Requirements on On Board Control Command and Signalling systems (CCS)

Definitions and rules

When developing a new safety critical Control Command and Signalling system (CCS-system) e.g. automatic train protection (ATP), this has to be safe. The applicant should use the standards EN 50126, EN 50128 and EN50129 to demonstrate the safety. This means that you develop the system according to a specified process, the safety demonstration will be reported in a "safety case".

An independent safety assessor (ISA) shall assess the safety demonstration and make an assessment report. The Swedish Transport Agency guide "Requirement on the content of an assessment report" is a guideline on the content and structure of the assessment report. The ISA and his task have to be approved by The Swedish Transport Agency for each project. To avoid unnecessary work you should ask for our approval of the ISA and his task early in the project. Our requirement on the ISA is that he/she shall be independent from the project both personally and organizational to the project that shall be assessed. The ISA must also be very competent in the process and the techniques of developing safety critical systems.

Radio Communication

All railway vehicles with a drivers cab shall have radio communication system on-board; this system shall be compatible with the infrastructure communication system. For railway vehicles, a GSM-R system has to be installed. This requirement is not applicable to shunters or OTMs which are never in contact with the train dispatcher. Trams, metros and suburban trains may have a different type of train radio system then GSM-R depending on the railway.

New vehicles equipped with a drivers cab shall have a train radio according to the specifications stated in TSI Control Command and Signalling 2016/919. These specifications state that the train radio system should be provided with protection against disturbances from other telecommunication networks equipped with broadband system types UMTS and LTE. Existing vehicles with a drivers cab should also be equipped with protection against such disturbances, e.g. a frequency filter.

These specifications are also valid for the radio in ERTMS on board system (EDOR). In Sweden, the radio environment is now changed so that the telecom operators are allowed to connect their so called 4G-network, which may cause disturbances on the railroad´s GSM-R frequencies.

Train protection system

New railway vehicles with driver´s cab shall have an ERTMS (European Railway Traffic Management System) on-board, but there are exceptions. New railway vehicles authorised from 1 January 2019 shall have an ERTMS Baseline 3 system on board.

The Swedish railway net has a common national train protection system, ATC2 (also called class B-system). This system shall be replaced during the next decades. The European interoperability directive says that the ERTMS shall replace the national class B systems in the future.

Vehicles equipped with ERTMS may also operate on ATC2-lines. To do this the vehicle needs an STM (Specific Transmission Module) which translates the ATC2-messages from the track to the ERTMS on board system.

This requirement on ERTMS-equipment is not applicable for OTMs and shunters which are not intended for operation on ERTMS-lines. These types of vehicles may get operational restrictions in the authorisation.

There are no direct requirements to install new trams, metros or suburban trains with a train protection system. However there is a generic requirement to keep the level of safety when we authorise a new or modified vehicle. When we authorise a new vehicle for an infrastructure which has an ATP-system there should be an ATP-system installed on the vehicle. If the network has no ATP-system the operational rules of the network may be affected by the new vehicles.

Applied TSIs

The following TSI is valid for the subsystems control-command and signalling. It states the requirements of ERTMS and GSM-R:

TSI Control Command and Signalling EU 2016/919 amended by (EU) 2019/776

If the project is at an advanced stage, and the applicant due to this plans to use an older version of TSI CCS for a vehicle with ETCS on-board, it is necessary to apply for an exception.

For authorisation of a subsystem that has to fulfil TSI requirements, the applicant has to engage a notified body. The notified body checks that the subsystem fulfils the TSI requirements. The applicant should also apply for an authorisation from the Swedish Transport Agency, to get information about any applicable national requirements. When modifying a previously authorised subsystem, the Agency decides if a new authorisation is necessary, and if so which parts of the subsystem that have to be rechecked for the new authorisation.

The authorisation may also be done in different phases, see page for authorisation of rail vehicles.

The Swedish Transport Agency, the European Rail Agency (ERA) and Rail Freight Corridor 1 & 3 have issued a number of technical documents and guide lines to facilitate the application of the TSIs and authorisation of rail vehicles. Below you find the guidelines regarding Command Control and Signalling subsystems.

Guide for requirement on GSM-R installations in vehicles. Link in Swedish. This guide is connected to chapter 3.4, 4.4 and 7.4 in our guide "Assessment of railway vehicles interaction with Swedish railway infrastructure".
Guide for requirement on ATC2 installations in vehicles Link in Swedish. This guide is connected to chapter 3.2, 4.2 and 7.2 in our guide "Assessment of railway vehicles interaction with Swedish railway infrastructure".
Guide for requirement on installations of on-board Command Control and Signalling subsystem Link in Swedish. This guide is describes the process for authorisation of a vehicle when installing the on board Command Control and Signalling subsystem, ETCS/STM.
ERA: Application Guide for the TSI for the subsystems Control-Command And Signalling Track-Side and On-Board
Guideline for CCS Authorisation on Rail Freight Corridors. This document is made by Rail Freight Corridor 1&3 NSA Working Group and describes the common process for authorising the placing in service of CCS on-board systems on the Corridors.

