Siemens Mobility and Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) have signed a long-term framework agreement to radically modernise the Swiss railway network. This giant project will increase the efficiency, capacity and reliability of the country’s railway infrastructure and realise the digital railway vision of the future.
500 Signalling Centres to be Renewed in 20 Years
The agreement covers the digitalisation of around 500 signalling centres in SBB’s railway network over the next 20 years and the complete renewal of 80 percent of the existing signalling systems. With this comprehensive transformation, SBB’s large infrastructure with a line length of 3,266 kilometres will be modernised.
At the centre of this transformation will be Siemens’ Signaling X solution. Thanks to this technology, the control logic of signalling will be moved from local centres to central data centres. Siemens Mobility CEO Michael Peter stated that this transformation will increase both the efficiency of the network and SBB’s contribution to climate targets.
Long Term Cooperation and First Implementation Date
The initial term of the agreement is 10 years, with three five-year extension options. In addition, Siemens will provide maintenance and technical support for the systems to be installed for 25 years. This long-term co-operation guarantees the sustainability of the project.
The first digital signalling systems are planned to be commissioned in 2029. Orders for each signalling centre will be placed gradually over the course of the project’s implementation. This digitalisation drive is expected to significantly increase capacity in both passenger and freight transport in Switzerland.
