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Network wide renewal of signalling and traffic management systems

Banedanmark has undertaken the unprecedented move of replacing all signalling assets of the entire network at once, introducing advanced traffic management processes at the same time. This has resulted in the largest signalling project ever. The project execution is characterised by a high complexity with a large number of participants and stakeholders and the challenges caused by implementing the new signalling system in the changing railway environment within a time frame of 10 years. The consultancy provided by Emch+Berger (E+B) in the frame of a larger joint venture has allowed the customer to identify in an early stage all whereabouts of and all risks associated with such an undertaking, as well as the right ways of addressing them. Based on E+B’s experience in tendering large railway projects, it has been possible to produce tender documents encompassing more than 1000 pages within a year, and to run through the tendering process within two years. During the design phases, E+B staff brought to fruition its long-standing experience in running complex projects involving a large number of participants and disciplines over several years. E+B provided top-class expertise in several disciplines like railway business in general, considering management, operation, construction and maintenance, advanced traffic management and timetabling techniques, ETCS level 2, setting up a testing progamme.

Client

Banedanmark (DK, Kopenhagen)

Period

2006

2021

Downloads

Network wide renewal of signalling and traffic management systems (Reference sheet)

Fields of activity

Infrastructure;Rail infrastructure;Mobility and traffic;Rail systems

Delivered services

Within the Rambøll-Atkins-Emch+Berger-Parsons joint venture, Emch+Berger has provided the following main services:

Feasibility study: leading the technical and safety work stream; provide input to many key findings on how to achieve such a large migration within a reasonable time frame without disturbing daily operations; setting up a model counting the new signalling assets as a basis for the budget

Procurement phase: Technical project management of the elaboration of the tender documents and the bid assessment, providing contents for several disciplines, writing of the bid assessment reports

Design phase: Key contribution to management of design and development; discipline leadership in traffic management, automated dispatching, timetabling, signalling design to capacity, development of use cases covering the entire railway operation, ETCS level 2, testing; management of project controls; key inputs to the identification of business changes within Banedanmark

Specifications

Total length of the migrated railway lines: Over 2000 km

Total investment: Ca. 20 billions DKK

Total number of programme staff involved: Over 100 (customer and consultants)

Duration of the programme: 2007 - 2021

Other Projects

2012

2021

Development of Advanced Traffic Management and Decision Support Functionality for Rail Networks

The Danish rail infrastructure manager BDK is carrying out a full replacement of all signalling equipment, control and Business IT systems. Two contracts involving control systems have been awarded, one to Thales for Centralised Traffic Control (CTC) West and Passenger Information and one to Alstom for CTC East, Advanced Traffic Management and Decision Support and Planning functions. Emch+Berger AG Bern played the leading role in the RAEP consortium supporting BDK in ensuring this portion of the East (Alstom) contract satisfies the expectations of BDK. The specific challenges included:

Visioning, Blueprinting and Specifying a completely new approach to Traffic Management and Decision Support for a large Network with mixed traffic
Aligning the existing Product Base of the Supplier and Instructing the Processes
Developing Real Time Database Systems that cover Rolling Stock, State of the Railway, Topology
Integration of Disruption Management including Maintenance Contract Requirements into the Design
The support of the Customer in preparing the business changes to make best use of the emerging Technology

1990

2021

Test and Commissioning Activities in ETCS Signalling Projects

In ETCS projects the test and commissioning activities must ensure the timely completion of all tests required by system and subsystem requirements, safety and interoperability norms, operational scenarios, customer internal, national and international norms, etc. and must also assure the preparation and execution of commissioning activities.

Emch+Berger AG Bern provides highly skilled specialist for the Gotthard and Ceneri base tunnels and the Danish Fjernbane project, who consult the customer (and suppliers) in different test and commissioning topics, and specify and supervise all necessary test and commissioning activities.

Emch+Berger has done this successfully in the past in the Lötschberg base tunnel.

2009

2017

ETCS Gotthard Base Tunnel, Detailed Design and Realisation Train Control and Signalling System

Assistance of detailed design, realisation and commissioning of the new train control and signalling system for the Gotthard base tunnel on behalf of AlpTransit Gotthard AG.

The project is carried out by a consortium under the lead of Emch+Berger AG Bern. The works includes all signalling related systems on an ERTMS-basis in the perimeter of the project such as control and communication system, interlocking, ETCS/RBC and is embedded over special interfaces into other neighbouring signalling systems (conventional signalling systems).

2009

2011

ETCS Level 2 Denmark, Traffic Management

The Traffic Management is the railway-operation’s central element to assure the expected improvement in operational performance put forward to justify the investments into the Signalling Programme, the implementation of ETCS level 2 on the entire network of Denmark. With regards to the duplication of traffic in the future, latest science operational processes are applied to traffic management by centralised traffic control centres.

The objective of operational performance is satisfying the expectations of present and future rail customers. The institutional relationship between the infrastructure operator and the train operating companies is designed based on responsibilities to align processes to achieve this. The improvement in the effectiveness of the Traffic Management is based on the introduction of a control loop model of traffic management incorporating also conflict-prediction and real-time rescheduling processes (conflict resolution).