D e N e de r la n dse M e de din g in g sa u t or it e it
Market Assessm ent for ProRail I CT- System s in Traffic Cont rol
Ex e cut iv e sum m a r y
This analysis on behalf of NMa provides an assessm ent of t he m arket for I CT-syst em s for t raffic cont rol with regard t o ProRail. I t has looked at relevant m arket s from an international perspective, t heir funct ioning and com petitiveness and t rends for fut ure developm ent s.
A view is also t aken at ProRail's procurem ent approach for supply and m aint e-nance of hard- and soft ware in t his cont ext . Risks and opportunit ies t hereof for t he qualit y of ProRail's perform ance are relat ed t o int ernational experience.
The assessm ent is based on a broad range of collect ed evidence, both in The Net herlands and int ernat ionally. Part icular em phasis is on current practices in ot her railway syst em s and a direct view on t he m arket from t he perspect ive of key- suppliers and service- providers them selves.
At the subm arket of hardware equipm ent , railways can part icipat e on a highly efficient, global com petit ion for standard components, if appropriate condit ions are set in t endering.
The m arket for soft ware applications however is not a classical, m ature m arket in t he sense of relat ively st andardized applicat ions ( "products") . I ndividual case- by-case solutions still dom inat e the scenery in Europe, while t rends t owards m ore st andardisation are in their infancy.
Hence, the origin and m arket -presence of key-suppliers is int ernational. The leadingedge of t hem pushes the use of costefficient , indust rial st andard plat -form s, also from other sect ors like aviat ion, for cust om isat ion on the individual requirem ent s and varying operational needs of railways. This gives also t he soft ware m arket t o a growing ext ent not only a European, but a global dim ension. On the other hand, the European effort s t o im pose som e st andards "from above" are widely seen as a longer-term issue that will not imm ediat ely change dem and pat t erns and m arket behaviour.
Today's role of ProRail at these m arket s is the one of a buyer, who is still faced with legacy I CT- system s for traffic-control which were developed in-house m ore t han t wo decades ago. These syst em s are perceived by m any indust ry- observers t o be at t he end of their lifespan. Although t hey are not t he single-m ost im port ant cause of t raffic perturbations in the Dutch railway syst em , t hey nevertheless have a st rong and highly visible im pact for t he general public due t o t he som et im es disruptive nature of incidents on operations.
an in- house knowledge- base t o define syst em requirem ent s for railway operat ions and t he st epwise redevelopm ent of key-m odules in order t o bring I CT- syst em s back t o a st ate of well defined and docum ent ed qualit y.
Con t e n t
1. Background and Object ives 5
2. Met hod of Approach 7
3. Scope of Analysis 8
4. ProRail's t raffic cont rol syst em s and supplier m arkets 10
4.1 Genesis of syst em s and suppliers 10
4.2 New st rat egy for procurem ent and m arket int eract ion 12
4.3 Current use of m arkets by ProRail 14
5. I nt ernational Market Overview 16
5.1 Dem and-side 16
5.2 Supply- side 17
6. Market Trends and Developm ent s 23
6.1 Dem and-side 23
6.2 Supply- side 27
7. I m plications for ProRail 28
1 . Ba ck g r ou n d a n d Ob j e ct iv e s
ProRail is a st at e- owned com pany supervised by t he Ministry of Transport ( "Minist erie van Verkeer en Wat erst aat ") , which holds the business concession of t he Governm ent of The Net herlands t o m anage t he Dut ch railway net work. As part of t he governm ent s' oversight , a working group of t he "vast e com m issie voor Verkeer en Wat erst aat " present ed a set of suggestions, the so- called report "Op de Rails", in 2005 t o im prove the perform ance of ProRail. Two years lat er ProRail provided a report on proceedings relat ed t o these suggestions, t he so-called "Op de Rails progress report ".
I n addition, the High Com m ission asked the Minist ry t o initiate an exam ination about the efficiency and effectiveness of ProRail as a react ion t o perturbations in t raffic cont rol system s – Ut recht and Rot t erdam in February 2007 and Am st erdam in March 2007. Two activities were thereupon launched:
̇ a second opinion about the "Op de Rails progress report ", which was provided in the m eant im e by McKinsey & Com pany,
̇ an assessm ent of (supplier) m arket s for t he development and m aint enance of I nform ation and Com m unicat ion Technology ( I CT) in t raffic cont rol by BSL on behalf of The Net herlands' Com petition Authority ( Nederlandse Mededingings-aut orit eit , "NMa") .
Findings of t his assessm ent are sum m arised in t he following report . I nt erfaces bet ween t he t wo activities were discussed m ut ually bet ween McKinsey and BSL. Based on the NMa- specification, the obj ect ive s for the t raffic cont rol I CT-m arket assessm ent are
̇ t o det erm ine the com pet it iveness of t he respect ive (sub- ) m arket s for syst em developm ent and m aint enance,
̇ to provide a j udgem ent about risks for quality, price and system com pat ibilit y in t he case that t he m arket was not considered being sufficient ly com pet it ive. Am ong others the following quest ions were considered as guidelines for t he assessm ent :
̇ Which are the relevant m arket s ( both in t erm s of products and geography) t hat serve ProRail t o obt ain t heir product s and services for I CT syst ems in t raffic cont rol? ( chapt er 4)
̇ Who – explicitly – are the suppliers and cust om ers? To what ext ent do they act dom est ically or int ernat ionally? ( chapt er 5)
̇ Which significant developm ents and t rends can be ident ified and what is t heir pot ent ial im pact on t he effect iveness of t he m arket , e.g. possible ent ries and exit s of m arket players? (chapt er 6)
̇ What are ent ry barriers for t he various sub- m arket s, e.g. int ellect ual propert y right s or governm ent al regulat ions? ( chapt er 6)
̇ How com patible are com ponent s and services provided by different suppliers? How im port ant is com pat ibilit y for the effectiveness of t he m arket ? Which risks can be ident ified and how can they be m it igat ed? ( chapt er 6)
̇ How do current procurem ent and cont ract ing practices im pact prices and the speed of delivery? What can be done t o im prove m arket -effect iveness? What can be learned by ot her infrast ruct ure m anagers int ernat ionally in this re-spect? ( chapt er 7)
2 . M e t h od of App r oa ch
Based on a com bined approach of the dom estic situation in The Net herlands and int ernational good-practice analysis, the st udy is built on three m odules.
0 0 8 \P ro je kt e _ 2 0 0 8 \0 2 8 2 0 0 1 _ N M a _ IC T -S y st e m e\ R e p or t\ 0 2 8 2 0 0 1 _ C ha rt s_ fu e r_ R e p o rt .p p t L M a n a ge m e n t C o n su lt a n ts G m b H & C o . K G Syst em configuration Sourcing & procurem ent I nt erviews wit h ProRail and current suppliers Cont ract procedure evaluat ion Supplier's perspect ive I nt erviews wit h rail-ways and regulat ors Custom er's perspect ive I nt erviews wit h international suppliers
Pr oRa il's I CT- la nd sca pe I n t e r na t ion a l good pr a ct ice
" Le ssons le a r ne d " St atus quo and outlook Transfe-rabilit y Outline for ProRail's future m arket approach 1 2 3
Figure 1: General approach in three separat e m odules
Module 1 provides in a first part an overview of ProRail's I CT-core applications in t raffic control wit h som e at tent ion t o their developm ent background and future challenges. The second part of t his m odule is a descript ion of t he I CT- relat ed "sourcing behaviour" of ProRail and an assessm ent of it s appropriat eness t o m eet fut ure challenges and t o obt ain product s and services in line wit h international perform ance st andards.
