ERTMS/ETCS - Indian Railways Perspective

P Venkata Ramana, IRSSE, MIRSTE, MIRSE

Abstract nal and Balise. Balises are passive devices and gets
energised whenever Balise Reader fitted on Locomo-
European Railway Traffic Management System tive passes over it. On energisation, balises transmits
(ERTMS) is evolved to harmonize cross-border rail telegrams to OBE. Telegram may consist of informa-
connections for seamless operations across European tion about aspect of Lineside Signal, Gradients etc.,
nations. ERTMS is stated to be the most performant Balises are generally grouped and unique identifica-
train control system which brings significant advan- tion will be provided to each balise. It helps to detect
tages in terms of safety, reliability, punctuality and the direction of train. There four types of balises ex-
traffic capacity. ERTMS is evolving as a global stan- ist based their usage - Switchable, Infill, Fixed and
dard. Many countries outside Europe - US, China, Repositioning balises. Switchable balises will be pro-
Taiwan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia have adopted vided near lineside signals and they transmit aspect
ERTMS standards for train traffic command and con- of lineside signal, permanent speed restrictions, gra-
trol. dient information etc., Infill balises are provided in
advance of signals to convey aspect of lineside signals
earlier than Switchable balises. Fixed balises convey
1 Introduction information in regard to temporary speed restrictions
and Repositioning balises provides data corrections.
Signalling component of ERTMS has basically Balises transmit data in long or short telegrams
four components - European Train Control System and those pertaining to direction. They are of two
(ETCS) with Automatic Train Protection System, types - standard and reduced. Standard balise can
Global System GSM-R, European Traffic Manage- transmit data to trains running up to 500 kmph with-
ment Layer (ETML) and European Operating Rules out any loss, whether telegram is of long or short one.
(EOR). ETCS is not a signalling itself, but provides Reduced balise can transmit data to trains running
a layer over existing signalling. It has 5 application up to 500 kmph without any loss for shot telegram
levels and 16 operating modes. Each application level and 300 kmph for long telegram.
define level of protection to trains. GSM-R is though
a separate element, ETCS make use of GSM-R for its
voice and data communication. ETCS has two com-
ponents - Lineside Equipment (LSE) and Onboard
Equipment (OBE). Basic ETCS Application Level is
Level 0 where locomotives have been fitted with OBE
and no LSE has been provided. In Level 0, ETCS will
do limited monitoring - monitoring of Max Speed.
Level 1 is where OBE on Locomotives and LSE are
provided. In Level 2, GSM-R over a fixed network is
required in addition to OBE and LSEs and Lineside
signals are not mandatory. Level 0, 1, and 2 work on
fixed block concept where train sections have been de-
marcated with signals or signages. In Level 3, mov-
ing block in place of fixed block will be mandated.
Level STM is meant to provide interface to trackside
existing national protection systems AWS, TPWS & Figure 1: ETCS Lineside Equipment
TPWS+ (UK) and OBE.
Line-side Equipment consists of Balises and Line- Balises provides spot based update of information.
side Electronic Unit (LEU) for transmitting the in- The limitations of a spot-based update of signalling
formation from trackside to Locomotive Onboard information is that the signalling information held by
Equipment. LEU is an interface between lineside sig- the train and displayed to the driver is only as good

3
ERTMS/ETCS - Indian Railways Perspective

as the last transmission spot that the train passed, cific Transmission Module (STM) provides interface
that is, at the last signal. There are other alternatives to National Train Protection systems such as AWS,
for transmitting telegrams form Lineside to Onboard. TPWS etcs.,
They are Euro Loops and Radio Infill balises. They Juridical Recording Unit (JRU) records all events
overcome limitations of Balises. Format of telegrams ,which is like a black box, and useful in investigation
will be the same irrespective of source of delivery. and to determine cause of train accident. One has
Radio Block Center (RBC) are required to transmit to note that ETCS is a data driven system. It en-
Movement Authority (MA) and End Of Authority sures data and message consistency at every stage.
(EOA) in Level 2 and 3 over fixed mobile infrastruc- However, it can not check the validity of data. So,
ture to OBE. OBE provides train position informa- inaccurate data will be major hazard for ETCS.
tion to RBC. RBC interfaces with trackside interlock-
ing.
At the heart of Onboard Equipment is the Euro- 2 Determination of Location
pean Vital Computer (EVC). Single Loco or Multiple
Locos can have one set of onboard equipment or in- 1

