Performance of LTE in high speed railway scenarios: Impact on transfer delay and integrity of ETCS messages

Abstract

GSM-Railways (GSM-R) is an obsolete mobile technology with a number of shortcomings in terms of capacity and capability. These shortcomings become a major issue for railways as GSM-R may limit the number of running trains in some areas and it cannot support advanced data services. Hence, alternative technologies, such as LTE, have to be considered as a future railway communication technology. This paper presents an analysis of transfer delay and data integrity of European Train Control System (ETCS) messages transmitted over LTE network. The analysis is made using OPNET models of a high speed railway line and LTE systems. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.