Siemens Receives its Biggest Ever Rail Automation Order in America
Erlangen, 2007-Dec-17
Siemens Transportation Systems (TS) has received its biggest ever rail automation order in America from the Canadian transit authority Go Transit. Siemens will upgrade the entire signaling and communication systems in and around Toronto's Union Station as well as the traffic control center. All together, the project is worth around EUR140 million for Siemens.
The entire system upgrade will take place in 2008 during normal revenue service. The modernization of the system - some parts of it dating as far back as 1920 - covers a section of 5.8 kilometers including some 42 kilometers of track. The heart of this system is the Union Station. With up to 2,000 different rights of way, Union Station is one of the most complex stations in North America and, when finished, will be the biggest station on the continent to be equipped with electronic interlockings.
Friedrich Smaxwil, as member of the TS board responsible for Rail Automation, sees this order as a milestone in TS' North America business portfolio. "This gives us the opportunity once again to showcase our tremendous competence in the automation sector." Go Transit President Peter Smith sees big benefits from this modernization program: "The new system will allow us to improve our service and reliability and to bring more trains into service in future." The Canadian Minister for Transport Lawrence Cannon stressed, "The upgrade will improve the safety and effectiveness of the transportation system in greater Ontario," adding that the project will underscore "the Canadian Government's priority for public mass transit".
During the course of the upgrade the mechanical interlockings at Cherry Street, Scott Street, John Street and Bathurst Street will be replaced by type Sicas ECC electronic interlockings. At the final stage, the new technology will control 250 switches and 170 signals. Track vacancy detection - a system for locating trains - is realized by means of train circuits that process data from the 42 track kilometers.
The new traffic control center will be equipped with a new operations control system, which will perform the monitoring and operation of the interlockings as well as functions such as automatic train tracking, timetable management and automatic route setting. In addition, the system allows the entire outdoor equipment to be monitored and faults to be localized and identified. In future, passengers will be supplied with up-to-the-minute information directly from the traffic control center.
The Transportation Systems Group (TS) of Siemens AG is one of the leading international suppliers to the railway industry. As single-source supplier and system integrator, the Group combines in its business segments Automation & Power, Rolling Stock, Turnkey Systems and Integrated Services all the expertise necessary to cover the spectrum from signaling and control systems to traction power supplies, as well as rolling stock for mass transit, regional and main line services. Extensive experience in project management and forward-looking service concepts complement our portfolio. In fiscal 2007 (ended September 30), TS generated sales of around 4.5 billion according to IFRS with around 18,700 employees worldwide. Further information on TS can be found at www.siemens.com/transportation.
Reference Number: TS RA 200712.008 e
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