page_title: European Train Control System
section_title: Alternative implementations
hierarchical_section_title: European Train Control System / History / Alternative implementations
caption_attribution_description: English: A crocodile, a TBL1 balise and two eurobalises in Angleur, Belgium
context_page_description: The European Train Control System is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System. It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible safety systems currently used by European railways. The standard was also adopted outside Europe and is an option for worldwide application. In technical terms it is a kind of Positive Train Control.
  ETCS is implemented with standard trackside equipment and unified controlling equipment within the train cab. In its advanced form, all lineside information is passed to the driver wireless inside the cab, removing the need for lineside signals watched by the driver. This will give the foundation for a later to be defined automatic train operation. Trackside equipment aims to exchange information with the vehicle for safely supervising train circulation. The information exchanged between track and trains can be either continuous or intermittent according to the ERTMS/ETCS level of application and to the nature of the information itself.
context_section_description: The ETCS standard has listed a number of older Automatic Train Controls (ATC) as Class B systems. While they are set to obsolescence, the older line side signal information can be read by using Specific Transmission Modules (STM) hardware and fed the Class B signal information to a new ETCS onboard safety control system for partial supervision. In practice, an alternative transition scheme is used where an older ATC is rebased to use Eurobalises. This leverages the fact that a Eurobalise can transmit multiple information packets and the reserved national datagram (packet number 44) can encode the signal values from the old system in parallel with ETCS datagram packets. The older train-born ATC system is equipped with an additional Eurobalise reader that converts the datagram signals. This allows for a longer transitional period where the old ATC and Eurobalises are attached on the sleepers until all trains have a Eurobalise reader. The newer ETCS-compliant trains can be switched to an ETCS operation scheme by a software update of the onboard train computer.
  In Switzerland, a replacement of the older Integra-Signum magnets and ZUB 121 magnets to Eurobalises in the Euro-Signum plus EuroZUB operation scheme is under way. All trains had been equipped with Eurobalise readers and signal converters until 2005 (generally called "Rucksack" "backpack"). The general operation scheme will be switched to ETCS by 2017 with an allowance for older trains to run on specific lines with EuroZUB until 2025.
  In Belgium, the TBL 1 crocodiles were complemented with Eurobalises in the TBL 1+ operation scheme. The TBL 1+ definition allowed for an additional speed restriction to be transmitted to the train computer already. Likewise in Luxembourg the Memor II (using crocodiles) was extended into a Memor II+ operation scheme.
  In Berlin, the old mechanical train stops on the local S-Bahn rapid transit system are replaced by Eurobalises in the newer ZBS train control system. Unlike the other systems it is not meant to be transitional for a later ETCS operation scheme. The signalling centres and the train computer use ETCS components with a specific software version, manufacturers like Siemens point out that their ETCS systems can be switched for operating on ETCS, TBL, or ZBS lines.
  The Wuppertal Suspension Railway called for bids on a modernization of its train protection and management system. Alstom won the tender with a plan largely composed of ETCS components. Instead of GSM-R the system uses TETRA which had been in use already for voice communication. The TETRA system will be expanded to allow movement authority being signaled by digital radio. Because train integrity will not be checked, the solution was called as ETCS Level 2+ by the manufacturer. Train integrity is the level of belief in the train being complete and not having left coaches or wagons behind. The usage of moving blocks was dropped however while the system was implemented with just 256 balises checking the odometry of the trains that signal their position by radio to the ETCS control center. It is expected that headways will drop from 3,5 minutes to 2 minutes when the system is activated. The system has been inaugurated on 01/09/2019.
caption: Croco + TBL + ETCS balises at the same signal in Belgium
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