ERTMS upgrade for locomotives and track in Italy thanks to EU grant

Two projects to upgrade Italian infrastructure and rolling stock in terms of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) will be supported by the European Union to the tune of almost €4.5 million from the TEN-T Programme. The projects will improve the safety of rail transport whilst at the same time making the sector more competitive.

The two projects were selected under the 2012 TEN-T Multi-Annual Call, which gave priority to ERTMS, a major European industrial initiative to make rail transport safer and more competitive. Its goal is to substitute more than 20 different train control-command systems which are currently in use in Europe with a single harmonised system.

The first, receiving a grant of just over €1.4 million, involves upgrading the ERTMS software and hardware of the onboard units of 12 high speed locomotives in order to ensure their compliance with the latest consolidated version of this system. The locomotives will then be able to circulate in all other EU Member States which have implemented the same system.

The second project, which will receive €3 million in EU co-financing, consists of deploying ERTMS trackside equipment along the Torino-Napoli high speed line, more specifically on the 230 km long Roma-Napoli section, which is part of ERTMS Corridor B, which stretches in a north to south direction from Stockholm in Sweden to Naples in Italy. The project will ensure the full interoperability of the line.

Both projects will be monitored by the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) and are both set to be completed by the end of 2015.