Keynote address at the opening of COMPRAIL94 7th September The common research on transport. Egidio Leonard!

Transcription

1 Keynote address at the opening of COMPRAIL94 7th September 1994 The common research on transport Egidio Leonard! Head of the Division Research and Development in transport at the European Commission Through the realization and development of integrated transport research programmes, the Commission wants to sustain the progress of Community Transport Policy by the definition and application of new technological solutions, which are able to increase transport competitiveness, interoperability and safety within the Community and which, at the same time, are able to reduce the effects of transport on the environment. The Fourth Framework Programme, adopted by the Council on the 26th of April of this year, states that transport research should aim at the achievement of the objectives of the Common Transport Policy (CTP). These objectives are described in the Treaty of the European Union and developed in the Transport White Paper*.The contents of the White Paper took direct account of the parallel work within the Community, in particular the Green Paper in 1990 on the "Urban Environment" and the Green Paper in 1992 on "The Impact of Transport on the Environment". In the Treaty of the European Union, articles 129B and 129C indicate the guidelines for developing trans-european networks within transport infrastructure, telecommunication and energy supply. The Union activities will enhance: the inter-connectivity and inter-operability between the national networks, and the access to these, and the connections between the islands, isolated and peripheral areas on the one hand and the central areas on the other hand. Furthermore, article 130r of the Treaty invites the Community to integrate environmental protection requirements into other Community policies including transport. In the White Paper the objectives and scope of the Common Transport Policy is described, in relation to the principle of sustainable mobility as follows: "... these objectives require the development of policies to ensure that the transport ' "The future development of the Common Transport Policy. A global approach to the construction of a Community framework for sustainable mobility". Xlll

2 sector can take full advantage of the Treaty's provision of the single market and that the different geographical components of the Community benefit from transport systems that will provide services efficiently, safely, under the best possible social conditions and fully respecting the objectives of the Community's environment policy." The White Paper set out an action programme which has five main components or general objectives of the CTP: 1) Development and integration of Community transport systems; 2) Safety in transport; 3) Environmental protection; 4) Social protection; 5) External relations. The development and integration of Community transport systems is closely linked to transport efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The main criteria are the ability of the trans- European transport networks to meet the mobility requirements of both citizens and enterprises, and that access to these facilities should be at reasonable costs consistent with their long term maintenance and development. Safety in transport is to be seen both from the point of view of the users and others who are placed at risk. Environmental protection indicates that transport systems must contribute to the solution of major environmental threats such as the greenhouse effect and to the achievement of sustainable development. Social protection or social cohesion is to be promoted by the conditions under which the transport systems are provided, in order to pursue social efficiency and equity. The objectives of transport efficiency and social cohesion has a spatial/geographical dimension as well, in terms of meeting regional development goals and considering spatial distribution of socio-economic activities, in particular in relation to the development of the trans-european transport networks. As a general principle, the White Paper states that all transport users should pay the full costs, internal and external, of the transport services they make use of. This means that internalisation of external costs should be a major element of the CTP. In particular, the Research and Development activity is described in the White Paper as consisting of the following three principal activities: Establishment of a coherent transport related R & D approach in the Fourth Framework Programme. Continuation of actions concerning traffic management, logistics and demand for all modes of transport, and transport issues related to the environment. Establishment of practical partnership with other European R & D organisations in the field of transport. xiv

