ROGER FORD interviews MARK FERRER, Operations Director, Digital Railway at Siemens Rail Automation
Proving the concept: Network Rail’s Class 313 test train at St Pancras while working under European Train Control System Level 2 in November 2015. COURTESY NETWORK RAIL
In 2018 Britain will take a world lead in the application of the European Train Control System (ETCS). Between West Hampstead and St Pancras International in the north and London Bridge in the south, Siemens’ new high-capacity Class 700 electric multiple-units will be providing a peak service of 24 trains per hour (tph) through the Thameslink core section by December 2019. This will be the first deployment of Automatic Train Operation (ATO) over an ETCS train protection system in the UK, and one of the first in the world.
