Thales says signalling system for Metro Line LRT ready to go full speed

Metro Line issues resolved Thales, the Metro Line’s signaling contractor, says the LRT is now ready to run at full speed. CTV Edmonton’s David Ewasuk reports.

The company contracted to build the signalling system for the Metro Line LRT says their system is finally ready to go at full speed, years after the system was first rolled out to the public.

Thales Canada was hired for the project in 2011, but the line has never run at full speed due to safety concerns.

Thales vice president Dave Beckley told CTV News that tests conducted over the summer went well, and trains on the LRT line to NAIT could run at full speed starting now.

“We took a lot of trains, 26 trains and we ran them in a very tight aggressive service pattern on the Metro and Capital lines to demonstrate that the system could run with the capacity the city’s looking for,” Beckley said. “We were very pleased with the outcome of that demonstration.”

Meanwhile, the company said work is still needed on computerized automation of the line. When that is done, ETS staff will still have to manually control the doors on the trains, but trains moving between stations will be fully automated.

A City of Edmonton spokesperson released a statement to CTV News, saying:

“The City’s position has not changed. We are focused on getting a fully operational signalling system on the Metro Line. The City has and will continue to work co-operatively with Thales to achieve its December 4, 2018 deadline. The City will then test the signalling system to ensure Thales has met its contractual obligations.”

The city said officials are in the process of hiring a contractor to install a backup signalling system “in the event the Thales system is not completed or validated.”

With files from David Ewasuk