In 2025, Dutch railway operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) and Stadler signed a framework agreement for the delivery of 36 FLIRT trains for regional passenger services.
To support the commissioning of this new fleet and the integration of the ETCS and STM-ATB systems (the Dutch national train protection system), CLEARSY is supplying a dedicated simulation solution.
This simulator enables a real ETCS On-Board Unit (OBU) to be connected to a simulated railway environment through the standardised SUBSET-111-2 interface, which defines how real onboard equipment exchanges data with a test environment. It can reproduce different signalling environments, including ETCS Level 1, ETCS Level 2 and the Dutch national train protection system (STM-ATB). This allows the OBU to be tested under realistic conditions without requiring access to a real train or railway infrastructure, providing greater flexibility throughout the integration, validation and commissioning phases.
This capability has already been successfully demonstrated during a test campaign conducted between Utrecht and Strasbourg. The CLEARSY test bench installed at NS’s premises in Utrecht was used to remotely control and test CLEARSY’s ETCS OBU simulator located in Strasbourg in the various levels mentioned above.
This system makes it possible to perform tests representative of real operating conditions while reducing logistical constraints and accelerating the validation process prior to entry into service.