The Belgian National Railways NMBS/SNCB has awarded a contract to Siemens Mobility to retrofit 390 trains and steering cars with the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level 2 solution.
The company will offer onboard unit equipment and deployment support for trains across the fleet.
Re-authorisation of the retrofitted trains will enable their potential operations in Germany as well as the Netherlands, in addition to supporting the current national functions in Luxembourg and Belgium.
As per the scope of the contract, Siemens Mobility will also deliver upkeep services for the ETCS system for ten years.
Besides, the company will supply an Online Key Management Solution for facilitating the digitalisation of train operations.
Siemens Mobility will retrofit the fleet through a comprehensive approach, comprising the design of a vehicle-specific system integration concept.
The essential parts of the current ETCS onboard unit equipment will be maintained if feasible.
Siemens Mobility has already installed the Desiro trains in the fleet with an earlier version of the Trainguard ETCS Level 1 capability.
Under the latest contract, 305 Siemens Desiro commuter trains, 64 M6 steering cars and 21 I11 steering cars supplied by Bombardier/Alstom will be retrofitted.
Primarily, the company will retrofit as well as re-authorise a model of each type of vehicle.
Through ETCS Level 2 upgrade, Belgian Railways will be able to fulfil the latest European standards baseline V3.6.0 for rail security.
In a statement, Siemens Mobility said: “The new system will also simplify future upgrades to the next ETCS versions according to TSI standards (Technical Specifications for Interoperability), which provides the basis for additional functionalities like Automatic Train Operation (ATO).”
Last week, Siemens Mobility bagged a $304.6m (€270m) contract to install and maintain a communications-based train control system on the Oslo Metro in Norway.
