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Expertise and Technical Assistance

Expertise and technical assistance activities constitute one of the three missions assigned to INRETS, now the Gustave Eiffel University, by the interministerial decree n85-984 of September 18, 1985: "Research", "Valorization", "Expertise and consulting".

The creation of INRETS coincided with the emergence of highly innovative urban and railway systems, leading to a strong demand from the supervisory ministry in charge of transport for independent safety expertise.

To carry out its sovereign missions, particularly regarding public safety, the State relies heavily on INRETS, an integral part of its scientific and technical network, by involving it in working groups developing regulations and specific safety commissions. The application of "new approach" European directives led to the creation of specific services (STRMTG for guided transport and EPSF for railways) and the designation of "notified" bodies (for railways) and "approved" bodies (for urban transport). ESTAS supported the ministry in this approach and is a founding member of CERTIFER, the French railway certification agency, which is both a notified body and an EOQA. The ESTAS laboratory has therefore intervened in its areas of expertise, which are signaling, control-command (hardware and software), and system safety, to contribute to the safe commissioning of high-speed trains (TGV), driverless metros, and various numerous traffic control devices. The team has been involved in virtually all innovative guided transport systems commissioned in France, has been involved in the Lille VAL metro for 35 years, and in the Channel Tunnel for 28 years. This work quickly made the laboratory’s expertise known to its academic and industrial environment, which then broadened the demand from manufacturers, operators, transport organizing authorities, both in France and abroad (metros in Cairo, Turin, Budapest, Seoul, ...).

This activity is also a source of relevant research topics. In an applied research framework, it undeniably brings added credibility to European and national research funding bodies. ESTAS research is recognized as being based on solid field experience, unlike that of other more academic laboratories for whom transport is just another field of application or a simple circumstantial opportunity. Other foreign institutes have understood the benefits they could derive from following a similar approach to ESTAS and have followed this example.

However, expertise and technical assistance constitute an activity with heavy constraints and various pressures. Depending on the year, the workload varies from 30 to 50 person-months (50 when staffing levels still allowed it). This workload and the responsibilities assumed, as well as the critical size of the team, make it difficult to achieve the desirable balance between research activities and technical evaluation activities. Part of the team in charge of this work therefore dedicates itself entirely to ensure permanence and reactivity.

Since their creation (1979 for the Lille VAL and 1986 for the Channel Tunnel), ESTAS agents have served as technical advisors to the bodies in charge of these major facilities. The experience accumulated in various aspects of safety, security, and operation of these innovative systems allows them to be immediately operational in analyzing the causes of malfunctions or accidents and corrective measures (such as the 1996 and 2008 fires in the Channel Tunnel). This same experience also allows them to effectively contribute to the definition and monitoring of major renovation operations such as the system renewal and ongoing capacity doubling of Lille metro line 1, or the fire-fighting stations in the Channel Tunnel.