Thales and SMRT Trains Sign MOU for Future Digital Collaborations to Enhance Rail Reliability

The fifth generation MRT train for the North-South and East-West MRT lines. (Photo: SGTrains File)

To enhance rail maintenance and operations on the North-South and East-West MRT lines (NSEWL), Thales and SMRT Trains signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for future digital collaborations, with a common goal to deliver reliable and sustainable rail journeys.

The signing ceremony, which took place on Tuesday (Apr 5), also marked the 10th anniversary of the collaboration between Thales and SMRT Trains.

Thales and SMRT Trains Sign MOU to Enhance Rail Reliability

Memorandum of Understanding for the Digital Collaboration to Improve Rail Maintenance and Operations. (Image: Thales)

Usage of data analytics and artificial intelligence

In a joint statement, Thales and SMRT Trains said both parties will share engineering knowledge and rail expertise in various areas.

It will also leverage digital technologies like data analytics and artificial intelligence to explore the potential of diagnostic data readily available within existing signalling and rail systems.

The French company is the current signalling system supplier for the NSEWL, where it had upgraded and commissioned the new Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling system for both MRT lines in 2017 and 2018.

Data mining can be beneficial in improving rail reliability

The efficient use of mining diagnostic data such as train control, supervision and radio communication can be beneficial in the maintenance of the trains and systems.

It can reduce the time needed to analyse and identify the root cause of potential faults, and enable automated fault diagnosis for accurate and timely data-driven maintenance.

All of which contribute to enhancements in rail reliability with such faults being pre-empted.

Both parties collaborate and work together to tackle real-world challenges

The SMRT engineering team will bring common problem statements to be addressed from an operator’s perspective, allowing both parties to collaborate and stay focused on the real challenges and pain points of the end-user.

Thales brings its expertise as a technology partner with its in-depth knowledge of the CBTC signalling and rail control systems and best practices in data analytics technologies.

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Related Links
North-South Line – SGTrains
East-West Line – SGTrains
Signalling Systems – SGTrains

External Links
Thales and SMRT Trains to Leverage Digital Technologies to enhance Singapore commuters’ journey – SMRT [Accessed 07 Apr 2022]
Thales and SMRT Trains to Leverage Digital Technologies to enhance Singapore commuters’ journey – Thales Group [Accessed 07 Apr 2022]

Images by SGTrains File and Thales.
This article first appeared on SGTrains.