internet of the future, intermodality and energy transformation. Supported by these dimensions, the initiatives proposed in the Plan represent a great boost to the consolidation of a safer, more sustainable and accessible cutting-edge transport system, which will keep Spain at the forefront of innovation in transport.

The aim of the plan is to put technology at the service of the citizen, using innovation to make progress in safety, accessibility and sustainability, advances that need to be accompanied by greater economic and social profitability through an increase in effectiveness and efficiency in public and private investment

Four major cornerstones and 70 initiatives underway

Drafted by Ineco, the Innovation Plan included participation by the heads of Adif, Aena, ENAIRE, CRIDA, Spanish Port System and Renfe. The opinions of other institutions, such as the Spanish Rail Research Laboratory (CEDEX), Spanish Maritime Safety and Rescue Agency (SASEMAR), the Ministry of Public Works and various private entities, were also taken into account. Four strategic cornerstones have been identified in the Plan: user experience; smart platforms; smart routes; and energy efficiency and sustainability. These cornerstones are structured in turn into 22 strategic lines, which have materialised into 70 initiatives.

User Experience is aimed at personalising the offering according to user preferences, providing them with products and services on demand. To that end, the concept of ‘Mobility as a Service’ and, in general, public-private collaboration models will be promoted. Several other initiatives will focus on the elimination of barriers, with the development and implementation of new booking, payment and validation systems focused on cybersecurity and fraud reduction.

Big Data will be the technological foundation that will enable personalisation of services and improved user experience.

The second cornerstone, Smart Platforms, is designed as a cross-cutting element that provides technological support to all of the initiatives in the Innovation Plan. Through these Platforms, information is collected and processed by the companies in the Public Works Group, improving efficiency, quality and security of the services offered.

The proposed platform ecosystem covers all modes of transport and is integrated with city platforms. The application of the BIM methodology in stations, airports and ports, and the promotion of the Single European Sky will play a special role in this ecosystem, which will also consider the inclusion of unmanned aerial vehicles.

Smart Routes are aimed at the digitisation of roads and railways, with the development of a framework for the implementation of connected and autonomous vehicles. One of the fundamental aspects will be the standardisation and regulation of vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure communications.

In addition, modelling and forecasting systems based on automatic learning and data science will be developed to enable smart transport planning and management. Dynamic traffic control, early recognition of congestion conditions on roads and dynamic driving management are some examples of the application of these developments.

The fourth cornerstone of the plan, Energy Efficiency and Sustainability, focuses on achieving transformation towards a sustainable and energy-efficient transport system in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, rationalise the use of fossil fuels and facilitate the switch to new transport solutions. This line includes initiatives that promote the use of renewable energy generation systems, use of surplus energy for self-consumption or feeding back into the grid, promotion of electric vehicles and other vehicles with alternative energies in transport networks, among others. All of these measures seek to adapt transport elements and direct them towards more sustainable and effective models in order to enable Spain to position itself as a benchmark in the international sector.

Facilitating open innovation and encouraging start-up entrepreneurship through synergies with companies in the Public Works Group is also part of the initiatives of this fourth cornerstone.

The Plan aims to set up an innovative network that integrates and connects all sectors of society, encouraging investment in innovation by large companies and SMEs and actively involving universities, technology centres and entrepreneurs. Within this line, the creation of an ‘Innovation Rail Hub’ seeks to launch collaborative R&D projects that promote railway technology on an international scale.

ILLUSTRATION_JAVIER JUBERA

Experts in public transport innovation

To draft the Plan, Ineco’s Department of Cooperation and Innovation collaborated with a team of experts in innovation from the companies and institutions in the Public Works Group. Adif, Aena, ENAIRE, CRIDA, Spanish Port System and Renfe, together with other institutions such as Cedex and SASEMAR, worked with Ineco on the drafting of a common project:  “We set out a road map –says Rocío Viñas, Ineco’s deputy general director of Cooperation and Innovation– for the next three years with a strategy based on digitisation, the Internet of the future, intermodality and energy transformation.” For Rocío Viñas, analysis of the current situation of innovation projects “reflected the importance not only of sharing knowledge and creating synergies in the Public Works Group, but also of reinforcing collaboration with universities, startups and other companies, fostering and promoting our innovative culture inside and outside the EU.”

