Transport operators and cities rely on Thales to respond to rapidly growing traffic density and to meet new demands in mobility. With our expertise in signalling, communications and cybersecurity, we move people and goods safely and efficiently.
Thales solutions are designed to meet the highest standards of security, availability, reliability and ease of maintenance. Our product portfolio ranges from route and train control systems such as the European Train Control System (ETCS) and electronic interlocking systems to field devices such as axle counters, switch drives and iLED signals.
Thanks to the successful realisation of a number of large-scale projects, Thales has developed a team of recognised specialists in the field of train control installations in Switzerland, and has built a competence centre for interoperability services (IOP services) for ETCS-compliant solutions. In 2019, this competence centre was granted the accreditation as testing laboratory for integrated technical Interoperability (IOP) in the field of ETCS (STS 0659).
For the first large-scale project, Thales equipped the 34.6 kilometer Lötschberg Base Tunnel with rail signalling solutions, including the ETCS Level 2 train control system. More recently, as a partner of the Transtec Gotthard consortium, Thales supplied the entire signalling infrastructure of the longest rail tunnel in the world; the 57 kilometer Gotthard Base Tunnel, which officially opened in 2016.
The 15.4 km-long Ceneri Base Tunnel is the final section of the transalpine corridor. Again, Thales won the bid to install the signalling solutions and had overall responsibility for project management, integration and commissioning of the train command and control systems. With the opening in 2020, travellers from Zurich can reach the Lombard capital Milan in less than three hours. The Ticino S-Bahn service has also been massively upgraded, as for commuters the journey time between Locarno and Lugano is reduced to around 30 minutes.