Defining an Adaptable Communications System for All Railways

Within Innovation Program 2 (IP2) of the European Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking, a Technology Demonstrator (TD) “adaptable communications for all railways” activity was created to bring together key stakeholders, to investigate the future communication needs, define and specify key functions and finally develop prototypes to prove the feasibility and capabilities of an adaptable communication subsystem for railways."br" A key aspect of the future adaptable communication system will be the support of multiple access technologies, including but not limited to LTE, 5G, Wi-Fi or SatCom, combined with bearer independence to address availability, resiliency, performance, capacity, security, safety and maintainability requirements of existing and new railway applications."br" The first project within IP2 is named X2Rail-1 and it has already started to"br" • collect, assess and qualify user and system requirements from users and stakeholders, including railway operators, infrastructure managers, regulatory groups and related associations;"br" • undertake business model analysis with the aim to explore new operating and deployment models ranging from dedicated and hybrid networks to “network-as-a-service” approaches;"br" • specify the architecture, subsystems and functions needed to enable an adaptable communication system and"br" • assess key criteria and create guidelines for the selection of appropriate communication technologies or radio network candidates."br" The paper will outline the key findings and will provide an outlook of the prototype developments planned in upcoming X2Rail projects. It will also explain the expected improvements and benefits of the future adaptable communication systems for the different railway domains to support the goals of the Shift2Rail Joint Undertaking. Document type: Part of book or chapter of boo

The Economic Value regarding the Protection Activities of Critical Infrastructures

In the past two years, a number of European countries, members of EU, Australia and Canada have initiated substantive actions in PIC area, establishing bodies responsible, defining procedures and methodologies, allocating significant resources to protect critical infrastructure considered essential or vital. The security concept, and implicit, the economical and energetic ones have different use and defining in relation to the history and organizational culture of every nation. A decisive contribution in the process of defining those concepts is identifying the set of values and national interests, elements that usually are the result of the public opinion perception. The increased share of non-military risks and threats has determined the national security management reconsideration, becoming more obvious the necessity of “public-private partnership” approach. A new concept is becoming more and more present and gains maximum generality significations. This kind of process reconfigures the position and the role of social state actors: the political class, the business and scientific environment, civil society and citizens

Leading in Service Innovation: Three perspectives on service value delivery in a European context

This paper explores the relationships between the shaping of “service value propositions” according to three dimensions: “intangible mix”, “physical support”, and “time”, and the strengthening of Innovative Capability in service organizations. After the first introductory section, we describe a series of related innovative moves experienced in the European context by leading companies. We analyze how JCDecaux addresses service recipients simultaneously as citizens and consumers, focusing especially on the Cyclocity project. With CS2 Lawyers in the UK, we envision how automation and technology adoption in professional services may lead to significant productivity improvement for the good of society. Finally, we study how SNCF in France has succeeded in implementing a permanently strengthening value proposition in public service through the recent launching of the IDTGV initiative. In these situations, the service companies have clearly addressed their market considering three different forms of interrelated, yet distinct, targets: “ultimate beneficiaries”, “paying bodies”, and entities or individuals who somehow “prescribe” the consumption of services. In these three situations, we investigate the robustness of the “value propositions” thus implemented, and analyze the particular role played by technology in the success of the new ventures.Service and innovation; value proposition; technology implementation

Use of the Internet for Remote Train Monitoring

Railways and mass transit transportation systems are experiencing a new growth that will have an important social impact in the global transport domain. Therefore new important steps are required to advance the urgent needs, such as interoperability at train and vehicle levels, support for commissioning and maintenance, communication with ground infrastructure and introduction of new services. The ROSIN project aims at the validation of a complete and open platform, which will be the basis for a new generation of vehicles, consisting of an on-board network that interconnects all various on-board systems and subsystems. Taking advantage of a 10 year effort to specify a standard Train Communication Network (TCN), carried out within the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) by Technical Committee 9, Working Group 22, the ROSIN project aims to work out a comprehensive solution that closely addresses users requirements and has been validated and demonstrated extensively, using available technology, in a wide range of applications. The project covers all aspects of the on-board networking problems, addressing key areas such as passenger trains, freight trains and mass-transit (metros and trams). Communication and application requirements are considered, including maintenance needs and openness toward ground networks. Internet technologies are used to bring ubiquitous and low cost access to train data

