UNION INTERNATIONALE DES CHEMINS DE FER - INTERNATIONALER EISENBAHNVERBAND - INTERNATIONAL UNION OF RAILWAYS

FOCUSERTMS / GSM-R 3

1 MARCH 2009

R GSM-R – THE SUCCESS STORY IS GOING ON

GSM-R has reacheda maturity stage. Itis operational onalmost 60000 kmall over the globe. InEurope it is the newRail radio digitalcommunication sys-tem, being in ani m p l e m e n t a t i o nstage (planning/ten-der – implementation,

or migrated). End 2007, we have registeredmore than 45000 km of railway migrated toGSM-R.

Even if only for one year, the results are satisfying.No major functioning problems were reported.The international traffic shown later is increasing.

The performance figures are very good: • Overall network availability: 99, 97%;• GSM-R for ETCS network availability:

99,999%;Average non-availability per incident: 1.2 hr(figures offered by ProRail). We can say thatwe are in a good stage, but still work is to bedone. Features are still to be specified and gapsare to be filled. We will detail more in the fol-lowing lines.

Status in Europe end 2008

GSM-R’s deployment has continued since 2007.There are 17 implementers end 2008: Austria,Belgium, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland,France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands,Norway, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden,U.K. (Follow up this article in Page 2 )

1 EDITORIAL

Dear Readers,

This is now

the third

edition of the

GSM-R Focus.

It should give

an overview

about the

work of the

different UIC

GSM- R working groups and provide

an outline about actual achievements.

GSM-R is now no longer a baby as

in the 1992 to 1995’s, this baby

has grown rapidly and has already

passed the teenage phase.

Looking from the beginning, where

the decision had been taken to start

with adapting GSM instead of

TETRA and to mention railway

specific features, via the phase

of specification and standardization

of these railway features, via the

piloting phase into the implementation

Editorial P1

GSM-R, the success story is going on P2

Functional Group P4

Operators Group P5

GSM-R Shunting in DB P7

ETSI TC-RT Technical Committee RailwayTelecommunications P9

Introduction of GSM-R Network P11

Management Group (NMG) P12

ERIG celebrated 10 years of fruitful activity P13

The new EIRENE change request process P14

UIC building on the existing core competence P15

1 CONTENTS

continued page 2 111

K. KONRADChairman ERIG

By Dan Mandoc,GSM-R Telecom

02 FOCUS

(continued)111

1 EDITORIAL

phase , we can now state, that GSM-R

is a success within and outside

Europe. Implementation has already

reached a level, where several countries

have already finalized their migration

from analogue radio towards digital

radio via GSM-R and where all

signatories of the Agreement of

Implementation from year 1999 have

started their implementation.

More than 60.000 km are equipped

with GSMR including commercial

operation. Most applications used

with GSM-R today are train-radio

communications and non-safety

related data-communications.

Interest from railways outside Europe

is also permanently growing and

support from UIC for newcomers

is requested.

The chairpersons of the working

groups will give an overview about

their tasks and main achievements in

the last month’s and personally I am

proud to be the chairman of this ERIG

group and also the Project-Manager

of the UIC project since more than 10

years now . As already stated, GSM-R

is one of the most successful projects

within UIC and has achieved a never

expected target in a very short time.

Therefore i would like you to be

interested in following our work and

take all necessary steps to contribute

in your own railway organization to

this success. ■

Outside Europe, GSM-R is installed in China,and is under deployment in Algeria, India,Turkey and Saudi Arabia. It is under discussionin Australia.

GSM-R - crossing the borders

In Europe, the international interconnectionsand the related traffic started to grow. End2008, the GSM-R baseline was EIRENEFunctional Requirements Specification version7 and System Requirements Specificationsversion 15. Nevertheless, in Europe versions5/13, 6/14 and 7/15 are in operation, with nomajor issues reported. This does not mean that the situation couldstay as it is, Backward compatibility between7/15 and 6/14 is almost general, but as soon as

new features will be in the next EIRENE versions,the backward compatibility is planned to belimited from version n to version n-1. A migrationstrategy towards a harmonized baseline 7/15 istherefore to be evaluated. From the time wherethe technology had to be tuned up to becomerobust and stable for the Railways needs, wehave reached now a new step. The Internationaltraffic started to appear more and more, andspecific activities had to be set up.

The international traffic is monitored by thenew working groups ENIR and NMG. You cansee here below the actual existing interconnec-tions, and traffic measured beginning 2009.The values are still small, but we can see a 90%increase, compared to the average traffic loadbeginning 2008.

Source: The UIC ENIR Group.

StatisticsIn Europe, GSM-R is planned to be deployed for 149.210 km; taking into account thenetworks where such plans are prepared (224.135 km of Railways), it means that66,57% of the European Railway Network is planned to be covered with GSM-R.From this, 73.293 km are already constructed (49,12% from the planned), and 56.991Km arein operation (38,5%)!

Table 1, The GSM-R European Planning

On the mobile side, 198.525 mobiles are planned,from which 65.318 are activated (32, 9%).From this, 27.943 are activated cab radios,which include also EDOR’s (ETCS Data OnlyCab Radio). As for Dispatchers, 5063 are planned,from which 1557 are activated, whichmeans 30, 7%.For 2009, we expect a continuous advance ofthe implementation, according to plans.Denmark, Portugal, Poland, Hungary andRomania should start/finalize the tenders,and start the implementation. The interna-tional traffic is expected to grow, on a moreabrupt curve then 2007/2009.

The applications using GSM-R will also growand diversify. Here below, you can see theimplementation roadmap, according toNational Implementation Plans:

Frequency Capacity constraints

The Spectrum occupancy is seen to be maxi-mal in the near future, when ETCS Level 2and higher will be in place, especially incrowded areas or big hubs. In fact the spec-trum is seen in such as insufficient. Severalstudies performed by individual Railwayshave shown similar results – Network Rail– Clapham Junction Study; DB Netz –Mannheim Study and RFF - Additional fre-quencies needs study performed on ParisNord – Paris Est.

