UniControls a.s., an important Czech supplier of control systems for transport and industry, has achieved a great success. As the fifth firm in the world, it has managed to homologate the communication node TCN Gateway, which is a key component of the train unit control system infrastructure. The process of homologation according to the international standard UIC 556 was smooth and took the shortest possible time in the certified testing laboratory in Florence, Italy.

The communication node TCN Gateway ensures data transmission between devices in various vehicles of the train, creates and maintains a database describing the train unit. The application of the communication nodes is an important step to interoperability between the trains, vehicles and equipment of individual manufacturers, contributes to improvement of services provided to passengers, and is a step towards the new generation of intelligent rolling stock.

„We invested several years of labour of our R&D personnel. Our priorities have always included the monitoring of development trends and their implementation in form of products, which can be sold in the most demanding markets”, said CEO Petr Stroner.

The communication node TCN Gateway got the Gold Medal at the 45th International Engineering Fair in Brno. At present it has already been installed in Pendolino trains in the Czech Republic and in Spain, and in Minuetto train units in Italy. Altogether several hundred communication nodes have been delivered to the customers. The contract for North American market was realized in form of the delivery of prototypes and transfer of technology.

In this way UniControls follows previous experience with the implementation of the devices which ensure train communication as well as other functions of the superior control, which are used, for example, in the latest suburban train units EMJ471 of the Czech Railways, and in modernized trains of the Prague and Kiev undergrounds.