Alstom deploys ERTMS on major railway in Romania

Published on 09-03-2020 at 10:46

Railway tracks near Braşov, source: Marcus Wong/Flickr

Asocierea RailWorks, the consortium of Alstom and three Romanian companies, will rehabilitate two sections of Line 300 with a total length of 170 kilometres. This railway is vital for Romania, it connects Bucharest to several major cities and ends in Oradea, close to the border with Hungary. Among other things, Alstom is responsible for ERTMS deployment on these two stretches.

The entire project for upgrading the Braşov – Apaţa and Caţa – Sighişoara double-track sections of Line 300 costs 2.97 billion lei (around 617 million euros). It will be completed in four years. According to the agreement, the contractors will provide infrastructure and superstructure rehabilitation, modernisation of the overhead wires, installation of new traffic management including the deployment of ERTMS Level 2 system.

Alstom’s share is worth over 120 million euros. The French company is responsible for the technology part of the project (signalling, interlocking and other systems) while three Romanian partners, Aktor, Arcada and Euroconstruct Trading ‘98, will perform the construction and replacement works on the sections with a total length of around 170 kilometres.

More details

Within the project, the Romanian construction companies will upgrade infrastructure at train stations including buildings, platforms, canopies, pedestrian underpasses, modernise 32 bridges, install 92 new bridges, five viaducts, two elevated walkways, one underpass. Alstom, in its turn, will install a traffic control centre in the city of Braşov, deploy the digital interlocking and ERTMS Level 2 based on the company’s ATLAS 200 solution, provide the GSM-R telecommunications and passenger information systems as well as upgrade the overhead electric catenaries. After completing the works on these two sections, the trains will be able to run at a higher speed, up to 160 kilometres per hour, and they will be managed with the help of modern systems. As a result, passengers will get more comfortable and reliable journeys.