OREANDA-NEWS.  June 03, 2013. Russian Railways, OJSC Scientific-Research and Design Institute for Information Technology, Automation and Communication on Railway Transport (NIIAS) and ECM S.p.A. (Italy) have signed a memorandum of understanding on scientific and technical cooperation in the field of research and the creation of open systems and train management.

The document was signed by Valentin Gapanovich, Senior Vice-President at Russian Railways, Igor Rosenberg, Acting Managing Director of NIIAS, and Roberto Cappellini, Vice President of ECM S.p.A. The signing took place at Krasnaya Polyana in Sochi on 30 May 2013 during the VIII International Rail Business Forum: 1520 Strategic Partnership.

In view of the integration processes now underway, Russian Railways and the railway administrations of other countries in the broad gauge 1520mm space are interested in creating an open system of train management.

The three parties intend to carry out scientific and technical cooperation to research and develop pilot open train management systems and then consider their implementation and replication in Russia, the CIS countries, the Baltic States and other countries in the 1520 mm space.

To achieve these goals, the parties agreed to allocate a test ground on the Russian Railways' network to the research and development of an open pilot train management system based on integrating ECM's microprocessor systems for centralising production and NIIAS' upper-level management system.

OJSC NIIAS and ECM S.p.A. intend to prepare and sign a contract by 1 September 2013 to carry out a corresponding study, with testing to take place at the Russian Railways' test ground. This work is expected to be completed by the end of 2013.