National Signalization – Dr. İlhami Pektaş

Within the scope of TUBITAK 1007 Program and with the cooperation of TCDD, TUBITAK BILGEM and ITU; the National Railway Signalization Project has been successfully completed at Mithatpaşa/Adapazarı station to nationalize the signalization systems supplied from abroad, which is the first in the railway projects in our country. Within the scope of the project, three main components have been developed: the signaling system decision center considered as the most significant element of signalization systems, the traffic control center and the hardware simulator.

The national signalization works still continues on the lines connecting Afyon, Denizli, Isparta, Burdur, Denizli and Ortaklar in accordance with the target of expanding the National Railway Signalization System. With the completion of this line, it will be the first signalization project which is totally designed nationally. Within the scope of the project, National signalization system decision center systems are carried out by TUBITAK and the signalization works are conducted by TCDD throughout the line.

In order to increase the line capacity, reduce operating costs, reduce carbon emissions, ensure safe transportation, reduce dependence on foreign countries by using the electric energy in transportation, and save time and personnel, we have continued with the works at full speed for our conventional lines to be electrified and signaled since 2003, 78 % of which are signaled and 80% of which are without electricity. In this context; 44% of the total railway network have been signaled and 35% have been electrified.

With the completion of the electrification and signalization works, the electrification rate of our existing conventional lines will increase to 50% and the signalization rate to 63%. The benefits of the works conducted to increase the domestic contribution in electrification and signalization projects within the scope of nationalization have started to be reaped. As an example;

• The National Railway Signalization System developed with the cooperation of the TCDD, TUBITAK-BILGEM and Istanbul Technical University in accordance with the target of ‘Developing the Domestic Railway Industry’ designated by the 10th Transport Council in 2009 has been established in Isparta-Denizli-Burdur-Afyonkarahisar Line as the First Domestic Signalization System of Turkey.
• The Driverless Metro Signalization System Development Project which started last year has still been carried out with the collaboration ofMetro Istanbul AŞ which is responsible for the operation and maintenance of Istanbul rail systems, TUBITAK BILGEM and ASELSAN. Over 100 R&D engineers are involved in the project, which will be commissioned in 2021. Within the scope of the project, Communication Based Metro Signalization Technology, which is owned by only 5-6 companies in the world, has been developed entirely with national facilities; thus, dependence on foreign countries will be eliminated in signalization systems, which are an integral part of a thousand kilometers of metro lines and 5 thousand metro vehicles of investment planned to be made by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality for the future.

Within this scope, negotiations continue for Gayrettepe-Istanbul Airport-Halkalı Metro, Gebze-Darıca Metro, Buca Metro, ANKARAY, Ankara Airport Metro and Konya Metro.

Within the scope of Communication Based Metro Signalization Project, three basic technologies such as On-Board Train Control and Protection System, Traffic Control Center and Line-Length Train Control System are being developed.

ASELSAN carries out system engineering activities as project technical manager. In this context, the company is working on On-Board Train Control and Protection System. Metro Istanbul AŞ is responsible for the development of the Traffic Control Center and the development of the Line-Length Train Control System at TUBITAK BILGEM.

• Domestic and national signalization establishment works are being conducted by TCDD on the approximately 700 kilometers of railway line. One of these is the Çamlık station main line signalization system application. On the route of the trains going through Izmir-Aydın-Denizli located in the TCDD 3rd Region, Çamlık station located between Selçuk and Ortaklar station and a total of 20 kilometers of adjacent open line route has been signaled. The test operation of the signalization system completed by Yapı Merkezi Idis was carried out in April 2019.

The interlocking system has been developed to ensure compliance with the European Train Control System (ETCS) Level-1 and Level-2, which can also be used to control inter-city high-speed train lines, urban tram applications, and warehouse-logistics zones. In addition, the first application of the system with DAS technology enabling to trace and monitor the line status over fiber-optics, which has been rapidly increasing in railway applications in recent years, is also at Çamlık Station.