Infrabel, the infrastructure operator for the Belgian railways, has concluded a master agreement with Siemens Transportation Systems and Alstom Transportation on the modernization of its signaling equipment. The master agreement has a five-year term and a total value of EUR 414 million. Siemens is to supply, among other things, the operations control system, while Alstom's content includes the new signal towers and trackside components. With its modernization program Infrabel is aiming to improve the reliability and on-time performance of the Belgian railway services.

Order processing will be carried out by the joint venture Belgosignal, which has been established by Siemens Belgium and Alstom Belgium and will channel all the know-how acquired since the 1990s into the modernization of signaling equipment for the Belgian railways.

Over the next five years Siemens will supply high-availability and multiply redundant computers for the operations control system, the corresponding power supply and optical control panels (i.e. large displays) and also perform the commissioning and the service work for the complete IT equipment. Siemens Transportation Systems Belgium has been building up know-how in operations control technology since 1993 and has meanwhile invested more than 250,000 R&D manhours in this field.