Skip to main content

Thales and Kapsch to provide systems for Bulgarian railway

In a contract worth US$47 million, Thales and Kapsch are to provide Bulgarian railway infrastructure company NRIC with the electronic signalling and telecommunication technology for the Sofia-Plovdiv railway line, part of the International Rail Corridor IV from Dresden to Istanbul. Kapsch CarrierCom will deliver the GSM-R technology for the project, while Thales will deploy electronic interlocking systems for five stations, including outdoor facilities, ETCS (European Train Control System) Level 1 tracksid
February 8, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
In a contract worth US$47 million, 596 Thales and 81 Kapsch are to provide Bulgarian railway infrastructure company NRIC with the electronic signalling and telecommunication technology for the Sofia-Plovdiv railway line, part of the International Rail Corridor IV from Dresden to Istanbul.  

Kapsch CarrierCom will deliver the GSM-R technology for the project, while Thales will deploy electronic interlocking systems for five stations, including outdoor facilities, ETCS (European Train Control System) Level 1 trackside equipment and CheckPoint solutions (trackside train condition monitoring).  GSM-R access will be set up by Kapsch CarrierCom, including dispatcher extensions, CAB radios and handheld devices.

Thomas Schöpf, chief operating officer of Kapsch CarrierCom commented, “These systems will enable the line to support an increase in train speed and higher train frequencies, significantly increasing line capacity”.

“The Thales centre of competence in Austria for interlocking systems and ETCS combined with  Kapsch’ GSM-R expertise enables us to jointly expand the line as part of the International Rail Corridor IV, where we already have been chosen for the 128 km Plovdiv-Svilengrad line.” says Dr. Alfred Veider, CEO of Thales Austria.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Integrating ferry transport into smart ticketing
    March 1, 2013
    Transport authorities are increasingly looking to integrate ferry travel into the mix of public transport. David Crawford finds out more. The new A$370m (US$398m) Opal public transport smartcard system being installed by the Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS)-led Pearl consortium in Sydney is geographically the largest in the world to date. The consortium includes the Commonwealth Bank of Australia; Australian retail payment system provider ePay; Australian infrastructure engineering company Downer Group; a
  • Kapsch strengthens ITS portfolio
    January 17, 2014
    The acquisition of US advanced traffic management software and systems integration company Transdyn, well-known for its Dynac advanced traffic management software, enables Kapsch TrafficCom to offer an extended end-to-end product and solution portfolio for intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to its current and future customers around the globe. The purchase price is US$16 million. Kapsch TrafficCom says it is now positioned to offer one a broad portfolio of intelligent transportation solutions to co
  • Colombian highway sees ITS tested to the extreme
    November 13, 2014
    One of the most challenging road construction and ITS projects currently underway is the upgrading of the road from Bogota to Villavicencio. Currently it takes four hours to make the 86km journey between Bogota and Villavicencio using the existing single lane in each direction road which passes through some very challenging terrain. It is the only ground connection between central Colombia and the eastern region which represents 40% of the country’s territory.
  • Wireless - the future of vehicle detection
    July 23, 2012
    Peter Cattell of Clearview Traffic analyses different wireless communications methods and explains how these are changing the face of vehicle detection. With the continued expansion of traffic data collection solutions, providing a robust, reliable, scalable and secure method of collecting information becomes increasingly important. Over many years, various mobile wireless technologies have been utilised to make the remote collection of data a reality but recent developments are changing the way that this w