Posted on 01/04/2008 12:14:26 AM PST by bruinbirdman
A multi-billion euro showcase project aimed at getting Europe’s trains to run seamlessly from one country to another is unnecessarily complex and has been poorly managed, prompting a series of costly delays, according to leading figures in the sector.
The European Rail Traffic Management System has been hampered by the need to accommodate widely differing operating practices from across the Continent into a single system, according to industry figures who now question whether it was wise for Brussels to press ahead with the venture without first integrating rules.
The project is the latest in a long line of ambitious, pan-European industrial projects – including the Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, Galileo satellite and A380 super-jumbo – to have encountered problems of international co-ordination.
The European Commission first called upon the railway industry to draw up rules for ERTMS’s design in 1993. Although the first specification was published in 2000, the European Railways Agency, the arm of the Commission responsible, is still publishing new versions to iron out problems.
It is not clear what cost the many industry and government parties involved have incurred, but SNCF, the French national rail operator, estimates it would cost €2bn ($2.9bn, £1.49bn) just to fit its trains with equipment to understand ERTMS signals.
Jan-Willems Siebers, commercial director of NS Hi-speed, the operator of a new high-speed line in the Low Countries whose opening has been delayed by ERTMS problems, said the project had fallen victim to the difficulty of co-ordinating many organisations across Europe.
“‘System’ is always difficult and ‘European’ is always difficult because every country has its own specifics,” Mr Siebers said. “If you combine ‘Europe’ and ‘system’, you have a challenge squared.”
NS Hispeed abandoned plans for a partial, lower-speed opening of part of the Antwerp-Amsterdam HSL-Zuid in December after it failed to resolve problems with the ERTMS signalling.
Josef Doppelbauer of Canada’s Bombardier, the world’s largest rail equipment manufacturer, said the situation was deeply frustrating. To accommodate the widely differing operating rules, there had to be significant scope in the design for customisation.
However, Richard Lockett, head of strategy for the European Railways Agency, insisted it had established a firm grip in the year since it had had charge of the specification. It now knew where the ambiguities were in the specification and was working to resolve them.
Stupid Euroweenies.
If Airbus couldn’t even agree which country hosts which part for assembly, what are the chances they’re going to share in the logistics of the train?
Just like WW2, just give up.
Not to worry. I see many jobs at 35 hrs/wk.
The Eyro-bureaucracy has everything under control. Just look at the value of the euro.
yitbos
35 hr week jobs at UNION wages, with 3 month vacations?
Knock yourselves out.
yitbos
A euro mandates that the trains run on time?
The Euros didn’t do much on train scheduling when the Nazis rolled those “trains” into their backyards.
How’s the train transport system of the US going ?
Didn't England, over one weekend in the 19th century, convert all of its rail lines to the same gauge?
And the US, in the 19th century, standardized time zones, which affected all the railroad companies at the same time?
Got to be WGA written union rules about training of common signaling rules. You would think they could at least roll. it in on a single line, but they have problems even keeping that on track.
That should spur some thinking about anachronistic union work rules unrelated to the health and safety of members.
I'm surprised the sprouting Stalinists in Brussels aren't more steamed about the lack of progress. Probably too busy getting tanked.
Can it provide personal transport faster then 60 mph average over distances longer then 100 miles ?
had a look at the oil price lately ?
why is it good to build only what the market demands today - if you see that it’s not going to work tomorrow ?
Ah, but we can't really see that can we? Some people claim to, but they want to use our tax money to see if they're right. When someone with his own money claims to see it, I'll wish him luck.
lol - yeah - it’s a small step to socialism to have such projects in governments hands - and if you want the good ones done you obviously have to bear several corrupt ones.
The tric is maybe not to have most things in private hands and some things in governments hands with control principles like those of sabenes and oxley...
but we now HAVE good mass transport in europe and given the high oil price and the games putin is playing with the market for natural gas I am glad we have it as an alternative to individual transport - if the mullahs and wanna-be soviets play up - we go by train and they eat sand.
- And it’s a good thing to go from hamburg inner city to munich inner city in half the time a car would take. Airports are usually on the outskirts and trips of 3h length dont justify bothering with them.
- and I gonna review my presentation, have a chat and read a book instead of defending my life on the autobahn.
Generaly I am a big fan of the practiced liberalisation and privatization of the european businesses - but in some points I am glad we payed the price.
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