Peter Wrote:Try the official website for info on ERTMS.
Yes this is good info re ERTMS and certainly you can also download all the Technical Standards for Interoperability (helpful if you have difficulty getting to sleep at night) but these won't tell you how to design a mod 2 layout with ETCS nor give any hint re mod 3 Control Tables. I have also tried to incorporate a little in the mod 2 Study Pack and I might try to get the tie to extend this as I promised it for next year but have yet to start doing.
The truth is that the rules even for the Cambrian implementation are not yet 100% fixed yet; the important thing to recognise is that they will be significantly different to Rome-Naples high speed line for example.
The train is basically told how far the driver is authorised to proceed with the speed profile that must be respected along the way and the place by which it must guarantee to stop based on its own knowledge of its own speed and braking ability and the gradient information with which it is supplied within the MA. Thereafter the train is responsible for itself; similarly the rules that the infrastructure uses to create such a message is its own concern. ETCS is primarily to ensure that one country's / supplier's train is compatible with another's infrastructure because of a common understanding of the message format- note that a train which crosses a border may then suddenly operate differently as a new set of national values apply. To think of ETCS as one set of signalling principles is to completely misunderstand the situation. As and when we harmonise the human operational rules and the interlocking rules, perhaps common signalling principles will emerge- but that is a long way off and it may never be appropriate to have common principles between lines of very different usage.
Very good stuff here for a module 1 or module 2 written question- indeed have a look at that module 3 2008 mock exam paper re the Signet weekend since there are two question on it to which this overall subject is highly relevant .......
NOTE FOR 2009:
Lots of info re ETCS in Appendix V of the Module 2 Study Pack.
I believe that all exam particpants will be receiving a DVD containing all available Study Packs so hopefully this year will be available to all.