TURKEY: Infrastructure manager TCDD has begun testing signalling equipment developed by Yapı Merkezı Idis, the industrial controls and communications subsidiary of construction group Yapı Merkezı.
The company has installed an interlocking, fixed block signals and level crossing control units compatible with future deployment of ERTMS. The equipment was commissioned on April 11 on a 20 km section of the Izmir – Aydin – Denizli line around Çamlık. Development of the interlocking has been undertaken using a commercially available programmable logic controller from Hima, but otherwise YMI says it has not worked with any other established signalling specialist.
Test operations will continue for one year, with YMI’s contract including a further two years of maintenance. If this trial period proves successful, the company hopes to get the equipment certified to SIL-4 under standards developed by the EU Agency for Railways. Certification work will be undertaken by Italcertifer. YMI would then be able to compete in tenders for main line signalling contracts both on Turkish main lines and internationally.
Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, TCDD Chief Executive Ali Ihsan Uygun said the development of a ‘national signalling system’ was an important element in the country’s efforts to modernise its rail network. ‘Currently we are in the process of installing new signalling on around 700 km of main line and suburban routes’, he added.
