EU-wide railway signalling system still a “patchwork”
The deployment of an EU i-wide railway signalling system is at a low level so far and represents a patchwork, according to a new report from the European Court of Auditors i. This is despite the fact that the concept is not generally questioned by the rail sector, say the auditors. They found that many infrastructure managers and railway undertakings are reluctant to invest in the system due to the expense entailed and the lack of an individual business case.
The European Rail Traffic Management System is designed to replace the diverse railway signalling systems around Europe with a single system that enables trains to travel uninterrupted across different countries and facilitates rail competitiveness. To help the Member States deploy the system, approximately €1.2 billion was allocated from the EU budget between 2007 and 2013.
The auditors assessed whether the system had been properly planned, deployed and managed, and whether there was an individual business case. They visited six Member States (Denmark, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and Poland) included in the network corridors where the system has to be fully deployed by 2030.
They found that the current low status of deployment may mainly be explained by the reluctance of many infrastructure managers and railway undertakings to invest in the necessary equipment due to the expense entailed and the lack of an individual business case for many of them. EU funding, even if better managed and targeted, can only cover a limited amount of the overall cost of deployment.
“The current situation puts at risk not only the achievement of the deployment targets set for 2030 and investments made so far, but also the realisation of a single railway area as one of the European Commission’s major policy objectives,” said Mr Ladislav Balko, the Member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report. “In addition, it may adversely affect the competitiveness of rail transport as compared with road haulage.”
Press Release: EU-wide railway signalling system still a “patchwork”, say Auditors
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