dividual. EVC supervises train movements, takes in- OBE determines Train Speed and also its location.
puts from balise, radio infill or loop via Balise Trans-
The same will be conveyed to TSE. It conveys Train
mission Module or Loop Transmission Module, odom- Location/Position relative to Balise group. It takes
etry, driver, standard information; provides output into account distance between front of train and an-
to Man Machine Interface (MMI), braking through tenna. Accurate positioning of balaise group is im-
Train Interface Unit (TIU), train position and in- portant. OBE ensures that train does not exceed
tegrity to RBC. speed profile, which is determined from odometry and
balise group location - 100% not accurate. Estimated
Position may not be Actual Position of the train on
the ground. Two types of errors may crop up - Under-
read or Over-read. For Safety related reasons, train
utilises worst case odometry error. To manage inac-
curacies, OBE calculates a tolerance window either
side of estimated position of the train. OBE deter-
mines train location with respect to EOA and Su-
pervised Location (SvL). SvL may be Overlap (OL),
Danger Point (DP) or EOA. OBE will estimate the
distance to travel before reaching the EOA based on
its estimated position and the known location of the
EOA. Due to inaccuracies in odometry, the estimated
distance to the EOA will not necessarily be the same
as the actual distance to the EOA. In order to en-
sure that the train never exceeds the actual SvL, the
Figure 2: ETCS OnBoard Equipment ETCS onboard equipment assumes worst case under-
reading odometry error (that is, it supervises the
TIU interfaces with braking system, train control train based on the maximum safe front end). The
(raising, lowering of pantograph), engine control (cut assumed distance to the SvL, that is, the one the
power during braking to reduce tractive effort), cab train supervises to, is therefore on the approach to
status information, master control (position of direc- the actual SvL. On the other hand, the EOA is su-
tion controller). Balise Reader energises Balise to pervised assuming no odometry error, as this location
enable it to transmit telegram to trains via Balise is not as critical as the SvL. The supervision against
Transmission Module or Loop Transmission Module. the assumed location for the EOA therefore matches
MMI provides information to driver in regard to the trains estimated EOA location.
Distance To Go (DTG) , Max Speed, Point of brak- As an example, consider the following:
ing to avoid intervention. Tachometers, Speed radars
provides speed and distance travelled with +/- 5m a) A train that passed a balise group in the last 100
+5% accuracy. Driver’s Reminder Appliance (DRA) m
reminds the driver about pending task. Isolation 1 GE/GN8605 ETCS System Description Issue One: Febru-

Switch will detach breaking function from EVC. Spe- ary 2010 Railway Group Guidance Note

4 Gyandeep 2017
 ERTMS/ETCS - Indian Railways Perspective

Figure 3: Estimation of End of Authority

b) The location of that balise group is known to an

accuracy of 5 m
c) The trains odometry is accurate to (5 m + 5%)
of distance travelled since balise group. Note: the
fixed 5 m tolerance is intended to cover the longi-
tudinal uncertainty of the balise reader in detect-
ing the balise reference location.

Figure 5: Handling of odometry Under/over reading

Error

c) For an under-reading error, the assumed EOA will

be beyond the actual EOA.
d) For an over-reading error, the assumed EOA will
be on the approach to the actual EOA.
e) The resultant effect is to bring the assumed EOA
and assumed SvL closer together by a value equal
to the calculated worst-case odometry error.
Figure 4: Safe Max/Min Front/Rear End
Second Component of ETCS is GSM-R. GSM-R is
The calculated odometry error will be a radio system which provides voice and data commu-
(5m+5m+5% of 100m), that is, 15 m. The nication between the track and the train. It is based
worst case under-reading odometry error will, there- on standard GSM using frequencies specifically re-
fore, be 15 m. However, the actual odometry error served for rail application with certain specific and
could be under-reading by only 2 m. Figure 5 shows advanced functions. It provides Advanced Speech
the relationship between the actual locations and the Call Items (ASCI) specific to Railways namely, Lo-
assumed locations for both the EOA and the SvL. cation Dependent Addressing (LDA), Functional Ad-
It can be seen that: dressing, Voice Group Call Services (VGCS), Railway
Emergency Call, Enhanced Multi Level Precedence &
a) In neither case does the assumed location of the Preemption (eMLPP).
EOA match the actual location of the EOA on
the ground nor does the assumed location of the
SvL match the actual location of the SvL on the 3 Future Communication
ground.
GSM-R standard has been evolved in 2000 to replace
b) The assumed SvL will never be beyond the actual all analog systems then in use and to provide cost-
SvL, even for a worst- case under-reading error; it efficient and interoperable standard for communica-
uses the maximum safe front end of the train. tion between trains. It is the only standard for digi-

