General technology strategy
1 Contents
Foreword 3 Introduction 4 Strategy process 5 The National Rail Administration business strategy 6 Requirements and performance targets 7 Technological trends and development features 9 Framework conditions for choosing technology 14 General technology strategy 20 Firm links with the National Rail Administration’s focus areas 22 Contact us 23
2 Foreword
Anita Skauge Executive Director, Strategic Planning
Jernbaneverket, the Norwegian National Rail Administration, is currently facing major technological challenges in conjunction with choosing the technical systems and facilities of tomorrow. This applies both when carrying out renewals and in the construction of new infrastructure. The challenges imply a need for a general technology strategy that clarifies goals and guides for technological choices. In this context, the central approaches to problems may include:
• The choice of the technological platforms of the future and performance requirements for central facilities and systems • Management of the ageing stock of facilities, in terms of maintenance, prioritisation and pace of renewal • International standardisation and requirements for interoperability • Accelerating development and use of ICT-based railway engineering facilities and systems
The strategy has been drawn up primarily for internal use, and shall be used mainly as a basis for investigations and principal plans where alternative technological choices and solutions are to be evaluated, and in the procurement of technical systems and facilities. We assume that the strategy can also be useful in other contexts, such as in conjunction with technical discussions with railway undertakings, suppliers and railway administrations.
Anita Skauge Executive Director, Strategic Planning Introduction
Technology strategy is a broad term, for signalling systems, energy supply and and initially it was necessary to limit and KVIKT (Kjørevei [Eng: track], Informasjon prioritise in order to make the scope [Eng: information], Kommunikasjon manageable. In the introductory work, [Eng: communication] and Trafikkstyring a synopsis was drawn up covering the [Eng: traffic control]) in parallel with the most important principal technologi- formulation of a general technological cal challenges and choices that face the strategy. The substrategies are presented National Rail Administration in terms of in separate reports. When required, infrastructure. In addition to the require- sub-strategies will be drawn up for more ment for a general technological strate- specialist areas. gy, a particular requirement emerged for drawing up technological sub-strategies In addition to formal strategy documents, for electrotechnical facilities and systems. technology strategy work also revolves, For a long time, an international super- to a large extent, around attitudes. When structure and substructure project has drawing up the National Rail Administra- been executed to harmonise railways. tion’s general technology strategy, great This means there is less need to draw up emphasis was therefore laid on good, sub-strategies within these areas at the broad interdisciplinary involvement cut- present time. Consequently, the natural ting across organisational boundaries. thing has been to draw up sub-strategies
4 Strategy process
Technological action by the National Rail strategy in conjunction with rolling out Administration will contribute to making the NTP (National Transport Plan) and Norwegian railways more competi- action programmes. This work is being tive. Consequently, conscious targeted initiated by the department responsi- technological decisions must be taken ble for technology strategy. It is these based on customer and owner require- conditions, together with experience ments, the National Rail Administration’s gained from drawing up the technological business strategy and other central sub-strategies that form the foundation framework conditions (terms), and which for drawing up the National Rail Admini take technological developments into stration’s general technology strategy. account. However, it is important to Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of the undertake adjustments/updates to the interactions within the strategy.
Framework conditions (terms) Technological developments
General technology Technology + sub-strategies strategy Teknologiske delstrategier Infrastructure performance goals
Adjustments National Rail Administration business strategy
Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the interactions within the strategy.
5 The National Rail Administration business strategy
Vision: More by rail!
The National Rail Administration’s tion) which takes care of the need for starting point: The Norwegian State independent Norwegian management, owns and holds responsibility for the inspection and preparedness. scope and quality of the public railway network, stations and terminals, and The National Rail Administration’s purpose regulates and controls traffic on the – transport policy objectives: The National network. In exercising this responsi Rail Administration shall offer a safe, bility, Norway’s Ministry of Transport functional railway network with an ef- and Communications wishes to have ficient, safe traffic system, and with good its own national professional organi- availability to railway undertakings, the sation (the National Rail Administra- travelling public and transport users.
