HÖRMANN Kommunikation & Netze improving reliability on the rails
The latest telecommunications equipment and information superhighways are crucial factors in economic infrastructure in the modern world. ‘We’re helping to enable people to communicate easily,’ said managing director Johannes Antoni, pointing to a current project for DB Netz AG.
As his colleague Günter Seufzger explained, ‘The European Train Control System, or ETCS for short, is the Europe-wide standardised train control system that DB Netz will be using in the future. It enables a train to be driven without main and distant signals, essentially on autopilot, which also improves safety. The system is being rolled out across Europe with the aim of making international railway operations more reliable and enabling trains to cross borders without encountering technical obstacles. The ETCS trackside equipment receives the information either directly from the signal box or from the vehicle via the GSM-R mobile communications system. Alternatively, communication can take place via feedback-free signal pick-up through what are known as balises, which form part of the existing track equipment. Balises are devices placed between the rails of a railway track that intermittently transmit signal, route and location information to trains passing over them.
Reliable partner to Deutsche Bahn
As part of the project for installing ETCS equipment, HÖRMANN Kommunikation & Netze has taken on the construction work involved in implementing cable routing systems and power supply equipment on the route from Duisburg to Freiburg. The company has already gained experience with the system through its underground cabling work on Corridor A (Rotterdam to Genoa) at Uhlerborn near the town of Ingelheim am Rhein. This involved a lot of work with road-rail vehicles while the track was closed. As well as installing cable troughing alongside the railway, the company’s specialists excavated troughs crossing from one side of the track to the other, both open and in the form of buried pipes.
HÖRMANN Kommunikation & Netze has locations across Germany and is a reliable partner to Deutsche Bahn when it comes to upgrading, maintaining and servicing rail infrastructure.
