Canada Line Driverless Railway Opens Three Months Ahead of Schedule
21 October 2009
The new Canada Line which links Richmond, Vancouver International Airport and downtown Vancouver opened to passenger service on 18 August 2009 – more than three months ahead of schedule - and has Invensys Rail's control systems at its heart.
Built to meet the needs of Vancouver's rapidly growing population, the Canada Line has been opened in time for the Winter Olympics, which will be hosted by the city in February 2010.
Adding 16 stations to Vancouver's driverless SkyTrain network, the 19km line runs both underground and overground, with bi-directional track running either side-by-side or stacked on separate decks. Each of the 20 new train sets is capable of carrying up to 400 passengers and achieving speeds of 80km/h – giving the network a capacity of 100,000 passengers per day at launch, rising to 142,000 by 2021.
Invensys Rail, the new name for Westinghouse Rail Systems, was appointed by SNC Lavalin to deliver the turnkey contract for the design and supply of a fully integrated communications and control system as well as the control centre, with the system specification calling for a seamless integration with the automatic train control (ATC) and radio systems to provide robust and reliable performance both above and below ground.
The solution commissioned by Invensys Rail is based on the company's proven SystematICS solution, which is capable of integrating a broad range of traditionally disparate systems. This allows the operator to manage a host of separate functions from a single point, thereby improving efficiency and reducing costs, whilst at the same time delivering enhanced operational performance.
In the case of the Canada Line, SystematICS is configured to control and monitor a range of functions, including traction power; electrical and mechanical equipment; tunnel ventilation; passenger information (both on-train and station-based); 400 CCTV cameras and the storage of their images; guideway and walkway intrusion detection; passenger counting; and radio and telephone networks. Each function is managed automatically by the system, but may be over-ridden if required.
The whole control system is linked by a fibre-optic transmission network, supplied by Invensys Rail and covering every station on the line. This ensures complete connectivity and integration between all the subsystems, which are brought together in a common, user-friendly human machine interface (HMI), based at the operations and maintenance centre control room, where CCTV images, status data and train control information are all displayed on a 20-cube video wall.
The system also provides a secure link for the train operator, Protrans BC, to access vital data on a range of fire detection, ATC, fare collection and performance management systems.
Commenting on the success of the project, Invensys Rail's project manager, Dave Sharp said: "This has been a great project, with all parties working extraordinarily well to deliver a first-class railway, on budget, more than three months ahead of schedule.
Together with a proven system, our experience of managing complex, large-scale, multi-vendor contracts proved invaluable in successfully delivering this challenging project on time and on budget."
