Siemens Mobility and Ruhrbahn signed a contract to digitalise light rail interlocking system in Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany.
Siemens will replace the existing control and safety technology dating from the 1970s in Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr by 2031 to ensure the system is fit for the future.
The contract, worth around EUR 180 million, was signed recently by the two companies and includes digitalising Europe’s largest light rail interlocking system at Essen Central Station.
“After decades of wear and tear and the interim refurbishment of the relay technology in three of our five interlockings, we are now undertaking the complete renewal and digitalisation of the train control and safety technology for tram and light rail transport in Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr. Our aim is to make the existing network more efficient and reliable. When the renewal project is completed, there will be fewer disruptions and downtimes, making the use of public transport even more attractive for our passengers,” Michael Feller, CEO of Ruhrbahn said.
The modernsation will make the interlocking system more reliable and energy efficient. Sixty percent of the costs for the renewal of the interlockings will be funded by the municipal rail renewal programme with state and federal funds. The funding is currently expected to total around EUR 96 million.
“We are delighted that Ruhrbahn is converting its rail system to be fit for the future and that we have been chosen to implement this project with state-of-the-art control and safety technology by 2031. The digitalization of Europe’s largest light rail interlocking in Essen marks a great technological leap forward for rail operations. Once completed, passengers will benefit from a more reliable and punctual rail system,” Guido Rumpel, Head of Rail Infrastructure Germany at Siemens Mobility said.
Modernisation of the five interlockings with Europe’s currently largest relay interlocking for trams and metros at Essen Central Station will be carried out in five project phases by 2031. During the project, passenger services will be restricted only for short periods in individual sections of the system. The relay technology will be completely replaced, and the system’s control and safety technology will be converted to digital controls, making the infrastructure significantly more efficient. The interlocking at central station alone currently sets points around 5,000 times a day and switches signals to green 23,000 times. The electronic interlocking solution Trackguard from Siemens Mobility is currently installed at five interlocking locations.
One special feature of this major project will be the integration of the metropolitan region’s three and four rail systems. The challenge here is to use the different track gauges in the system and enable seamless operations using state-of-the-art technologies.
As part of the project, Siemens Mobility will renew the approximately 28-km-long train control section with 39 stations. The signalling system will be equipped with LEDs, the track vacancy detection system will be upgraded with an axle-counting system, and all magnetic barriers that prevent trains from passing a stop signal will be replaced.
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