Bastian Simoni

I am a railway system architect working at the intersection of signalling, automation and digital railway operations.

My work focuses on the architecture of future railway systems: ERTMS, ETCS, ERTMS/ATO, DATO, GoA4, traffic management, remote operation, migration and interoperability. I am particularly interested in how individual technologies become deployable railway capabilities when they are integrated into a coherent system architecture.

Voie Libre is my personal editorial platform on the system architecture behind the future European railway.

Through this blog, I explore railway automation beyond individual technologies, with a focus on architecture, deployment, industrialisation and governance. The objective is to make complex railway topics easier to understand without reducing them to isolated functions or simplified technology narratives.

Railway automation is often described through visible concepts such as automatic driving, driverless trains or autonomous operation. I believe the deeper question is different: how can the railway system progressively reallocate functions, data and responsibilities while preserving safety, interoperability, operational value and long-term investment confidence?

This is the perspective I try to bring to Voie Libre.

The articles published here reflect a personal and editorial view. They do not represent the official position of any employer, project, institution or organisation.