Hitachi Rail’s digital signalling in Germany unlocks high speed travel on key European corridor

Hitachi Rail has completed the digital interlocking (DSTW) at Meitingen-Mertingen, a crucial Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor for passenger and freight traffic. The existing signaling systems and signal boxes have been replaced by Hitachi Rail’s DSTW technology based on NeuPro requirements - for greater safety, reliability and comfort in railway operations.

Small stretch, long range

Running at speeds of up to 200 km/h, national and international traffic will now rush through Meitingen-Mertingen. The section is crucial to both passenger and freight transport running on the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), this intra-European axis connects Finland and Sweden in the north with Malta in the south.

The work has been delivered as part of the nationwide rollout of the giga project "Digital Rail Germany" (DSD), which through the digitalisation of rail will deliver sustainable transport and significantly more capacity and reliability in the long term. DB InfraGo AG currently operates around 2,600 signal boxes of various types and generations.

Operable, uniform, networked: signal boxes of tomorrow

Hitachi Rail’s digital interlocking (DSTW) technology provides an enhanced solution. It reduces wayside technology and can be operated from a greater distance, is more compatible with further technological developments and is easier to maintain than the system it replaced in Meitingen-Mertingen. Using encrypted data connections, the state-of-the-art and secure computer system is connected to sensors and switches, ensuring that trains only enter free track sections.

The rail system will thus become much safer and more efficient as a result of digitalization, without having to build a single additional kilometre of rail.

Long-term cooperation as a strong partner of the railway

The digitization of the control and safety technology – the conversion of the signal boxes at Meitingen-Mertingen – is currently in preproduction (phase 2).

As early as 2021, Hitachi Rail was commissioned by DB to support the monitoring of the digital infrastructure in Meitingen-Mertingen, at that time by connecting DB systems to the "Maintenance Diagnosis Management" (MDM). This system collects information about the digital interfaces (SDI - "Standard Diagnosis Interface") and helps improve monitoring, remote diagnosis and data analysis and maintenance through their evaluation.

Markus Fritz, COO of Hitachi Rail Germany, said on the occasion of the commissioning:

“We are pleased to have successfully mastered one of the most important pre-production milestones of the Digital Rail Germany project with the commissioning of the Digital Interlocking (DSTW) in Meitingen-Mertingen. In recent months, many processes, responsibilities and technologies have had to be adapted to the digital interlocking design, putting the first DSTW into operation on a trans-European corridor. For the first time in Germany, the digital track field was connected via the rail-operated IP network - including cyber security - to a control and safety technology data center. We are proud to successfully deliver this first-of-its-kind solution.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Project overview

• Official commissioning: January 2024 with subsequent successful test phase
• Start of construction works: February 2019
• Section concerned: Meitingen-Mertingen between Augsburg and Nördlingen
• Route length approx. 25km with 221 new control units

Hitachi Rail acquires GTS

This project was delivered by Thales’ Ground Transportation Systems business (GTS) which is now part of Hitachi Rail. On 31 May 2024, Hitachi Rail completed the acquisition of GTS in a €1,660 million deal. For more information, please see here.

For more information from Hitachi Rail, please contact:

Christopher Bach at Christopher.Bach@urbanandmainlines.com or Ed Brown at ed.brown@hitachirail.com