Arad region, as well as its importance as a rail hub between the East and West European axis, plays a crucial role in the completion of the Single European Railway Area, especially with the TEN-T Orient/East Med Corridor passing through Romania. Arad rail station, the largest of its kind in South-East Europe, benefits from one of the most modern rail traffic control centers, Iconis, installed by Alstom within a project developed for the Romanian national railway infrastructure manager, CFR SA, part of the most representative railway modernisation project carried out in Romania so far.
The Iconis traffic control centre was presented to the participants at the Railway Pro Technology and Services Forum, organized by Club Feroviar and Railway PRO together with the Romanian Railway Industry Association (AIF), in Arad on 5-6 April.
“Alstom is proud to have contributed to the modernisation of the national railway system through innovative technologies, such as this management and traffic control centre built in Arad, an absolute premiere in Romania. A second such centre is under construction at Simeria rail station. These two centres will together manage railway traffic from the Hungarian border up to Sighișoara, which is over 350 km of double track with more than 30 rail stations”, Gabriel Stanciu, Alstom General Manager for Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova, said.
This state-of-the-art traffic control centre became operational as of September 2016 making Arad rail station the most-performing railway station in South-East Europe. With over 140 switch points, Arad is a very important railway centre for the Rhine-Danube Corridor (pan-European Corridor IV).
In 2012, the consortium of five companies run by Alstom began the major rehabilitation of Hungarian Border (Frontieră) – Curtici – Arad – Km 614 section measuring 41.185 km of double track. The contract included complex rehabilitation works of the railway infrastructure and superstructure, electrification, signalling and communication works, including GSM-R, as well as civil engineering. Alstom was directly responsible with the design and implementation of all works related to traffic control centre, ERTMS Level 2 European railway Signalling System, interlocking, passenger information systems and modernisation of railway electrification systems using electric traction substations.
The modernisation of Arad rail station, with Iconis traffic control centre included, was part of the rehabilitation project of Border HU- Curtici – Arad – Km 614 railway section, a project with a cost of more than EUR 330 million.
”Centralized Traffic Control system Iconis in Arad is ready to integrate non Alstom interlocking suppliers. Deployed in 10 different countries, Alstom has developed ATLAS 200 platform to provide the most efficient signalling systems for railways. Alstom also installed its interlocking solution – SMARTLOCK – on 4 railway stations in Romania (Curtici, Șofronea, Arad and Glogovăț), all currently in operation with 17 railway stations under deployment for SMARTLOCK installation. The ETCS Level 2 was deployed on 210 km of conventional rail lines, which makes it one of the first, worldwide, such signaling installation on a conventional line”, declared Laurențiu Ivan, BD & Sales Director Signalling, Alstom Romania, Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova.
”This project, Border HU – Curtici – Arad – Km 614 – the first Corridor Project in Romania and a first such experience for Alstom in Romania. On this rail section of Pan-European Corridor IV, 900 foundations (poles and anchors), 1000 cantilevers, 41 Km of catenary, 24 portals (with the biggest gantry beam in Romania of 36 m) and 32 disconectors were installed and they are completely functional. It was a challenging project because we worked under conventional traffic and in the presence of passengers”, Șerban Iorga, Managing Director Systems & Infrastructure – Alstom Romania, explained to the participants at the Forum.
According to a contract signed with CFR SA, Alstom will perform tests with its flagship train, Coradia Polyvalent, designed and produced in France, especially built for Romania and fully functional but without interior fittings, yet. The design, configuration and fitting of its interiors will be entirely performed locally in accordance with specific requests from the customer, CFR SA. These works are expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2017. The delivery of this train, fully equipped with testing capabilities, is part of the Sighișoara-Simeria signalling rehabilitation project signed in 2014 with CFR SA, the Romanian railway infrastructure manager.
The project consists in the extensive modernisation and signalling works on the 170 km high–speed railway segment Sighișoara-Coșlariu-Simeria to be equipped with Atlas 200, Alstom’s ERTMS Level2 solution.
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