European Parliament resolution on the deployment of the European rail signalling system ERTMS/ETCS (2005/2168(INI))
Date: 2006-06-15
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: financing, harmonisation of standards, rail transport, technical regulations, technology, traffic signs, trans-European network, transport infrastructure, transport safety

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Requests the EU delegation to defend this resolution's principles and recommendations during the

14.
UN Programme of Action Review Conference;

15.
Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments
and parliaments of the Member States, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, the Parliamentary
Forum on Small Arms and Light Weapons and the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.

P6_TA(2006)0275

Deployment of the European rail signalling system

European Parliament resolution on the deployment of the European rail signalling system ERTMS/
ETCS (2005/2168(INI))

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Commission communication to the European Parliament and the Council on the
deployment of the European rail signalling system ERTMS/ETCS (COM(2005)0298) and the accom-
panying Commission staff working paper (SEC(2005)0903),

— having regard to the agreement, known as the ‘Memorandum of Understanding’, signed in Brussels on
17 March 2005 by the Commission and European railway industry associations (CER, UIC, UNIFE,
EIM), which lays down the main principles governing the deployment of ERTMS,

— having regard to Council Directive 96/48/EC of 23 July 1996 on the interoperability of the trans-Euro-
pean high-speed rail system (1) and Directive 2001/16/EC of the European Parliament and of the Coun-
cil of 19 March 2001 on the interoperability of the conventional rail system (2),

— having regard to Decision No 884/2004/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April
2004 amending Decision No 1692/96/EC on Community guidelines for the development of the trans-
European transport network (3),

— having regard to the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council determin-
ing the general rules for the granting of Community financial aid in the field of the trans-European
transport networks and energy and amending Council Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 (COM(2004)0475),

— having regard to the hearing held by the Committee on Transport and Tourism on 24 January 2006, at
which representatives of railway companies, infrastructure managers, and the railway industry came out
unanimously in favour of the deployment of ERTMS,

— having regard to the current programme and the future seventh framework programme of the Euro-

pean Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities,

— having regard to the agreement of 27 January 2004 between the European Rail Community (ERC) and
the European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) on the European train driver's licence for drivers
assigned to interoperable cross-border services,

— having regard to Rule 45 of its Rules of Procedure,

— having regard to the report of the Committee on Transport and Tourism (A6-0183/2006),

A. whereas the present situation, in which there are more than 20 different national train protection and
signalling systems, hampers the development of a fully interoperable European rail system capable of
competing with other modes of transport,

(1) OJ L 235, 17.9.1996, p. 6.
(2) OJ L 110, 20.4.2001, p. 1.
(3) OJ L 167, 30.4.2004, p. 1.

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B. whereas ERTMS has been successfully tested on various pilot routes and a consolidated prototype
version is now available; whereas, however, the long service life of trackside and on-board safety devices
— generally over 20 years — might mean that ERTMS and national systems will coexist side by side for
many years, particularly on the conventional rail network where there are passenger and goods trains
travelling at different speeds,

C. whereas national train protection and signalling systems will disappear as a result of technological
obsolescence or because the markets concerned are too small; whereas the future of the European
signalling industry will depend on its ability to produce modern standardised equipment for the world
market; whereas, in addition, the ERTMS project is vital for the medium- to long-term development of
the industry and its 15 000 highly skilled jobs,

D. whereas ERTMS is becoming an export-oriented project because railway companies outside Europe have
likewise already decided to replace their obsolete systems with ERTMS — current locomotive orders
from Korea, Taiwan, India, Saudi Arabia, and the People's Republic of China, as well as infrastructure
projects in those countries, are a clear measure of the market potential; whereas, moreover, these pro-
jects, spread as they are across the globe, demonstrate the huge potential of this European technology,
which could become the world standard, if it can be built upon a strong enough European market base,

E. whereas it is therefore particularly important, as regards the next step, to lay down a clear-cut coor-
dinated migration strategy so as to afford the rail industry the necessary certainty as to planning, while
ensuring that this strategy does not reduce the external competitiveness of the railways with other
modes of transport,

F. whereas the agreement between the railway industry and the Commission signed in March 2005, the

‘Memorandum of Understanding’, has sent a significant message from that point of view,