Areas of focus Principal objectives
Competitive strength • Prepare for more freight on the railways and social benefit • Contribute to increased market share for local traffic and medium-distance traffic Stresses owner and customer • Guarantee effective capacity and resource utilisation requirements and expectations for the National Rail Administration – • Act as a neutral and active infrastructure administrator and capacity distributor and the results that are to provide • Improve the opinion of the National Rail Administration added value for society and the customers
Safety, punctuality and • Maintain the established safety level for rail transportation, and guarantee that customer satisfaction all changes produce development in a positive direction Stresses the three most • Ensure that all trains can adhere to the route schedule important features of the • Guarantee good levels of availability and correct traffic information National Rail Administration and delivery to the customer
Productivity and process quality • Improve productivity in all areas Stresses the correct use of • Strengthen and make more efficient the preparedness for fault correction resources and the quality of the • Improve planning work internal work processes
People and organisation • Guarantee good, sufficient competence within the rail sector Stresses the input factors – • Improve leadership at all levels people, competence, organisa- • Take care of human needs during the transition tion and systems necessary • Improve and simplify control and monitoring systems for carrying out National Rail Administration duties
6 The National Rail Administration business strategy Requirements and performance targets
To ensure that customers and owners are particular importance to be able to satisfy satisfied with the services delivered by the requirements of both customers and the National Rail Administration, it is of owners within the following areas:
Customer requirements Owner requirements
• Safety • Safe transportation system • Uptime • Eco-friendly transportation • Efficient stations and terminals • Improved mobility within and between regions • Information • Efficient transportation system • Training and maintenance of skills within the • Availability for all railway sector • Keeping promises
Figure 2. Customer and owner requirements Source: General plan for business operations 2007-2010
Of these requirements, there are special in axle loads, speeds and free space performance targets for profiles, increased terminal and passing track capacity, and sufficient capacity • Efficient transportation systems in the energy supply. The National Rail • Uptime Administration has a goal of being able • Safety to effect a trebling of current freight • Information volume on the main routes up to 2040, and increased frequency and running which impact on the formulation of the speeds for passenger trains. general technology strategy. The National Transport Plan (NTP) Important performance requirements for 2010-2019 will contain main targets and these areas are given below. In addition, staged targets for the transport sector, please refer, among other things, to the plus indicators for each of the staged National Rail Administration’s business targets that state how much progress plan for 2007, the Safety Manual, the has been made in following these up. National Network Enquiry (More by Rail up to 2040), the National Rail Administra- Uptime tion’s business strategy and the National Today’s requirement for maximum time Rail Administration’s strategy for public loss due to slow moving is 1 minute per information for supplementary descrip- 100 km. In addition, the National Rail tions of relevant performance targets. Administration has defined the follow- ing objectives for uptime with regard to Efficient transportation punctuality for existing infrastructure: systems The National Rail Administration aims Train times per year – hours’ delayed per year Uptime = to reduce the costs of operating and Train hours per year maintaining the infrastructure, and of traffic control. In addition, the National This requirement has been set at 99.4 Rail Administration wishes to contribute (based on 600,000 train-km), to be to reducing the railway undertakings’ fulfilled by 2009. transportation costs. Important technical areas that could contribute to reducing overall transport costs include increases
7 Centralized traffic control. Photo: Øystein Grue
Process standard EN-50126 shall be used Information in the procurement of components and Performance requirements in the in the project design of new facilities. National Rail Administration’s strategy This requires requirements to be drawn for public information include: up for reliability, maintainability and safety for components and facilities, • The general public shall be content adapted to the requirements of the route with information from the National Rail concerned. It is expected that infrastruc- Administration ture uptime will be increased further • The National Rail Administration’s infor- through this work. mation at stations shall be standardised and easily recognisable Safety • The National Rail Administration’s infor- Rail transportation shall not lead to any mation base shall be accessible, correct loss of human life or any serious injury and unambiguous to persons, environment or materiel • An important factor for success will be (“vision zero”). The National Rail Admin- the supply of correct and relevant infor- istration’s general objective for rail safety mation from the railway undertakings has been formulated as: “The established at the correct time safety level for rail transportation in Norway shall be maintained. All changes shall ensure development in a positive direction.”
8 Technological trends and development features
Weighing up technological /strategic tional transportation and technical and choices and solutions for the National operational standardisation. To arrange Rail Administration will contribute to for the free movement of traffic over supporting the National Rail Admini national boundaries, thereby reinforcing stration’s business strategy, but at the the competitive strength of the railways, same time, this will have to take into a historic comprehensive standardisation consideration the technological trends programme is currently underway within and development features that we are the EU. seeing. Thorough knowledge and an active attitude to the technological EU directives have been drawn up development will mean that we can including requirements for interoperabil- be at the leading edge in evaluating ity, and, as far as Norway is concerned, technological choices and solutions, and these have been implemented in Norwe- form an opinion about the consequences gian Law by means of the Interoperabil- of these for the National Rail Adminis- ity Regulations [Samtrafikkforskriften]. In tration and the railway undertakings accordance with the directives, techni- (opportunities and threats). In particular, cal specifications for interoperability the following trends and development (TSIs) within the trans-European railway features are those that will affect the system are to be drawn up. Such TSIs will technological choices and developments gradually be drawn up for a number of of the National Rail Administration: districts, systems and subsystems both for infrastructure and rolling stock. • International standardisation (inter operability etc.) The Interoperability Regulations set • International collaboration on R&D and requirements for interoperability for the purchasing Norwegian part of the conventional trans- • Environmental awareness and develop- European railway system. The regulations ment of green technology apply to the track and its operation, traffic • Accelerating developments within ICT- control and traffic operations, including based facilities and systems rolling stock. It may be expected that all • Shorter working life and increased of our routes will gradually be included in frequency of replacement the conventional trans-European railway • Centralisation system. The High Speed Regulations • Requirements for universal design specify requirements for interoperability • Developments in rolling stock for the trans-European railway system for • Competition for resources high-speed trains, and, for the National Rail Administration, will be used in po- International standardisation tential project design and the building of (interoperability etc.) high-speed lines. Each country in Europe has built up its own national engineering systems and The EU Commission’s vision for further the traffic regulations associated with work on interoperability includes those. These systems possess characteris consolidation and amalgamation of the tics that constitute both a technical and interoperability directives for European operational barrier to trains being able railways. This may mean an amalga- to operate across national boundaries. In mation of the TSIs for the high-speed particular, this situation has been brought network and the conventional railway about through defence considerations network. Important purposes of this type and the protection of national indus- of amalgamation are that rolling stock tries. In contrast to rail, other forms of for high-speed services is able to operate transportation, such as traffic by road, sea on conventional track, and that rolling and air, have already facilitated interna- stock designed for conventional track is
9 able to operate on high-speed track. In and the ERTMS onboard equipment addition to practical considerations, this (ERTMS: European Rail Traffic Manage- type of arrangement will also better fa- ment System) and the intent to enter cilitate cross-acceptance of rolling stock. into joint framework agreements.
