GSM-R - Articles and news items

NEC Portugal supplies GSM-R radios to Finnish railway operator VR-Group

Rail industry news / 26 June 2012 /

NEC Portugal, a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Europe, in partnership with Malux Finland Oy, its sales channel to the Finnish market, was selected by the Finnish railways operator VR-Group to equip the driving cabinets of a set of locomotives with the NEC RC900 GSM-R radio and its DMI900 control console (Driver Machine Interface). (more…)

Kapsch chosen as Czech Republic’s GSM-R technology general contractor

Rail industry news / 3 August 2011 /

The Czech infrastructure operator SŽDC placed an order in July 2011 with Kapsch s.r.o. to equip the railway route between Ostrava – st.hr. SR and Přerov – Č. Třebov with GSM-R. This end-to-end project includes Kapsch CarrierCom AG’s GSM-R technology as well as the complete infrastructure in addition to planning services and the intelligent maintenance system “GSM-R Smart House”, which is a Kapsch s.r.o. product. The order value is approximately EUR 20 million and the project will be completed early 2013 equipping a 230 km route with the latest GSM-R technology.

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A long-term vision for next generations

Issue 2 2011 / 6 April 2011 /

GSM-R is a big area of the railway industry. Many railway operators worldwide are integrating and upgrading their systems to ensure that they are running their networks as best as possible. In an interview with Craig Waters, Editor of European Railway Review, Kapsch CarrierCom’s Vice President of GSM-R, Michel Clement, talks openly about the history of Kapsch and also discusses recent projects they have been involved with plus what the future may hold for the company.

Part of the Kapsch Group, Kapsch CarrierCom can rely on 30 years’ experience in the railway business. Originally a partner with Nortel, Kapsch CarrierCom initially worked to introduce technology in central and southeastern Europe. However, with the acquisition in 2010 of parts of Nortel’s Carrier Network Division, Kapsh CarrierCom quickly transformed itself from a regional supplier into a global leader in GSM-R. (more…)

Explaining the GSM-R project in Greece

Issue 1 2011 / 15 February 2011 /

The preparation, tendering and implementation phases of the GSM-R project in Greece are presented in a descriptive, but mainly explanatory type methodology. The objective was to introduce a new digital telecommunication network to replace the analog system along the main railway axis and provide the necessary interoperability for future roaming of border crossing trains. Although one would think that the technical specifications would present the major complexity, thanks to standardisation work done by the UIC/ERTMS group, it is in fact the administrative and commercial aspects of the project, such as government policy, environmental implications, stakeholder base, functional requirement gaps, operation and maintenance issues that introduce time and cost delays. The maturity of the project is established in phases and therefore a systematic and parsimonious approach in management is required. Lessons learned are based on return of experience from the people involved and the objective of this article is to ensure that the case can be used in other countries, which are already implementing or planning a GSM-R system. (more…)

Polish State Railways: Achieving a successful first GSM-R link

Issue 1 2011 / 15 February 2011 /

In the past, Poland (with its 23,000km railway network) badly needed a good operational radio communication system. The first simple analogue system started in 1972 connecting the harbours of Gdynia and Gdansk with Silesia. The radio-telephone network has provided good communication between dispatchers and running trains along the whole route of approximately 800km. The loco-drivers, beside the connection with the dispatchers, were able to communicate among themselves. On the frame of this system (which was called colloquially ‘train line radio’) various mutations were created, e.g. marshalling yards or emergency/rescue networks. As it was mentioned, the first PKP analogue system using simplex transmission worked properly and is still operating in a 150 MHz band. (more…)

The role of the European Railway Agency for ERTMS – answering the challenge

Issue 6 2010 / 10 December 2010 /

Railways epitomise the triumph of engineering. From the early exploits of technological progress in the Victorian age, to the most recent speed records, from the age of steam power to the age of power semiconductors, engineering prowess has always been closely associated with the railway world.

