Korea’s Busan-Gimhae light rail line enters revenue service operating with Thales’s CBTC technology

Thales announces that Busan-Gimhae Light Rail Transit Co. Ltd. (BGL) has launched the revenue service of the line incorporating Thales’s advanced Communications-Based Train Control (SelTrac® CBTC) technology.

For the Busan-Gimhae LRT line, Thales has applied its CBTC solution to 25 Hyundai Rotem trains operating at 114 second headway in unattended/driverless mode along the 23.4 km double elevated track. The line services 21 stations, including one stop at Gimhae Airport. The fully integrated system solution uses radio data communications between trains and the wayside and includes an automated depot. The system is supplied by the Thales integration centre in Toronto (Canada), which pioneered the revolutionary technology 25 years ago. The technology has evolved over time and operators using CBTC continue to benefit from low operating, maintenance and life cycle costs, due to minimal wayside signalling equipment as well as proven energy-saving and driverless technology.

“We have thoroughly tested Thales’s CBTC system during the last several months of technical and commercial trial operation. The system supports fully unattended and driverless operation of a fleet from early morning to midnight when the fleet returns to the depot after completion of assigned service. This occurs without major intervention by the operation control centre. Thales specialists have been dedicated to ensure that the system works very smoothly. After three months of commercial trial operation, we are fully convinced that the system is now ready for passenger service,” said Lee Hun-Young, Director of Busan- Gimhae Light Rail Transit Co. Ltd.

We are very pleased that the Busan-Gimhae line is now in operation. Our CBTC system has been developed and implemented successfully in many cities throughout the world over the past 25 years, with estimated ridership standing at 3 billion passengers annually. We can now add more passengers to this impressive number, as well as another satisfied customer using our state-of-the-art technology. This contract further leverages Thales’s expertise in serving the transportation industry and confirms our worldwide leading position in the supply of fully automated train control and communications solutions,” said Jean Pellegrin, Thales Country Director for Korea.

About CBTC technology

CBTC is an automatic rail traffic control system based on continuous communication between the train and the computers responsible for controlling the traffic. Compared with conventional railway signalling systems that manage the distances between trains in real time, CBTC technology allows trains to run at shorter intervals while ensuring optimum operational safety.