Dipl.-Ing. Vincent Blateau
Member of the Executive Board, Head of Rolling Stock
- Many years of experience as a product and project engineering manager in signalling
- Highest level of expertise in on-board ETCS integration and rolling stock on-board units
- Experienced in project work at national and international level
- ATO GoA 2 to GoA 4 system experience in the field of CBTC
Contact Dipl.-Ing. Vincent Blateau at the Berlin office
Dipl.-Ing. Vincent Blateau is a member of the management team and Head of Rolling Stock at NEXTRAIL GmbH. He brings extensive cross-divisional expertise in signalling technology, including ETCS (European Train Control System), CBTC (Communication-Based Train Control), and ATO (Automatic Train Operation) from GoA 2 to GoA 4, as well as vehicle ETCS integration and rolling stock on-board units. Over the years, he has developed strong expertise in smart rolling stock retrofit projects, contributing significantly to the digitalisation of the railway sector.
With his background as a product and project engineering manager in signalling, Vincent views on-board systems as a crucial component of modern railway infrastructure. He emphasises the importance of not only the technology itself but also integration levels, vehicle operation and maintenance, and re-authorisation requirements as central elements of a comprehensive system approach.
Before joining NEXTRAIL GmbH, Vincent Blateau worked extensively on the manufacturer side in CBTC signalling, initially as a project engineer and later as a product engineering manager. In 2015, he became the Head of ETCS On-Board Engineering in Berlin, where he led the on-shore team for the first on-board projects with ETCS operations in Germany. He and his team then defined technical solutions for on-board equipment, including the first rolling stock projects aligned with the DSD technical target (e.g., ATO GoA 2), which are being implemented in the Stuttgart area.
His experience provides him with a deep understanding of the complexities and unique challenges involved in the digital transformation of vehicle fleets, especially when integrating in a vehicle environment signaling technologies like high Safety Integrity Level ( SIL4) processes and ETCS baselines.
Vincent Blateau holds an engineering degree from the École Polytechnique in France and a Master of Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA.
Personal project references for Dipl.-Ing. Vincent Blateau
Approval of the first ETCS projects in Germany, Alstom Transport. First ETCS rolling stock approval on the high-speed line between Berlin and Munich with operation in 12.2015 (ICE-T, VDE 8.2, ETCS baseline 2.3.0d) and 12.2017 (ICE1, ICE 3, VDE 8.3, ETCS baseline 3).
Definition of the technical solution for the first ATO rolling stock projects in the Digital Node Stuttgart (DKS), Alstom Transport. Design of the technical solution in the offer and project design phases on the manufacturer side for the first rolling stock conform to the Digital Schiene Deutschland (DSD) architecture.
CBTC retrofit of 2 metro lines in São Paulo, Alstom Transport. Migration of the existing signalling system to CBTC with ATO GoA 2.
The VDE 8.2 and 8.3 high-speed lines between Berlin and Munich were specifically developed for ETCS Level 2, without fallback systems like PZB or LZB. At the time, there was no ETCS operation in Germany, making this a bold but ultimately correct decision.
Dipl.-Ing. Vincent Blateau led the on-shore team on the manufacturer side that achieved the first ETCS rolling stock approval in Germany (ICE-T with Baseline 2.3.0d, VDE 8.2, in December 2015). Two years later, he and his team delivered Germany's first ETCS Baseline 3 approval (ICE1, ICE3 with Baseline 3.4.0, VDE 8.2 and 8.3, in December 2017). These approvals were critical to the timely commissioning and commercial success of the VDE 8 lines.
ETCS is a modular system that must be implemented by the infrastructure manager. More reliable, more punctual, and more efficient - with this objective in mind, Germany's first digitalised railway node covering all train types is being built in the Stuttgart metropolitan region. This flagship project utilizes nearly the entire spectrum of the ETCS modular system in a highly complex manner.
For instance, shorter train intervals will enable greater performance and operational flexibility. The Digital Node Stuttgart (DKS) hence implements ATO GoA 2, train integrity determination and monitoring, and flexible train data entry using gamma and lambda models. Vincent Blateau and his team defined the technical solution on the manufacturer side during the offer and project design phase for the first ATO rolling stocks of the DKS. Through structured international cooperation among the client, operator, infrastructure manager, and manufacturer, the necessary developments in on-board equipment and rolling stock control technology were successfully specified and are being implemented.
Intending to expand and modernise the metro system in São Paulo and offering passengers a modern and increasingly reliable service, the city planned to be the first in South America to upgrade its busiest lines in São Paulo to Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) with Automatic Train Operation (ATO) Level GoA 2.
‘Brown field’ metro projects are by far the most demanding projects and the specifications made it even more challenging: CBTC retrofit of 2 metro lines in São Paulo, with 70s technical train headway and 2.5 million passengers per day - during operation. The adaptation of the new signalling technology to the operation of an existing line and the migration strategy require precise knowledge of the status quo of the current and the required target image of the new solution. A task that can only be successfully realised in close coordination between all project stakeholders.
As a project engineer, Mr Blateau defined the CBTC and its operation together with the local project team, the manufacturer product team and the customer. The digitalised and optimised system enables more efficient and centralised control of operations while increasing the safety, availability and capacity of the entire metro network.
It was successfully implemented on two of the busiest lines in São Paulo in GoA 2 operation including GoA 4 pre-equipment.
