Lithuania Railways Completes First GSM-R Call Powered by Nortel

Lithuania Railways has made Lithuania's first GSM-R call over Nortel GSM-R supplied equipment. The first call was completed on the Vilnius and Kaunas route which is one of Lithuania's busiest rail lines.

The multi-million euros countrywide GSM-R contract was signed December 2007 between LitRail and the Nortel/Belam Consortium. The deployment includes implementation of a GSM-R radio communication system along 1,560 kilometers (approximately 88% of the country's rail network) of Lithuania's rail routes. This is the first GSM-R project in the Baltic region and it will enable LitRail to comply with European Commission (EC) railway standards.

"The launch of the new GSM-R system shows that LitRail is at the forefront of helping to make rail communications faster, safer, and more reliable than before," said Laisvydas Rudzianskas, GSM-R project manager, Lithuania Railways.

GSM-R is part of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) standard that combines GSM-R for voice communication and European Train Control System (ETCS) for signaling systems. ERTMS carries the signaling information directly to the train conductor and operates traffic crossroad signals, enabling faster train speeds and higher traffic density while maintaining a high level of safety.

Posted to the site on 11th June 2009