Westinghouse completes Oslo Metro Commissioning

Westinghouse completes Oslo Commissioning

On Saturday 15th April, Westinghouse Rail Systems Limited (WRSL) handed over the WESTRACE signalling and WESTCAD control system for Carl Berners Plass
(CBP) Station to Oslo Kommune Samferdselsetaten some 15 hours ahead of schedule.

The system was formally signed over on Sunday 16th April, and following acceptance by Metro operator A/S Oslo Sporveier and SINTEF, the third party assessor, normal service on Line 5, Grorudsbanen, was resumed on the 18th April.

The work carried out is a significant step towards the completion of the Oslo Metro Ring project, Ringline, with CBP being the station at which the new Ringline joins the existing metro line 5, from the town centre to Vestli in the north east of the city. WESTRACE was used to replace and upgrade the existing relay interlocking at CBP, to provide the link to the new WESTRACE interlocking at Sinsen on the Ringline, and to interface to the relay interlockings at Hasle and Tøyen on Line 5. There are currently nearly 30 WESTRACE interlockings on Oslo Metro, all with full Safety Case and railway authority approval.

There are around 1,000 WESTRACE SIL4 vital processor systems in use world-wide at present, and the interlocking has a great future ahead of it, being fully compatible with WRSL's FUTUR European Train Control System (ETCS), currently being implemented on the Cordoba Malaga high speed line in Spain. WESTRACE is used on main line railways in countries including the UK, Spain, Australia, Germany and Thailand, metros including Madrid Metro, Manilla Metro, Beijing Metro, Tianjin Metro, and extensively on London Underground, and a range of other applications such as level crossing controllers and train-carried Automatic Train Protection systems.

The WESTCAD Control Centre at Tøyen, also provided by WRSL, provides supervision for the entire Oslo Metro network, controlling not only the WESTRACE interlockings on Holmenkollbanen, Røabanen and Ringline, but also Ebilock and relay interlockings throughout the network.

The final step of this project will be the start of through running of trains around the Ringline in August this year, marking the completion of this significant project, which has been carried out in very close cooperation with A/S Oslo Sporveier and Oslo Kommune Samferdselsetaten, together with our subcontractors Sønnico Installasjon.

WRSL has been working continuously with A/S Oslo Sporveier since 1994, and will now progress with work on the Kolsåsbane to the west of Oslo.