Project highlights
A new record, a major step: ERTMS Level 2 at 300 km per hour

The demonstration of an ETR 500 train operating at 300 km per hour under ERTMS level 2 was carried out on an 80-km stretch of track on an RFI Rome-Naples line. The presentation included: - a train start-up in a Level 2 zone, - the movement authority's assignment and extension, - a handover at full speed between two Radio Block Centres (RBC), trackside equipment that manages train movement within a geographical zone, - the use of temporary speed restrictions. The train run took place in the presence of FS (Italian Railways) former President Giancarlo Cimoli and representatives from RFI (Mauro Moretti), Trenitalia (Roberto Renon), TAV (Antonion Savini Nicci) and Italferr (Riccaredo Bonasso).

ERTMS working group witnesses ERTMS progress The demonstration was actually a continuation of ERTMS working group meetings led by Jean Arnold Vinois, the Head of Unit Rail Transport and Interoperability, European Commission - Directorate General for Energy and Transport. This ERTMS working group is studying the migration strategies of all European Countries to ERTMS. Although the more countries there are, the more migration paths there are, the Rome meeting provided a further opportunity for RFI to demonstrate its continuing commitment to ERTMS, and to emphasize the excellent progress made by its suppliers.

Our participation: track and train equipment On the Rome-Naples High Speed Line project, ALSTOM is providing the Radio Block Centres, while Ansaldo is providing the balises and interlocking. In a separate contract, ALSTOM will also provide TrenItalia with the ERTMS/SCMT train equipment for 27 ETR500 trains to operate on this line at a commercial speed of 300 km/h. The line section between Turin and Novara will be ready by 2006, in time for the winter Olympics. The full line is expected to be in operation in 2010, and will include Turin, Milan, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples. This highly successful demonstration of ERTMS Level 2 follows a similar event held on March 25, during which a train operated at 235 km/h on the same stretch of track.