Thales gets Mexican signal contract

Thales said Thursday, Jan. 15, 2015 it will "provide its ETCS Level 2 signaling technology for the suburban rail line between Mexico City and Toluca, the capital of the State of México."

The contract was awarded to Thales as part of a consortium of Spanish companies and their Mexican subsidiaries, Thales said. The consortium includes: Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles SA, CAF Signaling SA, CAF Mexico SA de CV, Construcciones Ferrovías y Subsistemas SA de CV, Construcciones Urales SA de CV , Isolux Ingeniería SA, Corsan-Corvian Construcción SA, and Isolux de Mexico SA de CV.

Neuilly-sur-Seine Cedex, France-based Thales said it will deploy its ETCS Level 2 signaling technology and telecommunications systems including GSM-R, and asserts it is “the first implementation of the ETCS Level 2 signaling solution [on] the American continent.” In 2008, Thales says, it deployed North America’s first ETCS Level 1 system, on Mexico City’s Buenavista-Cuautitlán line.

Toluca, population 1.8 million, is an industrial city linked to Mexico City by a 57-kilometer (35-mile) rail route, expected to carry 270,000 passengers per day at maximum speeds of 160 km/h (100 mph).