Quality of Service in a GSM-R PPPJean CELLMER

UIC ERTMS 2014

The RFF GSM-R project

Preliminary study started in 2000

Start of rollout in 2003 with the first supply contract given to Nortel

GSM-R scenario: Replacement of analog system : 14,000 km on a total of 32,000 km Unique train radio for new lines : East European High Speed Line first 10 year rollout Radio optimized for 8 Watt cab radios Planned number of users: 10,000 cab radios + 30,000 handhelds ETCS level 2 on high speed lines

Architecture: 1 Core Network active (+ 1 back up site) 17 Base Station Controllers, 2,500 Base Stations (radio sites)

The RFF GSM-R network architecture

2 MSCs (1 +1)17 BSCs2500 BTSsand: - A test platform including a test line- A national supervision centre

Port BouPort Bou

Tours

Reims

LyonLimoges

Rennes

Nantes

Guingamp

St Brieuc

Quimper

Vannes Redon

Le Croisic

Le Mans

Laval

Angers

Saumur

Sablé

Poitiers

Angoulème

Libourne

Bordeaux

Brive

Cahors

Morcenx

Dax

PuyooHendaye

Bayonne

Tarbes

Agen

Toulouse

Montauban

Perpignan

Carcassonne NarbonneMontréjeau

Arvan

Chateauroux

Nexon

Vierzon

St Florent

Bourges

Saincaize

Auray

La Ferté B

Chatellerault

Ruffec

Nevers

Gourdon

Moulins

St Germain des F.

Riom

Roanne

St Etienne

Montpellier

Nîmes

Toulon

Cannes

Vintimille

Aix

Orange

Valence

Romans

BéziersSète

ModaneGrenoble

Aix

Annecy

St Amour

Bourg

Ambérieu

Genève

Culoz

AlbertvilleBourg St MauriceGivors

Chasse

Chagny

Les Laumes

Dôle

FranoisBesançon

Mouchard

Arc et Senan

Gannat

Mulhouse

Bâle

ColmarChaumont

Culmont Ch.

EpernayChalons

Vitry le F. Toul NancyReding

Forbach

Apach

Metz

Charleville M.

Hirson

Longwy

Bening

Vittel

Merrey

Kehl

Jeumont

Tergnier

Longueville

Coulommiers

Tournan

Laroche M.

Dreux

Le Havre

Rouen

Plaisir G.

Clères

Rue

Abbeville

Boulogne

Calais

Valenciennes

Tourcoing

Dunkerque

Baisieux

Amiens

Beauvais

Persan

Mantes

Hazebrouck

Arras

Lens

Bethune

Cambrai

Lille

Longueil

Blois

Orléans

Etampes

Brest

Busigny

Tarascon

Avignon

Clermont -F.

Molsheim

Thionville

Neuenbourg

ToursDijon

Reims

Marseille

Lyon

Rennes

Nantes

Guingamp

St Brieuc

Quimper

Vannes Redon

Le Croisic

Connerré

Angers

Sablé

Angoulème

Libourne

Brive

CahorsArcachon

Morcenx

Dax

PuyooHendaye

Bayonne

Tarbes

Toulouse

Perpignan

Carcassonne NarbonneMontréjeau

Arvan

Chateauroux

Nexon

Vierzon

St Florent Saincaize

Auray

Courtalain

Chatellerault

Ruffec

Moulins

St Germain des F.

Riom

Roanne

St Etienne

Montpellier

Nîmes

Toulon

Cannes

Vintimille

Aix

Arles

Orange

Valence

Romans

BéziersSète

St André le G.

Aix

Annecy

St Amour

Ambérieu

Genève

Culoz

AlbertvilleBourg St MauriceGivors

ChasseChambery

Mâcon

Chagny

Les Laumes

Clerval

Gannat

Belfort

Mulhouse

Bâle

ColmarChaumont

Culmont Ch.

Epernay

Vitry le F.

Lérouville

Bar le Duc

Reding

Forbach

Apach

MetzConflans J

Charleville M.

Longuyon

St Dizier

Pagny Rémilly

Vittel

Merrey

Jeumont

Tergnier

Provins

LonguevilleChartres

Le Havre

Plaisir G.

Clères

Rue

Abbeville

Boulogne

Calais

Valenciennes

Tourcoing

Dunkerque

Baisieux

Amiens

Beauvais

Hazebrouck

Arras

Lille

Blois

Orléans

Etampes

Brest

Ormoy

Strasbourg

Busigny

Miramas

Tarascon

-F.

Molsheim

Neuenbourg

ChateauThierry

Creil

Paris

Troyes

Blesmes

Aulnoye

Liart

Douai

Thouars

Laon

Why a PPP?

June 2004: a new French Law authorising PPP (Public Private Partnership)

Why a GSM-R PPP? Rollout time schedule could be reduced RFF and SNCF could benefit from additional competencies in term of rollout

and network operation thanks to mobile operators involvement RFF financial risks would be limited since the price is definitely fixed in the

Partnership contract Operation costs could be reduced thanks to mutualisation of activities and

resources (a common network operating centre) Additional revenues allocated to the private partner, reducing the price paid

by RFF RFF CAPEX postponed and partly changed in OPEX.

The main aspects of the French PPP contract

A 15 year contract signed in March, 2010 with a new company named SYNERAIL

Complete rollout of the GSM-R network

Operation of the complete GSM-R network, including the part which was built by RFF (transfered to SYNERAIL in March, 2011)

Maintenance, upgrade, replacement of all necessary hardware and software equipment until 2025

New services on the network in order to improve business revenue

Future High Speed Lines: connection to the GSM-R national network and support of local GSM-R Base Station Subsystem (the radio sites)

A very high grade of service: Train to ground radio, 100% compliant to EIRENE specification ETCS level 2 data transmission on High Speed Lines

What’s not in the PPP

Transmission links between network elements are still supplied by RFF.

