Page 121 - 360.revista de Alta Velocidad - Nº 5

High-speed railway and the digital future

stations are located in the centre of the cities, which facilitates access by public transport, as
well the reduced time necessary to reach the main stations.
The reliability of the system ensures that train departure and arrival times are consistently
met. Punctuality rates are the best among current transportation systems.
2
High-Speed Trains are usually powered with electricity. This reduces the CO emissions during
operation and in its complete lifecycle. That is why it can be considered as a “Green transport“
2
system (although electric power can be generated by several means and some of them emit CO
into the atmosphere).
Finally High-Speed Railway is the fastest ground transportation system. Due to this, and the
characteristics described above, it is perceived as an efficient transportation system.

2.2 Requirements from operators

From a High-Speed Railway operator s point of view the main requirements for this type
of railway are similar to other railways, transportation systems or industrial businesses.
Requirements as Availability, Ease of Maintenance, Efficiency and Low Lifecycle Costs (LCC)
can be applicable to different areas. Even so, achieving those requirements requires a clear
definition of the targets and their associated costs.
Apart from those requirements, there are other requirements specific to the Railway
business. They are: Standardization (interoperability) and Improved transport capacity.
Although standardization is also claimed by most industrial business, one of the key aspects
linked with standardization is Interoperability. This aspect is closely related with ground
transportation.
Interoperability (as the one provided by the ERTMS/ETCS signalling system) is a key element
to provide operators the possibility to operate High-Speed trains across borders with the
same signalling system and, eventually, with similar if not the same rules. Interoperability
saves efforts and time in terms of definition of operational rules, equipment investment,
time, Interoperability also contributes to improve the overall safety of the railway, as all
equipment behave exactly in the same way in despite of the country they operate, reducing
operational procedures that are sometimes more prone to human errors.
Another important requirement for the High-Speed Railway is the increase of the transport
capacity and, associated to it, the improvement in headway. We can have very fast trains
but, if we cannot adapt the operation to customer demands, this will not be enough.
Improving transport capacity allows the High-Speed Railway operator to have more trains
per hour, increasing the number of passengers per hour. This is one aspect that is becoming
more relevant as the population increases, especially in the main cities where the number
of passengers increases. Systems that can best contribute to increasing transport capacity
are modern signalling systems such as ETCS level 2.

2.3 Signalling Solutions

Modern High-Speed lines use ERTMS/ETCS as the preferred signalling system. And in most
projects ETCS Level 2 is the solution chosen. ETCS Level 2 system reduces the amount of
equipment to be installed on the track and provides a better headway capacity than other
systems used in previous decades. Siemens TrainGuard system provides a complete ETCS
Level 2 solution for ETCS Level 2 applications.

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 119