Metrô Rio, the concessionaire of the Rio de Janeiro Metro network, has awarded Siemens the contract for the installation of its electronic interlockings Trackguard Westrace Mk II in line 2 of the Rio de Janeiro metro network.
Siemens will install the new technology in Pavuna, station terminus of line 2, replacing the existing relay interlocking, which will allow Metrô Rio to improve the operation and maintenance of line 2, which has a length of 25 kilometers and 16 stations.
The state-of-the-art electronic interlocking Trackguard Westrace Mk II is a highly flexible, modular vital logic processing system that has already been tested in over 1,200 applications worldwide. With straightforward configuration using ladder logic to deliver almost any vital functionality, it offers real benefits to railway authorities in terms of cost of ownership, capability and flexibility.
This new contract means the entry of the Trackguard Westrace interlocking technology in Rio de Janeiro, which becomes the third Brazilian city in which Siemens Spain carries out railway signaling projects, after Sao Paulo and Porto Alegre.
Siemens Spain (ex Dimetronic) entered the Brazilian railway market in 2009 after being awarded with two contracts for the modernization of the signaling of lines 8, 10 and 11 of the São Paulo suburban network. In 2010 the company obtained the contract to implement the signalling of the north extension of line 1 of the Metro of Porto Alegre.