Siemens, Thales Consortium To Upgrade Safety On Spanish High-Speed Rail Link

German engineering giant Siemens and French industrial group Thales have been chosen to upgrade safety features, control systems and signals on Spain's high-speed Olmedo to Ourense track



French and German industrial giants Thales and #/startscreen: Siemens# said Monday they had won a joint contract worth 510 million euros to revamp safety systems on a high-speed train line in Spain. The consortium was 55-percent owned by Thales with the remaining 45 percent held by Siemens.



Wide ranging upgrade



Spanish infrastructure admistrator ADIF issued the contract to modernize the control, signalling and safety equipment on the roughly 340-kilometre (211-mile) section of the high-speed line between Olmedo and Ourense in northern Spain. It includes installation of the automatic train protection and control system, telecommunication and traffic control systems, as well as system maintenance for 20 years.



Safety improvements



To improve passenger safety, Siemens will equip the high speed line with train control system ASFA (Automatic Braking and Announcement of Signals) and central control technology.



A high-speed derailment on another section of this high-speed line in July 2013 caused 79 deaths on the outskirts of the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, Spain's deadliest train accident since 1944.



At 2,600 route kilometers, the Spanish high-speed railway network is the largest in Europe.



bew/uhe (AFP, Siemens)