Thales, through a consortium with Colas Rail lead and Egis, won a contract with Mitsubishi worth over one billion euros to design and build the turnkey rail system for the Metro Manila Subway in the Philippines national capital region.
The Metro Manila Subway is one of the Philippines’ largest infrastructure projects aimed at creating an efficient rail system in the world’s most densely populated city.
Thales will provide its Integrated Communications and Supervision (ICS) and Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) systems to the project, at a value of 156 million euros.
Set to connect Valenzuela in the north, to the southern city of Parañaque, the 35-kilometre line will consist of 15 underground stations that will reduce traffic congestion and promote more efficient commuter journeys.
The Philippines’ Department of Transportation (DOTr) estimates that the future subway line will reduce travel time from Quezon City to Taguig City by two-thirds — from close to two hours today to 35 minutes.
This contract represents Thales’ entry into the transportation sector in the Philippines. This is also the first in the Asian region where the latest generation of our Integrated Communications and Supervision solution will be implemented, supported by global expertise from Thales teams in Singapore, Hong Kong, Portugal and France.
The France-based company will design and develop the integrated and secure communications networks (including radio, Multi Service Network, wayside telephone and wireless LAN systems), wayside equipment for security systems (including CCTV and Video Analytics features), passenger information and public address, the digital supervision solution as well as the centralised supervision of energy system (power-SCADA).
Also, Thales will provide Automatic Fare Collection as part of its scope in the project.
Thales has built extensive experience in major metro projects in the region over the last decade, with strong local expertise from teams situated all across Asia, collaborating with Thales teams in Europe and North America.
“This marks an exciting new journey for Thales in the Philippines, and with the strong collaboration from our teams in Asia and Europe, we look forward to helping the Philippines build a robust transportation network.” said Nicolas Bouverot, VP of Thales Southeast Asia.
