Public Land Mobile Networks supporting Regional Train Management

Telecommunications are strategic assets for the design and operation of train control systems based on automatic train protection to prevent errors due to the human factor. The ERTMS/ETCS train control system developed in Europe is considered a world-wide de facto standard. It utilizes a dedicated telecommunication network based on the GSM-R system. This approach is not economically sustainable for low traffic lines due to the cost of building and monitoring the telecommunication infrastructure. This paper presents a novel approach based on a multi-bearer architecture by using existing public telecommunication networks such as cellular and satellite systems. Network availability can be improved by selecting an alternate network in order to guarantee the quality of the service required for the railways application. A procedure to evaluate the performance of a train control system using public networks is also presented. This paper also provides a contribution to the standardization process within the ERTMS/ETCS platform.