Communications Based Train Control Projects
Transportation Systems Design, Inc.
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For related information see Train Control Suppliers, Papers, and Discussion Forum. 
Please advise if you know of any additional projects or have proposed corrections or updates to this information. 

New York	San Francisco	Other North America	United Kingdom	Europe	Asia
NYC Transit Canarsie Line (RF-under development)	SF Muni Light Rail  (IL in service)	Detroit APM (IL in service)	London Docklands (IL In Service)	Lyon Line D	Malaysia Kuala Lumpur Putra Line  (In Service)
JFK - Airport (IL-in service)	SF BART  (RF-under development)	Toronto Scarborough Line (IL in service)	London Jubilee & Northern Lines  (IL being deployed)	Paris Line 13 (RF under Development)	Hong Kong West Rail  (IL in Service)
Long Island Railroad	SFO Airport (RF- in service)	Vancouver SkyTrain (IL- in service)	London Heathrow Airport  (Recent Award)	Paris Line 14 (IL in Service)	Ankara ARTS (IL-in service)
		Las Vegas Monorail (RF in Service)		Barcelona (RF-recent award)	Singapore North East Line URBALIS 300   (RF in service)
		Philadelphia Subway Surface Line (RF- nearing deployment)		Paris  Lines 3/4/9/10/12 "OURAGAN"	Hong Kong Penny's Bay (RF - nearing revenue service date)
		Dallas Ft.-Worth Airport (RF recent award)		Madrid (Recent Award)	Wuhan Mainland China LRT Line (IL in service)
		Seattle (Airport) (RF being deployed)		Budapest	Taipei Neihu Line (RF awarded)
		Washington DC  APM at Dulles  (RF being deployed)		Lausane URBALIS 300	China Guanghou (Recent Award)
		West Virginia IL in service Morgantown			Hong Kong Ma On Shan  (IL- In Service)
					Seoul, Korea Bundang Line (RF- Under deployment)
					China Shanghai Line 8 (RF Recent Award)

Legend 

CBTC Terminology
When deciding whether to include a train control project in this table, TSD uses the definition for CBTC found in IEEE Std. 1474 whereby train position, speed, and direction are communicated via a continuous bi-directional communications link between vehicles and wayside computers. And as defined in IEEE 1474, CBTC systems do not require track circuits to detect trains.  

Most in-service CBTC systems today use near-field inductive loop (IL) communications.  Newer CBTC systems based upon Radio Frequency (RF) communications are emerging and while this is a clear industry trend many rail operators continue to mandate IL because they believe IL is lower risk, has a longer life, and is a lower cost approach. 

CBTC Applications Summary 
Several RF-CBTC projects are now under development and three, Bombardier's Flexiblok (renamed to CITYFLO* 650 in 2004) at SFO airport, Alstom's URBALIS 300 at Singapore's North East Line, and Alcatel's RF Seltrac in Las Vegas are now in full revenue service. Philadelphia's Subway Surface Trolley Line is expected to go into revenue service in 2005. Siemens is upgrading its Meteor IL-CBTC technology (first deployed on RATP's new Line 14) to RF for NYCT's Canarsie Line, Barcelona and RATP. Similarly, Alcatel is deploying its RF Seltrac technology for RATP's Line 13, Hong Kong, and South Korea. Alcatel is using industry standard IEEE 802.11 data radio technology as is RATP for its OURAGAN technology on 5 lines in Paris. Bombardier has switched from a proprietary Andrew radio (which is no longer available ) to a commercial off the shelf IP/Ethernet radio by Safetran. All others RF CBTC systems appear to be using proprietary RF radio systems and technology. More information CBTC radios is available in this draft article which was published in Railway Age's 2005 C&S Buyers Guide

Track Circuits and CBTC
When an existing fixed block system is upgraded to CBTC, track circuits sometimes are retained for broken rail detection. But increasingly operators are concluding that the high costs of track circuits do not justify their alleged benefits.  New CBTC systems at Vancouver, Detroit, and new high speed lines in Germany and Switzerland do not use track circuits. 50% of US railroads have no broken rail detection (because they have no track circuits) and 50% of NYC Transit's rails have no broken rail detection because they are single rail track circuits. 

The European/UK term "Transmission Based Signalling" is sometimes considered CBTC technology but we understand TBS systems may require fixed block track circuits for train detection and thus do not meet the strict IEEE definition for CBTC TSD uses here.

