Monterrey Metro

The customer

Monterrey's fast developing and complex transport infrastructure has many communication challenges. A complete communication solution has been deployed by Teltronic, to solve these challenges, and reinforce the delivery of a safe and efficient system.

Monterrey is the capital of the state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and home to nearly 4.6 million people. It has a wide range of public transport systems: over 4 million journeys are made every day, 13% of which are made on the Metrorrey network - around 520,000 trips each weekday.

The Metrorrey network - the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey - comprises three metro lines, including one under construction, as well as:

• TransMetro (Bus Rapid Transit system - BRT - with free transfer to the Metro)
• Metrobus (conventional buses, included within the metro's integrated tariff)
• MetroEnlace (suburban buses, included within the metro's integrated tariff)
• DIF Circuit (special buses for people with disabilities)
• Ecovía (BRT funded by public-private investment and operated by Metrorrey)

As the metro network grows, so the complementary transport networks expand: new bus routes are added to feed new or extended metro lines, gradually extending coverage across the city.

The transportation network challenge

The sheer size of Monterrey´s population has made sustainable urban mobility planning an essential part of the city's development.

Several projects to expand the transportation network are being carried out simultaneously:

• A third metro line is under construction - an expansion of line 2 - beginning in Estación Zaragoza and ending in Hospital Metropolitano, consisting of 7.5 km of track and eight passenger stations
• Three new bus routes are being added to the Transmetro network, linking several points of the metropolitan area and certain passenger stations along line 3

These projects bring the total extent of the Metro network to 40 km, and add 34km to the TransMetro BRT network, over 3 routes.

The communications challenge

The communications systems currently installed throughout the metro and bus networks needed to be upgraded. Monterrey Metro have encountered numerous problems with coverage and interference with their existing UHF analogue and APCO 25 systems.

The company was keen to stress that there must be absolutely no interruption of service throughout the migration process. This was one of the key requirements of the selection process.

After due consideration of numerous proposals, Siemens - who were awarded the contract to provide signalling, telecoms and control systems for both Metrorrey and TransMetro - teamed up with Teltronic, part of the Sepura Group to migrate the existing communication system to a TETRA digital system.

The solution

Teltronic has supplied a complete communication solution, to be installed in trains and buses, combining TETRA infrastructure, a control centre and advanced radio equipment.

The Nebula TETRA infrastructure provides indoor and outdoor coverage for the Metro and TransMetro; the four base stations and the control node include several redundant elements to give full protection against failures.

Two differing on-board solutions have been provided for the metro and bus systems: 110 RTP-Series advanced on-board terminals provide voice and data communications between drivers and the control centre, along with GPS location for trains on the Metrorrey network. These terminals also allow control centre operators to communicate with passengers and so have to be integrated both with the Public Address system (already installed in vehicles on lines 1 and 2), and the new system (supplied by CAF) for trains on line 3.

The intelligent SDM (Synchronous Data Manager) application has been included in the solution, allowing the positioning of the whole fleet in just a few seconds - so providing an efficient mechanism to regulate traffic. This application, based on TETRA's SDS (Short Data Service), is responsible for polling the whole fleet to obtain the latest information - such as location, alarms, events or operational data - in near-real time, avoiding network saturation.

Metrorrey and Transmetro vehicles are managed from 12 operator workstations within the control centre, each performing different functions. Each workstation has several applications installed, including a geo-positioning application to monitor the progress of vehicles on a cartographic map based on their GPS position, and CeCo-TRANS, an application specially designed for the railway environment.

CeCo-TRANS allows operators to manage communications with trains and buses, as well as existing telephone systems. In addition, this application has a synoptic line, from which you can view the location of vehicles, monitor their status and perform various train-to-ground voice and data communications.

Each of the 185 TransMetro buses has been equipped with a TETRA radio, specially configured to include specific audio accessories and a GPS receiver. The solution also includes 280 hand-portable terminals, keeping maintenance and operations staff in continuous communicated with their colleagues, and 10 desktop units, for easy and smooth management of passenger communications in the stations.

Benefits

• Soft migration to the TETRA network from the current communications systems with no disruption of the service and, thus, no negative impact on operational revenues
• A scalable and highly flexible NEBULA infrastructure, allowing easy expansion for new metro lines and bus routes, as required
• A tailor-made solution, providing terminals specially designed for the transportation sector and a control centre, allowing management of the entire fleet from a single, user-friendly interface

"Teltronic have exceeded our expectations in terms of technical development, the quality of the deployed product and, above all, their dedication to customer service: throughout the project, they have paid close attention to our technical and operational requirements.

"We are extremely happy to have chosen Teltronic. We are confident that this TETRA system will optimise our mission critical communications, augmenting the security of both passengers and employees of Metrorrey".

Ing. Alfonso Reyes Santa Anna
Operations Manager, STC Metrorrey