ALSTOM’S VISION

FOR THE DIGITALISATION

OF MAINLINE RAILWAYS

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 A ls to m ’s V i s i o n fo r t h e D igit a l is a t ion of M a in l in e R a il w a y s

ALSTOM’S VISION FOR

MAINLINE DIGITALISATION
The tracks to the sustainable and digital mobility
services of tomorrow are being laid out today and Alstom
is now, as ever, the lead engine for sweeping,
sector-wide innovation.

The climate challenge is both a calling and a mission

for rail, being the sustainable, efficient and best collective
transport and freight transport option for a well-connected
future. Simply put - trains are needed now more than ever.
We need to make sure they are fast, efficient, safe,
comfortable and on time.

Digitalisation is the key, the benefits are numerous and

far-reaching, and Alstom is at the forefront of railway digital
transformation and automation. On mainlines around the
world, we have safely and sustainably reduced travel times,
increased frequency, and expanded capacity as we
maximise performance on existing infrastructure, all the
while delivering agile controls on all levels, system-wide
safety and security, greater passenger comfort, energy
savings, and overall cost reductions.

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 A ls to m ’s V i s i o n fo r t h e D igit a l is a t ion of M a in l in e R a il w a y s

Simplifying System Architecture

and Reducing Trackside
Equipment
All over the world, mainline rail operators are tasked with
a multitude of interconnected challenges: increase capacity
of passengers and freight on existing infrastructure;
optimise energy efficiency; reduce costs and emissions,
all while maintaining a high level of safety and continuously
improving service.
European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 is an optimal
signalling solution for contemporary demands and Alstom’s
proven solution comprises best-in-class with flexible and
upgradeable design. The core of ETCS Level 3 is a moving-
block signalling system that promises optimised train
spacing (short headways) in all operations (from low
to high-density systems) while minimising trackside
equipment. Deployment requires a switch in logic from
track-based to train-based signalling, which combines track
separation (traditionally allocated to the interlocking
apparatus) and train separation (traditionally allocated
to the radio block centre, or RBC). With an eye to the
future, Alstom will be at the forefront of standardising and
implementing ETCS Level 3 over the coming years.
However, as it will most likely take more than 10 years
to finalise full standardisation, for the time being, Alstom’s
ETCS Hybrid Level 3 offers operators a balanced approach
for capacity increase at limited investment and optimised
life-cycle cost, with continuous radio communication.
Alstom’s ETCS Hybrid Level 3 solution increases the
efficiency of train control systems, optimising line
capacity by anticipating and adapting train speed
through continuous train position measurement and
control via a radio-based signalling system.
With Hybrid Level 3, rail operators can equip their existing
infrastructure with a virtual-block signalling system for
positioning trains equipped with a train integrity monitoring
system (TIMS). This reduces the impact of the new system
on existing trackside systems such as the RBC,
interlocking, and traffic control centre while subjecting
operational procedures to minimal overhaul. Meanwhile,
the existing train detection can be used to position trains
without a TIMS and to handle degraded situations.

