European Local Railways Can Save Euro 1.5 Bln Per Year Thanks to Satellites

Satellites can contribute to improve the efficiency of railway transport. This is the main outcome of a research project financed by the European Commission and coordinated by Ansaldo STS, a global leader in the railway signaling sector. CERTET, Bocconi's Center for Research on Regional Economics, Transport and Tourism has participated in the project and Giuseppe Siciliano highlights its results in a video.

The concept of the project is to use satellite positioning services in order to replace the technologies which are currently used to assist drivers, which are based on physical equipment and physical infrastructure on the tracks. By removing the need for investment and maintenance of such equipment there is a host of savings for both the infrastructure managers and the train operators, which can be estimated in some €1.5 bln per year at the European level for regional lines. The same technology can also be extended to major lines such as high-speed lines. For the regional lines there is also a relevant impact in terms of safety: currently local lines are not endowed with technologies that ensure the same level of safety that the satellite-based system can provide. The safety impact amounts to some €23 mln per year in Europe.

CERTET will accompany the development of this technology, currently at the test level, for the part of the economic evaluation. The roadmap for its implementation is still at the starting phase, so it's a very promising activity that CERTET is glad to be in.