Westinghouse Wins Integrated Control and Communication System Contract in Vancouver

Westinghouse Wins ICCS Contract in Vancouver

Westinghouse Rail Systems Limited (WRSL) has been awarded the contract to design, install and commission the Integrated Control and Communication System (ICCS) for the Canada Line Rapid Transit Project in Vancouver.

The contract was awarded by SNC-Lavalin, the company responsible for the design, construction, partial financing and operations and maintenance for 35 years of the Canada Line, one of the largest green-field rail infrastructure projects in the world at present. The new line will link downtown Vancouver with Richmond and the Airport and will be completed in time for the Winter Olympic Games which are to be hosted by the city in 2010.

At the heart of the ICCS will be WRSL’s SystematICS control system. This will manage the integration of each of the power, tunnel ventilation and communications sub-systems, which will come together in a single operator interface. From this point, the operator will be able to control and monitor these functions for the entire rail network.

Systems that will be integrated include: traction power supply; tunnel ventilation; electrical and mechanical monitoring; CCTV; public address; passenger information display; passenger counting; voice communications; passenger alarm and the fibre optic transmission systems. SystematICS meets the requirements for SIL2, a key aspect of the tunnel ventilation and traction power applications.

Angus MacDonald, Director of WRSL’s Controls Group, said: “Naturally, we are delighted to have been awarded this contract and preliminary design work is already underway with teams based in Crawley and Vancouver.”

“We knew that we had delivered an extremely strong technical bid, but importantly, we were also able to demonstrate the success of the SystematICS control system in an existing application – KCRC’s 34 kilometre East Rail line in Hong Kong, which has been in continuous operation now for over seven years.“

Keven Tagg, Systems Engineering Manager, at SNC-Lavalin concluded: “The company provided us with a robust technical solution and demonstrated their commitment to meeting our project delivery date. We now look forward to working closely with their design teams as the project gathers pace over the coming months.”