Optima: A Communication Platform to Manage Rail Traffic Control and Management Support Services

ARDANUY INGENIERÍA IS AN ACTIVE PARTICIPANT IN THE OPTIMA PROJECT, PART OF THE EUROPEAN UNION’S SHIFT2RAIL INNOVATION PROGRAMME. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A PLATFORM THAT REINFORCES COMMUNICATION BETWEEN DIFFERENT SYSTEMS INVOLVED IN THE RAIL TRAFFIC CONTROL AND COORDINATION.

The purpose of the OPTIMA Project is to design and develop a new Communication Platform to reinforce Railway Traffic Control and Management, with the aim of managing different services (multimodal operating systems) that support TMS applications (traffic management and control system ). To do so, the Communication Platform will link the TMS applications with different systems, such as those including Traffic Management, Traffic Control, Maintenance, Energy Management and Signaling Field Infrastructure. With this in mind, part of the project development will include a technical demonstrator that will be implemented on the premises of the infrastructure managers.

Another 15 Companies, amongst them ADIF and INECO, will also participate in this initiative which is part of the EU’s R+D Project, Shift2Rail.

This new tool will connect TMS applications with traffic control and management systems, maintenance / power management and signaling field infrastructure.

The following activities are associated with the main objectives of the OPTIMA Project:

  • Use of an Integration Layer to connect real data from commercial rail services, external sources, services running on the application framework and operators’ jobs. The railway services and external sources included in the platform are:
  • Development, validation and verification of the following elements:
  • Provision of a communication platform that is fully available and ready to install and test prototypes for complementary projects (scalability).

The project is structured in 8 Work Packages (WPs) with different functions to meet its general objectives. There are 6 WPs in which the technical tasks required to meet the technical objectives of the project and develop the demonstrator will be carried out, and two WPs designated to ensure efficient management and coordination of the project, as well as dissemination and interaction with the all parties from S2R and other stakeholders