Thales and Swiss railway company BLS have signed a contract to modernise the BLS rail lines by supplying electronic interlockings with optical signalling over the next ten years.
By choosing Thales to supply new electronic interlockings, BLS maintains the continuity of rail services. BLS can utilise a number of synergies from the 23 stations that Thales has already installed on its railway network since 2003. These synergies include the planning, implementation and operation of the system along with employee training. This enables BLS to implement future projects more efficiently, as the employees are already familiar with the systems.
The annual electricity consumption of the retained solution has been a key strategic factor, as BLS it has consistently evaluated the environmental impact of this modernisation over 40 years of operation. Together, Thales and BLS decided to test the power consumption of the proposed Thales solution. Measurements taken on installed systems showed that the Thales system is highly efficient and confirmed the lower power consumption.
“We are very pleased to again collaborate with BLS and to modernise this Swiss railway with Thales electronic interlockings, providing a mature and reliable system and ensuring high usability and efficiency to save energy,” said Kurt Sauerwein, Managing Director Ground Transportation Systems, Thales in Switzerland.
“Thales’s offer was convincing in terms of sustainability, a high level of synergies and a very good fulfilment of all our qualitative criteria. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership,” Daniel Wyder, Head of Infrastructure at BLS said.
Thales’ efficient and cost-effective solution will allow BLS to go further in modernising its railway lines. Thales’ system offers also the ability to convert existing Thales interlockings to cab signalling ETCS L2 without replacing the interlocking indoor equipment. This approach will enable BLS to migrate existing lines to the modern ETCS L2 train control system at lower cost in the future.
BLS is operating trains on the Bern and Central Switzerland S-Bahn networks, from Bern to Payerne or from Lucerne to Bern /Langenthal. Thanks to its InterRegio and RegioExpress lines, it also offers fast connections, for instance from Bern to Olten, La Chaux-de-Fonds and Domodossola.
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