GERMANY: DB InfraGO is pressing ahead with the ETCS rollout along Germany’s Rhine-Alpine Corridor, commissioning Alstom to equip a further 43 km of the key line near Düsseldorf by the end of 2029, the French supplier’s first call-off under DB’s €6.3bn digital signalling framework.
The Alstom order targets 43 km between Ratingen West and Immigrath just east of Düsseldorf, bringing ETCS to an important stretch on one of the continent’s busiest freight axes. DB will overlay the legacy PZB system with ETCS Level 2, with the section and its Düsseldorf-Rath Radio Block Centre due to be operational by the end of 2029.
The section lies on the German part of the North Sea-Rhine-Mediterranean TEN-T corridor, and forms part of DB InfraGO’s wider Rhine-Alpine programme running from Oberhausen-Sterkrade in the Ruhr area to Haltingen near Basel on the Swiss border.
Alstom’s package will include ETCS equipment for the Ratingen-Leverkusen section and the integrated operating system iBS, which will allow the upgraded infrastructure to be operated from DB’s Digital Control Centre in Wuppertal. As part of the works, Alstom will install digital interlocking technology, balises and two ETCS trackside control centres, known as Radio Block Centres, giving the upgraded line the radio-based link between interlocking and train needed for the new safety and signalling system.
Two stage project
Split into two stages, the first phase centres on the Düsseldorf-Rath Radio Block Centre and the 43 km Ratingen West-Immigrath stretch, which DB plans to commission in December 2029. A second phase is set to follow with the Solingen Radio Block Centre and a further 21 km of ETCS between Opladen and Leverkusen Morsbroich, although no final commissioning date has been given for that part of the rollout.
Under ETCS Level 2, the Radio Block Centre maintains continuous communication with trains, making it one of the central pieces of the new signalling architecture in one of Germany’s busiest rail regions. DB says the system will support more efficient and interoperable operation on the European rail network, while the iBS layer will allow the interlocking and ETCS functions to be monitored centrally from Wuppertal.
The iBS layer is meant to make the new signalling estate easier to operate across suppliers. Instead of each manufacturer’s interlocking being controlled through its own operating environment, the system uses the SCI-CC interface to bring different modern interlockings into a common control layer, with DB pointing to a more adaptive interface for train traffic controllers and more flexible handover of responsibilities during faults.
‘It is impressive to see how we are implementing modern signalling and safety technology together with Alstom’, said Fabian Degen, one of the project engineers. ‘This represents another important step towards greater interoperability in European rail transport in the corridor.’
From framework to corridor projects
The Alstom order is one of the first route-level packages to come out of DB’s new volume contract model, which was created to speed up Germany’s digital signalling rollout after years of slower, project-by-project procurement.
The €6.3bn framework is a long-term purchasing commitment between DB and four industrial partners: MerMec Deutschland, Hitachi Rail, Alstom and the Siemens Mobility-Leonhard Weiss consortium. It covers digital interlockings, ETCS and the integrated control and operating system iLBS. DB has committed to procuring defined volumes from the framework by the end of 2028, including 15 500 control units such as signals and point machines, while individual project delivery can run into 2032.
The idea is to offer more certainty for both sides, with DB getting secured industrial capacity while suppliers can plan resources, platform development and delivery teams around a guaranteed pipeline. DB says the model is intended to shorten the path from commissioning and planning to construction and entry into service, replacing a slower sequence of individual contracts and project-specific call-offs.
Thus, the framework is now being released through individual corridor and route packages. Siemens Mobility and Leonhard Weiss were awarded a contract for Köln – Mülheim in May 2025 and a ScanMed Corridor package in January 2026, while Hitachi Rail received its first firm order for the Riesbahn in February 2026. The Rhine-Alpine order is the first firm order with Alstom, bringing the French supplier into the delivery sequence on a corridor where ETCS is being built out section by section.