Two actions are followed to prevent suchsituation:

1. GPRS for ETCS. The idea is to use packetswitch for ETCS instead of Circuit Switch. Incase of Circuit Switch, at least one channel isoccupied for a train, during its journey. In caseof packet switch, in the tests performed untilnow, minimum 3 trains can continuouslytransmit on one single channel, which meanthat in real life the number is bigger. GPRSwas chosen as packet switch technology,since it is the simplest to install, and thecheapest solution.

More than this, since the ETCS packets aresmall (128 bytes in average for the MA) GPRSthroughput seems to be enough. UIC hasopened the way in 2006, when they havereleased the GPRS for ETCS White Papers.Yet, the CR that followed was not agreed. Wehave seen technology improvements and thetraffic growing lately. A Work Plan has beenset up between EEIG/UNISIG/UIC to prove byreal tests that GPRS is feasible for ETCS. Afirst step was to see if Subset 093 - the GSM-R QoS requirements for ETCS – is suitable forGPRS. From here we have developed togethera set of Test Cases, where we have focusedon having data on the main GPRS behavior(GPRS Attach, PDP Context Activation, PDPContext Deactivation, GPRS Detach, FirstPacket, etc.) We have performed Lab and OnBoard Tests, in Belgium, on Bruxelles Liege,and in Italy, on Milano Bologna. We had verygood support from the B-Holding, RFIexperts and from NSN. The tests campaignsare actually ongoing. The preliminary resultsseem promising. GPRS is fast and in HighSpeed conditions, there were no packet lost,and no transmission errors. Issues are to besolved, but we are getting close to our target.

2. Additional frequencies. We had finally achance to ask for additional frequencies, butin the so called Trunk Band (PMR/PAMRBand). The reason is that theExtended/Public GSM bands are alreadyoccupied with the Mobile Public Operators(see Figure 1).

(Follow up this article in Page 4 )

ERTMS / GSM-R 03

Table 2, GSM-R Implementation Status - End 2008

As installed Network Elements,

BTS (Base transceiver Station)units 9188

BSC (Base Station Controller)units 146

MCS (Mobile Station Center)units 33

HLR (Home Location Register)units 26

IN (Intelligent Node)units 17

NMC (Network Management Centre)units 19

Figure 1

GSM-R Implementation Roadmap

R UIC ERTMS/GSM-R FUNCTIONAL GROUP

We were supported in our lobby by DB Netz,who already applied for 3 MHz paired in thisbandwidth, linked with the GSM-R band-width. The steps done until now were suc-cessful: CEPT WG FM (CEPT WorkingGroup for the Frequencies Management)

have agreed wit the idea andthe matter was sent in the spe-cialized FM #38 Group, whorecommended to support theextension. The matter is nowin Public consultation (fromMarch 6th to May 6th, 2009).

The extension is requested to be non harmo-nized in a first step due to unbalanced needsbetween the implementers, since we are stillin implementation stage in Europe. In addi-tion, the traffic needs are different anddepend on location in Europe. GSM-R will be introduced in the specificbandwidth legislation (EC (04)06), as one of

the accepted technologies. The chances toobtain good results are relevant.

Frequency Interferences

The GSM-R interferences are growing, due toGSM-R network expansion, as well as of theUMTS 900 Public Operators. Work has start-ed to define the Cab Radio BlockingConditions, together with the maximaladmitted Noise Floor. The Cab Radio isextremely exposed, being a sensitive MobileStation, connected to an exterior antenna, 4m high. The idea is to identify and prove thenew figures based on tests, and introducethem in the standard specification. ■

The UIC ERTMS/GSM-R FunctionalGroup (FG) is com-posed by expertsfrom UIC MemberRailways. Thegroup has beenenlarged latelywith four newmembers and alsoa representativefrom the European

Railway Agency (ERA) who joined the groupas observer. The aim is to have around 10experts in FG covering the different EuropeanRegions. The group normally meets onceeach quarter. Between the meetings thegroup deals with emerging issues usingemails and the UIC Extranet.The main is task of FG is to maintain theFunctional Requirements Specification(FRS) of GSM-R. The FRS has been includedin Annex A ‘List of Mandatory Specifications’of the technical specifications for interopera-bility relating to the control-command andsignalling subsystem of the trans-Europeanconventional rail system and high-speed railsystem. All changes therefore have to followthe ERA Change Control Managementprocess.FG is involved in preparing the ChangeRequest (CR) based on ImplementationReports (IR) received from involved parties.In preparing the CR it is the main task of FGto ensure consistency of the requirementswhen introducing modifications taking intoaccount the operational rules that would beinfluenced by the CR.

It is also the task of FG to keep the FRS asindependent as possible from technologyand to discuss new technologies emerging.The Functional Group reports to UICERTMS/GSM-R ERIG and interacts with theUIC ERTMS/GSM-R Operators Group in thediscussions related to IR’s and CR’s.Recently FG has dealt with issues related toShunting, Data Only Radio and GroupCalls/Emergency calls.The Shunting FRS CR is now in the finalstage before being implemented in thespecification. The main changes are moredetailed requirements to the equipment ingeneral and creation of a special chapter forthe shunting handheld radio. SeveralRailways had requested that the require-ments to the shunting equipment weremore detailed in order to harmonise andthereby provide manufacturing economiesof scale. At the request on the Notified Bodies, workwas undertaken to extract the requirementsfor a “Data Only Radio”. It was agreed toprepare a new section to the FRS. The newsection identifies the functional require-ments for the ETCS Data Only Radio(EDOR). It covers the functionality to beprovided by a data radio that is dedicatedto ETCS communications. EDOR thereforeprovides a limited set of functions andservices compared with other EIRENEmobile equipment used also for voice com-munication.The CR for EDOR is now undergoing the finalmodifications before entering the ERAChange Control Management process. Several issues related to Group Calls/

Emergency calls have been discussed.Overlapping Group Call Areas and Quality ofService have been among them. Overlapping Group Call Areas related toEmergency calls have been discussed tofine-tune the requirements. E.g. the requiredbehaviour of the system in case of two differentemergency calls in overlapping areas.

