ERTMS Finland: digital signalling through alliance delivery

Finland is modernising one of its most critical railway safety systems through Digirata, a national programme that will replace ageing train-control technology with the common European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS).

Ramboll is part of the service alliance appointed by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency to support ERTMS deployment across Southern Finland. The work combines railway signalling and engineering expertise and collaborative programme delivery across some of the country’s most important rail corridors.

ERTMS modernisation across Southern Finland

The service alliance covers rail section areas 2, 3 and 4, including the Helsinki metropolitan area, Southwest Finland and the main railway line extending north to Seinäjoki.

These areas include some of Finland’s most heavily used and strategically significant railway infrastructure. The alliance will provide planning, construction-management consultancy and commissioning-inspection services for the renewal of train control across the three areas.

Following a development phase through the end of 2026, annual service periods will continue until 2034. The target is to complete the introduction of ERTMS across the three rail-section areas by summer 2034.

Supporting Finland’s transition to digital rail

ERTMS provides a common European framework for railway signalling and train control. It is intended to replace incompatible national systems and support safer operations, greater interoperability across borders, improved network capacity and more consistent communication between trains and infrastructure.

The Southern Finland service alliance forms part of the wider Digirata programme, which divides Finland’s national railway network into 11 rail section areas to be modernised in phases between 2025 and 2040.

The programme also responds to a wider European challenge. Ramboll’s European Rail Atlas shows that ERTMS deployment remains uneven and that progress needs to accelerate if Europe is to achieve a more connected and interoperable railway system.

Why the service alliance model matters

Implementing ERTMS across an operational railway is not solely a technology challenge. It requires the coordination of infrastructure, train control systems, operational requirements, design information, procurement, construction and commissioning over several years.

The service alliance brings the client, designers, construction-management specialists and technical advisers into an integrated delivery team with shared objectives. This approach is particularly suited to programmes involving uncertainty, complex interfaces, and a need for multidisciplinary expertise.

Rather than managing each organisation through separate contractual boundaries, the alliance enables participants to address risks, decisions and technical interfaces collectively. This integrated approach provides continuity across planning, design management, coordination and assurance throughout the programme.

Finland has become a leading market for collaborative alliance delivery. Ramboll’s work on Helsinki’s Light Rail Line 15 demonstrated how shared objectives, transparency and integrated decision-making can support the delivery of complex transport infrastructure with the project opening 10 months early and close to 10% below budget.

Ramboll’s role in railway signalling design and delivery

Ramboll will contribute design and design management expertise to the ERTMS programme. The scope includes railway signalling design, construction design for signalling systems, quality assurance, scheduling, Building Information Modelling, project preparation and coordination with the client and other alliance partners.

The work brings together technical rail-systems knowledge and long-term programme delivery capabilities. This will help the alliance coordinate technical interfaces, information, schedules and decisions across a complex, multi-year railway modernisation programme.