3 The research and development issue is presented as follows: "Community research and development actions concerning transport should provide new tools for realising sustainable mobility: efficient, safe transport under the best possible environmental and social conditions." The first integrated transport research programme (EURET) was approvedby Council Decision of 21 December The call for proposal was launched in January 1991 and the projects provided under EURET will come to an end in The EURET programme had limited financial resources and this led to the exclusion of road and urban transport from the research programme. Resources were therefore concentrated on four transport modes: railways, air transport, maritime transport and combined transport, wherein the only themes dealt with were traffic management and safety problems. In the air transport field, research concentrated on Air Traffic Management, and particularly on the feasibility of an integrated traffic management system for all the flying phases. Research was undertaken with the collaboration of EUROCONTROL and it is part of a much wider programme, named PHARE, realized by EUROCONTROL in the air traffic management field. Within the maritime transport field, research was also concentrated on traffic management. On the one hand, the TAIE programme dealt with the development of a regional service of maritime traffic on a european scale while the RTIS programme, on the other hand, dealt with the optimization of the capacity and efficiency of the actual VTS. EURET also looked at combined transport, with the SIMET programme, whose objective was to evaluate and define a transfer system common to the various transport modes in order to achieve a common standard and european specifications for any kind of mode, whether maritime, railway or road. Last but not least, in the railways field, research, exploited by the ERTMS programme, was addressed towards the definition of a common system for the traffic control, this being a necessary condition for the interoperability of the railways networks and for the development of high speed on european scale. The research in the railways field was exploited under the EURET 1.2 sub-theme. This subtheme was implemented by a consortium, coordinated by Siemens (Germany), whose members are Ansaldo Transport! (Italy); Compagnie des Signaux et d'equipements Electroniques-Transport (France); GEC Alsthom (France); EB Signal (Denmark); Standard Elektrik Lorenz (Germany) and Westinghouse Brake and Signal (United Kingdom). This contract has a total cost of 9,04 MECU, the total contribution of the European Union was 3,6 MECU, the project's duration is 30 months and its starting date was February 1, In the railways field, research is based on Decisions of the Council dealing with the creation of a High Speed Rail Network, and its interoperability. xv

4 As early as December 1990 the Commission presented the Council of Transport Ministers with a "network outline" for the development of the European high-speed rail network, designed to improve coordination between the various national systems. In October 1993 the Council, on the basis of a proposal from the Commission, adopted three further plans on the trans-european road network, the European inland waterways network and the combined transport network. Each of these plans, however, was geared towards a specific mode of transport and set out the lines of development for that particular sector more or less in isolation. The Commission's proposal of 29 March 1994 entitled "The development of guidelines for the trans-european transport network" is designed to put in place the missing plans (railways, sea transport and air transport) and to give an across-the-board presentation of the various modes of transport. As regards the justification and contents of this project, it should be noted that Europe's rail networks are united in their interest of combining to seek a new rail-traffic management system, involving, in particular, long-distance traffic and train control which will reinforce overall rail-traffic safety. Furthermore, the appearance of a high speed train network brings profound changes to the control of rail traffic. The loss of time represented by a change of equipment at the border becomes unacceptable. Moreover, the move towards integrated trains makes it impossible to change only the engine. Double, or even multiple equipment of the rolling stock raises congestion and cost problems. In the short run, the existing signalling systems must be adapted to enable the interpenetration of signalling information of lines beyond the national borders. In the medium term, a compatible signalling system must be implemented. The need arises both from the necessity to find a common solution for fitting out high-speed trains operating on international routes and from the desire to take advantage of advances in transmission and data-processing methods. This involves an integrated and concerted approach for the study and the development of a new generation of equipment. The underlying idea in this approach is, that it is technically possible and economically reasonable to establish a real time data base giving a complete, precise, reliable and up-to-date picture of the state of the network and the position of the trains running on it. The planned system is likely to gradually take in the whole network, bringing a safety level comparable to that found on today's best-equipped lines. It is also a potential source of improvements in the quality of the service, performance and profitability. The research and development of an automated traffic-control system is a large-scale project, which relies on a strong interaction between the infrastructure and the travelling equipment, and requires a unified approach to the networks. A definition of common standards will increasingly have a beneficial effect on the development of European competition for meeting the needs of the networks and, probably, for industrial regroupings. In any event, the evaluations of costs will be very important in the planning of the efforts for the establishment of the system. The previously described technological change is also the object of a major development effort in North America XVI