I nform ation was gathered from int erviews wit h technical and procurem ent expert s from ProRail's I CT- depart m ent , t he cent ral procurem ent unit ( "AKI ") , the recent ly creat ed unit for syst em m aint enance ( "Beheer non st op", BNS) , NS Reizigers as t he largest operat or on the net work and t he legacy- system m aint ainer TriBase and t he IT- com pany Logica as select ed business partners of ProRail.
Supplem ent ary t o the discussions wit h railways, an exchange with application and soft ware providers, expert developers and syst em int egrat ors was conduct ed about t heir respect ive views. I nt erviews on t his behalf covered represent at ives of ( in alphabet ical order) Accent ure, CSC, Funkwerk, I ndra, St eria and Thales.
This m odule led t o an overview of m arket t rends, an external view of ProRail's I CT-sit uation and an int ernational appraisal of m arket developm ent st rat egies. Module 3 then draws conclusions about relevant m arket s, their charact erist ics and t rends and the result ing im plications for ProRail.
Market analysis refers specifically t o soft ware applications and hardware of the syst em s. For bot h sub- m arkets supply and development on t he one hand and m aint enance services on t he other are considered.
Att ention is given t o charact eristics of these m arket s, like the set of relevant buyers ( being m ainly st at e owned rail infrast ructure com panies) , the set of suppliers in each m arket , degrees of product standardisation and specifics of the m arket for m aint enance services.
Thereby m odule 3 is ultim at ely leading t o im plications and suggestions for the fut ure approach of ProRail t o deal wit h the relevant I CT-m arket s.
3 . Scope of An a lysis
The study concent rat es on the supply and t he m aint enance of I CT-com ponent s which are direct ly relevant for qualit y of traffic operations, albeit with som e considerat ion t o int erfaces with neighbouring syst em s (see figure 2) .
The relat ed com ponents are m ainly traffic control funct ions, which are covered at ProRail by the syst em fam ily called "Vervoer per Trein" ( VPT). Core functionalities com prise t he operat ions m anagem ent ( "Verkeersleiding") and the corresponding m anagem ent of rout e set ting infrast ructure ( "Procesleiding") .
st udy focus
supplem ent ary at t ent ion
Pa sse n ge r I n for m ation Ope ra t io ns m a na ge m ent ( " Ve r k e e r sle iding" ) Tr a ffic co nt r ol ( " Ve r v oe r pe r t r e in" ) Safe t y syst e m s ( " Be v e iliging" ) I n fr a st r uct u r a l de vice s ( " Buit e na ppa r a t u u r " ) Tr a in Posit ion Cont r ol I nt e r - fa ce sys- t em s I n fr ast ruct ure Con t rol
( " Pr oce sleidin g") VPI EBS Sm art- Lock EBI -Lock Onderpost B- Relais Signals Swit ches Level crossing facilities … Train det ect ion
facilities BEPAC Pla n nin g ( "Ve rk e e r splan ") (VPT Donna) Jaarplan Dagplan Lokaal plan VKL PRL TNV ( TROTS) TBS
Jaar exam plary ProRail-syst em s
Figure 2: Focussed Syst em s and Applicat ions
I t is im port ant t o not e t hat , both with respect t o overall expenditures and t o perform ance, I CT for t raffic cont rol represent s a sm all part of t he wider t rain cont rol and signalling syst em .
Out of t he m ajor invest m ent that is earm arked for t he refurbishm ent of t he aged relay-based t rain- control inst allat ions in The Net herlands and for the m igrat ion t o European st andards in signalling (ETCS) , traffic cont rol I CT represent s an order of m agnit ude of 10% only.
Experience from peer railways on a European scale shows that effect s of t raffic-cont rol on operat ional perturbations are at low single- scale, som et im es even hardly observable ranges. Thereby syst em enhancem ent s are rather driven by t he aim t o enhance network capacity than being im m ediat e reactions t o perturbation problem s.
I n The Netherlands, the "un- planned" non- availability of railway infrast ructure ( regardless previously scheduled t rack int errupt ions) was 0,2% in 2007. Traffic cont rol I CT accounted for about 27% ( January-April 2008: 9% ) of non- availability t im es, which is broadly equivalent t o som e 3- 7% of all t rain delays based on int ernational experience.
4 . Pr oRa il's t r a ffic con t r ol sy st e m s a n d su p plie r m a r k e t s
4 .1 Ge n e sis of sy ste m s a n d su pplie rs
I n order t o underst and ProRail's current t raffic cont rol syst em landscape ( "VPT") and t he position of incum bent suppliers som e att ention t o it s genesis is useful. The VPT- landscape was originally an in-house developm ent of "Nederlandse Spoorwegen" ( NS) , init iat ed in the m id- eighties and rolled- out bet ween 1994 and 2000. The syst em archit ecture reflect s the t hen int egrat ed st ructure of NS. Besides key- funct ions of t rain pat h allocation and train cont rol, several subsys-t em s cover im m ediasubsys-t e consubsys-t rol of infrassubsys-t rucsubsys-tural devices and also operasubsys-t or- relasubsys-t ed issues as t he planning of t rain- crew rost ers.
I n order t o connect VPT wit h the exist ing, st rongly diversified syst em s on the safety level, various kinds of regionally specific int erfaces becam e necessary. This led – am ong other reasons - t o a high degree com plexit y of configurat ions and heterogeneit y of dat a-m odels, which turned out t o be a not orious problem for t he robustness of the syst em .
I n the cont ext of railway rest ructuring in The Net herlands, which t ook place in parallel with the roll- out of VPT in the mid- ninet ies, previously int ernal functions of NS were spun- off int o the m arket . This refers also t o the sect or of t raffic cont rol. Considerable shares of expert s, who part icipat ed in t he VPT- developm ent , were t aken over by privat e com panies, am ong t hem
̇ t he NS "Cent rum voor I nform at ieverwerking" ( CVI ) , which was acquired by EDS, a global US- com pany with m ore t han 9.000 I T- professionals world- wide within the t ransport ation sect or alone. EDS was granted a 10- year sales guar-ant ee in this context , which was part ly fulfilled by cont ract s from ProRail wit h regard t o VPT,
̇ t he form er in- house "NS I ngenieursbureau", which was spun- off as "Holland Rail Consult " (now "Movares" wit h joint venture "I nt raffic") and
̇ NS subsidiary Articon, which was sold t o Arcadis.
Subsequent ly, ProRail had t o rely on these suppliers for the developm ent of new applications and VPT- releases whilst in-house com pet ence on the subject was deplet ed. This had significant ly shaped t he Dutch m arket and is im port ant t o underst and the current situation.
( t oo) sm all in t erm s of econom ics and knowledge and since int erfaces bet ween regional responsibilities were difficult t o handle, act ivit ies were bundled int o an "um brella organisation" in 1998/ 99, of which Volker Rail, Struct on and BAM were t he shareholders. The TriBase- consortium emerged out of this organisat ion one year lat er.
