Oana Gherghinescu, the new executive director of the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA), held her first keynote speech for the rail freight industry at the “Future of Rail Freight” event in Brussels. She revealed some of the priorities for the period of her mandate, including technical specifications for interoperability (TSIs) and ERTMS consistency and stability.
Straight off the bat, Gherghinescu made sure to announce her economic approach to the job. To the disappointment of those tech-minded in the sector, she acknowledged, but Gherghinescu has an economic background. For that reason, she will be looking to reduce costs for the rail freight industry.
How does she plan on doing that? A big part of her plan consists of stabilisation and consistency, particularly when it comes to TSIs and ERTMS. “We need to stabilise TSIs in order to keep them for longer cycles”, Gherghinescu said. She is aiming to keep TSIs in place for five to ten years. “In that time, we all agree to say no to changes, unless it impacts safety”, she added.
A Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI) is a European standard that defines the technical and operational requirements for rail systems to ensure seamless cross-border rail traffic across the EU.
TSIs cover everything from rolling stock and infrastructure to signalling, telematics, energy systems, and accessibility. Their primary goal is to harmonise rail systems across member states, making sure different national networks and equipment can operate together safely, efficiently, and without technical barriers. TSIs are legally binding and form a key part of the EU’s strategy to create a single European railway area.
A drawback, some might argue, is that stable or “frozen” TSIs are not compatible with changes in technology. But, says Gherghinescu, “we are very lucky to have innovation in rail. We need to standardise it, so for example, a standard version of FRMCS and implement it across the board in Europe.”
The question of ERTMS
The ERA executive director takes a similar position when it comes to ERTMS. The rail management system has many different baseline versions, and European countries are not on the same page in terms of implementing a single interoperable version of it. That is an obstacle to ERTMS’ main goal: interoperability across Europe.
In response to an audience question, Gherghinescu underlined her support for a stabilisation of ERTMS specifications. However, she declined to commit to a timeframe or a particular baseline version of the technology.
For their part, the event hosts from the European Rail Freight Association (ERFA) spoke out in favour of freezing baseline 3.6.0 application until the implementation of FRMCS in 2035, when GSM-R becomes obsolete. ERFA also objected to ETCS-only routes before 2035, and wants to minimise and harmonise test specifications for ERTMS. Gherghinescu concurred on that last point, saying that ERA is already working with the ERTMS team to make that happen.
Gherghinescu’s speech could count on applause from the audience. Image: ERFA. © Cédric Puisney