Alstom has delivered its latest signaling interlocking technology to the Serbian Railway Co., working in close cooperation with the Serbian Mihajlo Pupin Institute. The project was ordered by Russian RZD International.

With eight out of 17 lines being dedicated exclusively to freight transport, Pancevo is one of the largest and most important Serbian railway stations. Its rehabilitation is the first step in an ambitious project for the reconstruction of a total of 12 miles of the Serbian railway line linking Pancevo to Belgrade, to secure the high level of commuter traffic between both cities and further optimize the international transit traffic to Romania. Today, 60 passenger and freight trains circulate daily on the line and this number is expected to reach 136 trains by 2020.

For this project, Alstom deployed its Smartlock 400 interlocking solution. Installed in more than 25 countries with different signaling principles, among which Italy, Denmark, Turkey, and Romania, the components of Smartlock are able to manage up to 1,400 routes. Smartlock 400, the latest version of the Smartlock family, interfaces directly with trackside equipment, with no need for intermediate relays.  This means that reaction time can be further reduced as well minimizing trackside footprint and maintenance costs.

This project integrates Alstom’s Smartlock 400 solution with new equipment designed and produced by the Mihajlo Pupin Institute, never used before at an industrial scale. The new solution has become operational following extensive tests.