Since then TriBase was t he single- source supplier of ProRail for I CT syst em m aint enance on the basis of annual cont racts. I n 2004, a 5-year lum p sum cont ract was agreed upon. Under t his cont ract a defined m aintenance qualit y-st andard based on agreed "perform ance indicators" was t o be assured.
However, syst em s det eriorated t o a st at e of perturbations t hat heavily affect ed t rain operat ions on t he net work. ProRail's st at istics of syst em failures indicat e t hat m ore t han once a week a new type of problem is det ect ed that – even if m ost ly not fat al - requires root - cause analysis, redesign and eventually the roll- out of a syst em release t o solve it . This indicat es t hat t here are syst em s wit hin t he Dut ch VPT- landscape which in their current st at e do no longer m eet good- pract ice st andards in Europe. The archit ect ure and key-m odules are seen t o be at the end of their life- cycle by several m arket observers.
However, besides t he funct ioning of soft ware t he spect rum of underlying causes for pert urbations deals wit h a wider range of
̇ m aint enance and upgrade works on I CT, which are affect ed by incom plet e docum ent ation and a lim it ed t est ing environm ent t o predict system behaviour, ̇ hardware- related issues, as a dam aged hard disk being the st arting point for
t he Am st erdam breakdown in March 2007 and
̇ energy and com m unication net works, which are in an ongoing process of advancem ent e.g. by replacem ent of copper by fibre opt ic cables.
26thApr il 2005: Post Pijnacker 19thJune 2005: Post Am st erdam 30thSeptem ber 2005: Post Utrecht 20thOct ober 2006: Post Utrecht 22thFebruary 2007: Post Utrecht 1stMarch 2007: Post Am st erdam M a lfu n ct ion in g sy st e m
Works Hardware Net works Signalling Syst em
EBP Train nu m ber det ection system
Various I nt erlocking System VPI Plan Beheer Systeem PBS Various x energy x x com m uni-cat ion I ncide n t Con ne ct e d w it h
Figure 3: ProRail- syst em s causing m aj or incident s 2005- m id 2007
This underlines that system st abilit y is not a m att er of replacem ent of single "t rouble- causers" only but needs an int egrat ive approach on various com ponents.
4 .2 N e w st r a t e gy for pr ocu re m e n t a n d m a r ke t in t e r act ion
Som e years ago ProRail st art ed t o address critical issues of it s m arket situation and t o deal wit h the challenges.
I t was acknowledged that further developm ent and st abilisat ion of syst em s requires leadership t hat can not be t ransferred t o suppliers. Thereby ProRail em barked on a st rat egy in 2004 t o re-assem ble and strengthen it s in-house com pet ence. This applies t o both t he developm ent and m aint enance of t raffic-cont rol system s and the supply and operation of related hardware:
̇ an in- house I CT- depart m ent was inst alled in 2005 with ( currently) about 140 int ernal expert s, which were m ost ly re- integrated from form er suppliers, and som e addit ional 140 ext ernal em ployees from the m arket ,
̇ resources from Arcadis and Movares are currently being att ached closer t o ProRail. As a first st ep, it was agreed with both com panies t o allocate expert know- how in a new com pany ( Loxia) , wit h which ProRail has form ed a st rat e-gic alliance. For t he m edium t erm , a re- int egration of resources int o ProRail is considered as an option,
I n doing so ProRail put it self in a posit ion to re- gain system leadership and initiated fundam ental reorient ation of its procurem ent strat egy.
I CT-products and services which are currently bought on the m arket under com petitive European tendering from international bidders are
̇ Hardware inst allations ( as server, PC's and related equipm ent ) ̇ Soft ware program m ing ( as the re- developm ent of applications)
̇ Maint enance services for hardware ( as planned for t he operat ion of the Double Nat ional Com put er Cent re DNCC, which im plem ent ation will st art in 2008) Tendering of syst em m aint enance follows the supply sect or wit h som e tim e lag. Once renewed and well- docum ent ed system versions will be in use, supply of services from the m arket s is feasible. Hence, t he tim e- critical first line-support will rem ain in t he hands of ProRail while the use of m arket resources is envisaged for the lat er st ages of syst em support . However, t he definition of func-t ional/ func-t echnical requirem enfunc-t s and func-the general sysfunc-t em design as well as func-t esfunc-ting, syst em int egrat ion and the roll- out of new applications are currently decisively held within the responsibility of ProRail ( see figure 4) . This m ay be seen as a reaction t o previous experiences with t he outsourcing of the t ot al system respon-sibility. INT E RNA L EX T ERNA L AT Sign- Off Docum ents Oper ational Readiness Test User Acceptance Test Requirem ent s Functional Technical Product Test Application I nt egrat ion
Perform ance Test Assem bly Test Com ponent Test Det ailed Design
& Build Design
Functional Design Documents
As a result of this work- split approach, recent t endering for t he developm ent of soft ware applicat ions t ypically covered 15-20% of t ot al project cost s only.
However ProRail also draws on expert s from the m arket t o support in-house work st ages. Half of the st aff ( and t wo t hirds of the relevant budget ) of ProRail's I CT-departm ent consist s of ext ernal expert s (see figure 5 for origins by com pany) . Hence, if accounting effort s for these "hired" expert s as ext ernal proj ect costs, t he overall share of ext ernal services increases t o 70% of t ot al project cost s, which is anyhow low com pared t o int ernat ional experience in this sect or ( see chapt er 6.1) . 5% 6 % 8 % 9 % 10 % 14% Atos1) Capgem ini1) St rict Cent ric1) Logica CMG Accent ure 4% Cim solut ions1)
4% 3% Conclusion1) 2% Synet ec 2% Synot ion 21% diversen EDS 4% Cored 4% I nt raffic 3% I lionx 3% Get ronics Da t a b a se : 2 0 0 7
1) of which in hold of an openly procured fram ework cont ract
Figure 5 Expendit ures for ext ernal ex pert s wit hin ProRail's I CT- depart m ent by com panies ( 2 007)
4 .3 Cu r r e n t u se of m a r k e ts by Pr oRa il
As a first st ep of ProRail's new procurem ent st rat egy t he highly int egrat ed archit ecture of the VPT syst em is current ly being t ransform ed ( "wit h m uch t im e and effort ") int o a "service- orient ed" st ructure t hat enables the developm ent of individual applications by different suppliers, which are each connect ed t o t he m ain syst em by a "service- bus" t echnology.
t he process of slot - allocation and operational guidance ( "Herm an") and a pro-gram m e for the rebuilding of train cont rol syst em s for rout e set ting processes ( "Astris"). I n 2008 investm ent s for I T will rise from 48 m illion € (2007) t o 90 m illion €.
Under this program m e, t he work-st ages from t echnical syst em design t o pro-gram m ing and com ponent t est s of soft ware- applications are planned and carried-out by suppliers which were chosen by public tender procedures.
The relevant m arket for softw ar e ( a pplicat ion) deve lopm ent consist s of com panies which m ay be generally based internationally. However, it turned out t hat presence in The Netherlands is of great advant age, since close cont act t o the cust om er and Dut ch speaking st aff is required.
Thereby suppliers who recently part icipat ed in previous t enders of ProRail were – beside of I CT Aut om at isering as local bidder – int ernat ional com panies with branches in t he Netherlands: At os Origin , CAP Gem ini, EDS, I BM , I CT
Au t om at ise r in g and Logica ( in alph abet ical order) .
