KRNA Awards Signalling Contract to Honam Railway Line

Korea Rail Network Authority (KRNA) has awarded a contract to a consortium led by LSIS and including Ansaldo STS, to supply a signalling and train control system for the first phase of the 300km/h Honam high speed line in South Korea.

The 182km Honam high speed line, scheduled to be completed in December 2014, will connect Osong and Gwangju Songjeong in South Korea.
Ansaldo STS has a share of €40m in the contract, which will include the design of the automatic train control (ATC) and interlockings, as well as validation, testing and commissioning, training and maintenance.

The company will also provide its SEI integrated train control system along with TVM and NS1 relays and hot box detectors. The train control system to be used on the line is a development of the technology used on the Gyeongbu high-speed line between Seoul and Busan, which opened in 2004.

ATC and interlocking functions will be included in the system to help reduce the number of interfaces between the different subsystems, as well as reduce maintenance and improve reliability.

The system has been implemented and operated on various high-speed lines including the HSL 5 (Mediterranean), 6 (Eastern Europe) and 7 (Rhine-Rhone).

The technology is also in use on French TGV trains, as well as on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) in the UK. Ansaldo STS said its technology has been used on the Seoul-Taegu line HSL and the Taegu-Pusan HSL, which has been in operation since 2010.