Apart from being able to operate the The choice of international standardised trains across national boundaries, free technological solutions, and therefore from any obstacles, an increase in increased opportunities for interna- international technical standardisation tional collaboration on joint technol- will contribute to increased competi- ogy platforms and interfaces, will be of tion for development, production and benefit in many ways to the National delivery of railway engineering facilities Rail Administration. In addition to the and systems. One important objective formal collaborative venture, valuable is to facilitate the most open competi- synergistic effects will be achieved tion possible as far as deliveries are by being able to build good personal concerned, thereby keeping monopoly professional networks, and exchanging situations in check. International stand- reports, investigations and experience ardisation, and the removal of special within one another’s areas of interest. national characteristics, will prepare the The good technical collaboration that ground for more use of cross-acceptance, exists between Norway’s National Rail thereby streamlining today’s resource- Administration and the Swedish Rail intensive and expensive processes for Administration on joint technological technical type approval. developments and trialling can continue in the form of several joint R&D projects, In conjunction with the international and with a greater scope of joint pro- TSI work, the formal procedures for curements and framework agreements. change management are being drawn up. Procedures such as this shall, among Environmental awareness other things, ensure that software and and development of green hardware equipment upgrades should technology be backward compatible. In future, increasingly strict requirements for environmental respect are going An important factor for success in the to be set. Both nationally and globally, continuing European standardisation there is currently a great deal of inter- project is succeeding in developing a est in developing new technology that standardised safety system, known as can contribute to more eco-friendly Euro-Interlocking. Work on this is still solutions. Within the railway, such new ongoing solutions could result in the development of locomotives and multiple units based International collaboration on on fuel cell technology, and new railway R&D and purchasing engineering solutions in the infrastructure The choice of technological solutions that produce fewer emissions and noise. based on technical standardisation The development of more intelligent (TSIs and other relevant standards and control systems will make it possible to agreements) means that the National economise further on energy in facilities Rail Administration and other countries’ and systems, driver support on trains for railway administrations (such as Ban- reduced energy consumption etc. verket, the Swedish Rail Administration) will, in many cases, choose the same Accelerating developments technological platform. This opens up within ICT-based facilities and good opportunities for R&D collabora- systems tion, such as the joint development of Accelerating technological develop- interfaces between new technology and ments within ICT means an increas- existing infrastructure. Cf. the collabora- ingly rapid accomplishment of new, tion on the development/procurement useful solutions. The rapid develop- of STM (Specific Transmission Module) ment is a challenge for the National Rail
10 Part of safety installation. Photo: Jernbaneverket
Administration and other railways which ICT-based solutions, the working life of traditionally have a renewal cycle of 30 to facilities and equipment has reduced. For 40 years or more for the “heaviest duty” example, the expected working life for facilities. older relay-based safety systems is ap- prox 40-50 years, while expected work- In future, the National Rail Administra- ing life for newer computer-based safety tion will be able to bring new solutions systems is approx 30 years. We have an to fruition within intermodal intelligent equivalent situation within track power transport systems and services (cf. the supply in which the oldest rotating work with Arktrans and the National Rail converter stations have a working life of Administration’s participation in ITS Nor- approx 60 years, while the more recent way). Within traffic control also, we will static converters are assumed to have a be able to benefit from these technologi- working life of approx 40 years. cal developments by bringing into use more effective systems with increased We see examples of life-extending intelligence for decision-making support measures being a major challenge, both for the train controllers. An example of technical and financial, for facilities and this type of support might be assistance systems with strong supplier ties and with assigning priorities between freight where the National Rail Administration and passenger trains in exceptional gradually will become the only user. The situations. challenge may be highlighted by what now happens within today’s ATC equip- The train undertakings’ requirements ment (ATC: Automatic Train Control). The for access to real-time information will National Rail Administration has had to increase in the years to come, and this carry out a final order for the specifically will specify requirements for the National Norwegian ATC codes because these are Rail Administration as infrastructure going out of production. New European administrator. legislation forbids further production of the decoders based on respect for the We can expect an increase in the use of environment, and it will be extremely wireless communication, and therefore expensive to undertake necessary recon- increased use of the GSM-R network for structions and conversions of the pro- purposes other than train radio, emer- duction process for relatively small-scale gency communication and ERTMS. supplies to the National Rail Administra- tion. The National Rail Administration has Shorter working life and received notification from relevant sup- increased frequency of pliers that the current ATC will gradually replacement be phased out. In general, we see a de- With developments leading in the direc- velopment in which the supplier market tion of a greater use of electronics- and within signalling systems prioritises the
11 Overhead contact line installation. Photo: Øystein Grue
