DSD: Federal GmbH should coordinate

For the further implementation of digitisation within the framework of the project "Digital Rail Germany" (DSD), a federal company should "immediately" take over the central coordination of the DSD rollout on the track and on the vehicle side. This was the conclusion reached by those involved in the evaluation of the funding guidelines for DSD vehicle equipment, as Thomas Vogel from the Ministry of Transport of Baden-Württemberg reported at the Signal+Draht Congress in Fulda. This demand was also unanimously addressed to the federal government by the Conference of Transport Ministers on 12 October 2022. This would require the establishment of a DSD GmbH by the federal government with shareholder shares from the sector - however, it was completely open how the Federal Ministry of Transport would position itself on this. Vogel sees the DSD rollout by 2035 in danger due to the "currently uncoordinated approach of the sector with all the existing particular interests".
However, a sensible promotion of DSD vehicle equipment by the federal government is indispensable, Vogel said. In the case of DKS, the federal government is promoting DSD vehicle equipment for the first time and on a pilot basis, including a wide range of funding conditions such as ATO GoA 2, Cold Movement Detection, TIMS, FRMCS and the creation of standardised intersections and gamma brake models. This would then have to be rolled out swiftly throughout and, unlike the current DKS, open to all modes of transport.
The vehicle equipment in the DKS had shown, among other things, that the ETCS pre-equipment offered hardly any advantages. For example, it was shown that the ETCS computer in the Talent 3 did not fit into the ETCS cabinet that was already installed. In order to reduce costs, the vehicle equipment should be "complete and in one piece". According to Vogel, the competitive tendering procedures have shown that the price is falling "considerably" - but legal hurdles are quickly encountered. For example, the lack of standardised interfaces raises the question of whether and under what conditions a third party is allowed to intervene in the vehicle's control technology at all.
Baden-Wuerttemberg will buy 28 replacement vehicles to guarantee traffic when the existing vehicles are converted for the DKS and subsequently the other approximately 180 existing vehicles in Baden-Württemberg. The decision was made because renting vehicles is currently "exorbitantly" too expensive with rental costs of over 130,000 EUR per month per vehicle. However, in order to ensure that the replacement vehicles to be procured are available by 2025 at the latest, even used vehicles and vehicles of different lengths may be offered. The 130 new Coradia Stream HC vehicles ordered from Alstom for the Stuttgart node will receive full DSD vehicle equipment including ETCS and ATO GoA 2 right from the factory. This is less than half the cost of retrofitting. (cm)