Report from Smart Rail Europe – Amsterdam, 5-6 April 2017

Smart Rail Europe is the event attended by rail technology professional involved in the digitization of European railway. The conference gathers CEOs, Infrastructure managers, TOCs, suppliers, integrators, consultants and government bodies for an intensive two-day knowledge sharing where experience and solutions are presented between experts.

Swift changes in European rail industry

During these days, it became obvious that the European rail industry is now evolving and that the change is swift. Increasing capacity, safety and revenue are top priorities for the business and to accomplish that it is crucial to exploit advanced technology in a time- and cost-efficient manner. However, this requires a collaborative, integrated and system-wide approach. In the exhibition speakers from rail operators, infrastructure managers, and European government bodies shared their own views on these key challenges.

As in previous years, Prover participated in the conference and this time contributed with a workshop on the topic Safety with Mathematical Precision (more on that below). We also had a frequented booth demonstrating the concept of Interlocking Design Automation (IDeA). With so many interesting discussions with suppliers of signaling systems it is quite clear there is a game changer going on and that Interlocking Design Automation (IDeA) will be an essential part for the success of handling the many aspects and problems of today´s landscape of ERTMS and other systems.

The digital evolution has just begun and it will be interesting to follow how this will affect the railway business in different areas. Prover is very much a part of the innovation and will contribute to the development.

Smart Rail Workshops

The workshop sessions at SmartRail offers a perfect platform for interaction, debate and best practice sharing. During our workshop, expert speaker Jesper Carlström made the point that by using the concept of mathematical proof and formal verification methods, there are many advantages to gain in the development of software for Signaling control solutions.

The conclusion is quite clear that one need to look at formal methods in three different ways; as Hazard-based addressing the high-level requirements about dangerous scenarios being impossible. Also signaling principles-based to have the requirements about safety principles being fulfilled and finally as Design-based, addressing the requirements about design principles being followed

For those who missed the presentation or want a rehearsal, I’d happily send it over – just send me a notification at anders.loov@prover.com.

Trafikverket plans for ERTMS L2 in Sweden

Also noted from Trafikverket´s presentation was the intense work on-going in Sweden to plan for the new ERTMS L2 high speed train line, Södra stambanan with its connection to Göteborg and Malmö. It has been handled by the National Negotiation on Housing and Infrastructure group and the high level view is to plan for new cities close to the railway in order to reach labor markets by sustainable travel.