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 A ls to m ’s V i s i o n fo r t h e D igit a l is a t ion of M a in l in e R a il w a y s
This innovative approach allows operators, such as India’s
NCRTC, to increase line capacity while reducing the number
of train detection systems installed trackside,
less infrastructure means substantially reducing life-cycle
cost. Alstom has won a contract from the NCRTC to design,
supply, and install the signalling, train control, and telecoms
of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit
System (RRTS) Corridor. This line will be the first in India to
adopt ETCS Hybrid Level 3.
Further reduction of trackside equipment is achieved
with the use of satellite and odometry positioning
systems.
On Alstom’s world-first, radar-less ETCS odometry installed
onboard trains, the system collects real-time data from
both satellite positioning and inertial movement sensors.
This data is then combined and analysed to determine
absolute train positioning, unaffected by extreme
weather conditions.
Transitioning from trackside electrical detection systems
to advanced digital technologies, including satellite
positioning systems and onboard odometry sensors,
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enables the removal of balises and a general reduction
of trackside components, lowering maintenance
requirements and overall operational costs.
The new odometry system, based on data fusion, which
Alstom is currently implementing in Norway, is applicable
to all types of trains, environments and weather conditions.
Reducing trackside equipment and enhancing onboard
intelligence causes an increase in the amount of data
exchange. For this, Alstom is preparing the introduction
of Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS)
technology. FRMCS follows today’s Global System for
Mobile Communications – Rail (GSM-R) radio technology.
It is based on 5G mobile technology and is able to transmit
information collected by sensors, cameras onboard trains,
at stations, and on tracks that goes beyond traditional voice
and ETCS data. The data is in real-time through higher data
rates and lower latency times. Alstom is also exploring the
feasibility of using public networks.
 A ls to m ’s V i s i o n fo r t h e D igit a l is a t ion of M a in l in e R a il w a y s
Enhanced Onboard Intelligence
Paving the Way for Autonomous Trains
Autonomous train mobility is fast approaching.
More and more onboard intelligence, digital systems and
leading tech solutions, allow for more and more
automation, which in turn streamlines processes and
services, lowering costs while offering
greater efficiency.
Automation is the way forward and Alstom is proud to
lead the development and implementation of Automatic
Train Operation (ATO) over ETCS in mainline applications.
Alstom’s ATO vision meets the challenges operators face
today and will be facing in the future: expanding capacity
on existing infrastructure, reducing carbon emissions, and
handling driver scarcity, all while enabling a wide range
of enhancements – for operators, drivers, passengers and
the general public.
ATO translates into maximising and optimising operations
– increasing line capacity, reducing energy consumption
and costs, and improving general service for passengers,
from comfort to train punctuality.
Alstom has already implemented completely driverless train
automation (GoA4) on metro lines and, as mainline
driverless operation becomes a reality, has implemented
Grade of Automation Level 2 (GoA2, i.e. driver-supervised
automated driving) in a number of projects. In Stuttgart,
for example, Alstom has signed a contract with Deutsche
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Bahn’s (DB) Regio AG to equip 215 of Stuttgart’s S-Bahn
trains with ATO over ETCS in GoA2 to ensure more
sustainable operation and shorter headways.
The driver is still on board in a supervisory role as the ATO
system operates the train, enabling data-driven
optimisation across many tasks, from energy consumption
to timetable compliance, and smooth acceleration and
deceleration for overall passenger comfort.
The next step in ATO evolution will be completely driverless
trains on main lines. Alstom is already running pilot projects
with several partners, on autonomous passenger and
freight trains in France, and further trials will be conducted
in Lower Saxony, Germany, on Coradia Lint trains.
A further big step towards enhanced onboard intelligence
is Alstom’s state-of-the-art onboard computer. It is an
integrated, high-availability, safety-certified,
cyber-protected hardware/software product hosting
onboard signalling control functions and, uniquely, can be
applied for both urban and mainline solutions, executing
vital and non-vital tasks. It is able to integrate
national train control systems as well as ATO. This brings
significant reduction in volume, weight, and energy
consumption, resulting ultimately in a significant reduction
of lifecycle cost.
 A ls to m ’s V i s i o n fo r t h e D igit a l is a t ion of M a in l in e R a il w a y s
Central System Management
and Supervision
The next step in Alstom’s digitalisation vision is to integrate
all data into an advanced central Traffic Management
System (TMS), with global tracking and real-time status
of the entire rail network. This would not only further