development and sales of ERTMS ahead It is particularly important to manage of life-extending measures in older increasingly rapid technological devel- technological solutions. The National Rail opments, and the increasing scope of Administration “as a small-scale” railway electronics and ICT in such a way as to administration will be “forced” to change ensure that operating and maintenance technological platform. costs are kept at an acceptable level in relation to the cost-benefit of the facili- The speed of ICT developments will ties and systems. When choosing new mean a more frequent need to upgrade technology and carrying out progress software for facilities and systems. This planning, efforts must be made to find type of development, with which the the optimum cost option, by measures National Rail Administration is familiar such as cost/benefit analyses and LCC from its administrative ICT systems, will analyses (analyses of lifecycle costs). also gradually manifest itself within more of the National Rail Administration’s Centralisation basic engineering areas. An important Increased technical centralisation is consideration with upgrades such as currently in focus within many busi- this must, however, be that facilities nesses and, in future, technological and systems thereby provide a higher developments will provide additional cost-benefit to rail traffic and users. The opportunities for streamlining by means National Rail Administration will have to of appropriate centralisation. carry out some updates in order to main- In particular, this will provide the tain continued product support from the National Rail Administration with new suppliers. options concerning the centralisation of systems for control and monitoring. New technology will have to be introduced at a rate of progress which With a development in which computers means that the technology will not be are becoming increasingly more power- “out-of-date” before the implementation ful, while at the same time requiring less has been completed. Increased inter- physical space, they will be assigned national standardisation will contribute larger and more complex tasks. The to a reduced requirement for special National Rail Administration has central- Norwegian solutions. By using stand- ised all remote control of the transformer ardised facilities and systems as much as stations within the track power supply. possible, for example, there will be sev- Monitoring and inspection of the Natio eral railways sharing the costs linked to nal Rail Administration’s GSM-R network technological developments. This ought is also centralised on a national basis. to mean that the costs of the systems will be lower to compensate for the shorter Developments can make it possible to working life. work with bodies such as the Swedish
12 Rail Administration on joint central Requirements for universal onboard the trains (such as ERTMS). We equipment and operator locations. This design will also see a development in which is a situation which the National Rail In the period ahead there will be an in- efforts are made to use lighter rolling Administration will gradually have to creased focus on the universal design of stock, perhaps especially within the area take a stand on. Community safety and stations and station areas to ensure that of passenger traffic. preparedness must be included in any all user groups and travellers, including evaluations of solutions of this type. passengers with reduced mobility, can Access to the railway enterprises’ use the public transport services offered. strategies for procuring and phasing out With centralisation, the number of Gradually, many opportunities will existing rolling stock, in so far as these components and the scope of the stock become available as modern informa- are available to the National Rail Admini of facilities could be reduced, to ensure tion technology is developed. But, here stration, will provide useful information increased reliability (fewer fault sources). too, there are some pitfalls in the form of about important circumstances that One major risk of increased centralisation expensive technological solutions and affect infrastructure development. is that this may lead to major negative special adaptations. consequences for the railway under Competition for resources takings in the event of any failure of vital Developments in rolling stock We are in a period of strong competition components and in the event of major With the exception of the IORE locomo- for resources such as engineering man- interruptions which involve downtime tives on the ore trains on the Ofotbanen power. This trend will probably continue. (resulting from fire, flood, sabotage etc.) line, Hector Rail’s converted El15 and It is consequently important to focus on in rail operations. CargoNet’s newest diesel locomotives ensuring that the National Rail Admini (CD 66) on the Nordlandsbanen line, to stration is given the necessary access To avoid this type of situation, techno date universal locomotives have been to technical resources and continuity of logy and performance must be chosen used (for example CargoNet’s El14 and knowledge and competence. It might be to guarantee the maintenance of rail El16, GreenCargo’s RC4, and OBA’s El13 noted that it takes approx 2 years before operations in exceptional situations. and Di3) for moving freight trains on a recently qualified employee is capable Thorough assessments must be carried the Norwegian railway network. Future of planning overhead lines and signal out (RAMS, LCC, redundancy criteria etc) developments will be moving in the systems. It can be problematic to recruit to make the correct choice of technology direction of greater use of standard and maintain good technical skills within and necessary additional equipment for freight locomotives with increased “yesterday’s” technology. New graduates alternative forms of operation (standby performance. To ensure that the tractive want to work with new technology. systems, duplication of facilities and power of the freight locomotives can be systems, possibly geographically sepa- used to the full, this must be taken care rate duplication and other backup solu- of by dimensioning the energy supply tions) in the event of any deviation. It will of the future, and by capacity increasing also be important to improve the degree measures such as passing-tracks and of automatic monitoring to ensure that measures taken in super- and substruc- a warning is issued at as early a stage as tures etc. possible of any danger of component and system failure. Careful planning/ Developments will be moving in the coordination must also be undertaken in direction of more “intelligent trains” relation to planned maintenance and up- which will involve major sections of grades, and formal duty arrangements. infrastructure systems being moved
