Ferrocarril Del Pacifico (FDP) has launched the first of 22 automatic grade crossings at Avenida 4 Norte and Calle 52 in Cali, Colombia.

It is the first of 22 crossings to be deployed along the revitalised corridor from Buenaventura to Cali. The project is under contract to Railroad Signal International (RSI) from Tulsa, Oklahoma, US, using a train detection system from Mississauga, Canada, based Argenia Railway Technologies.

Michael Assad, CEO of Argenia said "We are very excited to work with FDP and RSI on this ground-breaking project. We are getting immense interest from around the world in our solar+wireless train detection system and crossing controller. This deployment demonstrates the viability of the system from both a technical and economic perspective".

Eddie Burns, president of RSI said "We are pleased to reach the first milestone in this innovative project. Working with new technologies brings uncertainty and we are happy with how the Argenia system has performed so far."

El Pais reported that "Maria del Pilar Rodriguez, manager of Pacific Railroad, …said that these automatic barriers were installed not only to modernise the rail system in the Pacific, but also to prevent accidents."

Deployment of the remaining crossings is currently underway and the project is expected to be completed by January 2016.