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Construction of GNC under way

GAUTENG NERVE CENTRE Once completed, the Gauteng Nerve Centre will enable operators to monitor all passenger train activity on a 52-m-wide video wall

GAUTENG NERVE CENTRE Once completed, the Gauteng Nerve Centre will enable operators to monitor all passenger train activity on a 52-m-wide video wall

Photo by Siemens

11th April 2014

By: David Oliveira

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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Construction of the Gauteng Nerve Centre (GNC), which will act as the signalling control centre of the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa’s (Prasa’s) Gauteng passenger rail network, is under way, says the South African arm of global engineering company Siemens rail systems business development and sales manager Lukas Duursema.

“The entire Gauteng rail network will be controlled from the GNC. This signalling project will take Gauteng’s passenger rail network system to safety integrity level four, which is the required international safety rating for passenger rail systems.

“Siemens has been contracted to build the GNC in Kaalfontein, north of Kempton Park, which will enable operators to monitor all passenger train activity in Gauteng on a 52-m-wide video wall,” explains Siemens rail systems business development manager Malcolm Longley.

He notes that Prasa will have eight satellite control centres, which will be connected to the GNC. “We are completing upgrades on the basis of individual satellite centres so that each of these subsystems, once transferred, will function as part of a complete system under the control of the GNC.”

The satellite centres will be used to control the surrounding rail system, should there be any kind of failure at the GNC.

Duursema adds that once construction is completed, system integration and the installation of the monitoring equipment will take place. This will allow for the various railway lines to be connected to the GNC. The GNC is earmarked for completion in March 2015.

“As the upgrade process is being completed on the various train lines, the lines will require integration first into the satellite control centres and then into the GNC. This makes the GNC pivotal to the whole system. The complete upgrade of the Gauteng signalling network is scheduled for completion at the end of 2018,” he asserts.

The construction of the GNC forms part of Prasa’s national resignalling project. Siemens has been contracted for the Gauteng portion of the project, which involves the removal of existing signalling systems, the installation of new signalling systems and overseeing the changeover from the old system to the new one.

The project comprises two phases. Gauteng 1, valued at about R1-billion, will entail Siemens completing the resignalling of 18 stations in the southern portion of the province, with Gauteng 2, valued at about R2.7-billion, covering the resignalling of the remaining stations in the south as well as the northern portion of Prasa’s Gauteng operation.

“The two Gauteng resignalling projects are each five-year projects and we are ensuring that the requirements for the two phases are synergised. The same technology is used for both phases and we subsequently want to ensure that the overall programme runs accordingly. Although there are two phases, it is effectively one project,” says Duursema.

Longley explains that the project was divided into two phases, as some priority areas in Phase 1 needed urgent attention in order to enable Prasa to reduce train delays.

“The GNC is indeed a critical part of the overall resignalling of the Gauteng train network, which will put PRASA at the forefront of signalling technology, and Siemens is proud to be part of this process,” he concludes.

Edited by Megan van Wyngaardt
Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

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