The European Union is going to distribute roughly 2,8 billion euros among 94 transport projects through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF). The rail sector is receiving around 77% of the total funds, with a strong focus on the deployment of the European Train Control System (ETCS) both on-board and trackside. The rail freight sector will receive over 87 million euros for ETCS implementation on locomotives.
Both operators and locomotive lessors are included in the list of beneficiaries. The largest slice of the pie, 18 million euros, will go to Austrian ÖBB to upgrade Taurus locomotives, deployed both for freight and passenger services, which will be equipped with ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3.6. Czech incumbent ČD Cargo comes in second, with two investment plans totalling 15,96 million euros for the installation of ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3.
The third largest receiver of funds in this context will be DB Cargo, which will get funds through three instalments for a total of over 12,8 million euros: 5,66 million euros to equip BR193 locomotives with ETCS Baseline 2; 4,29 million euros to upgrade the ETCS on BR187 locomotives; and 1,8 million euros to retrofit type 6400 locomotives, used in Belgium and the Netherlands. Other operators receiving funds from this CEF session are Slovakian state-owned ŽSSK with 5,58 million euros and Austrian private operator Wiener Lokalbahnen Cargo with 2,19 million.
Over 33 million euros for lessors
In the rolling stock leasing market, five companies will receive financial support for the deployment of ETCS Baseline 3. European Locomotive Leasing, present in Germany and Austria, will receive 2,75 million euros to upgrade 50 locomotives. Moreover, French lessor Akiem will receive 3,41 million euros to upgrade seven series of locomotives.
In addition, Beacon Rail, based in London but leasing all over Europe, will receive 10,54 million euros for ETCS deployment on the 109 locomotives it acquired from Lineas a couple of years ago. Siemens Mobility is also getting 8,41 million euros for the ETCS upgrade on Vectron locomotives, while Railpool will receive 8,58 million for the deployment of the technology on their vehicles.
Infrastructure upgrades
A few important rail freight arteries (or future arteries) are also receiving significant funds for various modernisation projects in eastern Europe, spanning from electrification to ETCS trackside deployment. One of the major beneficiaries is Rail Baltica, which was assigned 295,5 million euros for unspecified projects in the Baltics and another 294 million for improving the Knyszyn – Osowiec line in Poland, which will connect the country to the new infrastructure.
Remaining in Poland, one of the most important rail projects, the CPK line, will get 18,35 million euros for studies for a high-speed line between Mikołów and the border with Czechia. Furthermore, 33 million euros for the electrification of the Iasi – Ungheni line between Romania and Moldova. Another line in Romania, the Ploiesti – Buzau – Focsani, will be modernised with 45 million euros destined to the country’s infrastructure manager.
A few investments also concern railways in Ukraine. Most notably, 76 million euros will be allocated to the upgrade of the railway line between the Poland/Ukraine border crossing in Mostyska and Lviv. Moreover, 32,15 million euros will go to the preparations for the upgrade of the Košice Čierna nad Tisou, improving connectivity between Slovakia’s second largest city and Ukraine.
ETCS trackside projects highlight usual issues
Other infrastructure upgrades concern the trackside installation of ETCS. Austria will receive 44,6 million for ETCS Level 2 Baseline 3 along 500 kilometres of rail network. In Poland, 534 kilometres of double track railway will be equipped with ETCS Level 1 Limited Supervision Baseline 3 with over 94 million euros coming from the CEF funds. Another important project for rail freight, the Divaca – Koper line in Slovenia, will be equipped with ETCS Level 1 and electronic interlockings with 2,29 million euros.
The difference between ETCS versions across Member States of the European Union, as highlighted also by this latest distribution of funds, is quite a persistent issue in Europe. Having different versions of this technology will not fix the interoperability issue. Moving from a landscape that is fragmented because of different national systems to one that is fragmented because of different ETCS versions might not be the ideal path to follow.
Other projects
There are other important projects which will receive funds from CEF. Rail Net Europe is seeing 45 million euros coming its way to distribute to infrastructure managers to “to upgrade legacy systems, develop common telematics reference files, and promote the finalisation and updates of all central systems”.
Moreover, the document did not forget about one of the most debated rail freight project in Europe: the Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC). Almost 25 million euros will be allocated to the Swedish infrastructure manager Trafikverket for “study on a large-scale testing” of DAC. Finally, funds are also going to sector associations. For example, UIRR will benefit from almost 2,5 million euros for studies and support for companies for TSI implementation.
