0: A dynamic year for our transportation activity

2013: A dynamic year for our transportation activity

2013: A dynamic year for our transportation activity

Thu, 27/02/2014

Contracts over 100mIn accordance with its corporate strategy designed to focus on large projects, in 2013 Thales's transportation activity won three contracts worth over 100 million. The first, valued at 109m, was won in Egypt in May and involves the modernisation of the signalling systems on the Cairo-Alexandria corridor. This project will allow the 208 kilometre-long stretch to increase its capacity from 25 to 32 million passengers per year.

In the same month, Thales was awarded a 136m contract to supply a rail signalling solution to South Africa's highly populated Western Cape province, in what is one of the largest rail infrastructure projects on the African continent. The project will cover 46 train stations, over 250 kilometres and will enable highly reliable operations and improved passenger services and comfort.

Nearing the end of the year, a CAF/Thales consortium was awarded a US$451.9m contract by Chile's Metro de Santiago to supply a CBTC (Communication-Based Train Control) signalling solution to Lines 3 and 6 of the metro. The contract also includes a 20-year maintenance agreement. The combined delivered system (CAF trains with Thales train control), will ultimately provide a passenger throughput capability greater than 50,000 passengers per hour each day.

In urban transport, the CBTC saga continuedFollowing the early adoption of Thales's revolutionary SelTrac CBTC technology in Canada in 1985, the Group has led the charge globally to change the way signalling is perceived and applied to urban rail networks. 2013 saw Thales win contracts in the very country this technology was developed in, on both the new, 11 kilometre-long SkyTrain Evergreen Line in Vancouver and the 12.5 kilometre-long Confederation Line in Ottawa.

On the other side of the Atlantic, in the United Kingdom, the modernisation of London Underground's Northern Line passed another major milestone, as the stretch between Highgate and High Barnet is now controlled by SelTrac CBTC.

In Hong Kong, the metro operator MTR renewed its confidence in CBTC by awarding Thales a contract to apply this system to Phase 1 of the SCL line. In continental China, Thales's efforts to assist the development of the country's transport network were even more successful. The joint venture Thales SAIC Transportation Systems won three new SelTrac CBTC contracts, installing the system in Nanjing, Guangzhou and Nanchang.

Growing footprint in growing marketsIn Latin America, besides the large contract won in Chile, Thales's contribution to public transport was unveiled at the opening of Line 2 of the Santo Domingo Metro in the Dominican Republic. A key milestone for the improvement of public transport in the city, the project involved solutions from across Thales's transportation portfolio, including communication, supervision, signalling and ticketing systems.

The Group also signed a contract in Brazil to provide signalling and communications systems for the new Light Rail Transit (LRT) system in the city of Santos. This line, which will reach 15 kilometres by the project's conclusion, is expected to carry 70,000 passengers a day, reduce the city's bus fleet by 23% and keep maintenance costs down significantly.

In India, following a contract won in December 2012 with the new Hyderabad metro, Thales extended its presence in the transportation market. Its passenger information solution was selected to equip the new subway in Jaipur and the extension of line 6 of the Delhi Metro.

Development of Eastern Europe's main line networksAs a result of contracts won in 2013, Thales will deploy its route control and train control ETCS (European Train Control System) solutions in order to advance the modernisation of the European rail network. It will do so in Bulgaria, on the 133 kilometre-long Sofia-Plovdiv railway line, and also in Hungary, on a 70 kilometre-long section of Corridor IV of the trans-European transport network (which stretches from Dresden to Istanbul).

Last but not least, Thales will modernise the signalling system of the 350 kilometre-long E65 railway line linking Warsaw and Gdynia, in Poland. This project will allow trains to run at speeds of up to 200 km/h through selected sections. Notably, in 2013 the successful operation of Thales's ETCS solution, already installed along the 224 kilometre-long railway line linking Grodzisk Mazowiecki with Zawiercie, was acclaimed by Polands Office of Rail Transportation.

The tram: an emblem of connected citiesWith cities across many developed nations opting to introduce such networks, the tram is becoming an emblem of today's connected cities. In 2013, Thales joined Transport for Greater Manchester in celebrating the launch of the Metrolink tram passenger service extension. Awarded UK Project of the Year at the International Light Rail Awards, the extension saw Thales provide a fully-integrated tramway management, control and communication system for what is now officially the largest over ground light rail system in operation in the country.

Ticketing's standout yearIn France, Thales won a 4-year contract with SNCF for the maintenance of ticket validation equipment throughout the whole train network in Paris and the surrounding departments, amounting to roughly 400 stations. Further south, France's second largest city, Lyon, selected Thales to modernise the fare collection system for its fleet of about 1000 buses.

In New Zealand, Auckland Transport asked Thales to extend its ticketing solution, an interoperable and multimodal transport smart card named AT HOP, from the city's train and ferry networks to its bus network, creating even smoother intermodal travel in the city.

Similarly,

LINK:	https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/worldwide/transportation/press-release/...
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