13 Framework conditions for choosing technology
In addition to supporting the National uptime. For example, a transition to train Rail Administration’s business strategy detection based on axle counters will be and paying attention to technological less vulnerable than today’s track circuits trends and development characteristics, to earthing problems and return current the general technology strategy must from the overhead power system. also take as a starting point, and provide support for, a number of central frame- Financial framework, technical work conditions (terms): resources and R&D We have to relate to the fact that Nor- • Functionality wegian railways are regarded as “small” • Financial framework, technical in a European context. In comparison resources and R&D with the larger railways (such as those • Adaptations for the Norwegian railway in Sweden, Germany and France), the network and Norwegian operating Norwegian Rail Administration and conditions Norwegian railway undertakings have • Principles for facility renewals considerably smaller budgets and • Norway’s Act relating to Protective technical resources at their disposal for Security Services [Sikkerhetsloven} technological R&D. Consequently, the • Railway safety regulations conditions permit market-oriented (user- [Sikkerhetsforskriften] oriented) development of infrastructure • Technical regulations based on a moderate level and scope of • Environmental consideration technological R&D, ahead of a techno • Promoting supplier independence and logy-oriented focus with large research competition for supplies departments and R&D budgets. • Socio-economic profitability This means that the National Rail Admini Refer to the business strategy for stration ought to base development of information on taking care of safety and the infrastructure on familiar, established punctuality. and tested technology. A principle such as this, on the choice of technology, will Functionality involve relatively moderate financial The technical facilities/systems in the and technical risk, and therefore a infrastructure shall each, in co-existence good level of predictability taking into with one another and with the railway consideration technical approval, plan- undertakings’ rolling stock, satisfy the ning (implementation, progress etc) and functionality and quality requirements budgeting of investments, renewals and that are necessary in order to meet the maintenance. infrastructure performance targets. When choosing technology, solu- This does not mean, however, that no tions must be selected that are robust investment should be made in tech- and reliable with a view to operating nical R&D activities in National Rail environment, operating conditions and Administration in the time ahead. The co-existence with the rest of the infra- National Rail Administration’s infrastruc- structure and rolling stock. ture consists of a number of complex technical facilities and systems. Conse- Improvements to technical co-existence quently, it is important that within the will be an important contribution in field of market-oriented technological enabling the National Rail Administration development the focus is also on finding to achieve performance requirements for new, useful and cost-effective techno-
14 Discussion of technical solution. Photo: Gunalf Bækkeli GSM-R terminal. Photo: Øystein Grue
logical solutions that can contribute to Information about development features increased competitive strength. Even and experience gained by other railways without any ambitions to be at the will best be obtained by the continua- forefront of technology internationally, tion of good international commitment, considerable R&D investment would be for example the technical collaboration required to produce the desired results through NIM (Nordic Infrastructure with a market-oriented strategy. Managers), EIM (European Rail Infrastruc- ture Managers), ERA (European Railway Among other things, the degree of Agency) and UIC (Union Internationale technical and financial uncertainty in de Chemins de fer). The close, intimate R&D projects will be dependent on the collaboration with the Swedish Rail Ad- type of facility/system, areas of use, the ministration on joint solutions and R&D complexity of the interface, the techno is particularly important. logy that is selected in the larger railway administrations, when a final decision Adaptations for the Norwegian ought to be taken about the transition to railway network and Nor a new technology platform, the time for wegian operating conditions the first implementation, and the rate of When implementing new international implementation. For cases in which the standardised technological solutions in use of familiar, established and tested the Norwegian railway network, adapta- technology will not lead to the desired tions for specifically Norwegian technical performance targets, the matter must be solutions and operational stipulations dealt with separately. ought to be avoided as far as possible. However, consideration must be given to It is crucial to the development of the circumstances/factors such as: infrastructure that the National Rail Administration, in consultation with the • Weather conditions, such as snow, ic- railway enterprises, should be in the ing, cold and ever increasing extreme forefront with evaluations of new and weather useful technology. That will allow suf- • The National Rail Administration has a ficient time to be gained for undertaking large extent of single-track operations the necessary investigations, obtaining and a star-shaped railway network experience and other relevant decision • The traffic load on the network varies base information. greatly between different routes and the various parts of the network The choice of technology and technical • The National Rail Administration’s solutions in the National Rail Administra- routes are used mainly by mixed traffic, tion will be based principally on techno and the facilities must consequently be logy that has already been brought into dimensioned for both passenger and use by the major European railways. freight trains
15 Leivoll substation for frequency conversion. Photo: Bane Energi Assembly of GSM-R. Photo: Øystein Grue
• Coordination with the Swedish Rail The term renewal means replacement of Administration facilities where it is no longer economic • Appropriate differentiation of require- or possible to maintain a required func- ments for the performance of the facili- tion by means of preventive or correc- ties and systems on the basis of traffic tive maintenance, or improvement of volume and the line’s importance (line larger components to avoid accelerated priority) degradation.
