Huawei sells kit into digital train system

Huawei kit will run the $170 million digital train radio system at RailCorp NSW after the vendor was sub-contracted into the deal by successful tenderer UGL today.

UGL won the right to design and install the system in late December and to support it for five years once installation is complete. The total value of the contract to UGL including support is $225 million.

A spokesman for Huawei Australia said the vendor was not disclosing how much it would pocket from its involvement in the project.

He said Huawei would supply approximately 250 base stations.

The digital train radio system will cover 1,455 kilometres of track, stables and rail sidings and 70 kilometres of rail tunnels across the Sydney metropolitan rail network.

Onboard radios and interface kit will also be installed in 675 train cabs, UGL said.

The move to digital radio was in line with key recommendations from the report into the Waterfall train disaster which occurred in late January, 2003, the state government said in a statement.

Huawei's role will include delivery of its GSM-R system, which provides "an integrated voice communications system optimising train control, shunting and trackside, as well as improving communications between train crews and officers", the vendor said.

"Our international experience and expertise will assist UGL in providing seamless wireless coverage across RailCorp's metro network," Huawei's Australian chief technology officer Peter Rossi said.

Huawei's GSM-R communication system is also used on the high-speed Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan passenger transport railway in China.

"The challenges we came up against in China can be applied to the Australian environment," Rossi said.

"Long tunnels, vast distances, and high traffic areas - all of these problems were overcome using Huawei's GSM-R solutions."