OperA/ALIVE/OperettA

Comprehensive models for organizations must, on the one hand, be able to specify global goals and requirements but, on the other hand, cannot assume that particular actors will always act according to the needs and expectations of the system design. Concepts as organizational rules (Zambonelli 2002), norms and institutions (Dignum and Dignum 2001; Esteva et al. 2002), and social structures (Parunak and Odell 2002) arise from the idea that the effective engineering of organizations needs high-level, actor-independent concepts and abstractions that explicitly define the organization in which agents live (Zambonelli 2002).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Sustainable development of transport infrastructure in the system of national economy

This research article investigates the sustainable development of transport infrastructure within the national economy, emphasizing the critical intersection of economic growth, environmental responsibility, and social equity. The study explores theoretical frameworks and practical approaches employed in the planning, implementation, and management of sustainable transport systems. The role of integrated transportation planning, multimodal systems, green infrastructure, and smart technologies is analyzed to assess their impact on reducing congestion, minimizing emissions, and enhancing overall accessibility. Examining the effectiveness of public-private partnerships, regulatory measures, and community engagement, the research delves into the challenges and opportunities associated with achieving sustainable transport infrastructure. Additionally, the article explores the significance of smart traffic management systems, fleet modernization, and incentives for environmentally friendly modes of transportation. The regulatory measures and standards implemented to guide sustainable practices are scrutinized, focusing on their role in shaping a transportation landscape that aligns with broader sustainability objectives. The findings aim to provide insights for policymakers, urban planners, and researchers, offering a comprehensive perspective on the complex dynamics involved in fostering a sustainable transport infrastructure system within the national economy

Global best practices in combined transports and its applicability to South Ostrobothnia

This thesis aims to lay out some of the global best practices that can be used for the combined transportation design of Southern Ostrobothnia truck to rail project. The goal is to identify customers' demands and requirements for integrated transportation, as well as the technology that is now making this system efficient in terms of cost, operational efficiency, and environmentally friendly implementations. Other studies have shown that multimodal transportation is on the rise, though its full potential has yet to be achieved. This thesis looked at the following questions: 1. What are the major challenges in the implementation of combined transport? 2. What is the future for heavy goods vehicles? The thesis concludes by outlining the economic evaluations and benefits of having a combined transportation system and the new possibilities for logistics companies within the region