New York

NYC Transit  

Official Canarsie Status Report - Provided by NYC Transit
April 22, 2005   

Official Canarsie Status Report - Provided by NYC Transit
June 23,  2004   

TSD's Canarsie Project Summary 
In the 10 months between these two status reports the Canarsie schedule has slipped about 11 months. While delays on advanced technology projects are common, this most recent delay is significant because of its size. 

The history of Canarsie goes back to the early 1990's and detailed NYCT papers and reports are available at the bottom of TSD's Papers Section. In 1998 NYCT shortlisted Alcatel, Alstom & Siemens for its Pilot Line CBTC on Canarsie after all three successfully demonstrated viable RF based CBTC systems based upon Kasten Chase's  Wireless's IP-based communications network, RailPath. Siemens was selected to lead NYCT's RF-CBTC interoperability program and followers Alcatel and Alstom were contracted to build systems compatible with Siemens Meteor design. 

But Siemens' final Meteor proposal included an alternate DCS and Siemens is now developing its own new system for NYCT. Canarsie will use Siemens custom-developed 2.4 GHz proprietary Spread Spectrum radio with a proprietary air gap interface. Radio plans for Flushing and subsequent lines remain murky as of April 2005. However, the radio for Flushing line will be incompatible with Canarsie. Soon after Flushing NYCT needs to develop a comprehensive plan that ensures DCS train-wayside interoperability because most of NYCT's lines are highly interoperable.

Prior plans were for Alcatel simply to purchase Siemens' proprietary radios and sell them back to NYCT. We understand Alcatel paid Siemens $300,000 for two (2) Siemens CBTC radios. While Alstom initially agreed to develop a Siemens-compatible radio in 2002 NYCT told Alstom to stop work on this effort. In May of 2003 NYCT stated it will no longer require the critical train-to-wayside "air gap" wireless interface to be an open interface and is listed as part of Siemens' confidential interface specification. On October 14, 2003 Alstom announced it was withdrawing from the Canarsie project and in early in 2004 NYCT issued an RFI seeking comments on a replacement partner for Alstom. For related information see Communications Technology minutes and NYCT's Interoperability Paper.

NYCT RFI - Seeking Replacement CBTC Partner  
March 2004
Because Alstom has dropped out of NYCT's Pilot CBTC program, leaving only Alcatel as a follower, NYCT has issued this Request For Information to see if anyone is interested in replacing Alstom. Responses were due by March 31, 2004. 

Radio Technology Forum 14 Jan 2003 
This interesting report discusses Data Communications System and Radio options now under consideration at NYCT. For additional information and further discussion see also TSD's  Discussion Forum.

Subway Web News  
This site has photos of NYCT's new R142 and the new R143s which will use CBTC technology. Note flat panel LCD displays.

Additional Matra CBTC interface details should be coming shortly. We hope to be able to post the 2001 version of the NYCT presentation given at the  IEEE-ASME conference shortly (see below). We also understand that more detailed interface specifications will be forthcoming. 

December 15, 2000: NYCT gave notice of award to Alstom and Alcatel for the two CBTC follower contracts.

 A Look at the Leader's System 
April, 2000 presentation from NYCT's CBTC Director of New Technology Train Control, Geoff Hubbs. Geoff advises us that is the the only presentation where they laid out some of the Siemens CBTC architecture. 

CBTC Presentations
These four excellent presentations were given at the APTA rail conference in St. Louis in June, 2000. (Files are ZIPPED PowerPoint presentations and total  2.2 Mbytes in this zip file.)

CBTC - NYCT's Quest for Interoperability
This paper in (Microsoft Word) by NYCT's Geoff Hubb's and PTG's Alan Rumsey describes what interoperability means to NYCT, why it is important, and how NYCT plans to achieve interoperability. It was presented at the APTA Rail Conference in St. Louis on June, 2000 (along with the above presentations).

NYCT Selects Siemens/MATRA for new CBTC Technology Standard

26 APR 2000 - Here is an update on the Canarsie project based upon information we received from PTG's Dr. Alan Rumsey. This link provides information on the procurement selection and high-level technical details of Matra's new Data Communication System. Also below are PowerPoint presentations describing the status of the project NYCT's Chief Signal Engineer, Dr. Nabil Ghaly. 