G. whereas the consolidated version of the ERTMS technical specifications, which the Commission is due
to adopt in the next few months, provides a sufficient basis on which to set up interoperable systems
and organise invitations to tender regarding the corridors,

H. whereas the deployment of ERTMS is a major cross-border European economic project and whereas
progress as regards a standard train protection and signalling system could play a central role in the
strategy of easing the strain on the roads and shifting transport flows to the railways and as part
of a European policy for harmonising the conditions of competition between the different modes of
transport,

Fundamental considerations: migration and strategy

1.
Recognises that, as a train protection and signalling system, ERTMS is superior to the national systems
to the extent that it should be cheaper as far as new acquisitions and maintenance are concerned — for
instance because signal posts will no longer be necessary — safer at all speeds and under all circumstances
in terms of troubleshooting and monitoring, and very often will enable line capacity to be increased sub-
stantially;

2.
Notes that, through ERTMS, digital technology will be applied uniformly to European rail infrastruc-
ture as well, thus enabling congestion at junctions and bottlenecks to be eliminated, without need for costly
new building; notes, however, that during the migration stage considerable additional costs will be incurred,
which will be economically impossible for building firms to meet on their own; considers that continuous
traction without time-consuming changes of locomotive and driver when crossing a border cuts costs and
journey times and increases the reliability of the service;

3.
Recognises that ERTMS technology will give the railway industry a historic opportunity to exploit
digital technology to the full for the benefit of the railways, gain in competitiveness, and make up ground
on the other modes of transport, especially since trains will be able to ‘steal a march’ by transporting goods
in cross-border carriage over long stretches at a time;

4.
Recognises that ERTMS has been developed with the aid of the previous research framework pro-
grammes, and at present exists in a consolidated prototype form that can thus be deployed widely as of
now; also notes that the deployment of GSM-R is proceeding apace and good progress is being made as
regards ETCS; stresses, however, that this has not yet sufficed to create an automatic cause and effect rela-

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tionship whereby, irrespective of the financial and safety aspects and the matter of boosting capacity, ERTMS
will be established on the entire trans-European rail network without further intervention and the 20 dif-
ferent train protection and signalling systems still existing today will in a few years' time be a thing of the
past and will have been superseded by a single system — ERTMS — in all the EU Member States;

Points out that, trackside, ETCS requires only the ‘Eurobalise’ radio beacons for data transmission and
5.
the radio block centre and that, as far as on-board devices are concerned, an ETCS on-board unit processes
the train protection data;

6.
Points out that functional specifications adopted by the Member States Interoperability Committee
make version 2.3.0 the reference, as does the European Railway Agency. This version makes it possible to
start operating high speed/high capacity international corridors in Europe as early as 2007 and is regarded
as the common reference in the framework of the studies conducted by the European coordinator; considers
that further efforts would make it possible to move in four or five years' time to a higher version; notes that
in the framework of its ‘Change Control Management’ process the European Railway Agency will have to
assess the technical and economic relevance of such further developments, while abiding by the principle of
continuity and upward and downward compatibility with version 2.3.0; believes that stabilisation and more
extensive standardisation will enable system components to be manufactured in larger numbers, achieving
economies of scale; considers that the price level, which today is up to eight times as high as the target
prices originally specified, could then be reduced and ERTMS could be placed on an economically rational
footing;

Realises that it would be unsatisfactory for old systems and ERTMS to coexist side by side for decades
7.
and that it will accordingly be vital to coordinate the migration and make the migration stage as short as
possible; considers, in view of the foregoing, that a sound migration strategy for the whole network, as
likewise called for in the agreement between the Commission and the European rail industry associations,
has a key role to play; calls on the Commission, therefore, in consultation with the ERA, the Member States,
and the industry, to submit a binding ‘ERTMS master plan’ without delay;

8.
Assumes that a successful migration to ERTMS will pose a considerable challenge to all concerned;
believes that Member States, transport ministries, rail transport operators, infrastructure managers, and the
rail industry will have to agree on the goals and that roles and responsibilities must be clearly defined;
welcomes the fact, therefore, that the Commission has appointed Karel Vinck to coordinate this major
project;

