Formal techniques for a data-driven certification of advanced railway signalling systems

The technological evolution of railway signalling equipment promises significant increases in transport capacity, in operation regularity, in quality and safety of the service offered. This evolution is based on the massive use of computer control units on board trains and on the ground, that aims at improving the performance of rail transport and maintaining high safety figures. A brief review of possible innovation trends of signalling systems shows that they will be more and more based on the exchange of accurate and secure complex information, in order to ensure safe operation. For this reason we want to advocate the adoption of a novel, data-driven safety certification approach, based on formal verification techniques, focusing on the desired attributes of the exchanged information. A discussion on this issue is presented, based on some initial observations of the needed concepts.