Com p a ny
At os Origin
CAP Gem ini EDS I CT Aut o-m at isering Logica ( for m er LogicaCMG) Ba se Fran ce Fran ce USA Net her-land UK
Cha r a ct e r isa t ion
global soft ware com pany ( 50.000 exployees) , creat ed in 2000 by fusion of French "Atos" and Dut ch " Origin"
see figure 7
Large nat ional developer for I ndust rial Com puter Applicat ions (1.000 em plo-yees, experience in t raffic&aut om ot ive
I T-com pany serving European m arket s with specific rail com pet ence
Rem ark
ProRail's contract part ner for t he first test of a "soft -ware development fabric"
long- standing partner of the Dut ch transport sect or ( process/ traffic m anage-m ent , inforanage-m at ion and t icket ing syst em s) won a ProRail tender for t he developm ent of a t rain num ber observat ion system in 2002
Figure 6 Part icipat ing suppliers in Pr oRail t enders
The relevant m a rk et for ha rdw a re-equipm ent has t o be considered in another way.
The m ost recent m ajor ProRail- tender of this kind has been procured on a negotiat ed basis t o Hewlet t Packard in 2007. However, this was declared t o be except ional because of special com pat ibilit y reasons and tim e-const raint s for delivery.
I n general, it is recognised that syst em s have t o be ready for easy swit ches t o each new generation of t echnology st andards t hat com e up on the m arket . Thereby ProRail is able t o m ake use of t he global m arket for st andard equipm ent , which covers effectively all suppliers of business com put ing ( see chapt er 5 for nam es) .
5 . I n t e r n a t ion a l M a r k e t Ove r vie w
5 .1 D e m a n d- side
The dem and-side of the European m arket for t raffic cont rol syst em s is form ed by railway infrast ructure m anagers respect ively integrat ed railway com panies.
A widespread percept ion prevails am ong them to have each unique condit ions and requirem ent s t hat do not allow for the use of "pre- fabricat ed" products. I CT-m arket s are rather expected t o supply individual solut ions than t o be classical, m at ure m arket s in t he sense of relat ively st andardised applicat ions. Thereby t he dem and-side of the m arket is still relat ively "dom est ic" in its nature.
Est im ations about the m arket volum e for traffic cont rol syst em s wit h according t echnical inst allat ions and dat a net works are in the order of m agnit ude of annually 400 m io. € on a European scale.
Currently urban rail syst em s account for a t hird of the m arket . However, t he share of the heavy rail sect or will grow over the next years, since saturat ion of m ain lines increases the dem and for applicat ions t o exploit capacit y-reserves. The m ost im port ant nat ional m arkets are Germ any, I t aly and Spain, which each account for annual m arket volum es of about 65 m io. € according t o a recent survey.
Others
France East European Countr ies
Unit ed Kingdom I t aly
Germ any Spain
Source: SCI
Figure 7 Overview of national m arket seizes for t raffic cont rol
New and upgraded syst em s represent t he m ain share of dem and, while m aint e-nance and syst em rehabilit at ion account for annual invest m ent s of 30 m io. € only. This is an indicat ion t hat com plete syst em overhaul is an im port ant issue for European rail com panies ( see exam ples in chapt er 6 for t he sam ple of railways exam ined in det ail during t his study) .
5 .2 Su pply- side
The supply- side of the m arket is far m ore het erogeneous than t he dem and-side. I t is im port ant t o pay separat e at tent ion t o m arket s for soft ware applicat ions and hardware com ponents, since t he grades of required explanat ion and cust om isa-t ion of producisa-t s differ significanisa-tly ( as isa-the hardware m arkeisa-t is m uch m ore st andardised) .
I n t he following, we initially deal with the soft w are sect or of traffic cont rol. A useful cat egorisation of providers appears t o be
̇ large, t ypically m ult inational I T-com panies and syst em int egrat ors (som et im es also out sourcing- providers) wit h varying degrees of specialist expert ise in the t ransport at ion indust ry, like Accenture, At os Origin, Cap Gem ini, CSC, EDS, I ndra, Logica, St eria and others,
̇ specialist s, eit her wit h focused experience and skills in t he railway sect or, e.g. Funkwerk ( ex Vossloh) or wit h functional profiles for cross-indust ry expert ise in dat abases, real-t im e com municat ion, soft ware- m odelling, web- based solu-t ions or sofsolu-t ware requirem ensolu-t s' m anagem ensolu-t , like again Funkwerk, Telelogic, Tipco, Vivum and m any ot hers; the specialist s have m ainly m ore of a local exposure, but net hert heless oft en operat e int ernat ionally,
̇ railway infrast ruct ure m anagers, who are ready t o share t heir propriet ary syst em design or m odules/ applicat ions as platform s for cust om isat ion in other count ries. This m ay occur in joint approaches with the indust ry but also on a st and- alone basis. ADI F is an infrast ructure m anager t hat is in possession of advanced syst em s and part nering with I NDRA, it s syst em provider t o m arket solut ions world-wide. SBB is anot her railway t hat m ay consider sharing its solut ions wit h ot her users.
A recent study of m arket shares indicates that t he supplier- m arket is current ly a European and Am erican one (see figure 8) . Overseas supplier from Asia have significant com pet ence in the sect or but are m uch less engaged in European t raffic cont rol than in m ore st andardised m arkets like rolling st ock.
others Thales Siem ens I nvensys Bom bardier Ansaldo STS Alst om Source: SCI Pe riod 2 0 0 0 - 2 0 0 7
The identified m arket -shares cover t raffic cont rol hard- and soft ware including net works for dat a t ransm ission for bot h European heavy rail and urban rail syst em s.
The dom inant role of t he industrial groups is probably influenced by
̇ it s funct ions as prim e cont ract ors; subcont ractors for hardware and syst em int egrat ion are not account ed separat ely in t hese cases
̇ m ajor cont ract values for the rehabilit ation of com m unication net works, which m ay dom inat e quantit ative analyses.
While a strong m arket posit ion of these groups can be acknowledged, it s role is not as dom inant wit h a specific focus on the software application m arket as it m ay appear from an aggregat ed view on the sect or.
Charact eristics of the above nam ed com panies are present ed in the following t able 9.