enhance the benefits of ATO, but also represent a major
leap towards fully automated mainline railways.
TMS is essential for Automatic Train Operations, as ATO
relies not only on trackside and onboard components,
but also on real-time planning decisions received from
the central TMS. It delivers dynamic timetable and route
information based on relevant criteria like delay
minimisation, respect for train connections, minimised
energy consumption, and maximised track capacity.
The onboard ATO system is capable of acting accordingly,
automatically accelerating or decelerating by controlling
the traction and braking systems while simultaneously
calculating the optimum speed based on infrastructure,
track, and updated timetable data.
TMS further supports operators at control nodes by
allowing them to focus on monitoring operations while the
system performs an increasing number of tasks, such as
optimising routes or adjusting timetables in real time, either
autonomously or with minimal intervention. It also permits
synchronisation between several users when complex tasks
need to be executed.
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Through Big Data analysis, Alstom is gaining deeper
knowledge into improving capabilities, informing operators,
suggesting actions, and allowing superior system-wide
control. TMS helps to improve large-scale energy savings
- a task for which Alstom is collaborating with the
University of Bologna - predicting traffic disruptions
in advance and enabling control centres to act pro-actively.
This also optimises traffic by suggesting and implementing
train speed modulation, thus avoiding unexpected stops,
improving network capacity, safety, and punctuality.
Alstom’s TMS provides improved monitoring of local and
national traffic, and has already been implemented in
Denmark, Sweden, and France. In cooperation with the EU,
Alstom is proactively working on concepts to further
standardise interoperability and thus enable the
international exchange of data between control centres.
Alstom’s vision goes even further by including passenger
flow analytics into TMS, adapting transport capacities
to real-time demand fluctuation, based on historical and
current data obtained by implementing other modal
systems like airport occupancy or city
development forecasts.
All of this contributes to the TMS being a component in
a multimodal ecosystem on a large-scale.
 A ls to m ’s V i s i o n fo r t h e D igit a l is a t ion of M a in l in e R a il w a y s
Data science in the green
mobility era
Data science is becoming a game changer in the mobility
sector and Alstom is at the forefront of the field, rapidly
evolving into a software company.
Within digitalisation, we use insights gained through
operational transparency, advanced analytics, and big data
management to proactively manage operator asset health
and performance.
Today, mainline signalling systems and their equipment
along tracks (object controller, track circuits, etc.) and
on-board trains (radio, odometry, etc) provide huge
amounts of data.
To take full advantage of this already existing data and
to retrieve future data, it is necessary to be able to perform
analysis on huge amounts of data. Data science analysis
supports better maintenance by applying condition
monitoring and predictive analytics and faster
troubleshooting by applying a smart root cause analysis.
In addition, it supports efficient operations by applying
simulations, digital twins, and reinforcement learning
techniques, as well as improving passenger travel
experience by early detection of any network degradation
or fault.
One use-case of data science applied to rail is rail buckling
mitigation / detection. This accounts for around 40
derailments per year in North America alone. With track
circuit data (e.g., real-time temperature, estimated forces),
the risk of derailments due to rail buckling can be
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dramatically reduced. This data can be used to improve
current methods of rail buckling risk management providing
a more accurate assessment based only on weather data.
As a consequence, speed restrictions can be applied
automatically and only when there is a data indication. In
conclusion, rail buckling can be detected in advance to
prevent trains from entering blocks where a buckle has
occurred or is about to occur. As a result, Alstom’s
customers benefit from more efficient products and an
overall higher service quality can be achieved.
Digitalisation of Mobility for
more sustainable and intelligent
transportation
It has been nearly two centuries since the first
steam-powered railway line began carrying passengers,
and today the tracks are being laid for the digital mobility
services of the future. Alstom’s history awards us deep
understanding of the sector and the ability to foresee and
meet the challenges of tomorrow and beyond.
The climate challenge demands our undivided attention and
Alstom has been at the forefront of digitalisation since the
inception of the computing age, for over 50 years, heralding
the sustainable mobility of the future.
The challenge is great, as are the possibilities, and Alstom
is committed to maximising gains for all stakeholders as we
arrive at the station exactly on-time.
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Alstom

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