EFACEC, the Portuguese company that has recently been contracted by Swedish railway and road infrastructure operator Trafikverket to develop, certify and supply the latest generation of automatic level crossing safety systems, has entered into an extensive partnership with HIMA Paul Hildebrandt, a world-leading independent provider of smart safety solutions.
HIMA’s compact and standardised commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) controllers are the cornerstone for safety of EFACEC’s new level crossing solution.
Sweden had already submitted a plan for the digitalization of rail in 2017, and now its rail infrastructure owner is relying on COTS solutions for the modernization of level crossings. For EFACEC, this major project in Sweden involves the modernization of a significant part of the Swedish level crossings over a period that can extend over the next 25 years and include more than a thousand units.
signed the partnership deal.
To meet Trafikverket’s specific requirements, EFACEC will be installing XSafe, the latest version of its automatic level crossing control system that is based on HIMA’s proven COTS technology, specifically HIMatrix F30 COTS controllers.
XSafe offers a highly configurable solution suitable for almost any type of level crossing. EFACEC and HIMA have, for example, already successfully deployed XSafe level crossing systems on Portuguese and Polish railway infrastructure, and a similar architecture, based on the HIMatrix platform, is also used in EFACEC’s AEGIS Interlocking system, which is already in service in Porto Metro (Portugal) and Dublin Light Rail (Ireland) and is being installed at Odense Light Rail (Denmark).
EFACEC has been working with HIMA as safety supplier for more than a decade. Recently, besides the specific contract for the level crossing project in Sweden, another contract was signed between EFACEC and HIMA concerning an overall partnership covering technological cooperation, training for EFACEC employees, detailed documentation and the necessary software tools.
“For EFACEC, this major order to modernize level crossings in Sweden is an important milestone,” said Pedro Pinto, manager of EFACEC’s Transportation Business Unit. “With the innovative concept of XSafe – using COTS technology – we were able to prevail against strong European competitors. At the same time, we have continued our successful partnership with HIMA. Our aim is to further expand our position in Scandinavia as a supplier of safety-critical systems for rail transport.”
Sedat Sezgün, group vice president for rail at HIMA, commented: “This new partnership with EFACEC in such a major project is another important step for us as a provider of COTS solutions.
“COTS is already widely used as a forward-looking and competitive solution in European rail networks and, in addition to SIL4 certification in accordance with CENELEC, offers many advantages in terms of standardization and flexibility as well as great cost reduction potential”.
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