Gyandeep 2017 5
ERTMS/ETCS - Indian Railways Perspective

tal railway communication and today 1,00,000 route

kilometers have been covered in Europe, Asia, Aus-
tralia, North Africa. Industry has given commitment
to support the GSM-R technology until at least 2030.
Two developments are taking place - one is LTE-R
that is poised to replace GSM-R and the other - UIC
is formulating specifications for Future Radio Mobile
Communication System (FRMCS) as a successor or
GSM-R2 .
LTE characterises high speed, high security and
high-bandwidth capacity allow it to carry voice and
data for train control, on-board video surveillance
and infotainment services for passengers on a sin-
Figure 6: LTE-R Communication
gle IP network. It has latency as 10 milliseconds al-
lowing for support of time-sensitive applications and
providing quality of service management3 . It can be meters per year, and the average resident of France
deployed in many different frequency bands and has less than 480 kilometers per year. It is likely that
multiple features related to encryption and authenti- a few people use them a lot, and most rarely or not
cation for security purposes. at all. While working out this figure for Indian Rail-
ways, it works out to 960 kilometers per year but with
1 billion tons of freight traffic5 .
4 Relevance of ERTMS/ETCS Ministry of transport is linking the four metropoli-
on Indian Railways - Context tan cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata,
commonly known as the Golden Quadrilateral; and
Indian Railways (IR) is having vast network of 60,150 its two diagonals (North-South Dedicated Freight
route kilometers under Broad Gauge (BG). 23,555 Corridor and East-West Dedicated Freight Corridor),
route kilometers have been electrified. It carried adding up to a total route length of 10,122 km car-
8,107 million passengers and 1,108 million tonnes of ries more than 55% of revenue earning freight traffic
freight in the year 2015-16. It has 11,122 locomotives. of Indian Railways6 .
The existing trunk routes are highly saturated, line Introduction of Dedicated Freight Corridors may
capacity utilization varying between 115% to 150%. divert freight traffic to some extent but still main-
Average speed of passenger trains is 35 kmph and line remains mixed traffic. One more requirement
that of freight trains is 25 kmph on mainline. Aver- of higher speeds is to make train running safe. It
age speed of trains in suburban sections is 50 kmph. is known fact that how much amount of interlock-
The average speeds are low because IR carries mixed ing among signalling functions is built, if the driver
traffic4 . passes the signal on danger aspect, the safety of the
In order to improve average speeds of train, trains train jeopardises. Also, the number of lineside sig-
have to run at higher speeds. One of the issues with nals have been proliferated especially on high density
high speeds is sighting of lineside signals. It will be trunk routes on account of introduction of second dis-
difficult to sight the lineside signals if speed exceeds tant signalling, interlocking of level crossings gates
160 kmph. For high speeds, cab signalling ( display- and intermediate block signalling.
ing aspect of lineside signal in the driver cab) is re- Auxiliary Warning System (AWS) prevents SPADs
quired. Some railways tried to achieve this with ad- with help of trackside magnets passing aspect in-
ditional aspects with lineside signals, but however, it formation of lineside signal from track side signals
works out with highly trained loco drivers that too to locomotive. Train Protection Warning System
upto 200 kmph. Next requirement to improve higher (TPWS) with LSE and OBE provides both in cab
speeds is to reduce or eliminate freight traffic from signalling and protection against SPADs. TPWS pro-
mainline. tects trains not only from SPADs, but also from over-
High-speed rail moves virtually no freight and car- speeding, rollways, reversing, standstill etc.
ries the average resident of Japan less than 640 kilo- Introduction of Dedicated Freight Corridors may
divert freight traffic to some extent but still main-
2 UIC org - Future Railway Mobile Communication System
3 RCR Wireless News: Meet LTE-R, the network responsi- 5 Railelectrica
article: Viability of High Speed System
ble for next-generation smart trains 6 Dedicated Freight Corridors: Paradigm Shift Coming in
4 Indian Railways Yearbook 2015-16 Indian Railways Freight Operations -Shri Deepak Razdan