The purpose of pilot facilities and The facilities in the infrastructure and observed routes at the National Rail the railway undertakings’ rolling stock Administration will mainly be the have a long working life. For example, acquisition of competence and experi- the overhead power line systems cur- ence to enable adaptation of the further rently may reach an age of 65 before implementation with a view to scope, they are renewed, and CargoNet’s EL14 progress, technical details, resource locomotives approach 40 years. As a rule, requirements etc, and to a lesser extent new and modern rolling stock (locomo- technical trials. tives and wagons) will have to run on infrastructure that has different types of A technological development with facilities varying in age, technology and moderate technological and financial risk quality. The National Rail Administration would also be a natural choice based on has many years of solid experience linked the National Rail Administration’s large to analyses, evaluations and procedures extent of single-track operation and for establishing optimum technologi- star-shaped railway network. This type of cal and financial working lives for the track structure could involve major nega- infrastructure’s stock of facilities, and tive consequences for railway operations prioritisations for renewals (cost-driven (and the railway undertakings) in the maintenance). event of any outflow of facilities and sys- tems as a result of technical risks being The current high level of corrective main- too great in connection with trialling and tenance is linked to the fact that system- establishing new technology. atic preventive maintenance will only have been focused on individual facility Principles for facility renewals components, particularly those that were General technology strategy is largely a safety critical. Budgetary conditions have matter of which technological principles led to the down-prioritisation of preven- the National Rail Administration will use tive maintenance (and renewal) because as a basis for renewals. there is a necessity to carry out fault cor- rection and emergency preparedness in
16 order to maintain security and punctual- To be able to harmonise, on a route- ity in railway traffic. In other words, the by-route basis, the performance maintenance philosophy has had to be requirements, it may be appropriate to organised towards increasing functional replace facilities, systems and individual competence in the facilities and maxim- components before they reach the end ising the length of the facilities’ working of their technical working life. This ap- life before they are renewed. This means plies in particular to older facilities that more component replacements and less limit the benefit of investments, and for simultaneousness in renewing different facilities that will form an obstacle to types of facility. interoperability. Other elements may be the acquisition of synergistic effects from The main challenge for maintenance in co-locating technical central equipment the period ahead is not just maintain- for several specialist areas, or technologi- ing the standard of the railway network. cal developments resulting in greater The maintenance must be organised so integration of control and monitoring that the standard and performance of systems. Decisions such as this on en- the facilities are improved where this is forced maintenance must be dealt with required as a result of stricter perform- separately and evaluated in conjunction ance requirements. Good coordination with other prioritised measures. between investments and renewals will be of crucial significance to this work. For a long time to come, the infrastruc- ture will have to live with a mixture of old An important approach to this is to gain and new types of facilities and systems. uniform renewal based on routes (as op- For routes in which ERTMS is to be imple- posed to spots) where this is necessary mented far in the future, development of to achieve/harmonise the performance new parcels (investments) and neces- targets for the infrastructure. The opti- sary spot renewals of safety systems mum length of a “route” would depend (for example due to age and the risk of on several circumstances, such as the collapse) will have to be carried out us- type of subfacility/subsystem, the status ing today’s conventional technology (not of existing plant, performance require- ERTMS). Such facilities will have to be re- ments and facility quantities. placed later when ERTMS is implemented on the route. Dismantled facilities with Important advances of a rotation of this some remaining residual life could be type will be that longer routes will get a used elsewhere or as spare parts. Within standard improvement and a homoge- the energy supply, the National Rail neous stock of facilities with regard to Administration will have routes with con- traffic control, train movement regula- ventional overhead power line systems tions, technology, age, performance and routes based on autotransformers. and rolling stock. For example, renewals based on ERTMS and overhead power To facilitate increased safety and more line systems with autotransformers will flexible attention to operations, fault require, at the outset, a route-by-route correction and maintenance, module- implementation. Some of the TSIs that based systems shall be used with the are currently being drawn up, such fewest possible and clearly defined as the TSI for Energy and its potential interfaces with existing facilities. requirements that the overhead power line systems should be designed for the Norway’s Act relating to use of Euro-pantographs, will also mean Protective Security Services route-by-route renewals before the full [Sikkerhetsloven} effect of the action will be achieved. By The purpose of this legislation is to coordinating renewals of several special- facilitate efficient counteraction of ist areas, the National Rail Administration threats to the country’s independence will achieve improved use of the time and safety and other vital national secu- made available for track work. rity interests. The Act applies to admin-