According to Javier Rodríguez Barea, Renfe’s manager of Transformation and Digital Innovation, the interesting aspect about this project is that “citizens are at the centre of the Innovation Plan, which acts a great prescriber of a new, more personalised, door-to-door mobility service in an interconnected and smart world, where technology and digitisation are put at the service of the companies in the Public Works Group in order to transform our value proposition towards society and improve user experience in our services.”

For Antonio Berrios, deputy director of Strategic Innovation at Adif, “one of the great contributions and challenges of this Innovation Plan is its cross-cutting vision within the Public Works Group, involving all companies making a technological leap to facilitate solutions that improve the capabilities of all of the modes of transport that travellers and goods units can use in their door-to-door mobility process.”

Along this same line, Juan Puertas Cabot, head of Aena’s Quality, Excellence and Innovation Division, adds that “effective innovation is always orientated towards known customers. The plan has combined the vision of the customer as a passenger on all modes of transport and as a citizen with their needs and expectations. This global vision is necessary to focus on effective innovation in global transport.” Juan Puertas points out that instead of highlighting a single initiative, he would stress the importance of including energy efficiency and sustainability as one of the main cornerstones: “It links with the whole strategy of the Plan, which puts society as a whole at the centre. I believe that a company of the future must necessarily be responsible and innovation is an essential tool to incorporate sustainability into transport processes.” In the case of Aena, within the framework of the Plan, the company is implementing the “digital transformation of the relationship with the passenger, where not only the necessary economic return is taken into account but also a focus on improvement of the passenger experience in the different steps of a customer’s journey at an airport. The firm commitment to this project has been reflected in 15 digital innovation initiatives that will be implemented during the next year.”

Thanks to ICT, transport services can be better designed and managed, addressing the real needs of citizens and interacting with them in real time and within an integrated and sustainable transport system that improves its economic and social profitability

Of the 70 initiatives, Jose Damián López, head of the Infrastructure Technology Department of the Spanish Port System, highlights the Intermodality without barriers (E3L4-2) initiative, because the project “will enable the planning and optimisation of services and infrastructures dedicated to intermodal transport, as well as simplifying administrative procedures through centralisation in the Goods Platform, providing one-stop services and monitoring the status of goods at the same time.” For José Damián López, the Plan also develops –in the field of R&D and innovation– the necessary relationships of trust between the companies in the Public Works Group, diversifying the risks and benefits associated with innovation, and increases “the value of expected results in all of the initiatives by adding to them the talent, knowledge and experience accumulated by the different organisations.”

Fernando Fernández Martín, head of ENAIRE’s European Convergence Division and responsible for the Innovation Plan, points out that it is difficult to choose from among the initiatives included in the Plan. While the Smart ATM initiative is key for ENAIRE (it addresses the evolution of the Spanish Air Traffic Management System to adapt it to the Single European Sky initiative), it would be unfair not to mention the Platform for the management of unmanned aerial vehicle traffic, because it faces the challenge posed by the arrival of unmanned aerial vehicles in our environment, on the one hand to encourage the development of new business models, while preventing this type of vehicle from posing risks for manned aircraft or citizens.

For José Miguel de Pablo, director of CRIDA⁽¹⁾, the Ministry’s Innovation Plan “will enable the promotion and consolidation of the incipient implementation of Big Data techniques at the service of ENAIRE, therefore, improving the efficiency of aerial navigation services. The computing power that is currently available and the increasing degree of maturity of technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and Machine Learning offer an alternative to the use of conventional techniques, allowing them to overcome their limitations.” The Plan, he adds, “opens up a new horizon of possibilities that can range from improvements in available information and reliability and streamlining of decision making to the automation of processes through the development of intelligent predictive models. And all with one sole purpose: to improve the service provided to the passenger.”

⁽¹⁾ CRIDA is the ATM R&D+innovation Reference Centre, A.I.E. formed by ENAIRE,  (66.66%), Ineco (16.67%) and the Polytechnic University  of Madrid (16.67 %).

