It is also a notably low-emission means of transportation, measured as CO2 per passenger. It is five times more efficient than private vehicles and seven times better than air transportation. Rail transportation is also continuously growing in Europe, expanding by a mean of 1.7% per year since 2005, according to European Commission’s RMMS report. Ever since they were first set up, intelligent transportation systems (ITS) have helped to improve the rail-passenger service while also increasing safety levels and improving management procedures by transportation authorities and operators.

Rail ITS can be broken down into those related to critical services (safe train movement) and those related to non-safety-critical services or fleet management aids. GMV's operations are focused on the development of the latter two systems.

ITS for critical services are based on rolling out dedicated, high-availability communication networks to facilitate communication between the driver and command post while also connecting up onboard and trackside safety systems. These systems include signaling infrastructure, such as Announcement of Signals and Automatic Braking (ASFA –  Anuncio de Señales y Frenado Automático), the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), Control and Regulation Centers (CRC), and Centralized Traffic Centers (CTC)

Non-critical operational services usually take in all systems that are useful to the operator and passenger, with diverse applications such as:

• Real-time recording and display of the passenger compartments.
• Downloading of recordings to the control center.
• Triggering alarms and reporting them to the control center.
• Remote diagnosis of train equipment faults.
• Passenger infotainment systems
• Intercoms and PA systems
• Platform and station passenger information systems
• Tracking, dispatch, and regulation systems in the control center
• Other non-critical safety systems such as output signal alert devices or speed limit warnings.

In addition to this set of ITS, there are also ticketing systems, especially station access control by means of ticket and smart card validation, onboard validation (particularly on trams), and ticket vending machines onboard trains and in stations.

GMV has produced many notable developments within the above-mentioned railway ITS, boasting a portfolio of such notable customers as Spain’s national operator RENFE, Morocco’s national operator ONCF, Metro de Barcelona, and Metro de Santiago de Chile plus rolling stock manufacturers such as ALSTOM, Talgo, and CAF.

The short- and medium-term future of these systems will involve the progressive take-up of new services facilitated by improvements in mobile communications and Internet services, with multi-modal mobility systems drawing on Mobility as a Service (MaaS) applications and communication and infotainment systems for passengers with the future rollout of 5G networks.

Author: Isidro Prieto Valderrey