M a j o r in du st r ia l gr ou ps
Com pa n y Ba se Ch a r a ct e r isa t ion Port folio ( se le ct ion )
Alst om France Global rail t ran sport equipm ent and
service provider
Signalling and t raffic cont rol segm ent st rengt hened by US- acquisit ion in 2003 ( GRS General Railway Signal)
I RI S ( I nt egrat ed Cont r ol Cent re)
MASTRIA ( Aut om at ic Train Cont rol Syst em )
Ansaldo STS I t aly Diversified indust rial com pany ( par t of
Finm eccanica group) ; t ran sport t elem atics are part of t he Signal Unit Dut ch subholding Ansaldo Signal NV act ed as shareholder for t he group’s foreign operat ing com panies only and was closed in 200 8
t raffic cont rol syst em s ( wit h at t ent ion on int egrat ion) in I t aly and world- w ide: ERTMS adapt at ion OTP Opt im ized Traffic Planner
CBTC Com m unicat ion- Based Traffic Contr ol for Under-ground lines
Bom bardier Canada Transpor t a-t ion head-quart er: Germ any
Global leader in rail equipm ent m anufact uring&servicing indust ry Com pany cent re for cu st om ized soft ware developm ent ( m ainly for t urn key proj ect s) based at Guj arat , I ndia
int egrat ed cont rol syst em s radio block cent res software design and m aintenance
I nvensys Great Brit ain I nt ernat ional signalling specialist
evolved from a m erger of BTR and Siebe
Form er BTR Rail com panies st ill t rade under est ablished nam es, as West ing-house Signals, Signalling Cont rol UK, Dim et r onic Signals
FUTUR ( ERTMS syst em in use e.g. at high speed lines in Spain)
Marubeni Korea
Mit subishi Japan
Hit achi Japan
Overseas firm s
Com pet it or s/ part ner s of European suppliers wor ld- wide ( e.g. con sort ium I nvensys/ Marubeni in Taiwan) , in European m arket s no relevant role yet
t raffic cont rol applicat ions, for air&rail in Asia ( as high speed rail [ e.g. Shinkansen] and convent ional lines [ as China] )
Siem ens Germ any Global t ransport at ion syst em provider
and key supplier of signalling syst em s
I LTI S ( cont rol syst em ) TRAI NGUARD balises, radio cont rol unit s ( ERTMS com ponent s)
Thales France Leading system supplier since
acquisit ion of t he "t ransport at ion syst em s" unit of Alcat el Lucent in 20 07
Aram is ( com prehensive t raffic cont rol syst em ) Net Trac ( t rain cont r ol) LockTrac and AI Trac ( safety)
La rg e I T- co m pa n ie s a n d syst e m in t e g r a t o r s
Com pa n y Ba se Ch a r a ct e r isa t ion Port folio ( se le ct ion )
Accent ure USA Global consulting, technology serv ices
com pany with specific rail com pet ence, e.g. on I T- benchm arking/ st rat egy issues
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion, out sourcing
Cap Gem ini France Global I T- consult an cy em erged from
CapGem ini and t he consult ancy unit of Ernst &Young
Subsidiary Soget i currently provides project leader of a m ain NSR IT- project
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion;
CSC USA Global leader for technology enabled
business solution s and services Long- st anding experience in t he t ransport at ion indust ry
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion;
e.g. in business wit h NSR for I T service alignm ent s
EDS USA Global I T- solut ion provider wit h k
now-how about Dut ch syst em s gained by acquisit ions in t he 1990t h' s ( CVI from NS and I CIM from Rijkswat erst aat )
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion;
I ndra Spain I T- com pany wit h com pet encies in real
t im e cont r ol ( esp. air, adopt ed t o rail)
DaVinci ( t raffic cont rol) Logica Great Brit ain Global I T- prov ider, ex perienced e.g. in
rail real- tim e t raffic inform at ion and m onit oring
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion, e.g. for ProRail-syst em TROTS ( 2004)
St eria France Leading end- to-end IT services provider
for com panies and public aut horit ies t hroughout Europe wit h considerable ex periences in real- t im e cont r ol of t ransport at ion syst em s ( m ainly aviat ion)
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion, e.g. Europt irail ( cross- boundary int egrat ion of traffic cont rol syst em s for European freight freeways)
Spe cia list s
Funkwerk Germ any Becam e specialist for com m unicat ion
syst em s in t ran sport at ion by acquisit ion of t he inform at ion t echnologies div ision of Vossloh in 2007
Consultan cy, system
int egrat ion, e.g. RCS for SBB
Telelogic Sweden Global solut ion provider for process
aut om at isat ion and ent erprise service archit ect ures; cur rent t ake- over by I BM
DOORS ( requirem ent s m anagem ent applicat ion, used e.g. at Germ an rail)
Tibco USA Global soft ware com pany focused on
service- orient ed archit ect ure ( SOA) , business process m anagem ent ( BPM) and business opt im izat ion
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion
Vivum USA software com pany with focus on asset
m anagem ent and finance soft ware solut ions
Consultan cy, system int egrat ion
Figure 9 Overview of suppliers for t raffic cont rol syst em s
An overview about the m ost im port ant suppliers and t heir charact erist ics is provided in t he following t able 10.
Su pplie r s of se r ve r s a n d se m icon du ct o r s
Com pa n y Ba se Ch a r a ct e r isa t ion Re m a r k s
ABM USA Mult inat ional sem iconduct or com pany
and second- largest global supplier of m icropr ocessors
Product s include em bedded processors for servers, workst at ions and PC
Acer Asian m anufact urer of PC's but also
serv ers
Minor relevant European rail hardware supplier yet HP Hewlet t
Packard
USA Large global m anufact urer of
com puters and serv ers ( h osts)
acquired EDS in 2008 ( see figure 9)
I BM USA Mult inat ional hardware m anufacturer
and supplier of host ing services
Global supplier of indust rial st andard com put er
equipm ent
I ntel USA World largest sem iconduct or com pany
Mot orola USA I nt ernat ional supplier of sem
iconduc-t ors and neiconduc-t works Sun
Microsystem s
USA Supplier of workst at ions and servers for
m any indust rial syst em providers as Alcatel, Siem ens
Sy st em s in use world- w ide ( Europe, US, Asia)
VI A
Technologies
Taiwan Taipeh-based supplier of chips for PC's
and net works
Various subsidiar ies as Cent aur Technologies, S3 Graphics,..
Figure 10 Ov erview of select ed hardware- suppliers for t raffic cont rol
Sou rcin g a n d m a in t e n an ce m a r k e t s ar e t ypically also very het er ogeneous; t he
following cat egorisat ion appears t o be useful:
̇ Legacy syst em s at railways ( som etim es self- developed) are t ypically m ain-t ained by railways ain-them selves ( "in- house") .
̇ New generat ion system s are often m aint ained (e.g. wit h soft ware releases and 24/ 7- service lines) by t he developers.
̇ I ndependent / separat e m aint enance and service providers for m at ure and well-defined syst em s get int o t he m arket through com petitive bidding for t he ser-vice-com ponent only.
6 . M a r k e t Tr e n ds a n d D e v e lopm e n t s
6 .1 D e m a n d- side
This chapt er will again init ially deal wit h developm ent s at t he softw ar e (
applica-t ion s) m a r k e applica-t . Secondly, applica-t rends relaapplica-t ed applica-t o cusapplica-t om ers aapplica-t applica-t he hardware m arkeapplica-t
will be highlighted.
Railways' decisions about renewals of t raffic cont rol syst em s are based on
m a r k e t scre e n in gs. I nt ernat ional exam ples show t hat t hese m ay lead t o t he
result that product s or plat form s for specific needs of railways are not available on t he m arket yet . This was the case at Swiss Federal Railway SBB, which deem ed t heir 15 year old traffic cont rol syst em (SURF) not t o m at ch current requirem ent s for capacit y and availabilit y any m ore. High st andards on consist ent real-t im e dat a were expect ed ( "bring planning close t o operat ions") in order t o enhance syst em robust ness and t hereby creat e addit ional net work- capacit y for t he very high t raffic-densit y on t he Swiss net work, which is very com parable t o t he Dut ch situat ion.
