Spain: Kapsch equips railway line in Bilbao with radio technology

Kapsch CarrierCom successfully completes another project in Spain: Kapsch equipped 80 kilometers of the short-line network of the state railway operator Adif in Bilbao with the newest train safety and radio technology. This guarantees improved communication for railway operations in the future as well as new services for the passengers.

“The equipping of the railway network in Bilbao is another milestone for the modernization of the Spanish train system. Both the railway operator and the passengers will profit in terms of safety and reliability,” explains Michel Clement, Vice President GSM-R of Kapsch CarrierCom. With this project, Kapsch has once again confirmed its position as a globally leading specialist for GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications-Railway). Previously in Spain, Kapsch equipped a high-speed line in Galicia with the train radio system.

Train radio simplifies communication

The GSM-R solution from Kapsch enables simple communication between the command and control centers and the trains on the line. This guarantees smooth management of the train traffic. At the same time, the new system increases the capacity for simultaneous communication processes. In this way, it offers new functions for safety and maintenance teams and enables fully automatic notifications via loudspeaker in event of problems. Thanks to the integration of the signaling system, calls between trains and transportation operators are now also handled automatically.

Smooth transition to the new system

The preparation for the project took place over two years: Already in 2010, the roll-out laid the foundation for the extensive new installations. The core of the system consists of a newly integrated fiber-optic cable network and the associated installation of 22 control masts. A control panel was also specially developed for this project into which both GSM-R components as well as the previous analog channels are integrated. This guaranteed a simple and smooth transition to the new communication system.