TagMaster, the leading producer of advanced RFID solutions for rail applications has been selected by Bombardier Transportation to provide TagMaster’s advanced onboard RFID solution for a new Monorail mass transit system in São Paulo, Brazil.

The new 24km monorail line, known as Expresso Tiradentes, is a fully automated, driverless transit system and it will have the capacity to transport up to 48,000 passengers per hour per direction (pphpd) between the Vila Prudente and Cidade Tiradentes urbanisations.

Bombardier has placed an initial order on TagMaster valued at 3.3 million Swedish crowns (MSEK) for heavy-duty (HD) readers which will be delivered between December 2011 and the third quarter of 2012. Additional orders for TagMaster’s heavy-duty ID-tags and system spare parts for the project are anticipated during 2012.

Bombardier will install the TagMaster equipment on the BOMBARDIER INNOVIA Monorail 300 vehicles as part of their design, supply and install contract for the new system. The TagMaster HD readers will be mounted onboard the trains and provide both primary train location information and accurate positioning information to the BOMBARDIER CITYFLO 650 communication-based train control (CBTC) onboard control system.

The driverless CITYFLO 650 solution will benefit from TagMaster’s accurate positioning software functionality in the RFID reader, which is used by the onboard system to accurately calibrate the train’s position as it moves along the track.

The accuracy of the RFID system is crucial when the train has to stop at a precise position to align with the platform. The system will also use TagMaster’s field programmable version of the HD tag, which will enable the Bombardier installation team to programme individual tag location information in the tag, based on the actual mounting position.

"Once again, we are pleased to confirm TagMaster as our RFID solution provider for another major CITYFLO 650 project. The TagMaster solution is an important element of the advanced CBTC system that Bombardier is supplying to São Paulo as part of its new INNOVIA Monorail 300 system," said Jeff Stover, director of signalling engineering at the Pittsburgh US site of Bombardier Transportation’s rail control solutions division.

"This is one of several new transit system projects that we have with Bombardier. We are very pleased to be chosen as the RFID solution provider for Bombardier’s proven CITYFLO 650 mass transit solution. This new reference project in Brazil will help TagMaster to further strengthen its reputation as a global supplier in the mass transit sector," commented Richard Holt, director of sales – transportation at TagMaster.