9. Maintains that a decisive breakthrough would be impossible to achieve if ERTMS were to take the
form of, say, a patchwork of fairly small pockets that could be reached or crossed only by using a multitude
of national systems; considers on the contrary that the key to success lies firstly in equipping selected
corridors with ERTMS throughout and secondly in attaining ‘critical mass’ as quickly as possible in terms
of equipped lines and trains so as to bring about further economies of scale;

10.
Assumes that, to guarantee the full implementation of ERTMS, the migration strategy will include a
timetable and detailed arrangements for the complete migration of all national networks, which will be the
next step after the installation of the system on the corridors;

11. Maintains that ERTMS, a standard train protection system, should reduce, or remove the need for, the
costly manufacture and operation of rolling stock with numerous obsolete systems added on; notes that the
transitional migration period will necessitate dual equipment, which will increase the financial burden for
the rail sector in the initial stage; considers that ERTMS will greatly simplify and speed up interoperability;
points out that only 13 % of freight in the Union is carried by rail, whereas the figure in the US stands at
about 27 %; believes, given that the EU at present constitutes such a technical and political hotchpotch, that
it is scarcely possible to raise the above percentage to any appreciable extent and that it would accordingly
be worthwhile to invest resolutely in ERTMS as a matter of priority;

Priorities

12.
Is consequently of the opinion that if ERTMS is to succeed, it will be essential for the six corridors
dealt with (A: Rotterdam-Genoa, B: Naples-Berlin-Stockholm, C: Antwerp-Basel/Lyon, D: Seville-Lyon-Turin-
Trieste-Ljubljana, E: Dresden-Prague-Brno-Vienna-Budapest, F: Duisburg-Berlin-Warsaw) and the trains run-
ning on them to be equipped quickly and completely with ERTMS, not least because this will encourage all
concerned to adopt a ‘Community approach’ instead of thinking in purely national terms; is of the opinion
that in this connection, the Letter of Intent signed on 3 March 2006 by the transport ministers of the
Rotterdam-Genoa corridor concerning the deployment of ERTMS sets a good example;

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13.
Is convinced that to attain the necessary critical mass, it is necessary to support the investments on
corridors where some routes have already been completed and infrastructure managers are committed to
complete the missing parts by 2015;

14.
Also takes the view that the most recent enlargement of the Union, in 2004, should cause east-west
links to be taken into account; considers it important to bear in mind that this will incur little additional
expenditure in those Member States which need extensive modernisation work on their network;

15.
Points out that disparities in national licensing procedures for railway vehicles pose a fundamental
problem for the European rail industry that becomes more acute when considered together with ERTMS;
calls on the Commission, assisted by the European Railway Agency, to press determinedly ahead with the
work on a standard simplified EU-wide licensing procedure and define and permanently establish binding
standards for all, so as to enable manufacturing and fitting-out costs to be reduced substantially;

The ‘home straight’ problem

Is of the opinion that when a route is equipped with ERTMS, the system should be complete,
16.
extending from platform to platform or freight centre to freight centre as far as the national border or the
port served; also takes the view that no EU support should be granted if the above criterion is not fulfilled
and calls on the Commission to ensure strict compliance with this point;

17.
Calls for the integration of the limited supervision application mode to be analysed rapidly to verify
whether it will enable various national systems to be replaced by, or combined with, ETCS; notes in addition
that it will have to be verified whether limited supervision could offer an economical way to fill gaps,
especially at junctions;

18.
Is of the opinion that the European Railway Agency, in agreement with the national transport minis-
tries, must ensure that no new locomotives will be licensed in the future unless they are fitted or prefitted
with ERTMS as well as the national train protection and signalling system;

19.
Points out that national variants of ETCS are currently being used on high speed/high capacity routes
(for example Rome to Naples, Madrid to Lleida, or Berne to Olten); notes, however, that use of the system in
the conventional rail sector (freight and passenger traffic) and especially in cross-border traffic still poses
problems; feels that it is still necessary to deepen and improve its application with the aim of overcoming
current application problems; maintains that solutions need to be found as a matter of urgency regarding
key functions such as level crossings with barriers, parameterised graphical braking representation, radio
infill as already provided for in the 2.3.0 standard and the limited supervision application mode;

