Alstom and RFI (Italian Rail Network) recently presented the technological interventions developed for the Bologna hub (the most important hub of the Italian network) to the international press. The first, in chronological order, active since 2009, is the ACC (computer based interlocking) system at Bologna Central Station, which makes it possible to control rail traffic amounting to approximately 1200 trains a day (passengers and freight) in total safety. Bologna Central hub is the first example in Europe of integrated railway operation management, covering all the various aspects from the circulation of trains, to passenger information, right up to the infrastructure. Alstom has used its own system, the Smartlock 300Z, the biggest signalling system the French company has ever built.
The second intervention concerns the design, construction, installation and maintenance of the signalling system made for the Bologna through line (a 16-km rail link between the Milan – Bologna high-speed line and the Bologna – Florence high-speed line) which uses a multi-station computer based interlocking system for high-speed lines and Level 2 ERTMS for controlling train traffic. This system also manages the interconnections with the conventional lines running to Padua and Venice. The solution adopted by Alstom is based on the Atlas 200 platform. The third intervention concerns the design and implementation of the SCC-M (Multi-station Circulation Command and Control System) for the Bologna hub, which makes it possible to manage the Bologna by-pass lines and the main lines running from Bologna to Verona, Rimini, Milan, Padua, Prato and Pistoia in total safety from the Central Control Office. The operator has at his disposal a brand new type of interface which in real time, even in the event of disruptions to rail traffic, provides all the necessary data for immediate intervention. The SIL4 certified system is developed on the ICONIS RW Centralized Traffic Control and Smartlock 300 interlocking platforms. All three systems are housed in a single control room in the new and ultra-modern building next door to Bologna Central Station which also accommodates the rail traffic control room for the Bologna – Milan and the Bologna – Florence high-speed lines.
Franco Tanel
(Photo courtesy of Alstom transport)
