FREIGHTLINER’S new Operational Training Academy in Ipswich will prepare drivers for the use of European Train Control System (ETCS) digital in-cab signalling, which will be gradually introduced by the end of the decade on the East Coast Main Line between London King’s Cross and Stoke Tunnel, near Grantham, as part of the East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP).
As it becomes more widely introduced, ETCS, which enables drivers to receive live information regarding speed and braking (with the safeguard of automatic train protection), should enable operators to run longer, heavier and faster freight trains on the UK network.
Funded as part of the £1 billion ECDP, the academy contains three classrooms, learning spaces and driving simulators. It is about to host its first trainee drivers who are based in the town.
Work on fitting the digital technology to the first of Freightliner’s Class 66s is due to begin this autumn.