Notes that the Paris-eastern France-south-west Germany high-speed rail

20.
like the Rotterdam-
Genoa north to south corridor, cannot yet be operated using ERTMS throughout and consequently calls
on all concerned to fill the gaps as quickly as possible;

link,

Believes that the railway companies, the rail

21.
industry, and the European Railway Agency must
together draw up the standard of the future and the EU must lay down migration on a common and
binding basis for all; considers that independent national initiatives to develop the system further must be
prevented so as to ensure that the 20 different existing systems will not be replaced by 20 incompatible
ERTMS-based systems; calls on the ERA to ensure that the future standard used in the European area is
overall at least equivalent to the safety level currently in force in the Member States;

22.
Is aware that the Member States or railway companies differ greatly in terms of their investment
requirements, their national train protection and signalling systems, and the ‘marketing stages’ which those
systems have reached; considers, however, that such differences are unavoidable in the EU and do not
constitute a reason for rejecting ERTMS;

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Financing

23.
Recognises, given that the project has a European dimension, that it is both legitimate and necessary
to grant EU funding for the deployment of ERTMS, whether from the TEN-Transport budget or from the
Cohesion Fund by the Member States which benefit from it;
is of the opinion that the costs must be
apportioned fairly among Member States, the EU, railway companies, and the rail industry; consequently
calls on the Member States to treat ERTMS as a priority in their transport and budget decisions in the
coming years;

24. Maintains, therefore, that the necessary provisions should be incorporated in the proposal for a
regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council determining the general rules for the granting
of Community financial aid in the field of the trans-European transport networks and amending Council
Regulation (EC) No 2236/95 (COM(2004)0475 — 2004/0154(COD)), which Parliament dealt with at first
reading (1) on 26 October 2005;

25.
In this connection supports the proposal approved by Parliament at first reading that investment in
ERTMS should be treated as infrastructure investment under the regulation; also takes the view that for
ERTMS at least in ‘cross-border’ areas the maximum aid rate should be set at 50 %;

26.
Is of the opinion, bearing in mind not only the technical considerations outlined above, but also the
limited budget funding available, that resources should be concentrated on the main corridors, in particular
those studied by the European Coordinator; considers that this support should include a reasonable incen-
tive for rolling stock equipment in the first years, as regards prototype development, serial fitting and retro-
fitting of rolling stock;

Suggests that the possibility of degressive aid be considered with a view to accelerating the migration
27.
process; believes that railway companies which opt early to deploy ERTMS should receive more aid than
latecomers, since the former would be taking a greater investment risk and could not immediately capitalise
to the full on the advantages of the new system;

28.
Calls on the Commission and the Member States to give greater thought to possible ways of suppor-
ting rolling stock leasing arrangements, since this might help to reduce the high initial costs and enable
smaller and medium-sized enterprises to enter the market more easily;

Is of the opinion that the EU should support ERTMS by using TEN-T, regional development and

29.
cohesion budget appropriations as well as appropriations from the research budget;

Is of the opinion that the EU should bind the financing of railway infrastructures by Community

30.
funds, such as TEN-T and cohesion budget funds, to the compulsory installation of ERTMS;

31.
Looks to the rail industry to take the social and professional interests of employees duly into account
when ERTMS is to be deployed and to devise appropriate skills and further training programmes; believes
that the deployment of ERTMS will help in the medium term to protect jobs on the one hand because of
the system's export potential and secondly because of the higher market shares that rail is expected to gain;

32.
Recognises, finally, that ERTMS can make an important contribution to the efficiency and attractive-
ness of European rail transport, particularly long-distance goods transport; stresses, however, that a number
of harmonisation initiatives could be taken in addition to ERTMS which would lead to more efficient inter-
national rail travel in the relatively short term; calls for the European ERTMS coordinator and the future
TEN Agency also to study the possibilities of harmonising, for example, train length, burden per axle, load
capacity, etc.; considers that these projects would have a relatively limited financial
impact but quite a
significant outcome in terms of efficiency;

*

*

*

33.

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council and Commission.

(1) Texts Adopted, 26 October 2005, P6_TA(2005)0403.