ROSA – a computer based safety model for European railways

Abstract

This paper on the Rail Optimization Safety Analysis (ROSA) is from the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Computer System Design and Operation in Railways and Other Transit Systems, held in Beijing, China, in 2010. The authors describe how the recently created European Railway Agency (ERA) has outlined a plan for Common Safety Methods (CSM) for European Railways, as well as first definitions of Common Safety Targets (CST) and Common Safety Indicators (CSI). In order to support the ERA, the German and French Ministries for Research supported a larger project, involving Deutsche Bahn AG (German Railways), SNCF (French Railways), INRETS (French National Institute for Transport Research) and the TUD (Dresden University of Technology), to develop a computer based environment to analyze and optimize safety characteristics and safety indicators for railways. Dubbed the Rail Optimization Safety Analysis (ROSA), this three year project concluded at the end of 2009 with a first complex ROSA toolset and results of early analyses. The authors describe the ROSA model and toolset, as well as first applications and thoughts for the future. They conclude that the ROSA project has established a consistent, computer-based framework and analysis scheme that permits the estimation of the safety characteristics of a complete railway network.