The European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) has made a guideline and template for Notified Body to use when indicating restrictions, conditions and added functions in their certificates.

Certification: Restrictions and conditions and added functions

National requirements

A TSI-compliant subsystem shall fulfill the TSI requirements and notified national requirements. The national requirements shall be assessed by a Designated body (Debo), the applicant has to engage also the Debo in the authorisation process. The Debo shall draw up a certificate saying that the subsystem fulfills the requirements. Today the only Debo in Sweden is The Swedish Transport Agency. To start an assessment work we need an application. The Swedish Transport Agency will send invoices to the applicant for our work load (1200 SEK/h). Sweden has today not notified any national technical requirements, so we will assess the subsystem against the essential requirements according to the interoperability directive. This is the case for the national functions e.g. STM and for open points and specific cases in the TSI CCS.

A new STM has to follow the technical requirements below. The standards EN 50126, EN 50128 and EN 50129 are mandatory to apply, later versions may be used. The ISA and his task shall be approved by the Agency, preferably before the ISA starts to work.
We require that the ISA is independent towards the project to be checked; the ISA shall not have any other role in the project and not be part of the same organisation as the project. The ISA must also have knowledge about the type of technical system to be authorised and about relevant standards.

The following set of specifications are applicable for an STM used with an ETCS on-board compliant with baseline 3.6:

STM FRS BVS 544.65001, version 6.1, 2017-05-12

STM General Technical Requirements 100200 E004 TR GRS, version 6.1

The following set of specifiations are applicable for an STM used with an ETCS on-board compliant with basline 3.4:

STM FRS BVS 544.65001, version 6.0, 2014-11-07

STM General Technical Requirements 100200 E004 TR GRS, version 6.0

The following set of specifications are applicable for an STM used with an ETCS on-board compliant with baseline 2 (2.3.0d):

STM FRS BVS 544.65001, version 5.2, 2014-11-07

STM General Technical Requirements 100200 E004,TR GRS version 5.2, 2014-10-08

The following set of specifications defines the earlier STM version 5.1. The specifications are still valid and applicable parts may be used. The version 5.2 includes some corrections of errors in version 5.1.

STM FRS BVS 544.65001, version 5.1, 2009-10-28

STM General Technical Requirements Specification 100200 E004, version 5.1, 2009-10-28

The document below is applicable for all versions mentioned above of the STM.

STM RAMS Requirements 100200 E003, version A, 2008-04-14

The STM manufacturer shall be clear on which requirements the STM fulfills and on the requirements on safety related interfaces to the rolling stock

Safe integration between the on board to the track side Control Command and signalling subsystems

When the Swedish Transport Agency makes an authorisation of a vehicle we will check that the vehicle including the CCS-system fulfill the essential requirements. We will check the safe integration between the on board and the track side CCS-system. All functions which are set according to the essential requirements are checked according to both TSI and national requirements.

To facilitate the assessment of the integration vehicle - infrastructure the Swedish railway network is divided in four types of generic networks. Each generic type has specific characteristic functions, design, requirements and conditions of use. The four types are Botnia-Ådalsbanorna, Haparandabanan, Västerdalsbanan and ATC2-lines. In the future the types will be reduced. An independent assessor (ISA) shall assess the safe integration between the on board and the trackside subsystems for these generic types of track side subsystems.

The safe integration to a specific line is not part of the authorisation of a vehicle. This should be the responsibility of the railway undertaking. The vehicle are only authorised for operation on lines which are compatible with the vehicle and where the safe integration of on board and trackside CCS-systems are demonstrated.

The CCS-subsystems has to be both compatible and safe integrated. To demonstrate this, the applicant has to cooperate with the infrastructure manager. The on board CCS-system which are compatible and safe integrated to the generic networks is in the matrix. You will find the matrix over authorised integration between ERTMS- trackside and on board systems under "More information". The document is in Swedish.

The process of safe integration between on board and trackside subsystems may be used for update with new versions of an on board system on an authorised vehicle. This process will facilitate the upgrading of vehicles and also upgrading of the track side CCS-systems. When modifying a track side system the infrastructure manager has to demonstrate the safe integration to the on board systems which are in operation on the infrastructure. Process for integration of track side and onboard ERTMS systems. Link in Swedish.

In the case of suburban trains, metros and tram systems the authorisation of the CCS-systems, will be integrated. These types of systems have vehicles dedicated to the specific infrastructure.

Link to Matrix over authorised integration between ERTMS (in Swedish)

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