Re: European Rail Traffic Management System Glitch
Author: Max Wyss
Date: 02-27-2018 - 02:49
To me, it looks as if the information about temporary speed restrictions did get loaded during the routine reboot of the control center, but were not taken into consideration at runtime.
This is a weird condition, and definitely deserves an in-depth investigation.
However, one remark must be made: Those temporary speed restrictions are/were used not really temporary. A level crossing is (normally) not a temporary thing, and therefore, speed reductions before level crossings should therefore be part of the line profile.
to J: I think the main reason in that situation was to get a cost effective signalling system to the line (some years ago, I travelled on that line, and they were using tokens as sole protection. Using ERTMS/ETCS Level 2 does give cost advantages over state of the art wayside signalling. As an example where passenger and freight traffic operates, there are several other places where ETCS Level 2 is in operation (such as Lötschberg base tunnel, or SBB Neubaustrecke, or Gotthard base tunnel.