Quality of Service, Late entry in Group CallArea and call setup times are also discussedand will probably lead to some modificationsin the FRS. Therefore CR’ will be elaboratedand presented. During the latest years the turnover of FGmembers has been limited; this has helpedand ensured consistency in the work under-taken. I would like to take this opportunity tothank existing as well as former membersfor their contributions to creating and main-taining the Functional RequirementsSpecification for GSM-R now implementedwidely throughout Europe and further. ■

04 FOCUS

By Kurt Andersen

Kurt AndersenTechnical Programme Delivery Ltd UIC ERTMS/GSM-R FunctionalGroup ChairmanEmail: ka@tpd.uk.comPhone: +44 7528 116 843

1. INTRODUCTION

The Operators Group is a structured groupintegrated within the UIC ERTMS/GSM-Rproject organisation. This Group is composed of experts mainlyfrom Railway Organisations addressingissues related to EIRENE SystemRequirements (E-SRS). The conditions for membership and partici-pation are mainly:• To be proposed by Railways members of

ERIG following a call for candidates issuedby the Chairman,

• To be co-opted by the Operators Groupbased on the experience and the expertisein the GSM-R field and in particular theknow-how of the specifications.

OG meetings could include, on invitation bythe Chairman, a third party representativeas observer or a rapporteur from ad hocgroups when needed. OG might include con-sultants whose duty is based on the work tobe performed.

The Operators Group is aiming at standardi-sation of features for Railway use to formthe basis of GSM-R by:• Maintaining specifications for interopera-

bility based mainly on reports from imple-menters (ex. SRS wording improvement,QoS aspects, Late entry, IOT results, FFFISfor ERTMS interface, Roaming conditions,Networks Interconnection)

• Working on improving harmonization(such as eLDA, eREC, QoS requirementsand testing, Common set of test cases forCab radio, etc )

• Ensuring follow up of specifications foroptional features (ex. GPRS, UUS fieldcontent...)

2. THE BASIS FOR INTEROPERABILITY

Defining a common set of requirements

The following figure 2 shows an overview ofthe common set of requirements expressedby UIC, and summarised by the EIRENE FRS(Functional Requirements Specifications).

Maintaining the common set of specifications

The result of the European MORANE projectconsisted in defining a set of EIRENE SRS(System requirements Specifications) and aset of detailed Specifications. These initialset issued in 2000 at the closure of EIRENEand MORANE projects required maintaining. This task is allocated to OG who is workingtogether with the Functional Group (FG) andthe Technical Industry Group (TIG) to createand follow up the Change Requests whichbecome the basis for the next release ofEIRENE FRS and SRS associated with the

update, when required, of the DetailedSpecifications (a new release was publishedon the UIC in liaison with the EIRENErelease 7/15.

In order to achieve this task, the followingorganisation was set up in liaison with theERA (European Railway Agency) who is theSystem Authority for Interoperability.Figure 3 gives the different organisationsinvolved in this task.

3. GSM-R FEATURES AND FUNCTIONSADDRESSED AT OG

GSM-R is based on the GSM standardtechnology (Fig.4). GSM-R uses additionalfunctionalities customised for railwayapplications such as functional addressing,presentation of functional numbers,access matrix, location dependentaddressing and specific frequency range.

Apart from initial features, OG is in charge

ERTMS / GSM-R 05

By Robert SARFATI,Director Consultantat SYSTRAChairman of theUIC ERTMS/GSM-ROperators Group

R UIC ERTMS/GSM-R OPERATORS GROUP

Figure 3. Standardisation Bodies

Meeting but UIC of the

ERTMS/GSM-R operators

group at work

(Follow up this article in Page 6 )

of addressing all subjects deemed essentialfor interoperability and improvement of theRailway operation. For this reason, OG crea-ted Ad Hoc Groups to take in charge thesenew activities efficiently.

4. OG ACHIEVEMENTS

OG is in charge of maintaining and develo-ping the EIRENE specifications to fulfil thecurrent and future needs of Railways. This task includes the elaboration of ChangeRequests toward the current specificationsand their follow up until approval by the variouscommittees and ultimately by ERA tobecome part of either the next maintenancereleases (FRS7.X; SRS 15.X) or the newreleases (FRS8; SRS 16) for approval by theformer Article 21 Committee.In addition to the essential work of handlingImplementation Reports issued by SectorOrganisations and creating Changerequests, OG within the task of improvingRailway operation created several Ad HocGroups to address these issues, whichincluded:• International Numbering aiming at defining

in detail the format of the numbering usedfor all types of calls, point to point as wellas group calls.

• Interoperability Ad Hoc Group has been incharge of monitoring the tests conductedby Industry for different interconnectionsof networks. It monitors that the featuresdeveloped by Nortel Networks andSiemens (today Nokia Siemens Networks)were not impacted when performing inter-connection of neighbouring networks

(phase 1 and 2) and when sharing a com-mon group call area at border.• Updating of the FFFIS for SIM cards

resulting in an updated revised documentincluding correction of mistakes in theoriginal document.

• Late entry for REC (Railway EmergencyCall) allowed trains entering an emergencyarea to be notified with a much higherefficiency.

• Enhanced Location Dependant Addressingimproved the initial mechanism to takeinto account Train Location InformationSystem to route the call with a granularitylower than the Radio Cell.

• eREC defined a new mechanism toimprove the selectivity of the REC whilemaintaining as a backup solution theexisting REC. This mechanism couldimprove the regularity of trains by discrimi-nation of REC to specific tracks.

• The QoS for ETCS Group developed theconditions for testing of GSM-R networksQoS requirements.

