Disturbance of Trains Movement under the ERTMS Control System

The article presents a discussion leading to the identification the possible causes of disturbances in train movements under the supervision of the European Rail Traffic Management System ERTMS. As a consequence of detected events, unintentional initiation of a train braking procedure occurs despite the absence of objective reasons for such behaviour. In essence, the paper presents the ERTMS as a real-time system based on the two subsystems ETCS and GSM-R. Each of these subsystems includes a vehicle part and an infrastructure part. The article starts by identifying general considerations that may affect the lack of compatibility between vehicle and trackside infrastructure as a result of changes in versions of the specification (baseline). The following part of the article reviews the process leading to train braking is reviewed. The next part of the article refers to ETCS scenarios and parameters affecting the system response during operation. It referred to the considerations of message transmission between the ETCS ground infrastructure and the vehicle via the telecommunications network, including the GSM-R. The final section focuses on the causes and consequence of the overlap of the RBC's and GSM-R radio cells boundaries. The article concludes with a brief summary and conclusions.