SYSTRA wins a contract for a high-speed project in Taiwan

A key player in the creation of the high-speed network that entered service in 2007, SYSTRA is returning to this market in Taiwan with its first collaboration alongside MHI, the Japanese conglomerate responsible for producing Shinkansen high-speed trains.

Our contract covers the Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) of the Automatic Train Control (ATC) on-board equipment, which is currently being upgraded on trains in service.

The opening chapter of a promising Franco-Japanese collaboration

MHI has developed a new generation of ATC based on the latest generation of Shinkansen trains in service in Japan, the N700S. Our team is ensuring that the newly designed equipment complies with the standards for Reliability, Availability, Safety Maintainability (RAMS) as well as the specific standards EN 50126 and EN 50128.

Shortly after winning this project, a meeting was held in Tokyo at the end of November between MHI and SYSTRA, attended by Andrew Chang, Project Director for SYSTRA Taiwan, Ivan Wouts, Operations Manager at SYSTRA Asia, and Frederic Dufour, Senior Vice-President of SYSTRA Asia.

This project is very important for SYSTRA Taiwan as it allows us to cooperate with the key industrial player in the island’s high-speed network as it enters a phase of modernisation. We therefore hope that this win will open the door to other fruitful collaborations with MHI, not only in Taiwan but also throughout Asia and internationally.

Victoria Chen, Managing Director, SYSTRA Taiwan

Back to high-speed rail for SYSTRA in Taiwan

Among the references highlighted in the tender, SYSTRA’s expertise in system assurance and independent certification, particularly in France, was a significant factor, as was SYSTRA’s history with Taiwan’s high-speed rail network. From 1990 to 2007, our teams were regularly involved in numerous phases of the network’s development, from planning and feasibility studies to checking the detailed specifications of the structures.

Even at that time, Independent Checking Engineer and Independent Site Engineer (ICE/ISE) assignments, which were crucial for the certification of the network and its commissioning, were carried out on behalf of the project concessionaire, Taiwan High Speed Railway Corp. (THSRC).