Israel Railways yesterday sent the documents for a NIS 2.5 billion closed tender for the new signals equipment to be laid on the track in the process of replacing the entire railway signals system with an ETCS Level 2 system. The three companies that passed the preliminary selection - Alstom, Siemens, and Thales - will submit their bids within three-four months, and the winner will be selected in September.
The signals system is being replaced in three separate tenders: one for the railway track equipment, one for the equipment installed in the locomotive, and one for the GSMR independent cellular network on which communications between the locomotive and the tracks are based. The separation into different tenders was made possible by the European standard for consolidating signaling systems, so that different companies can apply the technologies connecting one with the other.
The tender for the independent cellular railway network is taking place now, with a January 31 deadline for submitting bids. Later this year, Israel Railways is expected to issue a tender for the third part of the project - installing computer screens and a work environment in the locomotives that will enable the existing drivers' rooms to communicate with the new system.
Nationwide completion of the project is slated for 2022, but the first section on the high-speed line between Herzliya and the Hauma railway station in Jerusalem is set to open in 2019. After the section in central Israel is carried out, the system will be installed in the north, and subsequently in the south. The high-speed line is not dependent on the new signals system, so that if the other elements of the line are ready in March 2018, as planned, it can begin operating immediately.
Israel Railways says that the new system is essential for its preparations for the expected doubling in the number of trains and passengers in the coming years. The system manages and supervises railway traffic, and devises the safety margins between trains in a way that optimizes the number of trains on the Ayalon line bottleneck. This will increase the number of trains from 14 per hour to 17 per hour in each direction. While locomotive drivers currently receive information about the availability of tracks from lights on the way, the new system will transmit the information both through signals on the tracks and directly to screens in the locomotives. Other advantages of the new system are a reduction in maintenance costs and better performance at higher traveling speeds.
Published by Globes [online], Israel Business News - www.globes-online.com - on January 16, 2017
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