KiwiRail Signs Contract For New Train Control System

KiwiRail has signed a supply contract, supported by a fifteen-year maintenance contract, with French multinational Alstom for a once-in-a-generation upgrade to its Train Control System (TCS).

Our Train Control team manages the movement of freight, commuter and scenic trains across New Zealand and this new computer control system will provide greater automation, resiliency, and safety across the national rail network. Alstom’s IconisTM TCS will improve timekeeping oversight and, once construction of duplicated control centres is completed in 2024, will allow KiwiRail to control the rail network simultaneously from Auckland and Wellington.

KiwiRail Chief Operating Officer – Capital Projects & Asset Development David Gordon says that this investment will future-proof operations and is part of the Government’s $8.6 billion investment in New Zealand’s national railway.

“The project to duplicate the control centres is already well underway with construction happening in Auckland (Ellerslie) and Wellington (Upper Hutt). In addition, we have already moved our computing hardware to secure data centres to improve resilience.

“This upgrade to the Train Control System, which replaces 25-year-old software, is a further step to boost network resilience and give KiwiRail the ability to meet increasing demand and ensure safe and reliable rail services for all New Zealanders.

“It is an important part of the wider investment, that is aimed at getting more freight and people off our roads and onto rail and helping to reduce our transport emissions.”

Government investment in KiwiRail includes a contribution towards two new, larger Interislander ferries; funding for new low-emissions locomotives; replacing aging wagons and assembling more wagons at Dunedin’s Hillside Workshops; upgrading mechanical facilities across the country; work to raise the standard of the existing network after decades of underinvestment; and a range of new rail projects.

Alstom has more than 30 years of experience in providing complex and integrated rail control systems.

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