Interoperability of information: a challenge for European railways INFRATRANS Bucarest 30 September 2011 Paolo Umiliacchi President CNC – Bologna – Italy Member of CENELEC TC9X WG15 Member of IEC TC9 WG43 and WG46 Member of Task Force on Telematic Applications in Rail

Railways are a complex system … INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September ROLLING STOCK TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT TRAIN OPERATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE

30 September … involving many actors … INFRASTRUCTURE MANAGERS FREIGHT OPERATORS PASSENGER OPERATORS MAINTENANCE OPERATORS POLICY MAKERS SAFETY AUTHORITIES MARKET REGULATORS TRAIN OWNERS INFRATRANS - Bucarest

30 September … cross-border operations INFRATRANS - Bucarest

Approach 30 September MONITORING ANALYSING OPTIMISING RUNNING BETTER INFORMATION  BETTER DECISIONS  BETTER PERFORMANCE

INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Railways have information, but …  Data can be ambiguous as it is defined according to specific needs, with no check of consistency with other definitions  Data is in proprietary formats and require specific interpretation  Data is available in local databases, not easy to access to  Interfaces are built on demand, based on specific requirements  Interfacing and data processing costs are high  Data is consumed by specific applications and is normally not available for wider usage  Data hides useful information which is not easy to extract and is often wasted  Information systems cannot be easily upgraded

Scenario  The number of Actors in Railways is growing due to market opening  EC and ERA aim at achieving interoperability within the European railway network  There is an increasing need for information exchange in the Railways, between all involved Actors, e.g. to fulfil TSIs (regulations) or to improve efficiency  Means to handle the complexity of the railway system and ensure consistency of information are needed INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September 20117

8 To work efficiently, railways need efficient information management  To manage complexity  To enable cooperation between all actors  For international operations  To enhance competitiveness  Unambiguous data modelling  Everywhere (ubiquituous) data flow  Interoperability between information systems  Cross-border information exchange  Higher performance level INFRATRANS - Bucarest

Consistency of information  Information published by different Actors in different Countries shall have the same meaning INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Information 1 Company A Country X Information 1 Company B Country Y

Consistency in the time  When a new Actor enters the market, it shall be able to publish its own information with the same meaning as that published by incumbent Actors INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Information 1 Company A Country X Information 1 Company B Country Y Information 1 Company C Country Z

Consistency of new information  When new information is required from all Actors, they shall be able to publish it with the same meaning and ensure consistency with previously published information INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Information n Company A Country X Information n Company B Country Y Information n Company C Country Z

INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Example with 5 applications Application 5 Application 4 Application 3 Application 1 Application 2

INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Custom interface Application 5 Application 4 Application 3 Application 1 Application 2 INTERFACE up tointerfaces n. (n-1) 2 INTERFACE up to 10 interfaces

Current situation INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September  Task Force on Telematic Applications in Rail

Task Force mandate  Part A: to identify possible needs for telematics applications which will allow stakeholders to source the data necessary to discharge their legal obligations under the Interoperability and Safety Directives, but which are not yet covered by works and systems already mandated by existing EU legislation.  Part B: assist the Commission in launching further activities which involve putting in place business and governance structures for the development and maintenance of telematics applications identified under part A. INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

The InteGRail approach  Main characteristics: Flexibility – to adapt to any kind of existing system  No need to change legacy systems Modularity –selected information only will be made available directly from the source  No need to copy information to a central database Non-ambiguity – ensure that information is consistent  Automatic check of consistency Scalability – the grid can grow as needed  New actors can be added at any time INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Common interface Application 5 Application 4 Application 3 Application 1 Application 2 INTERFACE up to n interfaces INTERFACE standard backbone 5 interfaces

Middleware concept Application NETWORK Communication infrastructure information middleware Application NETWORK information service information middleware service INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September Role of Ontology I send you information based on this concept APPLICATION A I understand your information based on this concept APPLICATION B

Architecture  Applications as a grid of cooperating services  Services exchange messages according to a common language  Standardisation is required! INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

21INFRATRANS - Bucarest IEC TC9 WG22: Train Communication Network Scope and results a)to define a complete network for digital communication onboard trains b)Developed in strong cooperation with UIC c)Finally resulted in standard documents IEC (TCN) and IEC (Conformance Test) d)UIC issued several leaflets to define the communication data UIC556, UIC557, UIC647 e)Several European Projects contributed: 30 September 2011 Some history

22INFRATRANS - Bucarest IEC TC9 WG43: Train Communication Networks Scope a) to maintain/update the documents and b) to define and implement a work plan to upgrade and complete the TCN framework, adding: 30 September 2011  New vehicle bus candidates  Broadband Train Network  Board-Ground Communication  Communication Profile  Application Profile TCN evolution

IEC TC9 WG43 INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

24INFRATRANS - Bucarest IEC TC9 WG46: Multi Media Systems on board Trains Scope To define and implement a Multi Media framework that includes the standardisation of the following subsystems within the train that communicate using the subsystems specified by WG43. It refers to non operational services. Safety-related services are excluded. 30 September 2011 Train Operator and Maintainer Orientated Services Passenger Orientated Services Video surveillance/CCTVCrew Orientated Services General Architecture TCN evolution

IEC TC9 WG46 INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

26INFRATRANS - Bucarest InteGRail Reference Technology Platform a)A common platform for interoperability of railway information systems and integration of railway applications b)A general framework for high-level railway communication (bearer independent) 30 September 2011 LOW LEVEL COMMUNICATION LAYERS (WTB, Ethernet, Wi-Fi, Wi-max, GSM-R, etc.) HIGH LEVEL COMMUNICATION LAYERS - ICOM (routing, addressing, network selection, security) APPLICATION-TO-APPLICATION (Ontology, reasoning, Web services, service grid) WG46 WG43 WG43 and other standards InteGRail inputs

Vision on the future  Describe data accurately regardless of its native format  Create a virtual data exchange layer on top of the current assets and systems  Avoid any risks associated with configuration changes or updates  Allow easy data retrieve according to User (man or machine) needs  Facilitate service reuse reducing application development cost  Improve interoperability at train, consist, vehicle, subsystem level  Simplify cross-country, cross-system, cross-operator interaction  Create added-value from existing information  Inject innovation in the railway system, improving its performance  Pave the way for a data transfer standard within the Rail domain INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

Conclusions  The enlarging amount of information exchange needed for efficient, interoperable and competitive operation of railways bring to the need of a common language in order to remove bottlenecks and avoid future problems  InteGRail solution was conceived, designed and developed in order to cope with such kind of problems  New standards are in preparation in order to support the future solutions  All this will contribute to turn the Vision into reality INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September

INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September October 2011 Prague – Czech Republic Building of Ministry of Transport The workshop has the objective to clarify the state of the art and perspectives of ICT applications on-board trains, taking into consideration the business requirements from railways, the new standards under preparation from IEC and CENELEC, the European policy and regulations and the rapid evolution of technologies and platforms. Speakers include representatives from main European railways, industries, CENELEC, the European Commission and other important European railway organisations. The workshop has the objective to clarify the state of the art and perspectives of ICT applications on-board trains, taking into consideration the business requirements from railways, the new standards under preparation from IEC and CENELEC, the European policy and regulations and the rapid evolution of technologies and platforms. Speakers include representatives from main European railways, industries, CENELEC, the European Commission and other important European railway organisations. For more info, see:

INFRATRANS - Bucarest30 September  CNC Centro Nuova Comunicazione  Bologna – ITALY   tel.: – fax: – Thank you for your kind attention