Thales Rail Signalling Solutions
Company type | Publicly traded |
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Industry | Rapid Transit Signalling |
Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
Products | SelTrac |
Number of employees | 2000 |
Parent | Thales Group |
Website | www.thalesgroup.com |
Thales supplies transportation automation solutions for railway from its head office in Paris and railway business divisional center in Ditzingen and Berlin, Germany, Vienna, Austria, Hengelo, the Netherlands, and mass transit business divisional centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Their major train control products are: SelTrac (communication based train control for mass transit), AlTrac, ComTrac, NetTrac, FieldTrac, RBC (Radio Block Controller), OBU (OnBoard Unit), ETCS, and LZB. Additionally electronic interlocking systems, axle counters that can replace track circuits, various types of point machines, and railway worker protection systems are developed.
History
The original moving block signaling system for rapid transit was introduced by Urban Transportation Development Corporation (a Crown Corp in Ontario) and was successfully implemented for the Scarborough RT in Toronto, Ontario, which was opened in 1985. UTDC was later absorbed by Bombardier (train Manufacturing) and Alcatel (Rail Signaling Solutions) In April, 2006, Thales Group announced it would be acquiring Alcatel's space business (67% of Alcatel Alenia Space and 33% of Telespazio), and Alcatel's Rail Signalling Solutions division in a deal which also raised Alcatel's ownership of Thales to 21.66 percent.