Alstom salutes the opening of the Bucharest Metro Line 5

A new metro with a modern signaling solutions for safer and more efficient traffic

15 September 2020 – Alstom salutes the opening of Metro Line 5, an iconic metro project in Bucharest, for which the company delivered the first phase of the signalling system in a record time, less than a year for 10 stations.

This project makes possible a new premiere for Alstom in Romania, with the Romania’s first CBTC (Communication-based Train Control)[1] system. Once fully operational, it will bring 30% increase in line capacity while saving up to 30% of energy.

In the first phase of the project, Alstom has equipped the new line with electronic interlocking, allowing it to operate safely using traditional signalling systems. The next phase will involve full implementation of modern signalling capabilities for optimised operation. Full CBTC will be the second stage of project execution, and it will become fully operational once the line is equipped with CBTC-enabled trains.

“This metro line will make a big difference in the lives of Bucharest’s people, most notably the 360,000 ones living in the second largest district of our capital. Alstom is very proud to provide modern mobility solutions for a safe and efficient journey. Once the second stage will be completed, the CBTC signalling capabilities will bring Bucharest closer to cities like Amsterdam in taking advantage of urban mobility technology,” said Gabriel Stanciu, Alstom’s Managing Director for Romania, Bulgaria and Republic of Moldova.

Alstom’s CBTC solution Urbalis 400 is an advanced communication-based train control signalling system that will help reduce Bucharest’s congestion, as the system increases transport capacity by reducing the distance between consecutive vehicles to 90 seconds. This solution has been successfully deployed in over 30 cities across the world. Constantly upgraded, the system offers a considerable range of functions that improve headway and average speed performance.

Urbalis CBTC has proven its efficiency since more than 15 years, on 101 metros lines including 17 driverless lines and on 1,500 km of metro lines in operation in 23 countries, including Italy, the Netherlands, China, India or Canada. Over 25% of the world’s radio CBTC systems are operated with Alstom’s Urbalis solutions. In Europe, the system is already in use in Milan, Malaga and Amsterdam.

[1] CBTC is a railway signaling system that makes use of the telecommunications between the train and track equipment for the traffic management and infrastructure control.