Addressing non-conformities in a ERTMS implementation : Collecting non-conformities in ERTMS simulation and analyzing their management via a database

Abstract: The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) aims to standardize train control command and communication systems in Europe. The main goal of its introduction is to develop trans-European railway traffic and increase competition. The two main components of ERTMS are European Train Control System (ETCS), which is an Automatic Protection System (ATP), and GSM–Railway (GSM-R).GSM-R is a radio transmission system that provides data and voice communication between the train and trackside facilities. Classical rail signaling systems are recommended to be updated to meet these standards. This master’s thesis is conducted in cooperation with Bombardier Transportation (BT), the rail equipment division of firm Bombardier Inc. It explores a part of ERTMS implementation and aims to identify its failures/non-conformities during its simulation. A non-conformity is any deviation or nonfulfillment of a requirement involving a product manufactured at BT. This thesis first collects failures/non conformities in test sessions and stores it into databases. A failure/non-conformity is processed by many engineers from the time it is detected in a test until it is resolved.  This thesis project seeks to investigate the exchange and the management of failures in both the tools and databases, together with analyzing the interaction between engineers through tools and databases. Non conformities detected during the simulation is stored in databases. The goal is to utilize this data to highlight parts of ERTMS implementation which generate most of non-conformities during the simulation. This information indicates to engineers where to focus and act in order to improve Bombardier Transportation’s products. This thesis successfully simulated a part of ERMS implementation. Several different tests cases were conducted and seven non-conformities were detected. These non-conformities were used to investigate and analyze the process of managing failures in tools and databases. This thesis proved that the exchange and the management of information about non-conformities was inefficient and time consuming. In the worst case, non-conformities were completely lost during this process. Several corrective actions were proposed in order to improve the handling of non-conformities.