Thales will equip the line with electronic interlockings and centralised traffic control, together with new point machines and automatic level crossings. It will also completely renew communications systems along the length of the 208km line, which carries around 25 million passengers per year.
The project is being funded with the aid of a Euros 104m loan from the World Bank and is due to be completed in 2017. After the upgrading, operating headways will be reduced from 10 to 5 minutes, increasing line capacity to 32 million passengers per year.
