The European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is a European system to create a ‘digital railway’.
The UK government has announced that UK citizens are to benefit from a digital railway by increasing Capacity, reducing Costs, reducing Carbon emissions and increasing Customer satisfaction, otherwise known as ‘the four Cs’.
ETRMS is a major project but is only part of the digitalization process. The UK railway network already has a digital communications system – GSM-R. The second part of the system, namely, the European Train Control System (ETCS) will see the replacement of traditional railway signalling with an electronic equivalent where train movements will be signalled via GSM-R.
