Le Havre port authority selects Thales rail signalling solution

Thales has signed a contract valued at €2.1 million with the Grand Port Maritime du Havre (GPMH) for the turnkey installation of a PIVOS computer-based interlocking system for the service lines at the Port 2000 terminal. The contract covers all aspects of the rail signaling solution, including preliminary studies, equipment, installation, testing and user training. The system will enter service in July 2013.

This is the first time a new signalling system has been installed on a port rail network in France. It follows the transfer of ownership of the rail infrastructure from RFF (Réseau Ferré de France, which owns and maintains the French national rail network) to the French ports, which are now required to manage, operate, develop and maintain their internal rail networks.

The Port 2000 terminal was launched to support the development of container traffic at the Port of Le Havre (GPMH) and has become a strategic hub for port rail traffic in the space of just a few years. GPMH decided to computerise the command and control of the Port 2000 terminal with a state-of-the-art signalling system to ensure the highest levels of performance, reliability and safety.

The availability of competitive, high-capacity transport solutions is critical to the port’s ability to provide quick and easy access to its bulk cargo customers in the surrounding region, and is one of the priority objectives of HAROPA, the economic interest group that coordinates logistics for the ports of Le Havre, Rouen and Paris.

“To support the growth in traffic volumes, we’re making a concerted effort to upgrade the infrastructure at the Port 2000 terminal. We have chosen Thales as our trusted industry partner for this project, based on its record of success since the installation of the port’s first computer-based interlocking systems in 2008, and its ability to provide solutions that have been thoroughly proven on major rail networks,” said Christian Feuvre, director of land transportation at GPMH.

“We are delighted to have been selected by GPMH for this project, which demonstrates our ability to meet the requirements of a new generation of infrastructure operators,” said Alain le Marchand, director of rail signalling at Thales Communications & Security. “Our goal is to provide our signalling expertise and experience to support the French ports in their development.”

The rail network at the Port of Le Havre comprises a total of 200 km of track, 350 signals and five signal control centres, based on Thales’s proprietary PIPC technology. Together, the five centres manage over 250 routes.