Alstoms Atlas 200 ERTMS solution successfully validated on the Albacete-Alicante new high speed line
Alstoms Atlas 200 ERTMS solution successfully validated on the Albacete-Alicante new high speed line
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ADIF, the Spanish railway infrastructure manager, has successfully finished the test and homologations needed to validated the new Alstom Atlas 200 ERTMS Level 2 signalling system on the Albacete-Alicante new high speed line.
Thanks to this homologation, this High Speed line is already the first in Spain to operate with the latest ERTMS level 2 (*) technology. The system has been validated for all the line (165 km of double track) and all the trains that running on it.
The advantage of ERTMS Level 2 is based on the continuous train positioning thanks to the radio-frequency signalling system, compared to the conventional system which positions the train intermittently using Eurobalises. Within this new technology, trains from Madrid to Alicante will also be able to reduce its journey time.
The signalling project, technologically the most complex of those implemented so far in Spain, was completed in 18 months. Furthermore, the project, which is also financed by the EIB, was completed totally in accordance with the original tender budget underlines Ignacio Rodriguez, Transport Information Solutions Managing Director for Spain and Portugal.
Alstom is the world leader in ERTMS technology with contracts awarded in 23 countries covering 1,200 km and more than 4,150 trains, and has equipped six of the world's eleven high speed lines which use this technology. Alstom was also the first company to equip a very high speed line (the Rome Naples line in Italy), a cross-border high speed line (from Liege in Belgium to the German border), a higher traffic density line (Mattstetten-Rothrist in Switzerland) and a freight-only line (the Betuwe Route in the Netherlands) with this technology.
About ERTMS / ETCS
ERTMS (European Railways Traffic Management System) has been developed to facilitate the expansion of the European Railways, including cross-borders operation. Its main constituent ETCS (European Train Control System) can be deployed with two main variants: ETCS Level 1 and ETCS Level 2.
This system optimizes the line capacity in complete safety by anticipating and adapting the speed of the trains. The main advantage of ETCS Level 2 technology is its continuous train control and supervision via a radio-based signalling system, compared to ETCS level 1 systems which control the train through intermittent use of Eurobalises.
(*) Latest upgraded and standardized European version -2.3.0.D- has been installed in this corridor, being the first of this type in Spain
Press contact:
Irma Aguado (AlstomSpain)
Tel.: + 34 91 334 58 00