Case study

PA's work for The Swiss Government Federal Office of Transport

Overall Winner - MCA Awards

Position:
Winner

Year:
2002

The Federal Office of Transport wanted to develop a wireless communications strategy for the railway sector - a task complicated by the fact that there are between 50 to 60 different railway companies operating currently in Switzerland. The Federal Office of Transport was working together with the biggest railway companies, SBB and BLS, to identify the most appropriate railway communication and signalling systems. The aim was to apply leading-edge technology, and the GSM-R (GSM for Railways) technology appeared to be the preferred way forward.

PA's role included: analyzing the different GSM-R operators and all existing GSM-R infrastructure and terminal vendors; general network planning based on the railway tracks to be covered within a national roll-out ; analyzing, in more detail, the planning issues related to the Swiss terrain, such as frequency planning at the country border; and building a cost model accounting for infrastructure as well as terminal investment and operational cost.