Next Generation Train Control (NGTC) is the first research project partially funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme, where all the main rail system signalling suppliers together with mainline operators and infrastructure managers as well as urban rail operators are going to be working jointly in developing the next generation of train control systems.
The technical objective of the project is paving the way for standardized train control systems for mainline and urban domains which provide complete ATP (Automatic Train Protection), ATO (Automatic Train Operation), and ATS (Automatic Train Supervision) functionality and support train operation from Grade of Automation GOA0 to GOA4, whilst significantly reducing total cost of ownership and life cycle costs, and achieving an overall improvement in performance at lower cost.