Surprising many, Siemens will not be using the KC/RailPath DCS successfully demonstrated by all three shortlisted firms during six month trials on NYCT's Culver Line in 1999. MATRA's accepted proposal includes a new DCS to be developed for NYCT that will be integrated into Siemens' existing Meteor system that is currently based upon inductive loop technology and in revenue service on the Paris Metro. Developing a new DCS to work in the existing NYCT subway may impact the Canarsie schedule and make it more difficult for followers to interface to a new DCS.

12 NOV 1999 - Metropolitan Transit Authority (New York City Transit's parent) approved the award of a $138,228,635 contract to Matra Transport International / Union Switch & Signal to "Modernize the Canarsie Line Signal System using Communications-Based Train Control Technology" and "create a CBTC standard." MTA will be asked to approve contracts to "follower" firms. It is anticipated that Alcatel and Alstom will be recommended to receive such contracts.

NYCT completed evaluation of the three firms' CBTC systems in mid-1999 (See "Canarsie Status," below) . Ultimately, about 740 miles will be upgraded to operate under NYCT's new CBTC standard. NYCT's CBTC program follows similar interoperability requirements established by RATP for SACEM, British Rail for SSI, and DB for LZB.

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NYCT CBTC Reference Documents

NYCBTC.ZIP - Widely downloaded after it was first released in 1997, this document  is out of date today. However the document contained key portions of the original technical requirements for NYCT's first CBTC procurement, Canarsie (About 350 pages).

New Technology Signal Study Tasks 1-5 (1.5 MB ZIP) - The original 1993-1995 Parsons Consultant study on CBTC prepared for NYCT. There are some missing graphics because they were not available in electronic format but for those interested in the economic basis for CBTC, this is probably a good place to start. Spreadsheets are Lotus 123 and Borland Quattro. Reports are in WordPerfect. However, if most converters are available in Microsoft Word and Excel it should be possible to view most of the files. 

Staging Plan -  This 1995 document was NYCT's first effort to define the CBTC procurement sequence and coordination of CBTC with new vehicle procurements. While dates have slipped the sequence is likely to remain about the same (Originally prepared by NYCT's Capital Signal group.)

New Technology Signal Study [PPT] T. Sullivan, 1995, APTA. An update to NYCT's first CBTC report (see below).   

New Technology Signal Report [Word V6] T. Sullivan, 1994, APTA. This report provides an overview of  MTA NYCT existing fixed block signal systems, a summary of its findings and the basis for migrating from fixed-block to CBTC technology.


NYC Subway Signals is a great link to detailed information about the operation of NYCT's existing signal system.

JFK - Airport Light Rail System

Alcatel Canada is supplying its standard inductive loop Seltrac CBTC train control system as part of this US $1B  8.4 mile driverless system  and team led by Bombardier. Known as the JFK AirTrain vehicles use linear inductive motors similar to but larger than Vancouver SkyTrain's. AirTrain began service on December 17, 2003 - the 100th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight The overall system is 8.4 miles and consists of 10 stations and 32 vehicles interconnecting 6 terminals and inter-modal hubs at Howard Beach and the Jamaica Transportation center. 

The latest enhancement to SELTRAC will be "Auto Restart," an all software function that permits a CBTC system to cold re-start into fully automatic operation and safely account for all trains in the system. For more project information see this April 16, 1998 Bombardier Press release and this Alcatel press release. To learn more about the overall JFK Airport project and recent proposals, see this Port Authority of NY & NY press release.

Long Island Railroad

We understand this project is now on hold pending new funding sources. An early demonstration using Alstom's original Atlas prototype CBTC at LIRR showed dramatic improvements in crossing gate uptime for near side crossings. Since about 2004 we believe there has been no additional activity on CBTC systems. 

Here, however, is LIRR's original industry Request for Information for its CBTC System. Useful as a general guide. It is a zipped file containing Microsoft Word Documents. 

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San Francisco

SF-BART - AATC - Advanced Automatic Train Control
The above link describes BART's original RF-CBTC project by Federal Transit Administration

BART AATC Project Status Report  May, 2003 (6 MByte ppt) 
This excellent (but very large) presentation provides a great high-level description of the unique features of this CBTC project. Some of the benefits already demonstrated by BART include shorter run times and energy savings. Now in its 13th year of development, BART has uncovered new challenges as it applies this advanced battle-proven technology used in Operation Desert Storm in Iran to Operation Bay Area in SF.  

