Thales to equip Swiss rail operator BLS with a lower power consumption electronic interlockings

14/02/2024

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Thales has been awarded a frame contract to equip the Swiss railway company BLS with electronic interlockings with optical signalling for the next 10 years

Thales will provide a sophisticated and reliable system that ensures high efficiency by utilizing existing processes and operational procedures.

BLS is one of Switzerland's largest transport companies, operating trains on the Bern and Central Switzerland S-Bahn networks - from Bern to Payerne or from Lucerne to Bern /(Langenthal). Thanks to its InterRegio and RegioExpress lines, it also offers fast connections, for instance from Bern to Olten, La Chaux-de-Fonds and Domodossola.

BLS Thales and BLS, a major Swiss railway company, have signed a contract to modernise the BLS rail lines. This new project for Thales involves supplying electronic interlockings with optical signalling to BLS over the next ten years.

By choosing Thales to supply new electronic interlockings, BLS maintains the continuity of rail services. BLS can utilise a number of synergies from the 23 stations that Thales has already installed on its railway network since 2003. These synergies include the planning, implementation and operation of the system along with employee training. This enables BLS to implement future projects more efficiently, as the employees are already familiar with the systems.

The annual electricity consumption of the retained solution has been a key strategic factor, as BLS it has consistently evaluated the environmental impact of this modernisation over 40 years of operation. Together, Thales and BLS decided to test the power consumption of the proposed Thales solution. Measurements taken on installed systems showed that the Thales system is highly efficient and confirmed the lower power consumption.

Finally, Thales' efficient and cost-effective solution will allow BLS to go further in modernising its railway lines. Thales' system offers also the ability to convert existing Thales interlockings to cab signalling ETCS L2 (European Train Control System Level 2) without replacing the interlocking indoor equipment. This approach will enable BLS to migrate existing lines to the modern ETCS-L2 train control system at lower cost in the future.

We are very pleased to again collaborate with BLS and to modernise this Swiss railway with Thales electronic interlockings, providing a mature and reliable system and ensuring high usability and efficiency to save energy. This new contract reinforces our excellent, long-standing relationship, which dates back more than 20 years and marks a great success for Thales Transport in Switzerland. Kurt Sauerwein, Managing Director Ground Transportation Systems, Thales in Switzerland

Thales's offer was convincing in terms of sustainability, a high level of synergies and a very good fulfilment of all our qualitative criteria. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership. Daniel Wyder, Head of Infrastructure at BLS

Documents

Thales to equip Swiss rail operator BLS with a lower power consumption electronic interlockings .pdf

Contact

Thales, Media Relations Ground Transportation

+33 (0)6 25 15 72 93 chrystelle.dugimont@thalesgroup.com

22 Feb 2024

Thales and Thaicom establish the foundation to lead the Unmanned Traffic Management deployment in Thailand

Read more

21 Feb 2024

Saab and Thales sign ATM MoU for Singapore

Read more

21 Feb 2024

From post-quantum cryptography to seamless connectivity and 5G security, find out how Thales enables a secure connected world

Read more

LINK:	https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/transport/press_release/thale...
	See more stories from thales

Thales to equip Swiss rail operator BLS with a lower power consumption electronic interlockings

More from Thales

30/06/2025

30/06/2025

27/06/2025

26/06/2025

24/06/2025

24/06/2025

24/06/2025

23/06/2025

20/06/2025

19/06/2025

12/06/2025

12/06/2025

11/06/2025

10/06/2025

05/06/2025

04/06/2025

03/06/2025

02/06/2025

02/06/2025

22/05/2025

21/05/2025

20/05/2025

19/05/2025

19/05/2025

15/05/2025

15/05/2025

15/05/2025

14/05/2025

13/05/2025

13/05/2025

13/05/2025

30/04/2025

29/04/2025

25/04/2025

24/04/2025

23/04/2025

22/04/2025

17/04/2025

16/04/2025

15/04/2025

14/04/2025

08/04/2025

08/04/2025

07/04/2025

07/04/2025

03/04/2025

03/04/2025

02/04/2025

01/04/2025

31/03/2025