Skip to main content

Thales delivers ATO system for the Mecca metro

Thales has opened the last phase of Mecca’s new 18.5 km metro line on schedule and in time for the Hajj pilgrimage, the world’s largest religious gathering. The line transports pilgrims between holy sites, reducing travel time between Arafat and Muzdalifah from five hours to just ten minutes.
April 17, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSS596 Thales has opened the last phase of Mecca’s new 18.5 km metro line on schedule and in time for the Hajj pilgrimage, the world’s largest religious gathering. The line transports pilgrims between holy sites, reducing travel time between Arafat and Muzdalifah from five hours to just ten minutes.

The ATO (automatic train operation) solution is the last successful stage in this ambitious project, improving metro performance by allowing ‘hands off’ operation by drivers. The solution ensures that trains comply with required track speeds and operating conditions to ensure efficient, safe travel at all times.

Thales has provided a complete solution for the Mecca metro project, including signalling solutions based on its world-leading SelTrac Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system, fully integrated communications, an Operation Control Centre (OCC) to supervise the line and an automated passenger information system.

“After managing the security supervision of the holy sites, Thales is very proud to have contributed once again to the improvement of the pilgrimage with this automatic metro,” said Michelangelo Neri, VP for Thales’s civil business in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Related Content

  • December 11, 2012
    Thales to supply communications systems for Hyderabad Metro Rail
    Thales India has been appointed by engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro to provide Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) and Integrated Communications and Supervision (ICS) systems for the Hyderabad Metro rail project, to be implemented on rail lines 1, 2 and 3, covering 72 km of rail and comprising of 66 stations. Thales will design, build, deliver and manage the installation of its SelTrac Communications-Based Train Control solution, which is already in use by more than thirty of the w
  • March 18, 2015
    Thales to maintain Dubai metro
    Thales has been awarded a five-year maintenance contract for the world’s longest driverless metro network, in Dubai, UAE. This new contract follows the implementation by Thales of its driverless metro packaged solution on the Red and Green Lines of the Dubai metro. Thales’s service solutions include remote on-site support and corrective maintenance ensuring system knowledge and recovery. The team will deliver efficient, competitive and sustainable services while ensuring the highest levels of passenger safe
  • March 27, 2012
    Thales awarded first metro signalling contract in Brazil
    Thales has been selected by Andrade Gutierrez (AG) and CR Almeida to deliver its SelTrac communications-based train control (CBTC) signalling solution for Line 17 of the São Paulo metro. The new line will be driverless and fully automatic. The first phase of implementation is planned to support the 2014 FIFA World Cup, with completion scheduled for August 2014, a record delivery time of just 27 months. The new 18km elevated line will be built by a consortium led by Andrade Gutierrez (AG) and including CR Al
  • February 23, 2015
    Mitsubishi consortium receives letter of conditional acceptance for Doha Metro
    A consortium of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation; Hitachi, The Kinki Sharyo and Thales has received a Letter of Conditional Acceptance from the Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) for a systems package for the Doha Metro, the first metro system to be constructed in the State of Qatar. It is said to be one of the world’s largest projects for a single metro system. Construction is scheduled for completion by October 2019. Qatar Rail is the owner and manager of Qatar’s rail network and respo