South Korean rolling stock manufacturer Hyundai Rotem has announced the launch of the KTCS-2 safety system along the 180km Jeolla line, which is reported to increase the line’s capacity by 20%.
This will be the first time the KTCS-2 line has entered commercialisation and will travel between Iksan, Korea’s northern Jeolla province and Yeosu, a port city on South Korea’s East China Sea.
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The train signal system, which is interoperable with ETCS, ensures safety across rail operations. It works by executing speed control and track switches to prevent train collisions and derailing incidents.
According to the manufacturer, the KTCS-2 system can operate across various lines and will function at the same standard as ETCS level 1 and level 2.
Hyundai Rotem made a statement at Rail Log Korea 2023, emphasising a promising future for the Korean system: “The KTCS-2 system can be utilised across domestic lines as well as lines in Europe and other regions as it meets the level 1 and level 2 standard specifications for the European Train Control System, so it offers a promising future in terms of exports as a technology assisting in safe operation and management of trains.”
Hyundai Rotem added how it aims to implement the integrated KTCS-2 system across further lines in the future.
According to reports, Hyundai is working on the KTCS-3 system, with plans for completion by the end of 2024.
The KTCS-3 system will be able to meet the European railway specifications by only using the LTE-R wireless communication instead of a track circuit in a high-speed rail environment.