Engineers have been successful in developing and perfecting the railways to a remarkable extent: historically this was done for integrated railways within the national borders. (more…)

SELEX Communications awarded GSM-R contract worth Euro 45 million

Rail industry news / 3 September 2010 /

The consortium comprising Ansaldo STS and SELEX Communications, Finmeccanica companies and Zarubezhstroytechnology, a subsidiary of Russian Railways JSC RZD, have signed a contract worth a total of about Euro 247 million to build signaling, automation, telecommunications, power supply, security and ticketing systems on the Sirth to Benghazi line in Libya. The shares of competences are approximately 202 millions to Ansaldo STS, and around 45 millions to SELEX Communications as The activities to be undertaken are expected to take approximately three years. (more…)

Alcatel-Lucent to deploy high-speed communications network in Norway

Rail industry news / 23 March 2010 /

Alcatel-Lucent has announced that it has been selected by Jernbaneverket, the Norwegian National Rail Administration, to deploy an advanced high-speed network based on IP/MPLS technology to handle all business communications for the railway. Alcatel-Lucent’s solution will transform Jernbaneverket communications infrastructure into a next-generation network, enabling more reliable and secure services throughout its nation system. (more…)

NEC Portugal to supply Cab Radios for the Saudi Arabia Railways

Rail industry news / 11 February 2010 /

NEC Portugal, a subsidiary of one of the leading telecommunications and electronics global companies, has signed a contract to supply GSM-R Cab Radios to Thales Portugal, for installation in the Saudi Arabia Railways (SAR). The equipment will allow voice and data communications between the driver of each train and the Operational Control Centres of SAR. The deal involves the supply of cab radios for trains on the North South Railway line (NSR), which is part of the railways network expansion project in Saudi Arabia. The supply will begin in February of 2010 and will last until June. (more…)

GSM-R in 2009 – international operations take off

Issue 1 2010, Past issues / 28 January 2010 /

Over the last few years, the UIC has written many updates about the GSM-R situation in Europe for European Railway Review and 2009 was a good year for GSM-R, despite the overall difficult economic environment.

Finland is the latest country who has changed its colour on the UIC GSM-R implementation map. Finland finalised its implementation (4,970km covered with GSM-R, out of a total length of 5,820km; 300km are prepared for ETCS coverage). The total network migration to GSM-R is targeted for December 2010.

In Europe, GSM-R is reported to be operational on 65,800km (source – ERIG), 79,300km have already been built. As 150,650km of rail are planned to be equipped in Europe, 43% of it is already in operation. (more…)

QATS GSM-R by Expandium: solutions for safety serving rail operations

Issue 1 2010, Past issues / 28 January 2010 /

Because safety is a vital concern for all players in the rail industry, Expandium has designed QATS – a highly efficient troubleshooting solution enabling technical staff to detect network malfunctions early and correct them.

With QATS, Expandium’s experts have met the challenge to display and monitor the performance of a Railway Emergency Call facility in real-time (list of participants, quality of service provided, etc.).

Using high capacity eProbes, QATS measures the quality of service in real-time. The probes capture all messages, which are sorted and analysed, with the data immediately made available to the user (call counting, dropped calls, analysis of malfunctions, etc.). Whenever a failure is detected, QATS GSM-R triggers a highly effective system of alarms.

Downstream, a user-friendly graphical interface is provided for technical staff who, starting from an overview of network quality (charts, maps, diagrams, etc.), are able to single out individual railway lines and narrow down their selection, going as far as a breakdown of each event for a specific call. The data are saved for subsequent analysis. (more…)

GSM-R in France

Issue 1 2010, Past issues / 28 January 2010 /

Many railway operators have decided to implement ground-to-train radios on their networks in the fourth quarter of the 20th century, which was, for most of them, variants of a UIC specific analogue technology. In order to anticipate the upcoming obsolescence of this existing radio and having in mind the objective to improve interoperability of railway operations all over Europe, the UIC took action in the early 1990s in order to determine which new technology could be specified and promoted. (more…)