Norske tog, the Norwegian rolling stock owner, awarded Siemens Mobility Limited a six-year framework contract for the supply of 570 GSM-R train cab radios. The contract has an option to upgrade the existing radios to operate the 5G Future Railway Mobile Communication System (FRMCS), the first such upgrade contract to be awarded in the industry.
The contract also includes a 12-month trial of Siemens Mobility’s Trainborne Condition Monitoring (TBCM) smart application, which will provide Norske tog with the facility to remotely monitor the condition of its track assets. By harvesting fleet-wide condition data in real-time, TBCM will wirelessly create a digital representation of the condition of the track assets, enabling preventive and predictive maintenance to be carried out. This will result in improved reliability for passengers, fewer delays and a more efficient and cost-effective maintenance programme for asset owners and maintainers.
Preliminary design work for the train cab radios programme is now underway, with the programme set to deliver significant benefits to passengers, freight users and railway operators by resolving obsolescence issues, while reducing the risk and performance impact caused by radio interference from 4G public mobile network operators.
“Our experienced design team has been working on the next generation FRMCS technology and to develop products and systems that will continue to meet our global customers’ requirements. We now have a system that will adapt and re-use existing on-board infrastructure, so significantly reducing the cost of change,” Rob Morris, Managing Director Rail Infrastructure for Siemens Mobility in the UK said.
The FRMCS is the next-generation worldwide telecommunication system for railways, designed by UIC, as the successor of GSM-R. The new system is a key enabler for rail transport digitalisation within the rail industry and provides a range of opportunities to enhance the passenger experience with live video entertainment, video security transmission and dynamic passenger information systems. The future FRMCS upgrade will adapt and re-use the existing on-board infrastructure, ensuring costs are kept to a minimum.
Siemens Mobility is currently involved in the digitalisation of Norway railway system. In 2018, the German company was awarded by the railway infrastructure manager a EUR 800 million contract to deploy the ETCS across the network with the first digitalised line – the Nordlandsbanen, scheduled to be opened in 2022.
In November 2019, Campus Nyland, the ERTMS training and signalling simulation center was opened as part of the agreement.
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