Skip to main content

Tyne and Wear Metro opts for Kapsch digital radio network

Having expanded its activities to the public transport sector, Kapsch CarrierCom’s public transport business unit has been successful in winning a US$13 million contract to implement a digital radio network based on the TETRA standard for Nexus, the strategic public transport body in the UK’s north-east. Based in Newcastle, Nexus owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is used annually by 37 million passengers. The new digital radio system will be installed on the Metro’s fleet of 90 trains, repl
June 23, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Having expanded its activities to the public transport sector, 81 Kapsch CarrierCom’s public transport business unit has been successful in winning a US$13 million contract to implement a digital radio network based on the TETRA standard for 2105 Nexus, the strategic public transport body in the UK’s north-east.

Based in Newcastle, Nexus owns and manages the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is used annually by 37 million passengers. The new digital radio system will be installed on the Metro’s fleet of 90 trains, replacing the existing analogue system, contributing to the service’s operation and establishing the basis for Nexus to develop and expand its service offerings.

Kapsch will build the entire TETRA infrastructure; deliver cab radios (the communications devices used in the vehicles) as well as all the terminals for the control centers. The new communications system will provide full coverage of the network in the entire Nexus area of operation and will also provide a significantly better performance than the existing analogue system.

The project forms part of the US$662 million Metro all change modernisation programme, an 11 year programme of modernisation work on the Tyne and Wear Metro, funded by the UK Government.

"The Nexus contract is the largest of its kind so far in the public transport business unit, a field that we have entered only recently. It demonstrates quite remarkably that our strategy of applying our experience in planning, building, and operating communications solutions to public transport operations was exactly the right step to take,” says Kari Kapsch, CEO of Kapsch CarrierCom.

Director of Rail and Infrastructure for Nexus, Raymond Johnstone, said: “The work to replace the radio system on the Tyne and Wear Metro is a highly significant part of our US$662 million modernisation programme. It is vital work that will harness the very latest digital technology to vastly improve Metro’s communication system. The current analogue system is reliable but we will get much better performance from more modern telecommunications technology.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • First trial of 4G LTE technology in a mass transit system
    August 9, 2016
    French public transport operator Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) and Nokia have successfully completed the first trial of 4G LTE technology on a portion of the Paris Metro line 14. According to RATP, the trial demonstrated that a single 4G LTE network can be used for all operational train communications, which are currently supported by different channels – a mixture of wi-fi, digital radio and 3G/4G networks. The test demonstrated that a single LTE mobile network can replace tradition
  • 'Conservatism hampering ITS technical evolution'
    November 13, 2012
    Nick Lanigan, managing director of Clearview Traffic, considers the current outlook in the ITS sector from an SME's perspective. Interview with Jason Barnes. When times are hard, businesses can invest or cut. Either way, they need guidance from customers – governments – on where best to concentrate their efforts. Prolonged economic slowdown is currently an issue. A short recession, however sharp, would have left many industry players able to ride the bow-wave of governments’ multi-year spending on strategic
  • Lancashire road and rail improvements announced
    September 20, 2013
    Plans for projects to update the road and rail networks in Lancashire have been announced by Transport for Lancashire, a new body comprising Lancashire County Council, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Blackpool Borough Council. The projects will develop, approve and fund major transport infrastructure work with a US$152 million budget from the (DfT) Department for Transport the City Deal for the Preston area, and developer contributions.
  • Kapsch TrafficCom: 'The city is not made for cars'
    October 22, 2018
    Traffic can be a really big challenge. When you’re stuck, you’re stuck. Everything comes to a standstill. But Alexander Lewald describes how existing infrastructures can be used more efficiently and how demand can be managed. A few figures to start with: in Los Angeles, the average driver spends 102 hours a year in traffic – that’s more than four days. This figure is 91 hours in Moscow and New York, 74 in London, 69 in Paris, 51 hours in Munich and still 40 hours in Vienna. Traffic is what causes