Huawei to Build the Standard Gauge Railway Operational Communications Network

Huawei has won a contract with Kenya to build a train-to-ground communications solution fully integrated with train signal systems for Kenya’s Mombasa-Nairobi railway line.

According to the statement posted on its website, “Huawei was awarded this project with its industry-leading wireless solution R&D capability in railway communications, which enables it to provide end-to-end highly reliable railway operational communications solutions to help Kenya address the challenges it faces during the Mombasa-Nairobi railway operation.”

China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) is currently constructing the 472-kilometer-long Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) from Mombasa to Nairobi to replace the existing railway line that is over 100 years old.

According to the standard Gauge Railway project, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway line is scheduled to be completed in June 2017.

This is the first time that Huawei’s railway operational communications solution is being been applied in East Africa to provide the GSM-R dispatching communications network as well as backbone optical transmission network, clock and synchronization system, and power and environment monitoring system.

According to the contract, Huawei will provide provide a railway operational communications solution that features the most comprehensive redundancy design in the industry across all network elements, coupled with multiple Huawei technologies and protection mechanisms, and ensuring 99.999% communications system availability through optimized system fault detection and isolation measures.

“As part of the contract, Huawei’s premium power supply solution and Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) products that feature security, reliability, economy, and operability will be deployed,” Read the statement.

“After completion, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway line’s GSM-R network will carry multiple communications tasks, including mission-critical train dispatch, emergency communications, section maintenance communications, and transmission of train control data along the entire line,” According to the statement with an aim of meeting the customer’s requirements for safe, stable, efficient, and reliable railway operations, increase both the passenger and freight capacity of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway line, promote regional economic growth, and bring East African economies closer to each other.

However, Huawei has been awarded contracts to provide similar services for a number of projects in Africa, including a light rail project in Ethiopia, the Chingola-Livingstone railway project in Zambia, and the PRASA GSM-R project in South Africa.

Construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi railway SGR line began in October 2013. The 472 km-long Mombasa-Nairobi railway line is the starting point of East Africa’s railway network and has a designed freight capacity of 25 million tons. With a total investment of US$3.8 billion, the Mombasa-Nairobi railway line adopts the Chinese Railway Level 1 standards, and is a flagship project under the Kenya Vision 2030 development agenda, connecting Kenya’s coastal area to East Africa’s inland.