As alternatives for an own developm ent , SBB considered risks and benefit s of m ore fundam ent al system m igration against stepwise updates of single applica-t ions and decided applica-t o develop a new applica-t raffic conapplica-t rol sysapplica-tem ( "Rail Conapplica-t rol Sysapplica-t em ", RCS) "from the scratch" (even wit h a t ot al renewal of the underlying net work dat a by a consist ent "Unified Net work Obj ects dat abase") in order t o avoid that "m ore work is spent on int erfaces than solving t he real problem s".
Following t o this decision, an im port ant st rat egic issue is the degree of indust ry
pa r t icipa t ion st ill in e a r ly st a ge s of syst e m de f init ion .
This is considered against the background of dram atic changes that happened in t he fast - paced business environm ent of I T/ sem iconduct or-indust ries during the last decade regarding the sect ors of soft ware and syst em developm ent t ools, procedures and skills as well as m igrat ion processes.
St at e- of-t he- art t ools like certified "guarant eed syst em plat form s" are provided in a m uch m ore all-encom passing fashion by service/ syst em specialists, which also t ake responsibilit y for cont inuous t echnology adapt ation. The crit ical resource is in t he knowledge and specificat ion that keeps providers in t ouch wit h developm ent s t o an ext ent , that even t he big railways can hardly ( or at ext rem ely high cost s) be close enough t o t op-t ier developm ent s wit h int ernal resources t o fully underst and how t o m ake the best use of it .
INT ERNAL EXT ER NAL UA-Test Sign-Off Docum ent Operat ional Readiness Test User Accept ance
Test Requirem ent s
Functional Technical
Product Test Applicat ion I nt egrat ion
Perform ance Test Assem bly Test Com ponent Test Detailed Design & Build Design Det ailed Business Requirem ent s/ Priorities
Figure 11 "I nt egrat ed Developm ent " Approach
I n t he case of Swit zerland, suppliers perceived t hat as a chance for an advanced cooperat ion m odel, em bedding specialist know-how in t he phase of defining user requirem ent s, since "clients ( i.e. infrastructure m anagers) often have a very blurred underst anding of their own specificat ions when t endering-out I CT-syst em s, just reflect ing that t hey did not know in the beginning, what they t hem selves want ".
After an ext ensive ( 1 ½ year long) proof- of-concept in 2005, a consortium of CSC and Funkwerk ( previously Vossloh) st art ed work in a joint t eam with SBB on a t ightly controlled tim e- and-m at erial base. The consortium rolls-out first m odules on- tim e. The result is also considered as a "kind of a product ", from which other infrast ructure m anagers could benefit .
A sim ilar exam ple from The Netherlands is the so- called "HI T"- project of NS Reizigers on passenger inform at ion. Syst em requirem ent s were pre- defined in t he t ender only on a high funct ional level. Det ails were worked out then in an int eractive process bet ween NSR and the supplier ( Funkwerk) , who cont ribut ed his know-how- base and experience from a sim ilar syst em developm ent in Norway and act ively m anaged t he int eract ion bet ween the relat ed part ies.
By doing so, the developm ent process and the int egration of end-users was m uch advanced ( result s achieved "m uch quicker and in bett er qualit y than in other project s" according t o NS) . However, in ProRail's view t his developm ent at operat ors' side also shows the relevance of a sounder em bedding int o the cont ext of exist ing environm ents at the infrast ruct ure m anager in order t o ensure com patibilit y and successful int eraction of syst em s.
Alt ogether railways who follow joint approaches with the industry and conse-quently define ( and lim it ) their roles as a syst em archit ect ure leader, who creat es t he vision, defines the m ain st eps, t he best partners t o get there and cont rols t he process, obt ain shares of 80- 90% of proj ect effort s from ext ernal suppliers.
I nitiatives t owards ha rm onisa tion and standa rdisa tion of syst em s were previously rather seen at the supplier side of the m arket , which has an econom ic int erest t o use existing platforms for int ernational sales act ivit ies. Despit e European efforts for a "t op- down"- creat ion of a com m on European m arket no significant init iative was found on t he dem and- side t o prom ot e ( or even only support ) convergence of national approaches at the t raffic cont rol sect or. EU- int eroperabilit y aspirations are rat her a "push" t hat m eets reluct ance than a pull by the infrastructure m anagers themselves.
Nevertheless evidence is st rong from t he sector of signalling and int erlockings, t hat st andardisation and innovat ion can be successfully im plem ent ed by "bot t om -up"- approaches, when procurem ent st rat egy account s for a m odularisat ion of syst em s, brake- up of t ender packages and encourages the adapt at ion of "non-railway" but indust rially est ablished t echnologies.
now "cert ainly not less t han" 30% cheaper than t he original offers of "incum bent suppliers" and wit h m uch m ore com pliance t o deadlines.
While such coherent st rategies were a dom ain of som e "first m overs" in t he previous decade, init iat ives t o open up m arket s are current ly a t rend at m any railways. They expect that "a disclosure and st andardisation of int erfaces will push t ransparency and com petition, since it allows for specific procurem ent of single applicat ions and a cost - efficient m ix of com petitive suppliers" ( see DB AG or ADI F) .
Ope n st a n dar dise d in te r fa ces wit h propriet ary inform at ion at t he railway ( not
t he supplier) are a key-issue in order t o st rengt hen t he buyer's posit ion facing suppliers, enhance com patibility of syst em s and t hereby give m ore opportunit ies for suppliers t o part icipat e in t enders. However, int erviewees also highlight ed that t he num ber of different suppliers within a system landscape should not exceed a range "in a single-digit level" in order t o keep effort s on int erfaces m anageable and st rengt hen allocat ability in case of m id- perform ance.
Such kind of dem and- side driven int erest m ay event ually t ransform t he m arket t o a European/ global dim ension and lend it som ewhat m ore of a product -charact erist ic in t he m edium - t erm . However, experiences clearly indicat e the need for infrast ructure m anagers t o actively work with ( "m anage") the m arket in order t o m ake use of it s com petit iveness.
With regard to ha rdw are m ark ets the im port ance of absolut e flexibilit y of syst em archit ectures t o swit ch t o t he m ost recent equipm ent was highlight ed by a m ajority of int erviewees.
"Upward- com patible", scaleable and dist ributed com put ing/ processing com po-nent s bases on indust ry-wide st andards enable swift changes t o follow and m igrat e t o new technology- generations, since only a very sm all part of asset invent ories will be m odernised within m axim um windows of 2-3 years unt il m anufactures st op their production of a cert ain plat form and m ove on. A good exam ple for that are the m obile com m unicat ion net works for railways (GSM- R) , which already went through various t echnological generat ion changes.
However t here were st ill observat ions that "railways and their procurem ent departm ent s t ry t o oblige their suppliers t o guarant ee delivery and logist ics over t he next 30 years. I t is like 'going t o the m useum ' aft er a few years tim e and of course it is crazy in term s of 'invent ories and spare part s' requirem ent s and capit al em ployed".
6 .2 Su pply- side
Som e specialised suppliers and syst em int egrat ors express a willingness t o advance European m arket creat ion and do believe (broadly in consensus) t hat -underneath specific and individual requirem ents – fundam ent al syst em features are surprisingly sim ilar int ernat ionally. Thereby cust om izing of pla tform s a nd
conce pt s is considered as a valid and usable opt ion ( " t he railways just don't go
for it ") .
