The efforts of OSE and ERGOSE to operate the GSM-R digital communication network on the country’s railway network look like a “bottomless barrel”. It is a secure platform through which all employees of the railway – machinists, machinists, station managers – can communicate and maintain video surveillance at stations and trains. A contract signed with Siemens in 2006 was the focus of a high-profile investigation by the commission of inquiry, and the system was delivered ten years later in 2018. Since then, OSE has been awarded millions in contracts to maintain and upgrade it – already half of its software can no longer be supported because it is outdated, not yet fully functional.

Let’s start from today. There are currently two tenders under the GMS-R system. The first one was announced at the end of 2022 and concerns the supply of GSM-R mobile devices (including wireless ones) and stationary GSM-R devices for trains, for the Patras-Athens-Thessaloniki-Promakhona railway line. The tender budget is 652,860 euros and the victory has not yet been awarded.

The second tender was announced in January 2023 with a clearly larger budget of 11.47 million euros. OSE is looking for a contractor who, within 3 years, will manage, operate, maintain (with troubleshooting and repairing damages) the GSM-R radio coverage system on the Piraeus – Thessaloniki – Promachona axis, in the suburban sector from Kiato to the airport and in two more sections. The tender has not yet been announced.

In 2006, OSE installed a GSM-R system “for secure communication between trains, stations and other facilities”, according to the tender notice. This system consists of a Control Center located at the Acharn Transport Center (TCC), 103 antennas along the network, and a fiber optic cable connecting stations and facilities to all of the above. Radio coverage includes all 27 tunnels from Kiato to Promakhon.

But there are a few “buts”. The Tiforeas – Domoku section (it was built under a separate contract) “radio is not broadcast (…) and its broadcast will be carried out under a new contract concluded with ERGOSE”. On the SKA-Korinth section, one of the two fiber-optic cables “is damaged as a result of sabotage, which makes its use completely impossible.” Whereas, in terms of installed software, their technical “support” has expired (some since 2017) on all but one. Reading the specifications of the project and the software table, one gets the impression that most of them were produced by Nokia.

Two months ago, OSE was looking for a company with a new notice to repair damage to the radio coverage of the Piraeus – Thessaloniki – Promachona axis.

How did it happen? In November 2018, OSE signed a contract with Nokia for the same facility: management, operation and maintenance of GSM-R on the main railway line and three spur lines. The contract had a budget of 7.14 million euros and a duration of three years. Has the contract been completed? Despite the fact that OSE did not place payment orders with Diavygia, Nokia states (in response to Q’s question) that “the 2018 contract was fully executed and OSE issued the appropriate certificate.” Nokia was the only company to bid, although OSE did not ask for proven experience in maintaining and operating GSM-R only for railway use in its announcement, while also accepting companies with similar experience in mobile telephony systems. The decline in industry interest is inexplicable.

In any case, if one maintenance contract is completed and another is still in progress, it is reasonable to assume that our rail network (at least most of it) has radio coverage via the GSM-R system, which ensures that the drivers trains will be able to speak safely and from any point along the route (as opposed to mobiles that lag behind) at stations, control towers, group calls, etc. But the reality is different.

In 2006, Siemens carried out the installation of GSM-R systems throughout the main rail network for 57 million euros. Because the contract was based more on procurement rather than installation of equipment, the lead time was short: only two years. Meanwhile, in the same period, an investigation into what was later called the “Siemens scandal” began. Judicial investigation and political disputes affect the performance of the contract, which is successively extended as follows. Finally, in 2018, the system was delivered. “Siemens, after an open tender in 2006, began to implement the GSM-R radio coverage system. The contractual obligations of the company, which included, among other things, the establishment of a telecommunications control center, the supply and installation of related equipment along the railway line, railway stations and trains, user training, and related maintenance and technical support, the GSM-R system was completed and the system was finally received. Services for the maintenance and technical support of the system were entrusted to another company, ”the company said in a statement, answering the question“ K ”.

But why, after the system was delivered, did it not work? In May 2018, when asked by MP Nikos Nikolopoulos, ERGOSE basically answered that the system was functioning but OSE was not managing it, citing staffing shortages and problems with the regulatory framework. Meanwhile, there is another stumbling block: the system must be licensed by the Railroad Regulatory Authority. And so we come to the middle of last year, when Hellenic Train and ERGOSE are exchanging letters: ERGOSE with a request to start trial operation of GSM-R and Hellenic Train with a request for an extension (the letters were published by TA NEA 3.06.23). Of course, the question arises whether there was a trial run of the system when it was received in 2018, otherwise its trial run in 2022, while Nokia intervened in the maintenance and management of the system, does not make sense, since it cannot make any claims from ERGOSE to the system manufacturer.

In any case, the GSM-R system, which took 12 years to install and has been operated under consecutive contracts for the past five years, is not fully operational. “My information is that we are still waiting for the approval of the Railway Regulatory Authority, I don’t have the information that was,” State Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis admitted at a press conference last week. “It’s a matter of a few days, but I don’t think even GSM-R will be able to prevent anything if the other, most important part, namely ETCS, the automatic braking system, is not completed.”

Successive renewals and review for the first contract

The supply and installation of the GSM-R system by Siemens was one of the projects dealt with by a parliamentary commission of inquiry a decade ago. During the investigation, various elements were revealed that indicate a preferential attitude towards the company, while indicating problems in the implementation of a particular project since 2011 (when the opinion was issued). According to the conclusion, the preparation of the tender began in 2003. The OFE confirmed the calculation of the Ministry of Transport and Communications that the installation of GSM-R would cost 34.22 million euros, and two years later signed the project assignment protocol for WORKED. “On November 16, 2005, Mr. Yannis Terzis, who was the Chief Executive of Siemens, sent an email to Mr. Michalis Christophorakos where he stated that “our friends in the Railway Systems Directorate are currently receiving a war from the General Directorate. This is likely to affect the composition and work of the GSM-R tender evaluation committee.” On 12/15/2005, a tender was announced for the supply of a digital communication system (radio coverage network) for the PSE at a price of 60,000,000 euros for 730 kilometers against 40,000,000 euros for 2,020 kilometers calculated by the technical services of the Agency.

The project was announced by the consortium Unisystems, Uninortel and International Construction SA and Siemens SA. “This project, despite the disagreements expressed in the competent committee, was eventually taken over by Siemens. According to investigative materials and testimony, Siemens’ competitor offered more relay antennas at a lower price. Ultimately, however, Siemens was chosen without any satisfactory justification. The contract was signed in 2006, but the project has not yet progressed, apparently to the detriment of OSE,” the 2011 report says.

In November 2008, the GSM-R project was extended by the relevant Railway Systems Administration until 11/26/2009, “although it should have been delivered much earlier”, the conclusion says. “A new extension has been requested until January 2011, which is being agreed with the competent authorities of the higher instance. There have been delays due to third parties, with a typical frequency licensing case for which an application has been made since October 2006 and frequencies were awarded to EDISY in January 2008. The contract continues and project completion as Siemens is legal and timely filed a request for an additional extension of the project deadline.

Chronology

The first contract was signed with Siemens for the installation of the GSM-R system. The project will be commissioned in 2018 with a delay of ten years.

OSE signs a contract with Nokia for the same purpose: management, operation and maintenance of GSM-R, with a budget of 7.14 million euros and a period of three years.

OSE is looking for a contractor who will take over the management, operation, maintenance (with damage recovery) of GSM-R within three years, with a budget of 11.47 million euros.