March 1, 2003 

A noteworthy "Phase 2" milestone was reached in July 1, 2002 but AATC's promise of increased performance must await the completion of AATC's Phase 3. At that time all trains are expected to be equipped with RF-CBTC and wayside CBTC equipment will be deployed on about 1/4 of the existing BART system. (The San Francisco Mission Line to Daily City, the critical bottleneck caused by the Trans-Bay Tube, and the Northern portion of the A line in Oakland to Bayfair). 

As is common with most high technology projects, AATC is behind schedule. On July 1, 2002 Phase 3 was scheduled for completion by mid-2004. but 2006 or 2007 now may be more plausible target dates.

In addition to being almost a decade late, AATC is tens of millions of dollars over budget. Perhaps $100 million has been spent already developing AATC and more funds are needed to complete Phase 3. Adding to BART's financial woes are reduced faire box revenues due to a major and protracted recession in Silicon Valley and reduced sales tax income caused by a recession in California. 

At some future date after Phase 3 and new funding is identified, BART hopes to overlay its AATC CBTC on the remaining 75% of its existing fixed-block system. But only after alternatives to its fixed block track circuits to detect broken rails will BART be able to retire its existing fixed-block track circuits. 

Only after BART retires its track circuits should it expect overall system availability to increase because currently a failed track circuit must be treated as a broken rail. 

July 1, 2002 

"Safety Certification of AATC Mixed Control Mode and Notice of Intent to Operate" (scanned document)

In the above letter, the California Public Utilities Commission advises BART it may begin limited operation under RF-CBTC over 5% of its system. BART AATC's "Phase 2 called "mixed control mode," is a milestone in the short history of RF-CBTC technology. 

For more on AATC by BART's CBTC supplier GE, see the June 2002 issue of Railway Gazette International. Unfortunately, this article is no longer available on the web but related information can be found below. Other excellent presentations by BART on its AATC project can also be found in TSD's papers section.

AATC Project Background

In February of 1998 the US signal firm formerly known as Harmon Industries (subsequently purchased by GE) and SF BART consummated a $45 million contract for a CBTC system. GE Transportation Systems Global Signaling is now in the processing of equipping all BART cab cars and about 1/3 of the 100 mile BART system with EPLRS, an advanced radio network developed by Hughes (which then was purchased by Raytheon, and then licensed to GE). The objective of AATC is to operate more trains during the AM and PM peaks.  

For a detailed historical perspective of BART's AATC project see this BART Board of Directors Decision Document. 

GE now offers its advanced EPLRS data radio network a la carte. It also re-designed its Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum  radio/network system to reduce costs but like most proprietary spread spectrum radios for RF-CBTC the price for a single radio remains in the tens of thousands of dollars. BART and GE believe radio ranging is EPLRS's major attribute because it eliminates the need for wayside tags. Another important EPLRS  feature is its "bucket brigade" radio network. This allows data to be relayed from radio to radio eliminating the need to install "home run" communications cables to each radio. This results in considerable installation savings as only connection to a reliable source of power is needed. Originally radios were expected to be 500 meters apart in tunnels but this distance will have to be reduced to meet high availability requirements. 

SF MUNI - Advanced Train Control System 

Muni Metro has operating requirements similar to SEPTA's subway surface trolley line. Muni operates 5 surface LRV lines that converge into one dual track subway line under Market Street. This results in a operating headway need of 72 single car LRVs/hr in the subway. Muni's new CBTC technology has doubled the capacity of its Market Street subway from 23 to more than 48 trains/hr.

Two bids were received. Bombardier's bid was for a fixed block system. Alcatel's was an inductive loop CBTC system. Muni rejected Bombardier's fixed block bid primarily because the bidder stated it needed extended cutover times to replace Muni's power frequency track circuits and insulated joints with a large number of jointless AF track circuits. This extended cutover would have resulted in unacceptable service disruptions during the installation period. 

Alcatel was able to overlay its inductive communications loop atop Muni's existing fixed block system without interfering with it. This is attribute of CBTC technology is often under-appreciated when upgrading an existing fixed block system because it allows "dual operating modes." Thus, non-revenue service testing of the new system could be immediately followed by a return to conventional fixed-block operation. Muni's new CBTC system has 32 speed codes (versus 3 previously), does multiple-berthing at congested stations and has full driverless capability. For more information see: Implementing the SF Muni ATCS Project. 