• The definition of Common handheld andCab Radio tests sheets for the feat une-cessary for Interoperability will improvethe conditions of radio acceptance.

5. CONCLUSION

This work represents an essential milestonetoward maintaining an interoperable sys-tem for Railways. It answers to the initialgoal of UIC and EU when starting theEIRENE and MORANE projects to ensureinteroperability through a trans-Europeanrailway network. Moreover, this System istoday adopted in most continents byRailways as the Standardized Railway Radiocommunication System. ■

06 FOCUS

Figure 4. GSM-R Features

Figure 5. GSM-R an evolving

R GSM-R SHUNTING IN

INTRODUCTION

In Germany, severalanalogue radiossystems are inuse for shunting.In some locations,local channels ofthe train radiossystem in the0,7m-band are inuse. In other spe-

cific shunting areas, additional systems inthe 2m-band and / or in the 4m-band wereimplemented. Some of those systems werealready installed in the 1970s and havereached the end of life. Therefore a replace-ment is necessary urgently. In the GSM-R project of DB the replacementof those systems by GSM-R shunting wasplanned from the beginning. Based on that,first activities were already started in 2003.From 2004 onwards, first tests with GSM-Rshunting mobiles (OPS) could be carried out.

FIELD TRIALS

In 2005 DB started with first field trialsusing GSM-R group calls for shunting. Atfirst, two small shunting areas in Freiburgand in Mannheim were chosen. Those trialsmade clear that a lot of improvements werenecessary until GSM-R is fit for shunting.Since then improvements were specified forthe mobile terminals, for the dispatcher ter-minals and - in combination with that - alsofor the system itself. End of 2006 some improvements werealready available. Based on that, a pilot in amedium size shunting area could be startedmiddle of 2007. For this Saarbrücken wasvoted as best approach due to some specificoperational conditions. Again, there werelessons learned about what needs to beimproved. Till today, GSM-R shunting is inuse there.In parallel to the improvements on systemand terminal side, GSM-R shunting alsoneeds specific radio coverage. Especiallytoday’s Group call implementation in GSM-Rrequires a certain cell configuration so thatthe needed capacity can be provided in thelimited number of frequencies, that areavailable in GSM-R.To be able to start GSM-R operation also ina real big shunting yard, another pilot area

was identified in northern part of Germany,in Seelze. The installation works for thecoverage were started in 2006 and finalizedby autumn 2007. Since the beginning of2008, the amount of users and operationalscenarios increased step by step. That pilotwas finished by end 2008. GSM-R shuntingis in regular operation now.

SYSTEM IMPROVEMENTS

The different field trials gave a lot of feed-back on what needs to be improved.Together with the other railways intendingto use GSM-R for shunting, the neededchanges to the EIRENE specifications weredefined and addressed in the UIC ERTMSgroups OG/FG.

Those CRs were approved by the UIC groupsend 2007 and are in the process to be inte-grated in the next EIRENE versions.

Following are the main issues that were dis-covered in the trails. Solutions are alreadyavailable or are under development.

SIMPLIFIED SHUNTING APPLICATION

In addition to the improvements on theGSM-R shunting application with groupcalls, a simplified shunting application usingpoint-to-point calls was introduced. In a lot of small stations where shuntingactivities are carried out, no group calls areneeded. (Follow up this article in Page 8 )

ERTMS / GSM-R 07

By Achim VrielinkDB Netze AG

Component

Dispatcher terminals/ System

Dispatcherterminals / System

Dispatcherterminals /Mobile terminals

Mobiles terminals

Mobiles terminals

Function / Improvement

Improved handling of group callsDTMF tones of only 70msec

Improved mute / unmute control in group calls- Always talking / silent joining dispatcher

Feature for simplified call from shunting member /driver to switch controller out of an existing group call- Alerting controller

- Increased number of registered membersin shunting groups

- Participation in shunting groups withoutregistration

Enhancement of user rights, for example“leave group call”

Status

Available

Underdevelopment

Available

Available

Available

There, the GSM-R system can be used withoutadditional configurations or installations, aslong as the radio coverage is sufficient. To be able to introduce this application,modifications were necessary again, especiallyon the shunting handheld terminal (OPS).

APPROACH FOR RADIO COVERAGE

The GSM-R Group calls for shunting need tobe configured in the net-work. In a certainarea, where those calls shall be used, theyneed to be implemented on all radio cellsproviding coverage to that area. This alsomeans that the capacity of speech channelsneeded in that area must be available on allcells covering it.

As the number of frequencies in GSM-Ractually is very limited, the capacity require-ments of big shunting yards lead in someareas to a situation, where not enough radiochannels are available to provide all groupcalls without risk of blocking.

An approach to overcome this situation is toensure, that the shunting yard is only cov-ered by one cell. Then the capacity of radiochannels is only needed on this one cell andnot on any neighbouring cells. Through this,the frequency limitation can be solved in alot of areas.Such an approach was chosen for the pilotarea of Seelze. There, in total 26 group callsare provided for the pilot operation.

This requires 4 radio channels on the servingcell. That shunting yard was initially coveredby 2 radio cells from the GSM-R train radioinstallation. Following picture shows the radiocoverage before modification. The red linesmark the boundaries of the shunting yard:

to ensure the coverage of the whole area byone cell only, a radio repeater was installed.This repeater extends the coverage of themain serving cell to the right side.

The next picture shows the cov-erage aftermodification: the approach of covering ashunting yard by only one cell should betaken into account in the planning phase ofany new GSM-R network, as modificationsafter installation are very costly.

Another solution through sophisticated fea-tures is still under evaluation by the indus-try. Improved cell reselection behaviour ofthe mobiles could help to overcome theissue. In-between such a so-lution wasspecified in ETSI and approved in OG. A deci-sion for the way forward is awaited in thenext months.