MP-CFM: MPTCP-Based communication functional module for next generation ERTMS

184 p. El contenido de los capítulos 4,5,6,7,8 y 9 está sujeto a confidencialidadEl Sistema Europeo de Gestión del Tráfico Ferroviario (ERTMS, por sus siglasen inglés), fue originalmente diseñado para los ferrocarriles europeos. Sinembargo, a lo largo de las dos últimas décadas, este sistema se ha convertidoen el estándar de-facto para los servicios de Alta Velocidad en la mayoría depaíses desarrollados.El sistema ERTMS se compone de tres subsistemas principales: 1) el Sistemade Control Ferroviario Europeo (ETCS, por sus siglas en inglés), que actúacomo aplicación de señalización; 2) el sistema Euroradio, que a su vez estádividido en dos subsistemas, el Módulo de Seguridad Funcional (SFM, porsus siglas en inglés), y el Módulo de Comunicación Funcional (CFM, porsus siglas en inglés); y 3) el sistema de comunicaciones subyacente, GSM-R,que transporta la información intercambiada entre el sistema embarcado enel tren (OBU, por sus siglas en inglés) y el Centro de Bloqueo por Radio(RBC, por sus siglas en inglés). El sistema de señalización ETCS soporta tresniveles dependiendo del nivel de prestaciones soportadas. En el nivel 3 seintroduce la posibilidad de trabajar con bloques móviles en lugar de bloquesfijos definidos en la vía. Esto implica que la distancia de avance entre dos trenesconsecutivos puede ser reducida a una distancia mínima en la que se garanticela seguridad del servicio, aumentando por tanto la capacidad del corredorferroviario. Esta distancia de seguridad viene determinada por la combinaciónde la distancia de frenado del tren y el retraso de las comunicaciones deseñalización. Por lo tanto, se puede afirmar que existe una relación directaentre los retrasos y la confiabilidad de las transmisiones de las aplicaciones deseñalización y la capacidad operacional de un corredor ferroviario. Así pues,el estudio y mejora de los sistemas de comunicaciones utilizados en ERTMSjuegan un papel clave en la evolución del sistema ERTMS. Asimismo, unaoperatividad segura en ERTMS, desde el punto de vista de las comunicacionesimplicadas en la misma, viene determinada por la confiabilidad de lascomunicaciones, la disponibilidad de sus canales de comunicación, el retrasode las comunicaciones y la seguridad de sus mensajes.Unido este hecho, la industria ferroviaria ha venido trabajando en ladigitalización y la transición al protocolo IP de la mayor parte de los sistemasde señalización. Alineado con esta tendencia, el consorcio industrial UNISIGha publicado recientemente un nuevo modelo de comunicaciones para ERTMSque incluye la posibilidad, no solo de operar con el sistema tradicional,basado en tecnología de conmutación de circuitos, sino también con un nuevosistema basado en IP. Esta tesis está alineada con el contexto de migraciónactual y pretende contribuir a mejorar la disponibilidad, confiabilidad yseguridad de las comunicaciones, tomando como eje fundamental los tiemposde transmisión de los mensajes, con el horizonte puesto en la definición deuna próxima generación de ERTMS, definida en esta tesis como NGERTMS.En este contexto, se han detectado tres retos principales para reforzar laresiliencia de la arquitectura de comunicaciones del NGERTMS: 1) mejorarla supervivencia de las comunicaciones ante disrupciones; 2) superar laslimitaciones actuales de ERTMS para enviar mensajes de alta prioridad sobretecnología de conmutación de paquetes, dotando a estos mensajes de un mayorgrado de resiliencia y menor latencia respecto a los mensajes ordinarios; y3) el aumento de la seguridad de las comunicaciones y el incremento de ladisponibilidad sin que esto conlleve un incremento en la latencia.Considerando los desafíos previamente descritos, en esta tesis se proponeuna arquitectura de comunicaciones basada en el protocolo MPTCP, llamadaMP-CFM, que permite superar dichos desafíos, a la par que mantener laretrocompatibilidad con el sistema de comunicaciones basado en conmutaciónde paquetes recientemente propuesto por UNISIG. Hasta el momento, esta esla primera vez que se propone una arquitectura de comunicaciones completacapaz de abordar los desafíos mencionados anteriormente. Esta arquitecturaimplementa cuatro tipos de clase de servicio, los cuales son utilizados porlos paquetes ordinarios y de alta prioridad para dos escenarios distintos; unescenario en el que ambos extremos, el sistema embarcado o OBU y el RBC,disponen de múltiples interfaces de red; y otro escenario transicional en el cualel RBC sí tiene múltiples interfaces de red pero el OBU solo dispone de unaúnica interfaz. La arquitectura de comunicaciones propuesta para el entornoferroviario ha sido validada mediante un entorno de simulación desarrolladopara tal efecto. Es más, dichas simulaciones demuestran que la arquitecturapropuesta, ante disrupciones de canal, supera con creces en términos derobustez el sistema diseñado por UNISIG. Como conclusión, se puede afirmarque en esta tesis se demuestra que una arquitectura de comunicaciones basadade MPTCP cumple con los exigentes requisitos establecidos para el NGERTMSy por tanto dicha propuesta supone un avance en la evolución del sistema deseñalización ferroviario europeo

State-of-the-art in managing reliability in mega railway projects.:A systematic literature review

Mega Railway Projects (MRPs) are expensive and account for an increasing per-centage of many a nation’s annual infrastructure expenditure. These MRPs fre-quently exceed their budget and schedule. The challenge of achieving reliability or availability targets stands out as a contributing factor to these overruns. A robust and targeted Reliability, Availability, and Maintainability (RAM) process, which covers systems and subsystems that comprise the railway, that is imbedded in the project from the outset and that is managed throughout the life cycle of the project, is crucial for success. However, a RAM process for MRPs is not readily available. While BS EN 50126-11sets out the required RAM related tasks there is no guidance on how these tasks are to be undertaken or managed. This omission is likely to increase the challenge faced by RAM or Systems engineers as they put forth their case for ring-fenced funds and labour at the outset of an MRP. It is therefore important that RAM on an MRP is reviewed so that next steps in devel-oping robust RAM process plan guidelines can be determined. The authors of this paper discuss why RAM is undertaken and the conceptualisation of RAM along with its fundamental features. Its application on railways focusing on RAM techni-ques and BS EN 50126-1 is outlined. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) is under-taken to show the state-of-the-art by using a meta and content analysis within the context of railway systems, RAM techniques, RAM standards and Reliability levels. Furthermore, a set of Derived RAM requirements (DRR) based on BS EN 50126-1 are derived to determine the critical areas of RAM and are thus recommended for further development by researchers or RAM practitioner