European Commission adopts ERTMS European Deployment Plan

The European Commission has adopted an implementing regulation on the new European Rail Traffic Management System European Deployment Plan (ERTMS EDP).

On the 05 January 2017, the European Commission adopted an implementing regulation on the ERTMS Deployment Plan which sets new targets until 2023. By this stage, approximately 50 percent of the Core Network Corridors will be ERTMS equipped allowing trains to run seamlessly across borders by replacing differing national technical systems.

50 percent of the Core Network Corridors will be ERTMS equipped by 2023

In 2023, the ERTMS European Deployment Plan will be updated setting out implementation dates for the remaining part of the Corridors between 2024 and 2030.

Commenting on the adoption, Commissioner for Transport Violeta Bulc said: “The European Rail Traffic Management System or ERTMS makes a direct contribution to the competitiveness and the safety of European railways. The deployment plan adopted today provides for a phased implementation along the European rail network, bringing us closer to a fully interoperable single European rail area, where trains can more easily travel across borders.”

The new ERTMS EDP follows consultation and negotiation with Member States, carried out by the European ERTMS Coordinator Karel Vinck over the last two years.

European ERTMS Coordinator Karel Vinck said: “All Member States have accepted ERTMS as the signalling system in Europe. It is ready to be implemented from a technical point of view and through implementing the recently adopted deployment plan we can ensure the timely deployment of ERTMS.”

The ERTMS deployment Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the European Commission, the European Union Agency for Railways, the UIC and European rail sector organisations on the 20th September last year.