The second joint meeting of the Radio Spectrum Committee (RSC) and Railway and Industrial Safety Consultants (RISC) was held last 4 July in Brussels.
The meeting was chaired by Patrizio Grillo, deputy head of the DG MOVE.B2 unit, and Andreas Geiss, deputy head of the DG CONNECT.B4 unit, and attended by about 49 participants, including railway company representatives from various countries.
The main topics debated were interoperability and harmonisation, along with additional spectrum for railway systems versus spectrum for short-range equipment in the 870-876 MHz/915-921 MHz band.
Various contributions were presented, specifically from the European Railway Agency (ERA), referring to the time periods needed to finalise specifications of the GSM-R system’s successor, which point to late 2018.
The various countries in attendance debated the forecasted spectrum needs. Germany was notably the country with the most concerns in this area.
The European Commission called the attention of the railway community by indicating that it cannot prevent the spectrum in question from being used/harmonised for other applications. In that regard, France notably indicated that it is examining the possibility of using spectrum other than 870-876 MHz/915-921 MHz, specifically in the 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 2.3-2.4 GHz bands
Latvia held that it was essential for interoperability to be affordable for member states (costs). The interoperability question should hence be subject to opportunity cost or cost/benefit analysis.
Finally, the meeting’s chair noted that the migration question is being analysed, specifically regarding the amount of spectrum needed, even though the functions that enable the spectrum needs situation to be discerned have yet to be defined.
Also worth highlighting is that the migration mode was not made clear: it will be phased over time, using additional spectrum or not, or it will be instantaneous (disconnecting GSM-R and connecting its successor), either using or not using additional spectrum for hotspots.
