A roadmap for the adoption of space assets for train control systems: The Test Site in Sardinia

This paper deals with the introduction and exploitation of space technologies based on the ERTMS (European Railways Train Management System) architecture bundling the EGNOS-Galileo infrastructures in the train control system, in order to improve performance and enhancing safety, reducing the investments on the railways circuitry and its maintenance. These solutions can be successfully applied for local and regional lines and low traffic lines, where the issue for a railroad enhanced service, requires increasingly financing to maintain and improve infrastructure. In order to assess the performance and validate the space technologies in a real railways environment, a special focus will be dedicated to the case of the regional lines in Sardinia where is a plan to deploy a Test Site.