The Haparanda Railway

Cactus has had the trust to develop and deliver a CTC system (Centralized Traffic Control) for the extension and renovation of the Haparanda Railway according to the ERMTS standard. The assignment was Cactus’s largest railway order. The end customer was the Swedish Transport Administration, where Cactus was subcontractors to Ansaldo STS Sweden.

The order entailed a large dose of future potential as the Swedish railway network is gradually being modernized according to ERTMS level 2. Concrete implementation plans currently extend until 2035. For the Haparanda Railway, level 2 applies. System development is carried out according to the Swedish Transport Administration’s standard and SS-EN 50 128.

An internationally important link
The procurement was part of the Swedish Transport Administration’s ERTMS project, which aimed to select two suitable suppliers of ERTMS Level 2 systems for the Swedish market. The Haparanda Railway stretches between Boden and the Finnish border, thus connecting the Finnish and Russian railway networks with the Swedish and Norwegian networks.

Renovation and new railway Increased freight flow with increasingly longer and heavier train sets for steel, mines, and containers was the background for the government to commission the Swedish Transport Administration to both renovate the existing railway between Boden and Kalix and build a completely new railway between Kalix and Haparanda.

A three billion investment
The new Haparanda Railway will be electrified and equipped with a new, modern signaling system. The renovation work began in 2006. The Haparanda Railway was reopened in 2013. The total cost was estimated at 3.3 billion SEK.

CACTUS Train Management System (TMS) The Cactus Train Management System is proven, comprehensive, and capable of handling virtually any size of facility. It is designed to be customized for the customer and consists of several parts:

• Remote control.
• Automatic train route setting.
• Logging, playback functions, and alarms.
• Interlocking communication.
• Train number management.

ERTMS improves railway competitiveness The EU decided in the 1990s to develop a common EU standard for railway control. The new standard is called the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). The intention is to adapt all railways within the EU/EEA to ERTMS. ERTMS exists in three levels.