Digitalisation, Data, Emerging Innovations, Exchange of Data - SFERA Protocol: Train Operation Data Exchange with On-Board Devices

This IRS is the result of collaborative work carried out by leading railway stakeholders between 2017 and 2025 under the auspices of the UIC Sustainability Platform and the Rail System Forum.

External stakeholders also contributed through workshops and draft document sharing.

The SFERA protocol serves as a messaging standard for train operation data exchange between infrastructure managers (IMs), railway undertakings (RUs), and on-board devices.

Driver Advisory Systems (DAS) are IT tools which provide drivers with information to help them arrive at stations on time 1 while reducing energy consumption. DAS take into account various types of data, such as live position tracking, infrastructure characteristics, real-time transport plans, Rolling stock data, and so on. They can use the SFERA protocol to accommodate Automatic Train Operations (ATO) as well as DAS applications, working both over the European Train Control System (ETCS) and conventional Automatic Train Protection systems (also referred to as Class B ATP).

Digital Instruction (DI) systems are specialised to create, digitally transmit and manage the lifecycle of instructions as prescribed by TSI OPE, facilitating communication between signallers and drivers.

Additionally, the SFERA protocol enables the cross-border application of DI for specific solutions implemented by IMs or RUs.

Free Text Communication (FTC) enables the exchange of text messages between the driver and ground-based systems and personnel, with a primary focus on IM stakeholders. The role of this function is to handle information exchange that is not related to:

- Optimising traffic flow (handled via the DAS function)

- Transmitting operational instructions, which are safety-related communication and shall be communicated through the DI function

It integrates in full or in part the following UIC leaflets:

- none

It complements the following standards:

- none

1 For example, a punctuality analysis by TTG in Switzerland in 2017 showed an average improvement of 19% in punctuality (without DAS: 42% on-time (0s) with a maximum ± 30s window / with DAS: 50% ontime (0s) with a maximum ± 30s window).