A real-time web cam shows Muni's new CBTC system in actual operation. While Muni still has occasional problems with lost communications (as trains transition from surface to automated subway operation) and failed antenna brackets these are not safety issues and overall availability is high. See also: MUNI’s CBTC System (3 MB ppt). 

This press release (Word) describes Muni's 48 Trains/hr demonstration test. It took about 10 years rather than the expected 3 but today most consider Muni's CBTC system a success because it met its stated goal of doubling the capacity of its Market Street Subway.  In 2001 Muni added a new shuttle service  between Castro St. (a congested mid-line station) and Embarcadero Station. 

SF AirTrain People Mover

Bombardier (formerly Adtranz) a well-established player in the automated people mover industry said it was able to reduce its price on this project using RF-CBTC technology. This people mover uses the same Flexiblok (CITYFLO* 650) technology used at SEPTA in Philadelphia, PA and Seattle. 

Officially opened in March 2003, AirTrain is an automated people mover which in its first month of operation averaged 99.55% availability. Its elevated guide way is 10 km long has 9 stations and  a fleet of  38 CX-100 people movers. The driverless system connects all the airport's terminals, parking garages and the new Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station.

CITYFLOW* 650 RF-CBTC technology uses a lossy-line ("leaky feeder")  in tunnel areas and communicates over 2400 MHz Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum radios by Andrew Corporation (that is now obsolete). Commercial off the shelf passive Amtech RF-ID tags  are also used for absolute position location.

We understand Bombardier is now using Safetran's "commercial off the shelf IP radio . See Taipei. 

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Other - North America

Washington Dulles Automated People Mover  

On July 7, 2004 Alcatel announced it was awarded an RF-CBTC by Washington Dulles Airport APM. Here is Alcatel's Press Release on this project

Seattle-Tacoma Airport

PITTSBURGH, December 21, 1999 – Adtranz today announced it received approval from the Port of Seattle to begin work on upgrading the passenger transit system at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. The new system will replace the existing transportation system, originally installed by Adtranz in 1973. The transit system shuttles travelers between the airport's main terminal and its two satellite terminals.

The new system to be provided by Bombardier will include the supply and installation of twenty-one CX-100 vehicles, Flexiblok (CITYFLO* 650) train control, central control equipment, power distribution system, and station doors. 

Las Vegas Monorail, Nevada 

After months of delay, the Las Vegas Monorail went into service on July 15, 004. Here is Alcatel's press release announcing the grand opening. Based upon a 90-second headway this new monorail system uses a pinched-loop. A fleet of 36 cars operate in nine 4-car trains. 

Most significant to the train control industry is that the Las Vegas Monorail is the first in-service RF-CBTC to be based upon IP (internet protocol) and inexpensive, readily available, multi-sourced commercial off the shelf radios (based upon IEEE Std. 802.11). For additional information on the application of COTS and Open Standards for advanced train control systems see this excellent and informative paper on Open Standards for CBTC by Alcatel's Ed Kuun. 

 

  

Detroit, Michigan

On June 26, 2003 Alcatel's Canadian Transport Automation division was awarded a contract by Detroit Transportation Corporation (DTC) to upgrade its existing Alcatel Seltrac communications-based train control system. Contract value is US $ 6 million.

Detroit's Downtown People Mover first went into revenue service in 1987. Since then, Alcatel has evolved various subsystem and system management features including logging and performance monitoring. Alcatel stated its new and expandable open standards architecture system and interfacing capability will provide DTC with increased train availability and operation management flexibility. Here is Alcatel's  press release announcing this. 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

SEPTA Light Rail Tunnel

SEPTA upgrading to a Bombardier CITYFLO* 450 CBTC (ATP/ no ATO)

The following update was provided by SEPTA's John LaForce on 25 May, 2005 

The CBTC system was placed in service during night owl operation at 12:01 am on May 24, 2005 with the intention of increasing the service to include weekends during the summer and finally full 24/7 service in the late summer 2005.        

The purpose of the project is to install a modern state-of-the-art Positive Train Control system, defined as a Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system in SEPTA’s Light Rail Tunnel to improve safety while maintaining efficient rail car movements.

