Rete Ferroviaria Italiana pushes on technology. The FS Italiane group company has awarded the tender for the design and construction of theEuropean Rail Transport Management System (ERTMS), in four Italian regions: Sicily, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo. This is the most advanced system for supervising and controlling the running of trains. The works will be carried out by a group of companies led by Hitachi Rail and principal companies Alstom Railway and Ceit, set up as a temporary association.
The interventions represent 50% of the first objective indicated by the EU for the realization of the technological projects financed by the National recovery and resilience plan (Pnrr), i.e. to equip 1.400 kilometers of railway lines by 2024. Overall, the plan envisages almost 3 billion euros for implementation on over 3.400 kilometers of network by 2026, in line with Rfi's objective to install the system on all 16.700 kilometers of line.
In particular, the new technology will equip approximately 480 kilometers of track in Sicilia, 150 kilometers of the former Central Railway Umbra and the 80 kilometers of the line Roccasecca Avezzano. Four Regions are therefore involved: Sicily, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo.
The European Rail Transport Management System is a management, control and protection system for rail traffic and related on-board signalling, designed to replace the multiple, and mutually incompatible, circulation and safety systems of the various European railways in order to ensure the interoperability of trains especially on the new high-speed rail networks. But it was created to be adaptable to all types of lines, which will thus be extended to both regional lines and other lines thanks to the parallel and coordinated equipping of the trains.
Therefore, this system not only promotes interoperability between railway operators from different nations, but also a significant one energy saving that the system allows by better regulating the speed, acceleration and braking of the trains.
