Alstom has signed an agreement with Spanish infrastructure manager Adif to develop a new third rail signalling system to aid the expansion of trans-European rail services.
The project is part of a framework agreement signed on November 2012 to carry out R&D projects at Adif’s Railway Technology Center in Málaga.
The five-year agreement also covers mixed gauge railway operations – as well as shared expertise and the exchange of information on scientific activities.
Alstom and Adif say the partnership is aiming “to develop innovative, value-added solutions based on this signalling system that can later be sold in the domestic and foreign markets”.
To date, 170 kilometers of third rail have been implemented in Spain, with 99 per cent of the infrastructure being developed and implemented by Alstom.
The third rail or mixed gauge system is installed inside the existing rails so that trains with international and Iberian gauges can run on the same tracks.
The solution, which is inexpensive and can be implemented quickly, will be extended along the Mediterranean Corridor of the Spanish lines. Thanks to this technology, the Mediterranean freight Corridor is expected to be operational by 2015.
There are future plans to roll the new technologyout in other countries with mixed gauge railways, such as Portugal or former Soviet republics.