SEPTA’s Light Rail Tunnel is 2.5 miles long and contains two main tracks for a total of five track miles. Five light rail surface routes converge into the tunnel at two different portals. Ridership in the tunnel is approximately 90,000/day utilizing a fleet of 112 light rail vehicles. The new CBTC system will support 60-70 rail cars/hour with 30+ rail cars normally operating in the tunnel during the worst-case peak hour under the present scheduling. In the event of a delay, the number of rail cars in the tunnel could be much greater than 30 rail, however, the CBTC system will be capable of handling up to 75 rail cars/hr as well as multiple berthing of cars in all stations.

The CBTC system will provide train separation and civil speed control with continuous over-speed protection and overlay on the existing wayside indication system with minor modifications. All track circuits are of the single rail type and will remain in service. The single interlocking will be upgraded to a processor type at a later date. There will be no ATO or ATS functionality except a mimic display and the ability to apply slow zones at the central control facility. 

A 30 month implementation schedule was anticipated with the vehicle equipment installation being the critical path as no more that two cars per week could be taken out of service. At present, carborne equipment has been installed on all 112 vehicles. All wayside tunnel work is completed and tested. Formal testing of the system with four vehicles has been completed and operational tests are being performed on the remaining vehicles.

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Morgantown, West Virginia USA

Morgantown PRT

While this 1996 Paper by Boeing is dated, it remains a wealth of technical information about the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches available at the time. Even back in 1996 the summary conclusions of this report Boeing recommended the use of commercial off the shelf hardware and software to replace aging DEC PDP 11 computers.

• Pentium (X86) platforms with a dual Central computer and single station computers
• VXWorks, pSOS+, or VRTX real-time operating system
• Automated translation to ANSI C programming language for compilation using a C++ compiler
• New code for the Central Applications Program (CAP) and Passenger Station Applications Program (PSAP) to drive programmable boarding displays and to implement circulation mode operation

Vancouver, BC 

SkyTrain New Millennium Line

The BC government is moving ahead aggressively with a $1.17B (Canadian) extension to its highly successful SkyTrain system. Bombardier, which supplied the trains, will use Alcatel Canada's conventional inductive loop CBTC technology.

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Asia

Mainland China

Wuhan

Light Rail Line Phase 1

A Seltrac Inductive Loop line was installed on phase 1 of this Light Rail system in this city in Mainline China. Revenue Service September 28, 2004 more or less on time. More details are in the Alcatel Press Release.

Guanghou

Alcatel announced on May 22, 2003 it was awarded this $40 Million dollar contract to provide its Seltrac CBTC for Line 3 a 36.3 km line  linking three suburbs and crossing the Zhujiang River at speeds up to 120 km/hr for Guanghou Metro. Revenue operation is expected in 2006. Guanghou is the biggest city in Southern China with 7 million people.

Coming after recent wins for KCRC and MTRC in Hong Kong as well as the first metro line in Wuhan.  

Shanghai Line 8

Alcatel announced on March 24, 2005 it was awarded this RF-CBTC project. Phase one is 23 km long with 22 stations and 90 second headways. Line 8 is expected to be in full operation in three years. Future extensions are planned.

For more details here is Alcatel's Press Release 

Hong Kong

KCRC

Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation  

On December 20, 2003 Hong Kong's South China Morning Post and Hong Kong Standard reported the inauguration revenue service of West Rail. Alcatel reported on February 11, 2004 that its inductive loop CBTC was delivered on time and on schedule and still delivering 100% reliability. 

Two months previously the South China Morning post reported a third delay on West Rail and that the November 2003 scheduled launch will not take place. This third delay it said, was blamed on signaling problems discovered during train testing. The overall project will connect the northwestern New Territories with urban areas.

On March 29, 1999 Alcatel signed a contract to install its Seltrac CBTC (moving block system) for the KCRC "West Rail" project in Hong Kong.  The contract was signed on the 29th of March. We understand KCRC had the option to use Alcatel's service proven inductive loop technology or its new RF based technology (tested successfully in 1999 in NYC). KCRC we understand elected to stay with Alcatel's inductive loop technology to minimize project risk. KCRC picked SelTrac MB for Ma On Shan on the Ma On Shan branch now under construction. Due to open for revenue service in 2004, the 11·4 km feeder will connect the new town of Ma on Shan to KCR's existing East Rail corridor at Fo Tan. 

