Huawei recently announced that it will partner with Siemens Convergence Creators to deploy South Africa’s first Global System for Mobile Communication – Railway (GSM-R) solution for the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA).
Since early 2013, Huawei has been working with PRASA to deploy its GSM-R solution across PRASA’s 1 200 km railway network that covers three main areas including Cape Town, Durban and Gauteng.
Huawei’s GSM-R solution, combined with Siemens dispatching and voice recording systems will provide PRASA with an end-to-end solution that will enhance transportation efficiency and customer service.
The completion of this railway will be pivotal for future railway network planning in South Africa and its neighboring countries.
“Huawei and Siemens Convergence Creators have cooperated for many years in the fields of GSM-R development, with dispatching and voice recording systems a crucial part of Huawei’s GSM-R solution,” says Huawei GM enterprise wireless domain David Xu.
He added that, owing to high-performance indicators demonstrated by the solution in Huawei’s integration labs, the company is confident that PRASA will benefit greatly from the design offered by Huawei and Siemens Convergence Creators.
“We are proud to work with Huawei to enhance our competitiveness in the railway critical communications industry,” says Siemens Convergence Creators infrastructure and security business head Bernard Payer.
He notes that the jointly developed GSM-R solution used in South Africa is cost effective and seamlessly combines the latest technologies to enhance efficiency and customer service across railway networks.
As the first European Train Control System Level 2-compliant control system in Africa, the GSM-R-enabled railway system is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2015.