However, no m ature "ready- t o-use" products can be expect ed from the m arket , yet cost -efficient , indust rial st andard plat forms t hat can nevert heless accom m o-dat e cust om ised applications serving the individual requirem ent s and varying operat ional needs of railways.
Possibly t he leading- edge experience in Europe for a supply- side driven m arket consolidation (or rather "creat ion") is the im plem entation of t he t raffic cont rol syst em "DaVinci" in Spain. I t is a joint developm ent of the syst em int egrat or I NDRA and t he Spanish infrast ructure m anager ADI F based on a m ission- crit ical platform already used in air t raffic control and adopted according to functional design specifications of ADI F.
This highly int egrat ed syst em was im plem ent ed on t he ever growing Spanish high speed lines since 2003 and proved t o work – sim ilar t o it s equivalent in aviat ion -with ext rem ely high availability ( "t here have been no perturbat ions up t o now which had any effect s on t rain operations") .
An addit ional im plem ent at ion on the convent ional Spanish net work is under considerat ion. Furtherm ore, the syst em was bought and is being inst alled ( or considered) in a num ber of railway syst em s in Europe ( Transport for London) and globally (Sout h Am erica, China) . Various other European railways ( as the Port u-guese REFER, Brit ish Net work Rail, Austrian ÖBB and Russian RZD) have inquired about DaVinci and appear t o consider it as an advanced solut ion transferable int o t heir own operat ional environm ent .
Cr oss- fe r t ilisa t ion w it h ot h er in dust r ie s relat ed t o r eal- t im e t r affic cont r ol
m ay lead t o the ent ry of furt her m arket part icipants, which int roduce open st andards from sect ors like air t raffic cont rol, where developm ent has progressed in much earlier st ages ( possibly wit h a 10- 15 year tim e log) .
At the sam e tim e t hey have t o acknowledge t hat the overall client base ( "m arket size") is very lim it ed and I CT- solut ions are rather "by- products" which t ypically only account for a very sm all fract ion of sales com pared t o t rain cont rol and signalling for inst ance. This leads t o const ellations as t he rail- cont rol- cent re developm ent consortium bet ween Siem ens and Funkwerk for DB AG, in which Funkwerk holds the lead [ ! ] for syst em developm ent .
Hence it can be expect ed that in the near fut ure som e indust r ial groups m ay
m ak e st ra t e gic choice s t o eit her abandon I CT ( or leave it t o business- part ners)
or t o shift their own approach t o open archit ectures.
7 . I m plica t ion s for Pr oRa il
ProRail is facing the challenge t o bring it s I CT for t raffic cont rol, which is based on legacy syst em s, int o a m ore robust configuration and at the sam e tim e m anage t he transit ion int o the future.
I n the cont ext of it s current syst em landscape and previous outsourcing of key-expert s, ProRail is still bound t o incum bent suppliers. In parallel it has already t aken various st eps which can be considered as a m ove int o t he right direct ion, nam ely
̇ t o ( re-)insource know-how about system - requirem ent s and engineering, ̇ t hus, t o reduce exposure t o/ dependabilit y from t ied-in suppliers and service
providers,
̇ t o address a program m e of priorit ies for application redesigns,
̇ t o t ender- out soft ware- fact ory work under t he um brella of t his program m e com petitively and int ernationally,
̇ t o bring the resources of "Tribase" under direct m anagem ent cont rol of a dedicat ed ProRail unit (BNS) ,
̇ t o est ablish an ent erprise archit ect ure plat form ( "service bus") for bet ter syst em integration and
̇ t o inst all a redundant and cent ralised I CT- operat ions cont rol-cent re in order t o enhance infrast ructural provisions for business continuit y in case of failures. However, ProRail has undert aken t his m ove som e t wo years ago and is in ongoing efforts t o st abilise t he sit uat ion ("fire-fighting") .
I m pact s of dependency from incum bent suppliers can be est im ated on t he base of exam ples from railways, which went t hrough sim ilar t ransition processes som e years ago. Experiences clearly show, that internat ional suppliers with proven experience in the use of m odern t echnologies turned out t o be m ore com petitive as t o:
̇ Perform ance: st at e- of-t he- art plat form s can be expect ed t o work pract ically failure- proof ( see Spain) ,
̇ Delivery-speed: Requirem ent s and deadlines are handled m ore st rict ( see NSR, "HI T") Price levels: reductions of up t o 30% com pared t o original levels of "incum bent suppliers" were observed ( see DB AG and results from pilot t enders at ProRail (which were cont racted for the half of anticipat ed budgets) , ̇ Capacity: advanced syst em s enable a higher quality of t rain- operat ion, which
result s in a m ore dense exploit at ion of net works. SBB expect at ions on it s new t raffic cont rol system are capacit y gains of 5% .
While a set of act ions already t aken by ProRail tackle im port ant issues of a future-proof syst em archit ect ure and accordant m arket approaches t o benefit from these effect s, it should be continued and enhanced wit h explicit considerations t owards ̇ a coherent perform ance- assured syst em archit ecture
̇ a leap t o m odern soft ware and hardware t echnology and t ools with inherent advant ages of unit -cost digression and st andard "t im es-t o- applicat ion"
̇ access syst em rules and specificat ions in a self-crit ical m anner under value-analysis aspects
̇ assure a syst em atic and robust access t o highly specialised professional skills in t he m arket
̇ continuous evolution of hard- and soft ware in line with t echnological changes support ing t he system functionalit y in a sm ooth upward- com patible m anner ̇ consist ent ly m anaged 24/ 7 syst em availabilit y and service/ m aint enance. I n order t o cont ribut e t o a generation-change of syst em s wit hin the VPT-landscape, t here is t he need t o form alise and form ulat e operat ional requirem ent s and t o det erm ine a level of "innovation leadership" bet ween t op-tier develop-m ent s of t echnology and successfully proven pract ices.
Thus, since the drive of ProRail t o do all syst em design and specificat ion work in-house can be underst ood as a reaction t o current ly felt and pressing needs t o est ablish respectively rest ore an int ernal knowledge- base, it appears t o go t oo far and should be bet t er balanced wit h t he m arket .
I nt ernational good pract ice suggest s that - st art ing now and with a longer- t erm perspect ive - ProRail needs t o consequent ly develop it s approach t o t he whole procurem ent issue and it s business- m odel to interact wit h t he m arket by considering at least the following elem ents:
( 1)
Cont inue on t he re- building of a highly skilled knowledge- base within ProRail, that has sovereign insight and m ast ery of t he ra ilw a y- opera t iona l processes and rules; this "cent re of expert ise" should consider it self as syst em expert s for t he operat ion of t raffic and net works, not as a technology- focused t eam . I t should resource appropriate t echnologies ( as a m eans t o an end) from the m arket for t his purpose, it m ight rethink its hum an resource strat egy in order t o att ract som e very t op expert s.
( 2)
Cont inue t o reassem ble and form alise lost or hidden operat ional and safet y procedures as the prim e and forem ost t ask of this "cent re of expert ise" in order t o est ablish a solid foundation for all future ( and current) "requirem ent s m
an-a ge m e n t " ( i.e. an-a t horough definit ion of specifican-at ions) , an-as it is good- pran-act ice for
syst em developm ent in advanced indust ries (like aviat ion, aut om otive, financial services) .
