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High-speed railway and the digital future

• GPS

• DVD
• Social Networks

• WiFi
• Use of Solar Power for end consumers

Some of them (e.g. Ipod, DVD), are now even becoming old technology. They were very successful
and disruptive inventions but technological progress and digitalization has been so rapid that in
less than 20 years they became obsolete.
However the progress of High-Speed Railway has not been so fast. It is true that there have
been several major steps, but High-Speed Railway has several limitations to a rapid progress of
technology. One of this limitations is Safety. The High-Speed Railway has to be Safe since any
type of incident / malfunctioning can lead to an accident with hundreds of deaths / injuries.
This is why the technology adopted by the High-Speed Railway has to be very mature and
Proven-By-Use.
4.2 Where we go?
However passengers, operators and maintainers are demanding from High-Speed Railway that
provides better performances and services. Requirements such as faster trains, higher train
frequencies, improved connectivity, use of open systems... demand from High-Speed Railway
technology to move faster. Of course we cannot expect High-Speed Railway to progress at the
same pace as IT technology but we can expect broader use of current technology based on the
digitalization process. This will include:
• Advanced Centralized Control: including SCADA and concentrate all High-Speed Railway
techniques (signalling operation, maintenance, rolling stock,) in one place with the same
management systems.
• Smart data and Cloud Computing: This will provide, among other benefits, comprehensive
maintenance management. It will also reduce the obsolescence hardware costs and CAPEX
and OPEX costs related to computing hardware. The use of open standards will also be
beneficial to this step. This technology is also linked to Smart Access technology that will
reduce access time to High-Speed Trains and increase Security.
• Virtual reality: that will be applied for maintenance and training purposes. Other existing
technologies will be used on High-Speed Railway such as 3D printing to supply spares just
in time. The use of Drones and Robots would be beneficial for maintenance and security
activities.

• Intelligent Systems: that will be applied to High-Speed Railway to increase frequency
of trains through dynamic distancing, conflict detection and resolution and the use of
intelligent surveillance to automatically solve any type of situation during the operation of
the High-Speed Railway.
4.3 Siemens proposal and the basis for the Digital Future

In all the systems described above there is a common topic: Digitalization. The use of digital
technology will radically change the shape of our High-Speed Railways.

Siemens is focused on Digitalization trend in all its activities and businesses: from industry to
transportation.

International Congress on High-speed Rail: Technologies and Long Term Impacts - Ciudad Real (Spain) - 25th anniversary Madrid-Sevilla corridor 121