Past development of railway transport systems has often been conditioned by strict national requirements. These have created a myriad of technical and operational practices that hamper the development of the railways from a trans-European perspective. ERTMS is an umbrella programme that is addressing some of these technical shortcomings. It brings together three main streams of harmonisation/standardisation activities in the areas of signalling and command/control (ERTMS/ETCS), telecommunications (GSM-R) and traffic management (ERTMS/ ETML). The programme has a three-fold rationale:

• improved interoperability of the trans-European rail network - not only inside the EU borders, but also foreseeing the longer term integration of Central and Eastern European networks;
• the creation of a single market for procurement, leading to a significant reduction in equipment costs and an improvement in the competitive position of the railway supply industry on world markets;
• the optimisation of rail operations on a European-wide scale, conducive to enhanced profitability and customer service, as well as contributing to overall environmental, safety and energy efficiency objectives.

In the recent past, the programme has focused primarily on the safety and technology-oriented aspects relating to signalling and telecommunications, without an in-depth coverage of the functional and technical aspects that would underpin pan-European rail traffic management.