THE ROLL OUT PHASEAchievements so far

In parallel with the field trials and systemimprovements the DB pro-ject has alsodriven the preparation for field roll out. In totalabout 1600 shunting areas were evaluated. For about 200 of them group calls arenecessary. For this, the radio planning wascarried out and, where finished, the plan-ning phases for any kind of modifications /construction works were started. In about1400 areas point-to point calls for shuntingare sufficient.

(Follow up this article in Page 9 )

08 FOCUS

Component

OPS

OPS

Function / Improvement

While using the OPS in normal “mobile phonemode” with point-to-point calls and not inshunting mode with group calls:- Carry OPS in holder,- Use microphone for hands free op-eration,- Use push to talk button (PTT) to control micro-

phone and speaker

Use Link assurance signal (LAS) and “Dead manfunction” in point to point calls

Status

Available

Available

R ETSI TC-RT TECHNICAL COMMITTEE RAILWAYTELECOMMUNICATIONS

INTRODUCTION

TC-RT is a structured group integrated withinthe ETSI (European TelecommunicationsStandard Institute) which includes expertsrepresentatives of Railway Organisationsand Industry aiming at developing the stan-dardisation of telecommunication featuresfor Railway use to form the basis of GSM-R.The conditions for participation are mainly:• The valid membership to ETSI and • The involvement in the work of development

of standards for GSM-R.

The content of the work addressed by theGroup is driven by Terms of Reference whichhave to be approved at the TC-RT Group andby the Board of ETSI. These Terms ofReferences specifically aim the develop-ment and maintenance of ETSI standardsfor application of GSM-R to railways asrequired for the fulfilment of the TechnicalSpecifications for Interoperability of theHigh Speed (96/48/EC) and ConventionalRail (2001/16/EC) Directives.

DRIVERS FOR EVOLUTION TOWARD GSM-R

Railways are major users of mobile radiosystems. They use radio for a wide range ofservices, e.g. track to train radio communication,operation and maintenance, shunting com-munications, passengers’ information.The prevailing situation (Fig.2) was that notonly track to train radio systems weredifferent throughout Europe, but also differentfrequencies and technologies were used forvarious applications, such as Operation andMaintenance or shunting radio.

Most of this equipment was based on ana-logue technology and have exceeded theirproduct life cycle.In 1993, UIC decided to face the followingquestions:• Which digital radio system should be used

to replace ageing analogue radio systemscurrently in use?

• How to ensure the continuity of serviceand respect the budgetary constraints ofinvestment if new system is to be imple-mented?

• How to guarantee the future evolution of anew system?

Following a detailed technical and economi-cal survey of existing and potential digitaltechnologies, it was decided to base thenew system on GSM (Global System forMobile Communications). This would allowrailways to participate to the evolution ofthe public standard to include their specificneeds as well as benefit from the economyof scale of the existing GSM public marketfor the cost of their network and theirmobile equipment.

GSM-R NETWORK FEATURES AND FUNCTIONS ADDRESSED AT TC-RT

GSM-R features

GSM-R is based on the GSM standard tech-nology (Fig.3, idem p6). The Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) fea-tures are gathered in the ETSI AdvancedSpeech Call Items (ASCI) specifications,which allow the voice broadcast and voicegroup calls as well as priority and pre-emptionof calls, are part of the GSM-R features.They have been introduced by ETSI within theGlobal System for Mobile communications(GSM™) and the Third Generation PartnershipProject (3GPP™) standards GSM-R uses

(Follow up this article in Page 10 )

ERTMS / GSM-R 09

Some of them will be covered with thefuture extensions of the GSM-R network fortrain radio.

In most of them, GSM-R is already available.Therefore in around 1200 areas the existingGSM-R coverage was measured and evalu-ated. In parallel, also the coverage of thePublic GSM roaming partner was measured.Out of this data the areas were selected,where the use of GSM-R / GSM can be intro-duced without any further implementationor configuration works.

Until now, more than 880 areas are alreadyin operation based on the point-to-pointshunting communication. The analoguesystems are in process of dismantling.ForDB, GSM-R shunting is now a success story.

Future Migration

The modification of the radio networkthrough change of existing sites and instal-lation of new BTSes and radio repeaters isongoing.Around 50 shunting areas shall be migratedper year. End of migration is planned for2012. ■

By Robert SARFATI

The RT Group in ETSI

Fig.2 The prevailing situation

functionalities customised for railwayapplications such as functional addressing,presentation of functional numbers, accessmatrix, location dependent addressing andspecific 4 MHz frequency range. Thiscustomisation is part of the developmentwork of TC-RT.The GSM-R benefits from the GSM datatransmission and includes CSD (CircuitSwitched Data) services as well as GeneralPacket Radio Service (GPRS) which wouldallow efficient handling of applications suchas ETCS. It could also allow developing applicationssuch as logistics, diagnostics, remote con-trol and passenger services, time schedulingand tariffs, automatic seat reservation bygiving operational railway staff access todata bases through intranet (Fig. 4).

The introduction of Direct Mode Operation(DMO) within GSM-R is an important evolu-tion which answers the requirements of therailways.

TC RT continues to work closely with theThird Generation Partnership Project(3GPP™) on enhancing Advanced SpeechCall Items (ASCI) features which couldimpact on the interoperability of railwaytelecommunications, particularly with a view to improving the efficiency of PMRoperations.

Additional liaison with 3GPP on enhancedVoice Group Call Service (VGCS), includingthe encryption of group calls, has beencompleted and will be available in themarketplace soon.

Frequency range

In Europe, a common frequency range isused in all GSM-R networks to achieveinternational interoperability. For roamingconsiderations with existing public GSMnetworks, terminal equipment operatewithin the full 900 MHz frequency range.

The system allows switching from and tothe public GSM range and the UIC frequencyrange. With the development of GSM-Rapplications and to take into account someareas with high traffic concentration; TC RTis now addressing in coordination with UICthe need for additional frequencies (SR DocTR 102 627) for Railway Transport SystemsOperation in liaison with TC-ERM and ECC.

