The European Rail Traffic Management System, designed by rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation, has been rolled out on the latest very high speed rail line to open in China.

The new line completes the world’s longest very high speed rail link, connecting the capital Beijing with the industrial centre of Guangzhou.

Equipped with Bombardier INTERFLO 450 ERTMS Level 2 technology (called CTCS-3 in China), the final section of the 2,298 km long north-south, double-track link between Beijing and Zhengzhou started operation on December 26th, 2012.

With operating speeds of 300km/h, the line has cut rail travel times from 22 hours down to around eight hours, boosting transportation capacity and economic development along the route.

This latest high-profile line to be opened, equipped with the BOMBARDIER EBI Com 2000 radio block centre and EBI Cab 2000 ATP onboard technology, is Bombardier’s most recent contribution to China’s very high speed rail network.

It comes exactly three years after the implementation of its ERTMS Level 2 technology on the first section of the new link, which was then the world’s fastest ERTMS line.

The 1,000 km Wuhan to Guangzhou line opened in 2009 with an initial operating speed of 350 km/h.

Bombardier’s technology is also operating on the flagship Beijing to Shanghai line since 2010, on two routes linking Shanghai with Hangzhou and Nanjing, as well as on the Hefei to Bengbu and the recently opened Harbin and Dalian lines.

Peter Cedervall, president, Rail Control Solutions, Bombardier Transportation, said: “Our projects in China are an important part of our global ERTMS portfolio and project delivery experience.

“Trains equipped with Bombardier’s state-of-the-art very high speed rail control technology have now travelled more than 300 million km in China.

“That is the same distance as a return trip to the sun, with a further 15 million km added every month.

“We have more than 1.5 million hours, or 170 years worth of operational experience in this market alone, reflecting the maturity and reliability of our ERTMS technology.”

With a strong involvement in the development of ERTMS/ETCS technology, Bombardier’s solutions are operating or being delivered on more than 2,500 vehicles and 15,000 km of track in 16 countries.

As well as running on the highest speed lines in China, the INTERFLO 450 Level 2 solution has permission for commercial operation on the Amsterdam-Utrecht line in the Netherlands, one of the busiest mainlines in Europe, and was inaugurated on Sweden’s first high speed ERTMS Level 2 line, the Botnia line, in 2010.

Bombardier ERTMS technology is also installed in Croatia, Korea, Switzerland, Spain and Taiwan and first-in-market projects are being delivered in Algeria and Poland, in addition to extensive framework agreements in Sweden and Norway.

Bombardier is at the heart of innovation, delivering the world’s first ERTMS Regional system, its INTERFLO 550 solution, on the Västerdal Line in Sweden.