Last week’s serious train accident in Urda, Spain, has reignited the debate over train and rail safety. Particular attention is on the European Train Control System (ETCS), a European project aimed at standardizing and improving rail safety.

But the rollout is proceeding much more slowly than expected. To address this, some are looking to The Signaling Company (TSC). The Brussels-based company aims to equip trains with modern technology faster and more cheaply.

Fragmented EU rail network

Trains have a safety computer that automatically stops them if the engineer travels too fast or ignores a red signal. This is achieved through a two-part safety system: beacons and signaling equipment along the tracks that tell the train how fast and how far it can travel, and a computer on the train that monitors this and applies the brakes if necessary.

But the problem is that the overall European rail network is highly fragmented, precisely because most countries still use their own unique systems. The lack of an onboard computer to interpret a neighboring country’s safety system is also why locomotives on international trains sometimes must be switched at the border.

Through the ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System) project, the EU now aims to replace the dozens of different national rail safety and communication systems with a single universal digital standard.

The backbone of this project consists of two technologies that work together continuously: ETCS (European Train Control System), an automatic speed and signaling control system that applies the brakes when it detects danger, and GSM-R/RMR, the secure radio system for data communication with traffic control.

Slow rollout

ERTMS rollout is mandatory for all European member states, but it is proceeding slowly and unevenly. In Belgium, for example, railway infrastructure manager Infrabel has fully implemented ETCS across its entire 6,399-km network.

Still, by the end of 2024, only about 17% of Europe’s core network had been converted to the common ETCS standard. The Belgian network is therefore a happy exception compared to the European average, but many Belgian and foreign trains do not yet have ETCS on board.

In 2022, the initial installation of ETCS on an existing vehicle cost an average of about 900,000 euros, up from about 450,000 euros in 2018. The cost of upgrading existing equipment rose from 200,000 to 400,000 euros.

Operators are therefore looking for more affordable solutions, and that is precisely the market that the Brussels-based TSC is targeting.

‘Android for trains’

TSC manufactures the safety computer installed on the train. The company was founded in 2019 as a joint venture between the Brussels-based technology firm ERTMS Solutions and the rail operator Lineas and has been part of the Czech Škoda Group since 2023.

The iEVC computer’s unique feature is its architecture. The computer and RailOS allow multiple security applications to run on a single unit. Think of a smartphone: the hardware stays the same, and you add systems as apps.

As a result, a locomotive can gain new features or support for additional countries without replacing the entire hardware system. For example, a Belgian locomotive currently runs on the older TBL1+ safety system and can be upgraded to ETCS later.

Furthermore, TSC is opening up the platform to qualified external developers. As a result, RailOS is evolving from just another safety product into an open operating system for the rail sector, the proverbial ‘Android for trains’.

Shorter installation time

The promised benefits are significant. TSC claims installation time per locomotive can drop from the usual ten weeks to just ten days. For railroad operators who cannot afford long downtime for their rolling stock, this is a major operational advantage.

In addition, hardware consolidation significantly simplifies the cab environment, while remote software-driven updates can drastically reduce lifecycle maintenance costs.

With its SIL4 certification, the system also meets the industry’s most stringent safety requirements – TSC also claims to be the first to achieve the highest safety level, SIL4, using standard commercial hardware.

International recognition

From a technical standpoint, TSC has already proven that the concept works. In Belgium, Lineas’ first HLD77 locomotive, equipped with the TBL1+ application on RailOS, was approved in September 2025. By mid-2026, the retrofit program for 109 locomotives was already halfway complete.

In addition, the technology has been selected for 34 new hybrid passenger trains from the Škoda Group for the Czech operator RegioJet, demonstrating that the platform is also suitable for new rolling stock.

With the launch of the German PZB application at InnoTrans 2026, the company stated that the architecture could, in theory, meet railway requirements in 22 countries. The company further demonstrated this international recognition in 2026 by winning both the RailTech Europe Innovation Award and a prestigious ERCI Innovation Award.

A small player against giants

Of course, the competition – particularly major established players such as Germany’s Siemens Mobility and France’s Alstom – isn’t standing still either. They also offer modular, updatable systems that have already covered millions of commercial kilometers.

For example, both Alstom and Siemens supply ETCS onboard units that they integrate into each vehicle individually. Alstom, for instance, received 30 million euros from Deutsche Bahn to install its Atlas system in 17 international ICE3 trains. Siemens was awarded a contract by NMBS to upgrade the ETCS on 305 train sets and 85 passenger cars.

So RailOS does not have exclusive rights, but its uniqueness lies mainly in combining a portable software platform with an open development environment.

And while Alstom and Siemens Mobility can rely on tens of thousands of employees, TSC is small. At the time of the acquisition, the company had 38 employees.

The young technology company is therefore still in development and, according to the business newspaper De Tijd, is 20 million in the red. In other words, its future depends on the support of its parent company, the Škoda Group.

For now, TSC isn’t worried. Škoda sees TSC primarily as the signaling division it didn’t yet have. The goal is to be no longer dependent on Siemens or Alstom. Škoda builds its own trains and traction systems. With TSC on board, it can also supply the safety computer, offering customers a complete solution.

According to Jarlath Lally, head of sales and marketing at TSC, the ETCS standard is also being adopted more frequently outside the EU. As a result, “global demand for our system is growing,” Lally said in De Tijd.