Analysis of the possibility of implementing interoperability tests on Polish railways

Ensuring the greatest possible interoperability of rail transport, especially for railways in Europe, is one of the key projects to be implemented using the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), including the European Train Control System (ETCS) and the Global System for Mobile Communications-Railways (GSM-R). The ERTMS system aims to replace many different rail traffic control systems with one, common and unified European solution (Commission Regulation (EU) 2016/919, 2016), (Directive (EU) 2016/797, n.d.) Its creation was dictated by the desire to standardize the traffic control systems present in the territories of various European countries, at the same time extending their functionality and eliminating the existing technical barriers. The aim of this article is to present the possibility of implementation interoperability tests - IOP tests, on Polish railways. These tests are intended to provide a faster, more accurate and less costly demonstration of compliance with the ETCS interoperability requirements compared to field tests. The work defines the concept of interoperability tests as well as the purpose of their application. The general principles and procedures for conducting interoperability tests are presented. In the further part of the work, the operation of laboratories in the European Union is analysed. The laboratories functional in Switzerland and Spain were selected for this analysis. Following, the paper presents the validity of implementing interoperability tests on the territory of the Republic of Poland. On the basis of the pan-European procedure of conducting interoperability tests and the experience of foreign independent laboratories, conditions for the implementation of tests in the Polish railways were developed, which could be used in the future to introduce IOP tests in Poland.