EMSET - Eurocab Madrid-Seville European tests
Overview
Background & policy context:
Railway technology has traditionally evolved in Europe according to the concepts and preferences of prominent national industry stakeholders. This focus on national requirements - in particular with respect to signalling and telecommunications technology - has resulted in a ever increasing difficulty to reach the levels of interoperability that are necessary for the implementation of cross-border services. This has required complex and costly solutions normally based on the mere superposition of the national systems.
In order to provide an effective response to this challenge, the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) programme was set up. It aims, in particular, at the development of the European Train Control System (ETCS), creating the basis for the harmonisation of railway signalling systems in Europe whilst being a push towards interoperability and a much needed increase in the efficiency of railway operation.
Objectives:
Within the overall framework of the ERTMS programme, EMSET aimed primarily at the performance of a full-scale functional validation of the ERTMS/ETCS. This should enable an extended proof of the concept, notably from an interoperability perspective. Special emphasis was given to the assurance of the backward compatibility with legacy environments - i.e. existing national signalling systems - an aspect that is crucial to enable a commercial deployment of the European solutions.
Against this background, the main objectives of EMSET were:
- to elaborate a comprehensive test strategy for the evaluation of specific ERTMS/ETCS components - notably Eurobalise and Euroradio protocol - and the on-board sub-system (Eurocab);
- to create a set of reference test tools for component performance and interoperability assessment and a workbench for system integration in the laboratory;
- to install a test track enabling the functional validation of the ERTMS/ETCS on-board architecture in full-scale site tests for application levels 1 and 2, the latter using an emulation of the radio bearer;
- to develop specific tools enabling the performance of interoperability tests with existing national signalling systems (external STMs); and
- to perform laboratory and field tests with track and on-board equipment provided by several industrial suppliers.
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