5 (Advance Train Control System). To act together, and to act quickly, appears to be essential to ensure a competitive position for European industry in the world market. The study of a control system of rail traffic constitutes a homogeneous project, in which the required results depends on the execution of the project as a whole. For budgetary reasons, only a first phase comprising the overall design of the system, the evaluation of the positioning and communication tools as well as the development of the principal software components necessary for the use of the system, could be carried out under EURET. The remaining phases of the project, i.e. the development of the components, the establishment of the system and its experimenting were started in parallel, with the support of the investment found and developped in three complementary projects named EUROCAB, EUROBALISE and EURORADIO. The current EUROCAB work is entirely dealing with the known needs of current ATC/ATP systems and with "blanket" type solutions to common problems. This work will, when continued within the 4th Framework Programme, result in Functional Form Fit Specifications for all components of the "basic Eurocab". The work at present, aims to consolidate the studies on architecture and to specify modules. To achieve these objectives, it is envisaged to carry out work of test and validation tool specification and, more particularly, to work out a demonstrator for the end of the current year. The EUROBALISE project basically includes the requirements definition, the study and the presentation of the possible track-train transmission technologies, the choice of technological solutions, the design specification, the preliminary design of prototypes, the standards definition and the quality and safety assurance. EUROBALISE activities are specifically based on extensive pre-testing in order to determine the best technology for the transmission. The preliminary studies about transmission technologies allowed the presentation of six technological options (three for spot and three for semi-continuous transmission), the analysis of their characteristics and possible improvements and the definition of selection criteria. A radio controlled ATC/ATP (Automatic Train Control/Automatic Train Protection) system will be part of the future European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). The use of a standardised (non-safe) radio communication system is proposed by the European Railways (UIC) for the communication link. This implicates the necessity of new safety principles, which ensure the safety of the ATC/ATP communication via the non-safe radio link. This non-safe radio link actually comprises the corresponding radio parts (mobile on trains and fixed on ground) as well as the switching system of the radio network and the railway owned ground network. XVII

6 The EURORADIO project, which is part of the overall ERTMS programme, deals therefore with the study and specification of structures, with the procedures and equipment that will be necessary to guarantee the safety of the continuous and semi-continuous communication. For train control data between trains and the equipment, the communication will be achieved via a radio system selected by the specification of standardised interfaces to the safe equipment of the train and the ground. The results of all these projects will be available by the end of It must be stressed that, in the meantime, thanks to the current progress in the research field, on the political side the situation is evolving in order to assure the application of such results, for example, on the lines Vienna/Budapest and Berlin/Varsaw, which should constitute the first branches of an axis with the Eastern European Countries. During its meeting held in Corfu last June, the European Council acknowledged the priority status for the European Community of the list of transport projects so far identified by the Christopherson Group. This list contains seven projects related to railways: the High Speed Train/Combined Transport North South (Brenner axis Verona-Munchen- Nurnberg-Erfurt-Halle/Leipzig-Berlin); the High Speed Train Paris-Brussels-Koln-Amsterdam-London; the High Speed Train South (Madrid-Barcelona-Perpignan Madrid-Vitoria-Dax); and the High Speed Train East (Paris-Metz-Strasbourg-Appenweier-Karlsruhe with junctions to Metz-Saarbrucken-Mannheim and Metz-Luxembourg); the Betuwe line: Combined Transport/Conventional Rail (Rotterdam-NL/D border - Rhein/Ruhr); the High Speed Train/Combined Transport France-Italy (Lyon-Turin) and the Fixed Rail/Road link between Denmark and Sweden (0resund fixed link, subject to approval by the Swedish government). These above mentioned projects might get financial contributions from various sources of the Community. In the course of their furhter examination, the Cristophersen Group will also consider to what extent the results of the common research, which have been achieved so far xvin

7 on the train control systems, might be taken into consideration during the planning and construction of these projects. In 1995 the Fourth Framework Programme will start. This new programme will have a four years duration. It assigns to the specific research in the field of transport an amount of 240 MECU, covers the whole of transport modes (road, railway, air, maritime, combined and urban) and devotes an important part to strategic research. The transport specific programme will be furthermore accompanied by three other sections devoted, respectively, to telematics, technologies for transport means and non-nuclear energy, whose results are supposed to provide specific technical instruments for the development of the Common Transport Policy. The whole of the specific programmes inside the fourth framework programme will have to be examined by the Parliament and then adopted by the Council within 1994 It is currently foreseen that the call for tenders will be launched in December The general objective of research under this specific programme is to arrive at prenormative or prelegislative conclusions making it possible to incorporate into the transport sphere the development of new generic technologies and to further the development of the European Union by establishing an efficient transport system. The aim of the research in question is therefore to provide real demonstration and validation of the results of the research carried out, for the railways field, within the EURET, EUROCAB, EUROBALISE and EURORADIO projects. xix