The Adoption of the HD-ERTMS for Improving the Capacity of Single-Track Railway Lines

Rail transport is one of the most sustainable transportation systems since it requires the use of smaller unitary energy resources for the same amount of carried passengers. Moreover, the signalling systems used in rail transport have evolved to become increasingly efficient. In particular, systems based on the ERTMS/ETCS (European Rail Traffic Management System/European Train Control System) are being developed recently because they guarantee interoperability at the European level, as well as considerably improve the performance of the rail systems. In this context, this paper analyses the use of the HD-ERTMS (i.e., High-Density ERTMS), normally applied in the case of railway nodes (as, for instance, complex stations) of double-track lines, in the case of single-track railway lines. Preliminary results have shown that the HD-ERTMS allows forwarding consecutive platoons of rail convoys in the same direction thus increasing the line capacity by up to 60%.