17 Train for renewal and installation. Photo: Njål Svingheim
istrative agencies. Government or local facilities and systems. Important factors authority agencies are included under for evaluations such as this will often the term “administrative agencies”. The include requirements for performance Act also applies to every legal entity and implementation related to track that is not an administration agency and priority. Necessary permits for deviating which is a supplier of goods or services from technical regulations will have to be to an administration agency in conjunc- obtained from the regulatory authority tion with a security-graded procurement prior to any decision. procedure. The National Rail Administra- tion coordinates emergency prepared Environmental consideration ness work for infrastructure, traffic The National Rail Administration shall control and railway traffic. Technological reinforce the railway’s environmental choices must fall within the stipulations advantage. The environment is one of of the Act relating to Protective Security the railway’s most important advan- Services. tages, and is therefore one of the areas regarded as being most important to be Railway safety regulations successful in. The National Rail Admini [Sikkerhetsforskriften] stration’s general environment policy is The requirements in the safety regula- intended to ensure that statutory and tions will form the basis for technological in-house requirements are included as choices. The safety regulation requires a natural part of the operation, renewal the RAMS standard (EN50126) to be used, and development of the railway network. and the National Rail Administration has Environmental assessments shall be car- drawn up guidelines for this. ried out in conjunction with all processes (cf. the National Rail Administration’s (RAMS is a process standard that is environment manual). intended to take care of the rail system’s Reliability, Availability, Maintainablity Promoting supplier and Safety throughout the working life independence and competition of the entire system. In a railway context, for supplies RAMS encompasses railway rolling stock, Basing technological development on infrastructure and the interaction be- the use of international standards (TSIs tween rolling stock and infrastructure). etc) and agreements, will better facilitate greater competition on supplying the Technical regulations Norwegian railways. In general, techno- The National Rail Administration’s logical choices ought as far as possible technical regulations provide space to minimise those parts of facilities and for an appropriate differentiation of systems that are supplier-dependent. requirements for the performance of Necessary interfaces (such as interfaces
18 between remote control systems, safety supplier-dependence may be that the systems and drive machinery) must be National Rail Administration was early at clearly defined. bringing out new systems and that there were therefore few suppliers to choose The use of interdisciplinary teams is from. This was the case for GSM-R, for often appropriate in conjunction with which until now there have only been drawing up specifications and procure- two relevant suppliers, worldwide. Other ment strategies. That guarantees effec- systems with supplier-dependence tive use of the market. It is important to would include the Vicos remote control prepare high quality specifications and system, and supplies of “telecommunica- procurement strategies which guarantee tions transport” over the telecommuni- that the National Rail Administration cations network. behaves like a professional purchaser. Functionality, reliability (R), availability Complete supplier-independence will (A), maintainability (M), safety and scarcely be achievable in practice. vulnerability (S) and supply strategy Within standardised systems we will must be subject to a full evaluation. In have supplier-dependence in future also. addition, LCC assessments shall be used In particular, this relates to computer- as the foundation for making decisions based facilities and systems (such as on signing contracts with suppliers. remote control and ERTMS). The reason is that the software-based systems Future contracts shall principally be provide a reduced opportunity for based on framework agreements. At the customer insight in relation, for example, same time as entering into framework into existing relay-based signalling agreements, the National Rail Admin- systems. istration shall establish contracts for operations and maintenance. The scope Interfaces between new standardised of operations and maintenance, for technology and existing facilities and which the supplier is assigned respon- systems must, to a large extent, be sibility, shall be assessed before any “tailor-made” in order to allow adapta- supply contract is entered into. In such tion for the railways’ various existing cases, strategic assessments must also technical solutions. be made with regard to supplier-specific conditions. Socio-economic profitability Investments and renewals of facili- There are complex reasons for some ties in the infrastructure are measures technological systems in the National that make huge demands of resources, Rail Administration being tied to supplies time and costs. In addition to techni- from one or a few suppliers. One of the cal evaluations, technological choices explanations for this is the tradition of must also be based on socio-economic establishing special Norwegian operat- analyses and evaluations throughout ing regulations and technical solutions the entire working life (RAMS, LCC) (such as signalling and interlocking in of the relevant alternatives. One goal the safety systems), something that has will always be to be able to choose the made the market too small to generate most cost-effective total solution for the desired amount of competition and the National Rail Administration and the supplier independence. Other causes of railway undertakings.