TC-RT ACHIEVEMENTS

TC-RT is in charge of maintaining and deve-loping the ETSI specifications to fulfil thecurrent and future needs of Railways. This task includes the elaboration of Change Requests toward the current specifications and their follow up until approval by the various

3GPP committees; to give an idea of thework achieved, since the last published versionof ETSI TR 102 281 v2.0.0 in 2006, more than553 new Change Requests have beenaddressed and are approved.

In addition, the following documents werecreated and are maintained:• EN 301 515 dealing with ensuring:

• Requirements for GSM opera-tion on railways

• Basis for Technical Specificationsfor Interoperability (TSI) relatedto EU High Speed andConventional Rail Directives

• TS 102 281 which:• Details requirements for GSM

operation on Railways• Lists the CRs introduced in 3GPP

related to PMR/GSM-R• TS 102 610

• Usage of the User to UserInformation Element for GSMOperation on Railways

• TS 102 627• System reference document on

Land Mobile Service • Additional spectrum require-

ments for PMR/PAMR systemsoperated by railway companies(GSM-R)

CONCLUSION

This work represents an essential milestonetoward a standard open and interoperablesystem for Railways. It answers to the initialgoal of UIC when starting the EIRENE projectin 1993 as indicated above when deciding fora new digital system. This choice of GSM-Ris also included in the European choice of acommon cross-border system all overEurope. Moreover, this System is todayadopted in most continents (Asia, Australia,Africa, South America) as the StandardizedRailway Radio communication System. ■

10 FOCUS

Fig. 4 Current and new applications

Introduction of European NetworkInterconnection Group (ENIR)

Based on the increasing convergence of therailway communication networks in Europeand the high requirements for securedoperation of the railway system, aEuropean wide GSM-R interconnectionmust be developed on a common base.Therefore the ENIR group was founded inthe beginning of 2006.ENIR is a railway expert group, consisting of

railway representatives, with the aim to establish European GSM-Rinterconnection on technical level. This means a step by step evolutionand migration of stand alone GSM-R networks to a European wideoverlay network, offering a high availability of services and low costconsumption. These GSM-R interconnections are necessary to providethe first roaming services into foreign GSM R networks.

Retrospect: In December 2004 the first international GSM-R inter-connection between SBB (Switzerland) and DB (Germany) was established,followed by the GSM-R interconnection between ProRail (TheNetherlands) and DB (Germany) in January 2005. Meanwhile the next3 railways (Belgium, France and Czech Republic) planned to interconnecttheir GSM-R networks with Germany. The ENIR group has currently 12active members (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy,Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom).

The main tasks of ENIR are:• Continuous development of the overall interconnection network

architecture.• Standardised and harmonised rules & routing principles• Identify needed physical interconnection(s) based on communication

demands • Planning of the migration to the future overlay network• Calculation and provisioning of routing tables for border crossing traffic• Monitoring of actual implementation details• Monitoring of load on interconnections • Documentation of work results

In order to achieve the ambitious goal, we practice a close relationshipwith the Network Management Group (NMG) and the UIC.Every GSM-R network operator who is planning to join the GSM-Roverlay network is welcome to contribute. A quick exchange of infor-mation will be guarantied by scheduling 3 one-day meetings a year.The next meeting will be held on 2nd of July 2009 in Paris. ■

R ERTMS / GSM-R / ENIR

ERTMS / GSM-R 11

Achievements made by the end of 2008: • 10 national GSM-R networks are interconnected• 16 direct interconnections are in operation• 13 transit routing paths (via third GSM-R network) are in

operation• The ENIR guideline GSM-R “Common Design Document”

have been developed and released in version 1.0• Technical issues were discussed and solutions specified• The UIC ERNST database have been re-designed to meet

the GSM-R requirements • Workspace on UIC Extranet was created

By Dirk Brucks DB SystelGmbH, GermanyENIR Chairman

Start-up GSM-R Interconnections

Current GSM-R migration state

GSM-R target map

At the start of thefirst implementa-tions of GSM-Rnetworks in Swe-den, Germany andthe Netherlandsin 2001/2002, theneed for interna-tional cooperationand exchange ofinformation wasalready recognized.

Not only the “normal” problems related to therollout of a GSM-R network were discussed,but also issues regarding borderline designand but frequency allocation were on theagenda of the so called “early implementersworkshops”. Some meetings later alsoSwitzerland joined and the interest camefrom other countries implementing GSM-R.

In the mean time the first networks wentinto operation and on a bilateral basis thefirst roaming and interconnection testswere performed. Project-agreements foroffering roaming services were signed andthe first international trains with GSM-Rcrossed borders.

In the spring of 2007 a local technical problemof the – single – interconnection linkbetween the Netherlands and Germanycaused the total standstill of ICE and Thalysservices in the Netherlands. This demon-strated that international traffic would neverbe the same anymore: it will be - from nowon – fully dependent of the availability of theinterconnection between GSM-R networks.

The first implementers of GSM-R decided tohave a better and agreed way of designing,operating and maintaining the interconnec-tion network and to cooperate within a moreformal organisation. Supported by UIC ERIG,both ENIR and NMG were founded mid 2007.

The ENIR and the NMG have different respon-sibilities. The NMG is tasked to perform thecoordination of roaming services and takescare for the requirements to the interconnec-tion network. These requirements are mainlyrelated to the capacity and availability, butalso the way the upcoming extensions of theactual network can be realised, have to betaken into account. In fact the interconnectionnetwork is in a continuous migration.

The ENIR designs the interconnection net-work and prepares the logical configurationfor call routing on the different links of thenetwork. The individual network operators areresponsible for the formal bilateral planningof the implementation and maintenance oftheir part of the interconnection network.

