Siemens Transportation Systems selects Colubris Networks to provide Wi-Fi solutions for Paris Charles de Gaulle airports new automated metro line.

Until recently, the terminals, rail and bus stations, and outlying car parks at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport have been connected by bus services. The airports expansion and traffic growth have made it necessary to provide a simpler, faster and more regular link for both passengers and staff working in the complex.

This has been achieved with CDGVAL, a fully automatic metro line, internal to the Paris Charles de Gaulle airport complex. CDGVAL links Terminal 1, Terminal 3, the RER station at Roissypole, the RER/TGV station at Terminal 2 and the PR and PX car parking zones, all in barely eight minutes. The trains run every four minutes at peak times, and operate 24 hours a day.

CDGVAL was opened on the 3rd of April this year. It was delivered as a turnkey project by Siemens Transportation Systems, which supplied and installed the seven two-car Val 208 trains, the Operation Control Centre, the automated control systems, the trackside equipment, the high-voltage systems, the low-voltage systems, the platform screens in the five stations and the workshop equipment.

Total commitment from Colubris

Passenger safety on CDGVAL is provided by video surveillance cameras installed in each carriage on the trains, which travel at peak speeds of up to 70 km/h. Providing real-time transmission of the information from these cameras throughout the journey was one of the major issues for Siemens. So the world leader in urban transport automation naturally turned to Colubris Networks, the premier provider of wireless solutions for the transport sector.

There were several good reasons for this choice: firstly the robustness and reliability of Colubris hardware, and in particular its vibration resistance; and secondly the mobility and "fast roaming" functionality offered by the Colubris solution.

Beginning in 2005, the Siemens and Colubris teams worked together to develop a system for the secure transmission of data from the on-board video surveillance cameras on the Val trains, and to provide full mobile connectivity for the on-board Wi-Fi client on its high speed transit between the trackside access points.

On CDGVAL, the data from the video surveillance cameras on each train is relayed in real time to the control centre via on-board Wi-Fi bridges and Colubris receivers installed along the length of the tracks. The technology developed by Colubris excels in its performance and reliability levels, thanks in particular to the extremely fast switching times between each access point. Other Siemens teams have also selected Colubris solutions, notably in Belgium for Internet access on board the "Thalys."

"The flexibility and adaptation skills of Colubris engineers, as well as the remarkable quality of their products, have contributed to the successful implementation of this innovative project. Colubris has actually put in a lot of work to ensure that their products meet our requirements perfectly for CDGVAL," says Pascal Leboucher of Siemens Transport Systems.

"Our experience in the transport sector, and the robustness of our technology, enable us to handle the most innovative projects and the most complex environments," adds Patrick Deroy, EMEA sales director for Colubris Networks