Penny's Bay Line

On September 12, 2002 Alcatel announces it was awarded the train control contract for the  Mass Transit Railway  Penny's Bay Line (PBL). The line will branch off Lantau Island airport rail line to service a new Disneyland theme park at the bay. The contract value is over 12 million Euros.

PBL will be the first fully automatic operation (driver-less) railway in Hong Kong. The 3.2 km single-track railway will incorporate two stations, and operate two four-car trains at a minimum headway of four minutes using spread-spectrum radio technology based upon IEEE 802.11 radios similar to those used in on the Las Vegas Monorail. Revenue service is scheduled for 2005 to coincide with the opening of the theme park.

Ma On Shan

Alcatel's Inductive Loop Seltrac is being implemented here on an 11 km Line. The system went into revenue service on December 21, 2004. 

Taipei, Taiwan

On April 28, 2003 Bombardier announced it was selected by Taiwan's Kung Sing Engineering Corporation to supply the electrical and mechanical portion of this15-km, 12 station rapid transit system. The project includes 202 rubber-tired vehicles. The train control will be based upon Flexiblok (CITYFLO* 650). At the time of this update additional details could be found in the "What's New" section on Bombardier's web site www.bombardier.com. 

Because the original Flexiblok design did not fully separate train control functions from the Andrews Data Radio communications subsystems Andrew was unable to sell its model 2400 radios to others. As a result, this Andrews radio has become obsolete and is no longer in production. For Taipei, we understand Bombardier plans to use a readily available commercial off the shelf radio by Safetran that costs about 1/10 of the custom Andrew it designed for Bombardier. Taipei however, will continue to use Andrews' successful leaky feeder RF transmission line technology for operation underground. 

Singapore  

North East Line

An Alstom URBALIS 300 (.pdf)  CBTC system went into full revenue service on June 20, 3003 on Singapore's North East Line. Claimed by Alstom to be the world's first first "fully automatic heavy-rail metro" Singapore Land Transportation Authority said its driverless trains carried 220,000 passenger trips on its first day of operation. 

The system comprises 25 six-car trains. Each train is able to carry 1,900 passengers. Precision station stopping is required to match up with platform screen doors. Initial contracts with Alstom were signed in 1997 and 1998. Alstom's URBALIS 300 CBTC technology is based upon microwave waveguide technology for  train to wayside communications.

Ankara, Turkey

Ankara Rapid Transit System (ARTS)
In revenue service since November 28, 1998, this Alcatel Canada SELTRAC CBTC system was configured to provide 90-second headways. It consists of 14.6 km double track, 12 stations, train control for 108 Bombardier-supplied vehicles and an automated yard. $32M Alcatel Canada CBTC contract.

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Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Putra Light Rail
An Alcatel Canada SELTRAC CBTC system. Phase 1: 25 km double track, 21 stations, 70 car sets equipment. $61 Million Alcatel contract. Revenue Service was expected in September, 1998.

Seoul, Korea

On May 21, 2003 Alcatel announced it was awarded a 3-year $27 million dollar contract to provide the first Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system to be used in Korea for its Bundang commuter line in Seoul that is operated by Korean National Railroads (KNR).  

The 2-phase project includes a 5.5 km section of 5 stations and two CBTC-equipped trains. The second phase, and balance of 13 km and 7 station line will be competed in 2006. KNR will evaluate the success of this project for possible future expansion to a 300 km of suburban track around Seoul. 

The communications and SCADA system will be based upon be based upon open standards using TCP/IP and will be provided by Samsung SDS, based on this proven open network communications architecture that is currently being implemented by Alcatel for the Las Vegas Monorail and which was proven in successful test trials for NYCT in the late 1990s.  

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 Europe

Lyon

Siemens' (formerly Matra Transport's)  MAGGALY technology is used on the 13.5 km Line D. It is a rubber-tired subway system which is fully-automated and driverless and can do automated train storage, insertion and removal. The design headway is 60 seconds and the operational headway is 90 seconds. Maggaly is a fully bidirectional communications system that uses inductive loops.  

In operation beginning in 1992, it post-dates Alcatel's Seltrac technology by about 10 years, VAL technology by about 6 years and precedes Matra's latest train control technology Meteor by about six years. Infrared beams detect platform intrusions.