Part of the work of the NMG is to facilitatethe GSM-R Network Operators with docu-ments for a generic way of working, whichis normally not covered by Eirene. Thesedocuments are: • Guideline for border area configuration:

coverage, shared group call areas, frequencymanagement

• Template for Roaming Agreements, to beused bilaterally

• Template for Operation and maintenanceagreements

• Template for the technical description ofinterconnection and roaming

• Standardized testcases, not only for the ini-tial interconnection projects, but also to beused after changes in the operational phase

Of course the planning of the rollout ofroaming and interconnection is discussed.The aim is to have roaming available justbefore train operators will need it. Usuallythis has a direct relationship with the startof operational GSM-R use in “new” GSM-Rcountries. The fact that more and moreinteroperable locomotives and trainsets areavailable and are crossing borders in Europe,causes an increase of roaming needs. In theNMG information regarding the availableroaming facilities between countries is col-lected and published.

On the UIC extranet the meeting minutesand the documents can be found.

The NMG has an open character, there is noofficial membership. Meetings (or bettersaid workshops) which take place threetimes a year, can be attended by represen-tatives of GSM-R network operators; repre-sentatives from Germany, Sweden, theNetherlands, France, Switzerland, Belgium,Norway and Italy attended the last meeting. The way of working is based upon initiativesfor subjects and information from the net-work operators. Some of the recently discussed issues –outside the documents mentioned above -are the use of CT3 and CT4, public roamingfor foreign simcards, and the requirementsto the interconnection network. In case ofinteraction with Eirene specifications, anImplementation Report will be written andsent to the appropriate body. ■

R INTRODUCTION OF GSM-R NETWORK MANAGEMENT GROUP (NMG)

12 FOCUS

By Chiel Spaans,Chairman of the NMG

R ERIG CELEBRATED 10 YEARS OF FRUITFUL ACTIVITY

At its 40th meeting that took place in lastDecember, at Gent, Belgium, the ERIG(European Radio Implementation Group)celebrated 10 years of activity.

“The idea of creating ERIG came up afterseveral years of work in EIRENE andMORANE with specification work and firstideas of implementation. In the early ninetieth,railways had problems in getting additionalfrequencies for their permanently growingtelecommunication applications. Thereforethe former UIC 7B10 group started to work ona study to move from analogue radiotowards digital radio, in a safe way for thefuture. The main idea was to bundle all existingradio applications into a unique frequencyband and, in parallel, to switch from ana-logue to digital all in looking for a usefultechnology for railways. (…) So, a study waslaunched and two technologies investigated– TETRA and GSM. Finally it was decided tomove towards GSM, but to add some func-tionality so that it becomes usable in the rail-way environment”, explains Klaus Konrad,Chairman of ERIG.

How ERIG does actually works today? ERIG is a railway information platform com-posed of all the signatories of the UICMemorandum of Understanding (MoU)about the support of the railways for GSM-R,launched in 1997 and initially signed by 32railways, where all the participants canshare the problems they encounter, theirsolutions, opinions, ideas and their differentexperiences regarding the implementationand the exploitation of the GSM-R net-works. Besides the technological exchangecreated via this platform, a part of theshared information becomes “raw material”for the related UIC Working Groups:Functional Group, Operators Group, TC-RT –the Railways ETSI Interface, NetworkManagement Group, ENIR (EuropeanRailways Interconnection Group). The GSM-R Industry is regularly invited at the ERIGmeetings, where its delegates can presenttheir issues and discuss directly “with thecustomer”. Also, every meeting we invite aGSM-R or Telecom related supplier companyto present its product / concepts.

ERIG results after 10 years of work

Issued from the ERIG works, UIC offerstoday to the members 7 versions for the

EIRENE FRS (Functional RequirementSpecifications), 15 versions or EIRENE SRS(System Requirement Specifications), theMORANE documents, plus more than 1000documents produced in all this period.

Separately, other important documents likethe GSM-R Procurement Guide, or theupcoming GSM-R Procurement andImplementation Guidelines, Cross BorderCommon Design Document, RoamingAgreement template, etc are or will soon beavailable on the UIC GSM-R website. The EIRENE 7/15 specifications are part ofthe Technical Specifications for theInteroperability (TSI).

But, above all, the most important result ofthis 10 years long cooperation seems to bethe strong European railway communitycreated through and around this exchangeplatform, counting today 14 GSM-R Railwaynetworks interconnection links and morethan 55.000 km of GSM-Rail in operation.

Starting with 2008, ERA, EIM and CER haveactive representatives participating to theERIG Programme. In the 2008 Septemberwe had for the first time representativesfrom the Chinese Railways, whichexpressed their interest in taking part of thefuture works.

In the closed future, ERIG will be even moreinvolved in the new GSM-R Change Request

Process, being a decisive step on the valida-tion of a Change Request, together withmatters like GPRS for ETCS, AdditionalGSM-R Frequencies or the GSM-R EuropeanTest Lab. ■

ERTMS / GSM-R 13

By Dan Madoc

From left to right: Dan Mandoc (UIC),

Klaus Konrad (Chairman ERIG),

Kurt Andersen (Chairman FG)

GSM-R is a success story in Europe and goestowards the same status in the world. It isspecified through the EIRENE (EuropeanIntegrated Railway Radio EnhancedNetwork) FRS (Functional RequirementSpecification) and SRS (System Requi-rement Specification). The actual baselinesare 7 for FRS and 15 for SRS.

The EIRENE FRS and SRS are the basis forany GSM-R equipment purchase, and theyare part of the TSI CCS, Annex A.

The system is a “living system” and needsto be maintained for many reasons:• Introduction of new features• Error corrections• Closing Specifications Gaps• Functionalities improvement

This technology allows exploitation ofnew business opportunities, operationalimprovements and efficiency streamlining.The need to ensure interoperability establishesthe obligation to protect the investments.

To reach this, the European Railway Agencyin its role as System Authority, has installeda transparent process managing the systemchanges, with the contribution of the sectorrepresentatives, CER and EIM.

