Train Planning System TPS is building bridges over the Pyrenees: TPS by HaCon coordinates train paths internationally

Hannover (2010-06-16). For future planning and coordinating its train paths, TP Ferro will utilise software supplied by HaCon. The bi-national Spanish and French rail infrastructure manager will use the planning tool on the 44 kilometres long new line through the Pyrenees from Perpignan in France to Figueres in Spain.

TP Ferro was founded by the Spanish group ACS and the French construction company Eiffage, each holding 50 percent of the stakes of TP Ferro. The bi-national company is responsible for ensuring that the paths on the high-speed line Figueres- Perpignan can be travelled on without any conflicts – a core function of TPS. The system helps operators to plan their network capacity in accordance with European requirements of non-discriminatory path procurement.

International coordination of train paths on the planning level with TPS
TPS, which the French railway infrastructure manager Réseau Ferré de France (RFF) already successfully applies, links for the first time two adjacent network managers. The software "Made in Hannover” already follows the European signalling system ETCS (European Train Control System) Level 2 for planning and scheduling. "ETCS is a component of the European rail traffic management system to which TPS suits perfectly," said HaCon project manager Claus Müller-Haude. This way, TPS contributes to the interoperability of European railways.

For the coordination of train paths, the national network managers in France and Spain communicate via the web-based platform Pathfinder. The platform is provided by RailNetEurope (RNE) to its 38 member organisations. The association of European rail infrastructure managers aims at increasing the quality and efficiency of international rail traffic. Here, TPS follows up seamlessly: With Internet-based communication to Pathfinder, which ensures that TP Ferro is optimally integrated in the path planning processes of France and Spain. Even the local CTC (Centralised Traffic Control) is associated with TPS.

HaCon will make a bilingual version of TPS available to its new customer TP Ferro – which means Spanish and French in parallel. In addition to TPS for long-term planning, TP Ferro will also utilise TPS Realtime. This serves the infrastructure manager as dispatching software for its very short term planning process. Because the infrastructure of the railway system is exactly represented in TPS, delays can be calculated and forecasted very precisely. The advantage: potential conflicts due to deviations from the planned timetable can be predicted accurately and in time. The dispatcher can draw on different solution scenarios. So, TPS Realtime supports him ideally in the process of resolving conflicts. TPS will also handle the “tunnel condition” i.e. a safety condition prohibiting the simultaneous presence of two trains into the same tube of the tunnel.

Starting from October, TPS is planned to be installed at the operations control centre of TP Ferro near Montesquieu les Albères in the south of France close to Perpignan. Training and testing will follow. In December 2010 the high-speed line will be officially opened and subsequently go into operation. 44 kilometres of double line for mixed traffic of passenger and freight trains are located on French and Spanish soil. The centrepiece under the Pyrenees is a bi-tube tunnel of 8.2 kilometres.

Please contact for further information: HaCon Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Lister Straße 15 | 30163 Hannover | Germany | Phone: +49 (0) 511 3369 9-0, www.hacon.de

About HaCon
Right from the start in 1984 HaCon has focused its activities on traffic and logistic solutions. A team of more than 120 experienced employees in the ranges of IT and transport planning have turned the company into one of the leading players in the field of planning, scheduling and information systems.
HaCon has developed and implemented the timetable information system of Deutsche Bahn (German Railway). Furthermore, numerous European railway companies, transport enterprises and/or groups use the timetable information system HAFAS. In addition, HAFAS serves as a universal information system. Therefore, it can be applied in the flight and goods traffic as well. Another successful product developed by HaCon is the Train Planning System TPS for timetable construction and network capacity management. It convinces more and more customers across Europe.

HaCon Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, Lister Straße 15, 30163 Hanover, Germany, info@hacon.de, www.hacon.de
Press Contact: Amelie Dettmer | Phone: +49 511 33 69 9-226 | Fax: +49 5 11 33 69 9-99 | E-Mail: presse@hacon.de
Thordis Stefanie Gooßes | Phone: +49 511 33 69 9-224 | Fax: +49 5 11 33 69 9-99 | E-Mail: presse@hacon.de

This release was published on openPR.