Brazilian media learn about Thales CBTC technology in Canada

A group of Brazilian journalists specialized in the transportation market spent three days in Canada on Nov. 17-19 to get familiar with the SelTrac® Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) technology at its very source country.

The journalists write for Revista Ferroviária (Brazil's #1 number transportation magazine), Zero Hora (Porto Alegre's leading daily newspaper), Gazeta do Povo (Curitiba's leading daily newspaper) and Diário do Grande ABC (Sao Paulo metro area's leading daily newspaper).

They visited the Thales Competence Center in Toronto. Toronto Transit Commission's CEO Andy Byford later welcomed the group for an  interview  at the company's main office. In Vancouver, they rode the SkyTrain  to the British Columbia Rapid Transit company's headquarters, where they  learned the benefits of the Thales CBTC technology. Ian Fisher, BCRTC's Manager, Operations Planning (SkyTrain Expo & Millennium lines), escorted the journalists to the main control room and the vehicle maintenance shops.

They were very satisfied with their visit, quite excited by what they were able to see, and much impressed by the SelTrac® CBTC technology. It was implemented some 30 years ago and is still at the leading-edge of urban rail signalling technology, constantly benefiting from the latest innovation, as demonstrates Thales’ Green SelTrac® CBTC, a pioneering and complete solution that reduces energy consumption.

"Canada is the Group’s source of the SelTrac® CBTC technology proposed for all of Thales’s transportation projects in the world. We are very glad to welcome the Brazilian media and particularly have them tour our key customers' sites."                                    

Mark Halinaty, CEO, Thales Canada.

Since 2011, Thales has signed various contracts in Brazil to supply its signalling systems including Sao Paulo Line 17, Santos light rail transit (LRT) and Salvador metro. Also in Latin America, Thales provides signalling to the Santiago metro (lines 3 and 6) in Chile.

To date, Thales has applied its CBTC signaling solution to nearly 60 projects in over 30 major cities worldwide, operating on more than 1,600 km of track and moving 3 billion passengers per year.