19 General technology strategy
On the basis of the aforementioned To reduce costs, technology shall be circumstances and discussions, the chosen with regard to international National Rail Administration’s general standards and agreements, to ensure technology strategy is as follows. that the National Rail Administration:
Goal • Promotes supplier-independence Any choice of new technology, including • Is only able to use standardised and its development and use, shall contribute open interfaces to achieving all of the infrastructure’s performance targets in a cost-effective Technology must be chosen that can be manner while also attending to the implemented, repaired and maintained needs of the customers. to ensure that inconvenience to ordinary train operations falls within what is Guides for choosing acceptable, by: technology When transferring to a new technologi- • Facilitating flexible safeguarding of cal platform, the primary choice must be operations, fault correction and main- known, established technology that has tenance been tried out on other railways before • Using standardised module-based implementation/development is initiated systems with the fewest possible by the National Rail Administration. interfaces • Improving the degree of automatic • Before new facilities and new systems monitoring in order to identify faults are brought into ordinary operations, and impending faults at as early a stage there must be proof that they will as possible, to ensure that necessary function satisfactorily for the National measures can be implemented at a Rail Administration and the railway sufficiently early stage to prevent any undertakings. halt to rail traffic operations. • If trialling is to be carried out at the • Ensuring that necessary interfaces are National Rail Administration (pilot clearly defined system/observed route), it must be • Choosing an appropriate differentiation possible to do this without any major of requirements for the performance of inconvenience to railway traffic. the facilities and systems on the basis of traffic volume and the line’s importance Technological choices must facilitate (line priority) safe, user-oriented, environmen- tally friendly developments, which are adapted to:
• An acceptable level of safety • The Norwegian railway network (extent of single-track and star-shaped network etc) • Norwegian operating conditions (mixed traffic, climatic conditions etc) • Market and users (external and internal) • The infrastructure’s performance targets
20 Photo: Njål Svingheim Photo: Njål Svingheim
Any risk relating to technology, finance Uniform route-by-route renewal shall or progress shall be identified, clarified be endeavoured where necessary for and reduced through systematic work achieving/harmonising the perform- on: ance targets for the infrastructure by implementing: • RAMS (LCC analyses, cost/benefit analyses, safety analyses) • Route-by-route coordination of major • Effective processes and decisions renewals such as signalling and power concerning technological approvals supply systems (cross-acceptance etc) • Good coordination between invest- • R&D collaboration with the Swedish Rail ments and maintenance. This can Administration and other rail admini involve enforced renewals if older strations facilities and systems are limiting the • International collaboration (NIM, EIM, benefit of investments, possibly post- ERA, UIC) poning investments while awaiting the • Collaboration with railway undertakings renewal. • Removal of special Norwegian and often expensive solutions (technical Endeavours shall be made to make and operational) maximum use of working life for exist- ing technical facilities and systems by Guarantee the supply of relevant inter- carrying out: disciplinary skills for making the correct technological choices by systematically • Systematic corrective and preventive working on: maintenance. This involves lengthening the working life of individual facilities • Recruitment and systems where this is appropriate in • Skills development (skills sharing) anticipation of route-by-route renewal. • Continuity in knowledge and skills • Investigations into technological choices
21 Firm links with the National Rail Administration’s focus areas
The figures indicated in the National Rail Administration’s focus areas show which points in the general technology strategy underpin the focus area.
Areas of focus General technology strategy
Competitive strength 1. When transferring to a new technological platform, the primary and social benefit choice must be known, established technology that has been tried out on other railways before implementation/development is 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 initiated by the National Rail Administration.
2. Technological choices must facilitate safe, user-oriented, environmentally friendly developments
Safety, 3. To reduce costs, technology shall be chosen with regard to punctuality and international standards and agreements customer satisfaction 7 4. Technology must be chosen that can be implemented, repaired and 1, 2, 3, 7 maintained to ensure that any disadvantages to ordinary railway operations are within acceptable limits
5. Any risk relating to technology, finance or progress shall be Productivity identified, clarified and reduced and process quality 6. Guarantee the supply of relevant interdisciplinary skills for making 1, 2, 3, 7 the correct technological choices
7. Uniform route-by-route renewal shall be endeavoured where necessary for achieving/harmonising the infrastructure perform- ance targets People and organisation 8. Endeavours shall be made to make maximum use of working life for existing technical facilities and systems 2, 6
22 Contact us
National Rail Administration units are located at several sites throughout the country. For more detailed information, visit our website at www.jernbaneverket.no or call our nationwide, 24-hour telephone service:
Phone: 05280 From abroad: (+47) 22 45 50 00
Our postal address is: Jernbaneverket [Norwegian National Rail Administration] P.O. Box 4350 2308 HAMAR Norway
Issued by: Jernbaneverket, Oslo, november 2007 Layout and design: Geelmuyden.Kiese Front page photo: Terje Kristiansen og Njål Svingheim Printing/production: Jonny Fladby AS www.jernbaneverket.no