APS : Monday, 10 September 2018
BATNA (Algeria)- Minister of Public Works and Transport Abdelghani Zaâlane chaired Monday at Batna railway station the commissioning of the Global System for Mobile communications – Railways GSM/R for the first time in Algeria.
This system will be put into service for the first time on the 418-km El Gourzi (Constantine)- Touggourt (Ouargla) railway and precisely from the station of Batna, according to the explanations given to the minister, who was accompanied by Governor of Batna Abdelkhalek Sayouda, Austria’s ambassador to Algeria, Franziska Honsowitz.
The delegation accompanying the minister was also composed of executives from the National Agency for Studies and Monitoring of Railway Investments Execution and delegates of the Austrian company Kapsch.
This telecommunication system project which is part of President of the Republic Abdelaziz Bouteflika programme is intended to facilitate communications on an autonomous network between the center installed in Algiers and trains, and between trains and operators responsible for the network maintenance.
“This system will enable us to have safer train traffic by preventing accidents and saving time in the various services so as to increase the number of users,” said Zaâlane who noted that the government is working to boost rail passenger transport to alleviate the pressure on the road network.
This communication system has been installed by an Austrian company while the maintenance services will be provided by a joint venture created by the National Rail Transport Company (SNTF) and the Austrian company Kapsch, said the minister, adding that this system will be “gradually” generalized to all the 1,800 km long railway network in the north of the country.
