While work continues on three pilot applications of rail traffic management technology, David Waboso, Network Rail's Managing Director, Digital Railway, says that Network Rail has identified eight priority projects where the introduction of the European Train Control System could offer significant capacity and performance benefits. He sees digital train control as the key to extracting maximum capacity out of the existing infrastructure and believes that there are three main pillars to this strategy - ETCS, traffic management and driver advisory systems which will be forerunners to automatic train operation. He adds that it will be fundamental to include the supply chain in the entire programme and says that suppliers may be able to help finance installation and maintenance of the train control systems.
Railway Gazette International, May.2017. pp.38-41.