The ERTMS implementation will remain a key priority in the EU’s transport policy. Up to EUR 100 Million are made available by the EU during 2011-2013 for financing the ERTMS projects. According to the draft budget for 2014-2020, TEN-T funds will amount to EUR 6.7 Billion.
The European Railway Transport Management System (ERTMS), created as a single command and control system, was designed to gradually replace the existing incompatible national systems all over Europe, its implementation bringing significant benefits to interoperability.
Until 2008, the European policy has focused on the technical aspects of the ERTMS while in 2009, it came to the common implementation methodology. Currently, two aspects are important when implementing the system: efficient implementation management and cost efficiency.
According to the ERTMS European Development Plan, the system should be installed on European corridors by 2015 and the largest part of the European railway network should be completely equipped by 2020. In fact, around 10,000 km of railways should be equipped with the ERTMS by 2015, and over 25,000 km by 2020.
The Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2008 by the European Commission and the representatives of the railway industry, aimed at accelerating the ERTMS implementation, stipulates the utilization of the 2.3.0d baseline as technical standard, by late 2012 and then the shift to line 3, compatible with the previous baseline.
For speeding up the ERTMS implementation on European corridors, on June 28, the TEN-T Executive Agency launched a new call for draft projects, making available up to EUR 100 Million for project co-financing. The Agency will continue to back the acquisition of equipments and the modernisation of lines and trains, as well as other activities consolidating the interoperability between on-board equipments and track equipments of different suppliers. The call promotes an approach oriented towards testing the ERTMS by including testing activities in financing priority areas. Testing the compatibility of ETCS line 3 with its previous baseline 2.3.0d plays a special role in financing the projects for the implementation of the ETCS line 3. The deadline for submitting proposals to the TEN-T EA is 23 September 2011; activities will end before 31 December 2014.
After this financing period, the support granted to the ERTMS implementation will be established after the adoption of the EU budget. “As regards the future ERTMS financing opportunities included in the draft budget for 2014-2020, this depends on the outcome of the global negotiations with regard to the EU budget, currently under discussion. However, some officials from the European Commission have clearly indicated that the ERTMS will remain one of EU’s key priorities in the transport policy and, consequently, we are expecting a significant financing to be made available”, declared Emmanuel Brutin, Senior Public Affairs Manager, UNIFE.
Under the Multiannual Financial Framework 2014-2020, the European Commission proposes the allocation of EUR 21.6 Billion for financing the major transport networks. Moreover, EUR 10 billion will be allocated from the cohesion fun for the transport sector, which means a significant improvement compared to the current financial framework where the TEN-T budget is estimated at EUR 6.7 Billion.
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