Siemens on track with pan-European plan

Siemens’ train protection systems called ETCS-Technology

The strategically important railway line from Budapest-Kelenföld to Székesfehérvar is to be equipped with Siemens’ train protection systems called ETCS-Technology, according to a Siemens release.

Nemezeti Infrastruktúra Fejlesztő Zrt. (NIF), the Hungarian state-run company for infrastructure development, has awarded Siemens an order worth 53 million euros to supply two electronic Simis interlockings, an Iltis remote control system and 15 Simis LC level crossings.

The Trainguard 200 RBC European Train Control System (ETCS) will subsequently monitor and control rail traffic. The components will be manufactured in the Siemens plants in Budapest (Hungary), Wallisellen (Switzerland) and Braunschweig (Germany). The systems are scheduled for commissioning in 2013.

Siemens said trackside facilities in Hungary were in need of extensive modernisation to transform the regionally well-integrated rail network into a modern, efficient international transport route.

The EU would provide Hungary with 1.8 billion euros by 2013 to finance the project, which included the order awarded to the Siemens Mobility Division to supply a complete train protection system – equipped for ETCS level 2 operation – for the line between Budapest-Kelenföld and Székesfehérvár.

The ETCS uses standardized interfaces between the trains and the railway lines to facilitate interoperability across international frontiers. The 65-kilometre Budapest-Kelenföld to Székesfehérvár section is part of the Pan-European traffic corridor V, which runs from Italy through Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary to Ukraine.

Rail traffic accounts for almost 20 per cent of the total volume of freight in Hungary. Major companies with high transport volume use the railway because of its good connections to Europe's most important freight ports. Modernising this route will reduce transport times to the Mediterranean ports of Koper (Slovenia) and Trieste (Italy).

The Mobility Division has already made major contributions to the modernisation of the fifth pan-European rail corridor, with the electrification of the Bajánsenye-Boba line, and also provided telecommunication system for the railway line. Until now, Siemens Mobility has supplied a Simis interlocking to the Hungarian cities of Cegléd, Szajol, Tata und Tiszatenyő/Kétpó.