Currently, no Spanish freight trains can operate in the Pajares variant, even if it is open to commercial traffic. None will be able to do this if the European rail traffic management system (ERTMS) required by community regulations for high speed track tunnels such as the high speed line between La Robla (León) and Pola de is adopted. lena. That is why the Spanish authorities, the State Railway Safety Agency (AESF) and the Association of Private Railway Companies (AEFP) being negotiated with European Commission (EC) an exception: That it is also possible to navigate in Bypass with the digital ASFA driving assistance system (Signal Announcement and Automatic Braking), which is currently ready for all freight trains in the country. They believe the permit will come and be in time until the Bypass opens to commercial traffic in November.
The aim is to save time, because the first freight trains that can operate with ERTMS will not reach. Spain before 2025and the “standardization” of the fleet will be achieved only after three years, as he admits. Juan Diego Pedrero, head of the AEFP. Brussels should therefore allow the use of digital ASFA in this “transition phase”. The exception is “in principle the only way to solve the problem,” said Pedrero. “You can’t be pessimistic. The EU cannot exclude freight trains from the Alternative.
He explains that both systems, ERTMS and digital ASFA, are “equally effective and good.”. It emphasizes that it will not have any traffic impact, and that this problem is not exclusive to Bypass: it will occur in other high-speed sections where passenger and freight trains must travel simultaneously (currently only occurring between). Figueras and Perpignan). This problem has arisen in other European countries as well.
The AEFP chief is “optimistic” and believes this special (and temporary) permit from Brussels will come before the new rail access from Asturias to Meseta is opened in November. What it gives as insurance is that the goods won’t continue to circulate on the Pajares ramp once the Variant has been opened: “I totally rule that out”.
Diego Pedrero acknowledges that for a while the possibility of Pajares ramp to continue operating only for freight trains was considered, thus dividing Bypass into passenger convoys in the look and likeness of what is being done in most of Spain. However, this possibility has disappeared and he says, “Work is being done for the circulation of the goods over the Variant. Common sense prevails.”
The digital ASFA, already used as a driver aid on some high-speed lines, allows driving at speeds of up to 220 kilometers per hour and provides information on maximum speed, deviations and stop signs in the cabin. In any case, The maximum speeds of freight trains in the bypass will be far from this maximum, and some studies even place them below 100 kilometers per hour. for most convoys.