Cost Analysis of a Satellite Based ERTMS Applied on Real Lines of the German Network

Abstract

Global Navigation Satellite Systems like GPS (US), GLONASS (Russia) or Galileo (Europe) provide positioning data without high expenditure for ground infrastructure. This fact makes it to a potential application for railway systems. The project ERSAT EAV (ERTMS on Satellite – Enabling Application Validation) designs an ERTMS train control system on the basis of GNSS and IP-based public telecoms [1]. Part of the project is an analysis of the economically potential, which will be presented in the article at hand. There have already been analyses carried out on the basis of generic line standards [1[2]]. However, there have been uncertainties regarding the line parameters – for example how many Radio Block CentersCentres (RBC) will be needed per line kilometerkilometre, how many Eurobalises are there per line kilometerkilometre, how many trains need to be equipped, etc. That is why representative lines of the German regional network have been selected in order to carry out a cost analysis based on real life data. The net present value of the selected lines’ equipment with ERTMS Satellite is contrasted to conventional equipment with ETCS level 2 without lineside signalssignalling. The influence of significant parameters is additionally tested in the framework of a sensitivity analysis.