photo: Wikipedia/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotthard_Base_Tunnel/The Gotthard Base Tunnel
Thales, a French multinational company that designs and builds electrical systems and provides services for the aerospace, defense, transportation, and security markets in now involved in equipping the longest tunnel in the world with their signaling system located in the Swiss Alps.
Switzerland is obliged to shift freight from road to rail. The Gotthard Base Tunnel is noticeable evidence of that commitment: stretching for 57km beneath the Alps, it is the longest rail tunnel in the world, and it plays a vital role in reducing the impact of road traffic in the brittle Alpine area.
Thales’ ETCS Level 2 signaling guarantees that this milestone asset is used to its full possibilities. The system uses continuous track-to-train radio transmissions to link trains to the signaling system, allowing to run trains at up to 250km/h and saving an hour less of the past best Zurich-Milan travel duration.
The new tunnel was launched in December 2016, a year ahead of the pre-scheduled date.
Thales also equipped the Lötschberg tunnel (34.6km) and is about to provide the Ceneri tunnel (15.4km) with ETCS Level 2 train controller technology as part of the Swiss project aiming at shifting traffic from road to rail.
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