Barcelona  

We don't have many details yet on this project but we understand on March 5, 2003 Barcelona selected the Siemens RF-Meteor technology (now being installed for the first time at NYC Transit) for Barcelona's Line 9. This is a 40 km line and contract award was for and 72 million Euros. Click on the above Barcelona Link for more information.  

Madrid

We understand Bombardier recently (Circa September 2004) won a heavy rail subway project based upon Bombardier's CityFlo 450 CBTC.

Lausane Metro

In existence since the 1890's Lausane's M2 line is being upgraded with a fully automated (driverless) rCBTC based upon Alstom's URBALIS 300. The new rubber-tired system will connect 14 stations over 6 km of double track 70% of which is underground. It is expected to go in revenue service in 2008. 

Click here for a detailed Alstom brochure  describing this new system. 

Paris - RATP

Lines 3, 4, 9, 10, 12   

According to IRJ in February of 2004, RATP awarded contracts totaling Euros 95 million to CSEE, Siemens and Technicatome for new CBTC equipment. In launching these three CBTC contracts RATP apparently hopes to standardize its CBTC products and diversify its supplier base. In addition to improved speed control and better reliability RATP expects to reduce headways from 105 to 90 seconds. 

For a link to the IRJ 24 FEB 2004 article click here. 

Also, here is a brief Siemens press release about Ouragan.

Line 13  

This 4 year  50 Million Euro CBTC contract was awarded to Alcatel in June of 2002. It is a major RF-CBTC retrofit on this 22.5 km RATP line. A key objective is to reduce headways from 105 to 90 seconds. 

The above link is Alcatel's Press release. We understand that an intent of this project is to develop both interoperability and interchangeability of CBTC subsystems. 

Line 14  

RATP's newest line is driverless, rubber-tired, and at 60,000 passengers/hr/direction very high capacity. Known is  METEOR it is an inductive loop CBTC system developed by MATRA (Now Siemens). See also Ada in the Paris Metro. An extension to this line is discussed in this December 2003 Siemens Press Release.

METEOR train control technology has its roots in SACEM both of which are based upon "B" technology. In late 1999, Meteor technology was selected by NYC Transit to be used on its Canarsie pilot line. For more information See: NYC Transit

 

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London

Jubilee and Northern Lines

Alcatel 2 OCT 2003 Press Release  (Word) 

On October 2, 2003 London Underground's Tube Lines announced plans to upgrade its Jubilee and Northern Lines with Alcatel's Seltrac Train Control System (S40). At a cost of Canadian $650 million this significant upgrade to CBTC is expected to increase capacity by 20%. We understand Alcatel and Tube Lines have agreed to use inductive loop but may in the future upgrade to RF-CBTC technology. We have also added a new discussion thread on this in TSD's discussion Forum under CBTC.

Jubilee originally opened with temporary fixed-block signaling because the Westinghouse UK CBTC was not ready in time. Originally awarded to Alcatel Canada, the CBTC was subsequently given to Westinghouse UK which was tasked to do the vehicle and wayside train control and RF communications. Alcatel did the control center but these contract changes considerably complicated the job because of numerous new interface issues. Today, Jubilee operates in revenue service using fixed-block technology. 

DLR Docklands Light Rail

We recently came across this great link describing the Seltrac CBTC and how it was overlaid onto the original DLR fixed block system. DLR has been in operation under CBTC since about 1990 replacing an earlier Alstom fixed-block system. 

Heathrow Airport

We recently learned (Oct 2004) that Bombardier won a job for a fully automated people mover for Heathrow Airport. We understand this is based upon Bombardier's CITYFLO* 650  CBTC.

Budapest

We don't have any official details in English yet from Siemens but at the moment  this link in French appears to be discussing a Meteor system similar to that used at NYC Transit. 

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Miscellaneous & Other Systems

Copenhagen

Ansaldo supplied a fixed block driverless train control system for this steel wheeled-steel and steel rail driverless automated people mover for the city of Copenhagen. It uses US&S AF900 track circuits and a train-wayside data radio network and thus not a CBTC Technology based System. 

The primary link for this project is www.m.dk. (Select the English language option if you cannot read Danish.) For more technical information on the train control go to this link.

One of the interesting aspects of this project is that it cost as much to prove the safety of this system as Ansaldo bid on the project.  

 

Eddy Current Brakes
This article describes the newest form of electronic braking for high speed rail.

TGV Signaling

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Revised: 13 Jul 2005