Belgian railway manager will replace track sensors to improve punctuality – IT Pro – News

This technology also exists and is included in ETCS, or European Train Control System, a safety system that is gradually being rolled out across the European Union and is also being adopted in other parts of the world.

ETCS has different levels, and at level 3 you no longer need sensors in the track, but the train itself will transmit its own position via radio signals, creating dynamic blocks and the trains can, in theory, move closer to each other and thus increase their amplitude. On the track.

However, this is rarely implemented because on the one hand it requires a huge investment in new technology, both from the infrastructure manager and from several carriers, but on the other hand, you also get a lot of procedures that will become much more complicated.

One advantage it has with the sensors Infrabel is now replacing is that each train vehicle can report an occupied track. Imagine that in the middle of the night, a separate freight car starts moving on its own and moves onto the main track. With ETCS Level 3, you have never seen this before, with this detection, something is suddenly detected on the track and the track is automatically secured. The same applies to work vehicles, for example, that do not have ETCS systems. For example, why would you put that on a utility vehicle that can drive on the track but is simply on the road for long distances?

This is just one of many devices located in and around the track. Yes, eliminating that means a saving, but it's not very significant when you look at all the other costs. And then we haven't even mentioned the carriers that will have to upgrade the equipment on their towing equipment to be compatible with it. They won't be happy if they suddenly have to spend tens or hundreds of millions again to implement this. That's why you see this mainly on sites where everything is being built new: new railway line, new traction materials, and preferably everything as one big project.