Thales and SMRT Trains to enhance reliability and sustainability of Singapore metro lines

SMRT Trains, Singapore’s pioneer and dominant rail operator, and Thales have signed a repair collaboration agreement to establish a local repair facility on the rail operator’s premises at Bishan Depot to reduce repair turnaround time and improve cost efficiencies.

Thales’s renowned SelTracTM Communication-Based-Train-Control (CBTC) signalling system is used on the North-South and East-West lines (NSEWL) of Singapore’s rail network, both of which are operated by SMRT Trains. Currently, critical circuit boards for the signalling equipment are produced and repaired by Thales at its dedicated facilities in Canada and France.

With this agreement, Thales’s rail experts will work closely with SMRT Trains’ Integrated Electronic Workshop to set up the repair facility. This includes training and transfer of expertise and technical know-how to enable technicians from SMRT Trains to diagnose and repair faulty components.

On the digital front, SMRT Trains and Thales have signed an agreement to jointly develop an intelligent rail analytics platform for the smart monitoring of rail signalling systems. Under this agreement, SMRT Trains’ engineers and Thales experts will organise a series of Design Thinking workshops to define specific use cases and identify key maintenance priorities.

Built upon Thales’s Urban Rail Signalling – Rail Analytics Platform, the tailored digital platform will leverage condition-monitoring devices, data analytics and cloud computing to automate the analysis of signalling system health and performance, and to identify and address potential maintenance issues before they occur. This will help to better manage engineering resources and improve systems reliability and performance.

“SMRT Trains is continuously looking at ways to enhance the safety, reliability and productivity of our rail maintenance regimes. We are excited to collaborate with Thales to strengthen our maintenance capability and resilience, as well as bolster our staff’s expertise. With the establishment of the repair workshop at Bishan Depot, we aim to cut down repair turnaround time and cost. The use of digital technologies to preempt maintenance issues is also a key strategy for SMRT Trains as we strive to provide smooth journeys for commuters.” Lam Sheau Kai, President, SMRT Trains

“Thales truly appreciates the continued trust that SMRT Trains has placed in us. With these agreements, we will tap into Thales’s renowned expertise in managing complex, global rail projects to deepen local expertise and capabilities in Singapore’s rail ecosystem. We look forward to co-innovating on cutting-edge digital solutions in intelligent rail analytics. This will help ensure safer and more reliable rides for commuters.” ​ Emily Tan, Country Director & Chief Executive, Thales in Singapore

The two agreements signed between SMRT Trains and Thales follow the recent announcement of a joint initiative by the partners called “The Next-Generation Green CBTC Project”,which aims to reduce electricity consumption and further improve traction energy efficiency of the NSEWL.