Siemens Mobility to introduce its track-side ETCS for Digirata

On 25 April 2024 Siemens Mobility announced that it will upgrade the first section of Finland's rail network under the government's Digirata (Digirail) project, which involves renewing the country's ATP. The contract was recently awarded and includes the installation of the ETCS Level 2 and the Hybrid Train Detection (HTD) on the Lielahti - Rauma/Pori line with around 190 km of track. The HTD is based on virtual track sections and enables a higher train density, thus creating higher capacity through virtual track sections. 

This marks another milestone in the implementation of Siemens Mobility's latest interlocking and radio block center technology on the new DS3 platform, which is entirely based on commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware. Construction is scheduled to commence in 2024, with testing and commissioning expected to be completed by 2027. 

Recently, Siemens Mobility partnered with Finnish rolling stock owner company Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto to conduct initial testing of ETCS as part of the Digirata project. This collaboration equips two FLIRTs with Trainguard OBU and Automated Train Operation (ATO) over ETCS, marking the first ETCS testing in Finland according to the latest European technical specification TSI 2023.