#34 – Conversation with Xavier Ricco

Doc Frank chats with Xavier Ricco from Mons in Belgium, adding another country to the range of international guests. Xavier is arguably one of the global top experts in the field of testing tools for the European Train Control System ETCS. As it turns out in the conversation, flexible design of these tools allowed for testing of not only ETCS but also similar train control systems in China and Korea, and possibly in the future CBTC (Communications-Based Train Control). Enjoy the deep dive into the fascinating field of tool-based testing.Show notes:1)      The CBTC World Summit 2023 (20-21 September) is the first truly global CBTC conference that does not require travel around the world to attend. Three sessions from different global regions with 18 international speakers of the highest calibre will make it an unmissable event, and all presentations are available as recordings to allow watching them all regardless of the time zone you are in, from the comfort of a place of your choice. Sign up for this blockbuster event on https://docfranktraining.podia.com/summit2023.2)      The CBTC Kickstarter course is the longest-running CBTC training in the world. The new online version of this training allows people from all over the world to improve their understanding of the most sophisticated technology for signalling and train control, regardless of time zone or preferred learning rhythm. This training is specifically targeted at railway professionals with little or no prior signalling knowledge whose jobs are now impacted by the introduction of CBTC for improving capacity and performance of the railway. But experience has shown that “signalling people” and even seasoned CBTC specialists can benefit from this training, too.<br/> Information and sign-up for this CBTC Kickstarter Online training is available on https://docfranktraining.podia.com/cbtckickstarter-online2023. 3)      CEDEX was the first prominent test laboratory for ETCS, located in Spain.4)      Baseline 2 refers to the cluster of older versions of the ETCS standard.5)      Baseline 3 is a category term for newer versions of the ETCS standard, <br/>           the current Release 2 and the older Maintenance Release 1.