Train operating company Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has joined forces with DB Cargo UK to share its digital signalling know-how on the East Coast Digital Programme.
This tie-up is expected to help upgrade the East Coast Main Line.
Replacement of traditional lineside signals with digital signalling, the European Train Control System (ETCS), will be carried out under the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP).
It will provide real-time information to the driver’s cab besides helping lower 55 thousand tonnes of CO2.
Later this year, the first stage of the signalling set will be deployed on the Northern City Line between Finsbury Park and Moorgate.
GTR European Rail Traffic Management head Oliver Turner said: “At GTR we’re learning a phenomenal amount about the implementation of ETCS. We want the community of operators in the programme to benefit from this, to save them time, cost and effort.”
Recently, DB Cargo UK’s Class 66 locomotive visited GTR’s Hornsey depot, where GTR’s Class 717 Great Northern train is also placed.
Its main aim is to know about GTR’s approach to launching ETCS besides offering knowledge gained so far from the project, stated DB Cargo UK.
Last year in November, DB Cargo UK commenced the deployment of the latest version of the ETCS on a Class 66 locomotive.
DB Cargo UK assistant business change manager Casper Carr said: “GTR have given DB Cargo an insight into the direction we should be going in and areas to avoid. If we work in silos, no lessons are learned and no one benefits.”
