Galileo Localisation for Railway Operation Innovation

This project acts as an appropriate base for the migration from conventional localisation equipment to the use of Galileo for transportation. As nearly 50% of all railway lines in Europe are secondary railway lines and this is even more true in other countries, this sector may be considered a niche that could become a mass market, based on the number of about 50,000 locomotives in Europe. The resulting localisation unit promises a short-term return on investment (ROI).

Why this project is important for EGNOS/GSA/SatNav?

GaLoROI will support the adoption of EGNOS by using it as an augmentation system, because it will lead to increased accuracy even before the usage of the Galileo Safety of Life Service is possible.

Objectives

A satellite based train localisation unit reduces high manufacturing, installation and maintenance costs because it only needs to be installed on trains and requires no track side equipment. The objective of GaLoROI is that the localisation unit delivers localisation information with high accuracy, integrity, availability and a Safety Integrity Level (SIL) which is sufficient for safety-relevant localisation within train control systems. The objective includes compatibility with other train control systems. The localisation through the satellite based localisation unit allows a continuous localisation which will increase capacity in comparison to discrete localisation of track side equipment. 

In terms of practical usability in the railway system, a main objective of GaLoROI is the certification of the localisation unit according to European safety standards like the Common Safety Standards and Common Safety Targets of the European Railway Agency.

How does it work?

In GaLoROI a certifiable safety relevant satellite-based on-board train localisation unit will be developed. After the certification, many operational options exist for commercial usage. The on-board train localisation unit can be part of an automatic train control system which no longer requires additional track side railway signalling technology. In this train control system, existing and new technologies will be integrated for efficient and safe operations in the railway network.

Next Steps

Implementation and testing of the localisation unit during summer 2013.