Czech measuring car ETCS on German line

The AŽD Praha company was addressed by the owner of the Living Lab testing line: Annaberg – Buchholz, the DB Netz with the request for cooperation and sharing of information about operation and tests on testing lines. AŽD Praha owns the so called Plum line, where in the Čížkovice – Obrnice section, there are tested new signalling technologies and equipment. In addition to new types of conventional signalling equipment, such as level crossing systems, station interlocking and line signalling systems, there was installed also the GSM-R radio network, ETCS L2, and ETCS L1 is just being prepared. Within the Shift2Rail international research project and UNISIG standardization, the ATO Automatic Train Operation is interconnected with the traffic control systems and on-board part of ETCS. These are the first real outputs, which are directing to the future autonomous train operation.

AŽD Praha and DB Netz negotiate about wider exchange of experiences above the cooperation frame within the Shift2Rail program, because both lines are unique within Europe and provide wide possibilities for tests of newest technologies of traffic control.

The measuring car of AŽD Praha serves both for measuring of needed ETCS signals from GSM-R, balises (basic device placed in the railyard for transmission of information to the vehicle) and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System), and for tests of ETCS compatibility with the onboard part.

The Living Lab line of DB Netz operated by DB Erzgebirgsbahn between Annaberg and Buchholz is the line without regular passenger traffic, and it is intended for installation and testing of new technologies especially in the field of signalling for implementation on the DB Netz network.