6 Gyandeep 2017
 ERTMS/ETCS - Indian Railways Perspective

line remains mixed traffic. One more requirement 6 CBTC for Mainline
of higher speeds is to make train running safe. It
is known fact that how much amount of interlock-
ing among signalling functions is built, if the driver
passes the signal on danger aspect, the safety of the
train jeopardises. Also, the number of lineside sig-
nals have been proliferated especially on high density
trunk routes on account of introduction of second dis-
tant signalling, interlocking of level crossings gates
and intermediate block signalling.
Auxiliary Warning System (AWS) prevents SPADs
with help of trackside magnets passing aspect in-
formation of lineside signal from track side signals
to locomotive. Train Protection Warning System
(TPWS) with LSE and OBE provides both in cab
signalling and protection against SPADs. TPWS pro-
tects trains not only from SPADs, but also from over- Figure 7: ATS Pyramid
speeding, rollways, reversing, standstill etc.
Interoperability is the strongest point of ETCS.
It is not available for CBTC systems. Indian Rail-
5 Indian Train Control System ways does not have interoperability issues unlike Eu-
ropean Railways.. Flexibility of ETCS allows for a
Chinese Railways has realised that they are a decade
smoother migration from conventional systems with-
behind European Railways in development of rail-
out disrupting the operational services than that of
ways. They sent a dedicated team to Europe to study
CBTC. Automatic Train Operation (ATO) is avail-
various rail technologies and specifications. The team
able in CBTC systems. It is still in development for
have developed Train Control System specifications
ETCS. Moving block principle is available in CBTC
based on ETCS called Chinese Train Control System
systems which allows for shorter headways and, con-
(CTCS) to suit their native existing signalling infras-
sequently, increasing the capacity. It is still in devel-
tructure. CTCS has six Application Levels - 0, 1, 2,
opment for ETCS (Application Level 3).
3, 3D, 4 and 5.

• Level 0 - Track Circuits, Lineside Signals (Pri-

mary)/Cab Signalling (Secondary), for sections 7 Convergence Issue
with train speeds ¡120 kmph
Each network has specific operational requirements,
• Level 1 - Block Track Circuits, Cab Signalling different infrastructures and may use different com-
(Primary), Balises, ATP for sections with train munication technologies. The system being devel-
speeds between 120-160 kmph oped must be flexible enough to support these dif-
ferences without compromising the features already
• Level 2 - Digital Track Circuits, Balises, ATP
achieved by each of the individual systems (ETCS &
( TVM-300) for sections with train speeds ¿ 160
CBTC)
kmph

• Level 3D - Block Track Circuits, Balises, ATP

[ ETCS Level-1]

• Level 3 - Balises, GSM-R, ATP, using CTCS-

Level 2 as the backup [ ETCS Level-2]

• Level 4 - Balises, GSM-R, ATP [Moving block]

Levels 2, 3, and 4 are compatible with lower lev-

els. Indian Railways has no specifications for Train
Control Systems of their own. It has a choice either
to adopt ETCS or to develop Specifications of their
own with Indian Industry. Figure 8: CBTC & ERTMS Components

Gyandeep 2017 7
ERTMS/ETCS - Indian Railways Perspective

In the future everything will converge towards the P Venkata Ramana, Senior
standardization of the operational requirements for Professor Signal at IRISET,
train control systems. However, this goal will be dif-
has graduated from NITW in
ficult to achieve due to the big number of stakeholders
ECE. He served as Computer
involved. Some attempts at requirements standard- Systems Engineer in EIL,
ization are already being pursued, like the EURO In- New Delhi before joining In-
terlocking initiative from the International Union ofdian Railways as IRSSE 1985
Railways (UIC). Ensuring the train integrity is one of
batch Officer. He is having
the challenges facing effective usage of ERTMS Level 30 years experience in Sig-
3. This is mandatory for the system being able to nalling. He executed several
support moving block operations, while being able to projects in SCR and ECoR
reach the headways already available in CBTC sys- involving EI systems includ-
tems. ing CTC over Networked EIs. He served Atkins Rail
as Designer for UK Railways. He published papers-
EI, CTC, Heavy Haul, Lightning Protection etc.,
8 Conclusion He conducted several Seminars and Symposiums for
Commissioners of Railway Safety and S&T Officers.
Need of the hour for Indian Railways is to have a
He is Certified Internal Auditor, Workplace Asses-
firm road map for achieving goals of safe and higher
sor & Java Programmer. He is recipient of Princi-
speeds. Indian Railways has to decide whether to
pals Medal of NAIR, GM Award for Development of
go for its own Train Control System specifications
MIS for Top Management; CSTE and GM Awards for
suiting native conditions and existing signalling or
Best maintained Division. This paper is presented in
to adopt globally acceptable ETCS or to adopt well-
Symposium on Advanced Train Control and Safety
proven CBTC for mainline.
Systems for Indian Railways (ATCSSIR) at Indian
Institute of Technology, Kharagpur on May 26-27,
The information / views expressed in this paper
2017.
is of the authors and are based on their experience.
Comments / observations may be sent to the author
at pvr.iriset@gmail.com.

8 Gyandeep 2017