Within five years lineside telephones should be a thing of the past. Major changes in signaller communications with moving trains are on the way. The comprehensive GSM-R radio system which gives consistent network-wide coverage for the first time is also the communications component for ERTMS, the in-cab signalling system of the future.

Malcolm Parsons looks at how the GSM-R trials are going in Scotland and how they will help trial ERTMS in Wales.

NETWORK Rail’s trial in Strathclyde, Scot-land, of GSM-R, the train-and-signaller radio communication system, steps up a notch this month when some EWS operations are due to join the trials.

GSM-R, which uses mobile cell-phone technology, is the main part of Network Rail’s £1.7 billion railway communications system investment. The company is also upgrading its conventional telephone network.

The first stage of the Strathclyde GSM-R trials has successfully passed its halfway point with no major defects and in the summer a second phase will cover a greater area with more trains and signal-ling centres involved.

Jon Wiseman, Network Rail programme director for the system, said: “The railway communications system has the potential to revolutionise the way we operate both passenger and freight services on Britain’s rail network. To date, the Strathclyde trial has proved extremely successful, with no major defects.

“The project continues to make excellent progress throughout the UK and we are on track to make the system fully operational by 2013.”

GSM-R – the railway version of the Global System for Mobile Communications – gives secure driver-to-signaller communication across the network for the first time, with faster handling of emergency calls and improved routine operational communications.

It will replace analogue radio systems by 2013 and also means that fixed lineside equipment, such as signal post telephones, will no longer be needed.

The GSM-R system has three elements – fixed terminals in signalling centres, mobile terminals located in driving cabs and a network of masts to transmit radio messages between the two.

Together they offer three major benefits: emergency contact can be quickly established between train drivers, signallers and control centres; simultaneous broadcast calls will allow immediate contact with all drivers in a given area, and signallers can receive accurate information on the location of trains within signalling sections.

The system also gives significant train performance benefits in everyday operations, with easier communications reducing delays due to faults or other performance issues – and information being relayed to train passengers more quickly.

Drivers will not have to climb in and out of trains to use signal post telephones, which in itself has major trackside safety and maintenance benefits. 

Introduction of GSM-R also fulfils recommendations from past accident reports, such as Lord Cullen’s Ladbroke Grove inquiry, for one unified sys-tem of signaller-to-train driver communication.

The two current analogue radio systems being replaced were introduced two decades ago and do not provide full network coverage.

The National Radio Net-work (NRN) links drivers to controllers at centres but not to signallers, so for immediate operational contact signal post telephones still have to be used.

While Cab Secure Radio (CSR) offers a comprehensive system, it is installed only over certain routes and is mainly used for driver-only operations.

The new system will have comprehensive coverage of the rail network, including deep cuttings and tunnels. However, some freight-only branches may not be included.
 
At the same time as GSM-R is being trialled, the Fixed Telecomms Network is receiving a complete overhaul, including the laying of thousands of miles of replacement fibre optic and copper cable, to standardise a network which has grown piecemeal over the years.

As well as being used to carry GSM-R messages to and from radio masts, and to carry signalling and other data circuits, the fixed network provides telephone links across the network.

The principles of GSM-R were agreed by some 32 European railway operators back in 1997 and is also known as the European railway wireless standard.

In a wider European context, GSM-R is the communications component in ERTMS – the European Rail Traffic Management System – a cab-based signalling and train
control system.