In 2012, Banedanmark launched its Signalling Programme (SP) that includes the renovation of the entire railway network in its territory. The commitment to technology, which will mean replacing all the existing equipment and systems, was approved by the Danish Parliament in 2009 and will involve an investment of around 2.5 billion Euros. With the introduction of this new signalling system, the Danish government expects to be able to increase the performance and quality of its rail operation and serve around 70 million passengers by 2030.

The signalling system to be installed is ERTMS level 2 in version 3.4.0 of Baseline 3. This is the European rail traffic management system promoted by the European Commission, which is being implemented on the nine core network corridors of the Union. Its objective is to establish a common language throughout the European railway network, a project that brings significant improvements in railway operation, allowing the internal and cross-border traffic of all trains with greater capacity, improved safety and lower costs. Since 2015, Ineco has been in charge of the supervision and monitoring of the ERTMS deployment plan on the European core network corridors until 2020 (see IT53, IT59).

196 test cases and two pilot lines

Spain has 2,150 kilometres of railway lines equipped with the ERTMS system, including 656 kilometres with level 2 ERTMS. Ineco and CEDEX’s extensive experience and technical knowledge of ERTMS has made it possible for Banedanmark to rely on the Spanish entities to develop the test specification of this system for the Danish track application.

In compliance with Banedanmark’s operational requirements, Ineco and CEDEX produced 196 generic test cases that test the ERTMS functions to be implemented in the lines. In addition, they have designed the operational scenarios for the two pilot lines (EDL EAST and EDL WEST) equipped by Alstom and Thales, respectively. These indicate the specific location in the infrastructure at which the developed test cases will be carried out. A test scenario is a sequence of test cases that reproduce a series of situations that a train could encounter on a journey along a line. They reproduce situations ranging from nominal conditions, such as a commercial traffic at maximum speed, to severely degraded situations that simulate the different failures that may occur in the equipment and its interfaces. These test cases and scenarios are applicable for both on-site and laboratory tests.

Ineco has developed close to 200 test cases for the ERTMS Level 2 application that is going to be deployed in the railway network in Denmark between 2018 and 2023

During the month of July, Ineco carried out a first test campaign in the JTL laboratory (Joint Test Laboratory) created by Banedanmark as part of its renewal programme. This laboratory has both simulated and real equipment (RBC, on-board equipment, GSMR and GPRS connection, signalling control point, control centre interface and even a level-crossing). In terms of software, the same versions installed on the track are installed in the laboratory, so many of the functional tests can be performed more comfortably.

Laboratory tests provide a number of advantages over field testing. On one hand they do not have to interrupt the existing commercial traffic, they do not require real trains, and involve fewer personnel. All of these factors reduce campaign times, and consequently the cost, of the test phase within the processes to commission infrastructure or trains on a specific infrastructure. Consequently, the objective is to replace as many field tests as possible with laboratory tests, reducing field tests to a minimum. In this sense, the test campaign carried out by Ineco allowed the verification of the real possibilities that the laboratory can provide to reproduce the different situations that may occur in the normal operation of the trains on the track.

The current support contract for the Danish railway signalling programme includes other activities such as developing validation infrastructure strategies for the upcoming lines to be put into operation. This is the definition of the subset of test cases to be performed, depending on whether or not it is a new type of train to be put into operation on an already operational track, or if, on the contrary, it is the same type of train that will run on a new track but one that is designed with the same principles as an infrastructure that is already in operation.

Banedanmark intends to upgrade its infrastructure from the current ERTMS version 3.4.0 to 3.6.0 which is already available in European specifications. Ineco will also support the update of the test specifications to this new version.

The Danish public company Banedanmark (BDK) has commissioned Ineco to complete the operating scenarios in an ambitious renovation programme for the railway signalling of the country. The project has been awarded to Ineco, in collaboration with CEDEX, and includes drafting specifications of the operational trials for the service commencement of the ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) subsystem.

It also includes drafting work specifications for the two pilot lines completed by the multinationals Alston and Thales for Banedanmark. The contract was awarded to Ineco on account of its experience in ERTMS, at a national level as well as in the European works in monitoring the interoperability for the ERA (European Railway Agency) and the European Commission.