Mozek Vlaku
www.posiv.cz 25
BUSINESS
do not need to know railways, it is enough to understand
current software and hardware technologies.
Specifically, we have two routes. Either we use what we
already have, for example modular control systems that
we have been offering for twenty years and configure
for a specific carriage. Or we develop a new product
according to the customer’s requirements: door control,
water management, or diagnostic displays. The pressure
on development is also increasing thanks to digitalisation
and, more recently, cybersecurity, which is becoming
an ever more significant factor in trains as well. Like other
critical transport infrastructure, railways have their own
sets of standards and regulations, and development has
to adapt to them.
We prepare a product for the designers with a given
interface and say: here is the power supply, here
are the signals, and this is how it is connected.
The implementation in the vehicle is then handled
by Jan’s team.
But before anything leaves our workshop, it has to go
through the testing facility. We expanded it significantly
last year, and the difference is noticeable. Now, when we
go for accredited testing, we do so with near certainty
that the product will pass. In the past, if something went
wrong, we had to wait for another slot. And the tests are
paid for, so every repeat hurts twice.
JK: Today, the alpha and omega is the safety
of operations and passengers. All requirements stem
from this: replacing the control system, securing
the doors so that no one can fall out of the train while
it is in motion. That is also why railway technology has
to be robust – in essence, you have military technology,
then railway and aerospace technology, which are
roughly on the same level.
In practice, this means we combine the products we
manufacture with those we purchase and deliver
the entire train project – including cable routing
from the front of the vehicle to the rear. The full
complexity becomes most apparent in older vehicles.
Can a forty-year-old locomotive be as safe
as a new one?
BS: It can, but during modernisation you will
always come across a challenge that does not meet
today’s standards and reflects the time it was created
in. That, however, is precisely the challenge: you
have to come up with an equivalent replacement.
The advantage is that we have our own development,
and when we encounter a problem, we are able to solve
it ourselves. A comprehensive modernisation can extend
a vehicle’s lifespan by another twenty-five years.
JK: And then there is the administrative side of things.
Approval by the Railway Authority, trial operation – and if
the project goes beyond national borders, communication
with other authorities is also required. Each has its own
deadlines. We are able to tell the customer: it is nice that
you have this idea, but in reality it would mean extending
the approval process. And customers usually respect that,
because we know what we are talking about.
Take, for example, the installation of the ETCS system
– the European Train Control System, which allows
a locomotive to travel across the whole of Europe
with only a change of driver at the border. In the past,
the authority would receive documentation for a single
series of vehicles; now it suddenly has six on its desk.
Approval is more complex than it used to be, and it
seems to us that the European authority was not entirely
prepared for approving multiple series at once.
BS: We carried out the first pilot installation of ETCS
directly in our workshop in Ostrava. We acted as
the integrator and managed the entire project, including
the documentation. Of course, in cooperation
with suppliers, because we do not do everything
ourselves. For example, the ETCS itself is supplied
by the Spanish company CAF, but the overall
responsibility rested with us.
How does someone get into a job that controls trains
across three continents?
BS: We have contracts secured for the next three to four
years, and we are competing for more. That is why we
systematically build partnerships with universities – we
offer internships as well as topics for master’s theses.
At the same time, we do not rely only on young
graduates; we also welcome experienced professionals
from across the country. Alongside interesting work, we
can offer solid support, whether in the form of company
apartments or, in the future, branches in other cities.
The job is not just about sitting in an office – those who
want to can travel across the Czech Republic, Slovakia,
and abroad, currently for example to Egypt or India,
where we address how to adapt equipment to local
standards.
JK: And by the way, many boys played at being train
drivers when they were young. Here, they can engage
with trains in a different way – and they can see
the results of their work: they design systems that control
locomotives running all over the world.