Seven rail associations from Central and Eastern Europe presented their doubts about the deployment plan for the Digital Automatic Coupling (DAC) to the EU’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport (DG MOVE). Their document underlined the necessity for much more detailed plans and that DAC deployment on locomotives needs to be prioritised.
The seven associations are Žesnad and SPV from Czechia, ZNPK from Poland, Die Güterbahnen from Germany, Hungrail from Hungary, and ZVKV and Aros from Slovakia. Whether it is about DAC migration strategy, maintenance scheduling or infrastructure works, the seven associations are underlining the importance of planning and coordination.
One of the main aspects they stressed is that a certain amount of locomotives need to be equipped with DAC before the migration for wagons can start. “We cannot start with wagon migration without having available a critical mass of locomotives with hybrid couplers”, the associations stated.
Locomotives and wagons
For both locomotives and wagons, the seven associations are asking for comprehensive plans including solutions for those items that cannot be equipped with DAC. One of the suggestions they made was “planned incompatibility” until the end of the service life of the rolling stock. These plans should also include information about the locomotives and wagons such as their types, their capacity and the lines they operate on.
Moreover, the associations pointed out that it is important to coordinate DAC implementation and maintenance with the periodicity of large repair operations. For example, wagons undergo major maintenance interventions every six years, while for locomotives this usually happens every 15 years, the document underlined. “Should the automatic couplers be fitted at a different periodicity, it would result in an additional reduction of railway capacity”, as the seven parties put it.
Another issue, the associations claimed, is that rolling stock production capacity in Europe is currently not sufficient, even for a simple renewal of the existing locomotive or wagon fleet. In other words, it will be difficult to replace locomotives or wagons that will need to be scrapped or taken out of service due to DAC incompatibility. Having fewer new locomotives coming in than older ones going out might also lead to capacity reductions, which is “a major threat to the EU objectives to transfer the freight from road to rail”.
Avoid an ETCS scenario
When preparing a plan for DAC migration across Europe, a procedure to share solutions needs to be included, the associations said. “This means, in particular, a common solution for one type of wagon or locomotive across the whole sector, so that prototyping of the same type is not carried out separately in several countries”. What they want to avoid is a similar scenario to what is currently happening with the implementation of the European Train Control System (ETCS).
The way to do this, according to the seven associations, is not having individual carriers or rolling stock owners looking for solutions independently. If each party looks for their own solution, reaching conclusions will take longer, cost more and might potentially cause incompatibility. If this happens, it will be impossible to come up with a single realistic implementation date and only manufacturers and suppliers will benefit, while owners and carriers would face higher expenses.
Consequently, uniformity is vital. For example, the seven associations are asking for “one, uniform and final” document for the Technical Specifications (TS), including the digital and electric parts for both locomotives and wagons. This would ensure full interchangeability between all DAC manufacturers, which would help to prevent a manufacturer’s monopoly. They are also proposing that only the trainsets meeting the TS “should be allowed to the test operation of the 100 pre-deployment trains”.
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