This process was defined together with theUIC; the following chart is showing theprocess and tasks responsibles.

The process itself is fully in line with theexisting ERTMS-ETCS change process andis based on the same assumptions. UIC hashereby taken over the role to preparetogether with the GSM-R Industry possiblesolutions for problems and introduction of new functionalities. The trigger for startingstudying such issues is decided in a group,called the Pre Qualification Group, gatheringthe experts from ERA, CER, EIM and UIC,

deciding on the need of starting the work tofind solutions to the reported problem. In the following steps done together withUIC and under the responsibility of ERA,deeper analysis like impact on interoperabilityand investment will be done ; at the end,

after being approved in the Control Group, aqualified opinion will be given to theEuropean Commission. Close cooperationwith UIC is a logical choice avoiding duplicationof work by maintaining full independency.Coordination of tasks is ongoing. ■

R GSM-R - THE NEW EIRENE CHANGE REQUEST PROCESS

14 FOCUS

By Hans Blier,

ERTMS Unit, GSM-R

Project Officer,

European Railway

Agency

(ERA)

R UIC – BUILDING ON THE EXISTING CORE COMPETENCE

The UIC is under-going fundamen-tal change in itstransformation toa more effectiveglobal organisa-tion. Its missionremains firmlyfixed on being avibrant technicalplatform and asource of dissemi-

nation for all Members where issues of stan-dardisation, harmonisation, best practicesolutions and innovative ideas for futureimplementation will remain close to its core.

We have been committed from the early1980s to an interoperable Trans-EuropeanRail Network, in close collaboration with theEuropean Commission (EC) and the supplyindustry, and, as such, an interoperable traf-fic management and signaling system wasone of the very first challenges. The earliestconception of the European TrafficManagement System (ERTMS) can betraced back more than 20 years.

To date, the term ERTMS has encapsulatedthree distinct sub-projects:• ETCS – European Train Control System• GSM-R – Global System for mobile

telecommunications for railways, and• ETML – European Traffic Management Layer

The influence of interlockings on the overallERTMS architecture for higher applicationlevels has now prompted the railways andindustry to engage in a joint EU funded projectcalled Integrated European SignalingSystem (INESS).

This project started in October 2008 and willbe coordinated by the UIC, leveraging on theresults of past work in the UICEuroInterlocking project. INESS is expectedto develop unified functional requirementsbased on the convergence of railway signal-ing principles.

The rapid migration to GSM-R has resultedfrom at least four supporting factors:• the decision to base the rail system on

GSM• railways were already anticipating a move

from analogue to digital technology• telecommunications increasingly forms

the backbone of many existing and newcustomer services, and

• relationship building between the telecom-munications industry and railways.

Thanks to the extent of GSM-R implemen-tation in Europe is impressive, with morethan 65,000 km constructed, 25,000 cabradios activated and 120,000 mobile users.The challenge for the GSM-R project in thefuture, in relation to ERTMS, will be to keeppace with telecommunication innovationwhile ensuring that the requirements of theETCS signaling system are met in relation tofrequency bandwidth, non-interference,capacity utilisation and protection againstobsolescence.In recent years railway domain knowledge inevery sphere of technical activity, includingtelecommunications, has been spread andmany parts of the knowledge regenerationprocess, from innovation to standardisationor technical Specification,

is now placed under the responsibility of dif-ferent organisations, such as UIC, CEN/CEN-ELEC, CER/EIM and ERA. The custodianshipof this knowledge for future generations is animportant issue. In the European area, theEuropean Commission (EC) continues to pro-mote new polices and a central role for railtransport in terms of transport modal shift andeconomic and environmental sustainability.Consequently, railways divide theirresources between proactive actions(research, knowledge sharing, benchmarking,innovation and future planning) and reac-tive responses to current and pending legis-lative change affecting their business. TheNorms and Standards in force, at any pointin time, represent the dividing membrane inan ongoing osmosis between the process ofresearch, innovation and consensus buildingand compliance with existing mandatorynorms and specifications. The former may be considered as a bottom-up process involving the continuous regene-ration of ideas for the future while the lattercan be viewed as a top-down process toensure system conformity with currentlegis-lative directives and higher-levelgovernmental ordinance. At a technical level, this interaction isdepicted in the following pyramid of con-tinuous knowledge replenishment:A comprehensive and continuous technicalappreciation as to how the infrastructuredomains (track, structures, signaling,telecommunications and power supply) eachcombine and interface with the railwayrolling stock is a fundamental part of the railsystem knowledge which will need to bepreserved and nurtured. The telecommuni-cations disciple is a clear example wheretechnological innovation does not stand stilland where knowledge needs to be continu-ally updated. ■

ERTMS / GSM-R 15

By G. Dalton,Director Infrastructure UIC

R THIS ISSUE WAS REALISED WITH THE PARTICIPATION OF :

16 FOCUS

Kurt ANDERSEN GSM-R FG Chairman andersenk@pbworld.com Parsons Brinkerhoff Ltd.

Hans BIER ERA ERTMS/GSM-R Officer Hans.bier@era.europa.eu ERA

Dirk BRUKS ENIR Chairman dirk.brucks@deutschebahn.com DB Systel GmbH, Germany)

Gerard DALTON Director Infrastructure Department UIC dalton@uic.asso.fr UIC

Klaus KONRAD GSM-R project Manager, ERIG Chairman konrad@uic.asso.fr UIC

Dan MANDOC GSM-R & Telecom Chargé de mission mandoc@uic.asso.fr UIC

Oana PATRAULESCU Communication - Lay-out patraulescu@uic.asso.fr UIC

Robert SARFATI GSM-R OG Chairman rsarfati@systra.com SYSTRA

Chiel SPAANS Chairman of the NMG chiel.spans@prorail.nl ProRail

Achim VRIELINK Leader Telecom Applications, Achim.vrielink@bahn.de DB NetzProject ManagerGSM-R Shunting