These fiber optic or copper cables already exist and are used for various telecommunication applications. They could not be dedicated to GSM-R and transfered to the GSM-R PPP.

This share of responsibilities create some difficulties and needs a good organisation.

Fixed telephony is also supplied by RFF. The Private Partner is just responsible for integration of these equipment in the end to end system.

GSM-R PPP: Area of responsibility of SYNERAIL

7

BSS

Base Station Subsystem

BSC

BTS

BTS

NSS

Network Switching Subsystem

BSC

(7 sites)

FTS: SNCF (Primary and secundary controllers)

Cab radios

Handhelds

Lineside Telephone

Sets

(Base Transceiver Station)

(Base Station Controller)

SDH Transmission: SNCF

SYNERAIL domain

Local loop: copper cables and fiber optics: SNCF

A complex contractual organisation

8

RFF

Temporary building consortium : SYNERAIL CONSTRUCTION

SYNERAILStakeholders Banks

Consortium for operation and maintenance : SYNERAIL EXPLOITATION MAINTENANCE

Sub contractor N

Sub contractor

N+1

Small companies

Small companies

Sub contractor N

Rollout independant

Controler

Stakeholders contract

PPP contract

Financing contract

Building contract Operation and maintenance contract

Sub contract Sub contract Sub contract Sub contract

Interface contract

Certification of sites

Specific contractual relationship

Sub contract

Lessons learnt from RFF experience

A very complex organisation

Managing a PPP contract is all but simple: Financial, operational, technical aspects have to be dealt with by numerous contractors.

Too many interfaces

RFF is the customer but RFF is also the supplier of transmission links, works along the track safety etc.

Lessons learnt from RFF experience

The temptation to over specify

In a PPP contract the private partner is responsible for the network design and RFF should have only issued functional specifications, mainly expressing RFF’s needs in term of services, QoS, maps of lines to be covered, railway constraints.

But RFF explained very precisely its internal rules: no candidate took the risk of not following RFF’s rules and no one showed creativity. SYNERAIL designs and builds the same network as RFF did.

Quality of Service in a GSM-R PPP network

There is a contractual relationship between RFF and the private partner. SYNERAIL is committed to:

Guarantee a permanent GSM-R service (train radio and support for ETCS level 2)

Instantly inform RFF in case of any loss of service Keep the network as new until the contract end (2025) Pay penalties for every break in the contractual rules

RFF is permanently informed of the network status

SYNERAIL Exploitation comes from a mobile operator (SFR): Technicians are very professional, well skilled and trained There is an efficient human resource sharing with SFR But sometimes, there is a need to better understand the railway specific

environment and constraints

/ UIC/PTA 23 May 20111111

The network Operation Centre is shared with a mobile operator’s

/ UIC/PTA 23 May 20111212

SFR operation centre: one table is dedicated to GSM-R

QoS: Level of performance

SYNERAIL is committed to deliver the GSM-R service with a contractual level of performance:

Radio coverage: minima signal level > - 98 dBm pour train radio and > -92 dBm for ETCS level 2

Handover on Power Budget: > 90%

Handover ping pong: < 1%

Voice quality: MOS > 3 and RXQUAL < 2 (*)

Call drop rate for voice < 1.5%

Call drop rate for ETCS < 1 call drop per 100 hours

Etc.(*) RXQUAL is a GSM-R parameter which qualifies the received signal quality

/ UIC/PTA 23 May 20111313

Quality of Service: Service availability

Three categories of sites Normal sites: Conventional lines Critical sites: High Speed Lines + around 100 sites on conventional lines ETCS level 2 sites

For every radio site a maximum downtime per year is specified: 99.51% availability of service for conventional (40 hours cumulative max outage) 99.91% availability of service for critical (8 hours cumulative max outage) 99.99% availability of service for ETCS level 2 (52 mns cumulative max outage)

In addition Time To Repair (TTR) per site is limited to 4 hours Every service affecting breakdown must not last more than 4 hours

QoS: Information of RFF and SNCF

In case of a service breakdown:

SYNERAIL must inform SNCF railway operator in less than 5 minutes of any issue which could have a negative effect on railway traffic

They must confirm in less than 20 minutes that the issue is not fixed and explain the consequences in term of affected area, likely duration of the problem, possible reason for this issue to go on etc.

After service recovery:

SYNERAIL must inform SNCF in less than 5 minutes

In case of a Railway Emergency Call:

SYNERAIL must provide, on request of SNCF, a provisional technical information in less than 15 minutes (call trace) and complete information in 24 hours,

/ UIC/PTA 23 May 20111515

Some railway specific issues

In spite of their professional experience, SYNERAIL technicians are facing some new issues:

• No alarm out-of-service sites:• A Public GSM site is monitored by counters of traffic• A GSM-R site (non ETCS) is not used to support permanent traffic• In case of loss of service without alarm notification (i.e. antenna) train

drivers are the only source of information: no way to fix the issue in less than 4 hours!

• Very high requested availability:• A public network can live with several sites out-of-service for hours/days

especially far from peak hours• A GSM-R network needs to be permanently in service, all sites (no

coverage overlap), especially ETCS sites

• A strong need to inform railway operators in case of a breakdown and after service recovery:• Some outages could lead to a railway traffic stop.

/ UIC/PTA 23 May 20111616

Conclusion

Operating a GSM-R network in a PPP mode is a good way to improve the Quality of Service thanks to the presence of mobile operators skilled and well trained people.

But these professionals often need a time to fully understand railway constraints and specificity.

Questions?

/ UIC/PTA 23 May 20111717