( 3)
Cont inue t o est ablish such a professiona l " requirem ent s m a na gem ent " in cooperat ion wit h specialised I T-advisors and the support of m odern t ools in order t o enhance benefits which have already been seen from efforts of the last t wo years in
̇ higher efficiency,
̇ an induced form al rigour t o define specifications com prehensively and cont radict ion- free
̇ a generic set -up t o aut om atically derive a test ing- environm ent for soft ware and hardware com ponents
( 4)
As a further st ep, and building on the previous one, this "cent re of expert ise" should em bark on a self- critica l a ssessm ent of rules a nd specifica tions with regard to value- added and/ or necessary m ast ery of forgot ten ( oft en unreflected) underlying background for solutions and syst em design.
( 5)
ProRail should adjust (in parallel) a procurem ent st r at e gy, t hat
̇ packages applicat ions and t asks int o a lim it ed num ber of lot s, transferring responsibilit y for functioning interfaces t o a great er extent t o suppliers ̇ puts t hese packages out in the m arket for com petitive int ernational t
en-dering am ong t op- providers from t he industry
̇ considers t o develop m ission- crit ical syst em s, in case t hat m arket s do not offer sufficient platform s, t o im plement ation-stage (on a paid- for basis) in parallel by t wo suppliers for com pet it ive and fall- back reasons, like e.g. t he US Departm ent of Defence ( DOD) does for new aircraft
̇ puts ( far great er) em phasis in pricing on achieved perform ance st andards or sim ilar object ives of t he respect ive business cases behind the project s ̇ ( as a developm ent step) com bines the delivery and im plem ent ation of an
applicat ion wit h longer t erm service cont ract s, ideally covering 24/ 7 opera-t ions, service, release m anagem enopera-t and underlying m igraopera-t ion of hard-ware/ soft ware-com ponent s in line wit h t echnological changes.
( 6)
As a st arting-point for the t echnical assessm ent of t he current I CT- syst em landscape, ProRail should m andate an I CT- screening with regard t o
̇ m odernity/ obsolescence of hard- and soft ware ̇ int ernal/ ext ernal syst em developm ent capabilit ies ̇ fut ure indust ry "m ust s" and opportunit ies
( 7)
By this screening, ProRail should gain a structured overview on generic applica-t ions, plaapplica-t form s and applica-t ools from oapplica-ther indusapplica-t ries and also furapplica-ther evaluaapplica-t e poapplica-t enapplica-t ial t em plates from advanced peer railways, leading int o an overall st rat egy ( or
m a st e r pla n ) how t o dev elop t he I CT- landscape furt her and t ranspose it int o a
( 8)
Based on som e of t he before-m ent ioned steps ProRail m ay event ually decide about further st a ges of out sourcing of system -operations, continuous devel-opm ent and t echnology m anagem ent .
( 9)
Railway operat ional expert ise and "Requirem ent s M ana gem ent " rem ains a core capabilit y for ProRail t hat is unsuit able for external sourcing. The current effort t o overcom e t he brain- drain should lead t o a well- form alised knowledge- base built with further enhanced use of up- t o- date and m arket going m odelling tools.
8 . Con clu sion s
The key- quest ions of the m arket- analysis can be sum m arised in the following st atem ent s:
̇ "Which are the relevant m arket s ( both in t erm s of product s and geography) t hat serve ProRail t o obt ain t heir product s and services for I CT syst ems in t raffic cont rol?"
The relevant m arket for soft ware developm ent consists of com panies which m ay be generally based int ernat ionally. However, it t urned out t hat presence in The Netherlands is of great advant age, since close cont act t o the cust om er and Dut ch speaking st aff is required.
On t he hardware- side, t he relevant m arket is global and covers all effect ive suppliers of business com put ing.
̇
"How im port ant is t he different iat ion bet ween hardware for inst allat ion and operat ion of I CT- syst em s on the one hand and soft ware for syst em develop-m ent and develop-m aintenance on the other?"The differentiation is im port ant since t he grade of explanation and cust om isa-t ion requirem enisa-ts for producisa-t s differs significanisa-tly. Since isa-t he hardware m arkeisa-t is m uch m ore st andardised, less interact ion wit h t he cust om er is necessary. This m akes it easier t o procure and deliver globally.
̇
"Who – explicitly – are the suppliers and cust om ers? To what extent do t hey act dom estically or int ernat ionally?"̇
"Which significant developm ent s and t rends can be ident ified and what is t heir pot ent ial im pact on the effectiveness of t he m arket , e.g. possible ent ries and exit s of m arket players?"Supplier know-how is going t o be increasingly int egrat ed int o early phases of t he requirem ents m anagem ent of t raffic cont rol syst em s by joint - approaches t owards syst em developm ent s.
Harm onisation and st andardisation of syst ems, which are st ill in it s infancy despit e of m uch European effort s, support the effect iveness of t he m arket s, since sim ilar indust rial concept s or syst em plat form s (however adopt ed) are used int ernat ionally.
I ndust rial groups, who try t o t ie- in their cust om er int o propriet ary knowledge barriers, are t hereby under pressure. Some m ay m ake st rat egic choices t o either abandon I CT ( or leave it t o business- part ners) or t o shift their own approach t o open archit ectures.
Cross- fert ilisation wit h ot her indust ries m ay lead t o the ent ry of further m ar-ket part icipants with com pet encies in real- tim e t raffic cont rol ( as from avia-t ion) .
̇
"What are ent ry barriers for the various sub- m arket s, e.g. int ellectual property right s or governm ent al regulations?"For soft ware ( applicat ion) m arket s, barriers t o part icipat e on t ender proce-dures cover
Ÿ
t he degree of t echnical rather t han functional specificat ions, which m ay form ally exclude even functional adequat e solutionsŸ
propriet ary inform at ion on int erface st andards which are essential t o con-nect a syst em with others within an existing archit ect ure.For hardware m arket s, som e railways st ill restrict the m arket by requirem ent s for guarant eed delivery and logistics periods, which are m uch longer t han the life- tim e of a hardware platform in t he fast - paced t echnological environm ent . This urges suppliers to support outdat ed technology and thereby limits the num ber of m arket participant s.
̇
"How com patible are com ponent s and services provided by different suppliers? How import ant is com pat ibility for the effect iveness of t he m arket ? Which risks can be ident ified and how can they be m it igated?"necessary inform at ion for it . This will give m ore opport unit ies for suppliers t o part icipat e in t enders.
However, t oo m any different suppliers m ay be a risk for the syst em m anage-m ent in case of pert urbations. Thereby t he nuanage-m ber of suppliers within a syst em should be rest ricted "on a single-scale level".
̇
"How do current procurem ent and cont racting practices im pact prices and t he speed of delivery? What can be done t o im prove m arket - effect iveness? What can be learned by ot her infrast ruct ure m anagers int ernat ionally in this re-spect?"I m pact s of dependency from incum bent suppliers can be est im at ed on the base of experiences from railways, which already successfully widened their m arket : 30-50% higher prices, less st rict handling of delivery- tim es and lower syst em perform ance which leads t o less capacit y on the net work.
Thereby ProRail needs t o go furt her st eps ont o it s way t o m ake full use of t he m arked ( as described in nine recom m endat ions at chapt er 7) .
