Taiwan Railway Corp (TRC) is expected to replace its telephone-based internal communications systems with fiber-optics technology and updated network switches by the end of next year, top officials said on Tuesday.
TRC last year launched a NT$390 million (US$13.3 million) program to upgrade its internal communications systems to reduce operational costs and boost their performance, representatives of the state-owned corporation told a routine news conference at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
The railway’s currently fielded intercom systems depend on aging copper wires and analogue switches that are difficult to replace or maintain and offer poor signal strength, TRC telecoms officer Tseng Hsi-pan (曾喜盤) said.
Photo: CNA
The obsolete systems cost NT$300,000 more per year to operate than modern systems due to higher energy consumption, he said.
The modernization program would deploy fiber optics and digital switches, gateways and routers at the 242 train stations on the 1,065km of railroad operated by TRC, he said.
The automatic telephone system being replaced was installed in 1990 for use by administrative staff of train stations, and the landline train operation system being replaced was originally installed in 2004, he said.
The program would involve the installation of four Internet switches, including two active and redundant units, 56 switch gateways, 169 gateways, two train operation switchboards, and lots of other equipment, he said.
The upgraded telephone and operational systems would be integrated into TRC’s Multiprotocol Label Switching over Internet Protocol system built into the nation’s railways, he said.
This endeavor would reduce the risk of service interruption should the electrical circuits malfunction, he said.
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