The railway industry is transforming into more interoperable and vendor-independent solutions

We notice an increasing interest in following other industries in transforming into open and interoperable solutions. This is a transformation from vendor-specific solutions, where software and hardware are integrated, and interfaces to other systems are proprietary, to interoperable solutions, where software and hardware are separated and standardized, simplifying the solutions’ ability to run in the cloud. This opens up for the use of standardized COTS-hardware also in the railway industry.

The current solutions for railway signaling

The backbone of safe and efficient railway operations lies in its signaling systems. Railway signaling systems control train movements, ensuring they travel safely and navigate the rail network without incidents. As trains are a vital component of global infrastructure—both for cargo transport and public transit—the reliance on advanced signaling systems to manage this signaling challenge is crucial.

The existing systems are based on vendor-specific hardware and software solutions that depend on each other from leading vendors.

The challenges with vendor-specific solutions are:

• They are not interoperable with other systems
• Drives cost for system integration, upgrades, and maintenance
• It does not give control to the buyer but rather to the vendor
• Will lock in the customer with one vendor

The transformation into open and interoperable solutions via COTS

The market wants to move towards digital and interoperable solutions. The use of COTS software and hardware is an enabler of this. An example of this trend is the initiative driven by Indra and Amey, which was announced in November 2023.  

The Prover solution’s foundation is to enable the separation of software and hardware. This is done by providing a software solution for developing Digital Twins of the complete Rail Control System and automating all steps from tendering, development, safety verification, and maintenance. 

The software solution runs on any hardware platform, including COTS platforms like:

• HIMA
• Schneider
• Pilz
• …

This leads to significant benefits like:

• Lower costs and risks using digital twins
• Reusability with open and standardized PLC languages, specifications, and interfaces
• Customers will gain more control of the solution
• Maintainability and interoperability over the life cycle

Signaling projects can be based on developing Digital Twins of the solution even before the tender phase. These digital twins will become the basis for the tender process, software development, testing, safety verification, and maintenance.

Implementation of open signaling solutions with COTS

There are two scenarios:

• The need to migrate existing brownfield solutions
• The need to effectively develop new greenfield solutions for new rail line projects

The process is divided into three steps:

1. Create a digital twin of the system
2. Define and specify the functionality of the new system based on formal methods
3. Generate code for the specific COTS hardware platform and verify safety

You can find more information here about interoperable COTS-based solutions and how to implement them for railway signaling.