Case Study: Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa achieves ETCS L2-ready rail communications with Huawei GSM-R

Huawei Helps Deploy GSM-R for S. Africa Rail

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA) needed to modernize its 2,300-kilometer rail network with secure digital communications and signaling upgrades across 196 stations. Facing aging analog systems, complex multi-vendor environments, and a requirement to meet ETCS Level 2 standards, PRASA selected Huawei to help deploy a GSM-R communications solution.

Huawei implemented an end-to-end GSM-R network with softswitch core technology, distributed base stations, hot-standby redundancy, and ring-topology BTS links to improve coverage, reliability, and fiber efficiency. The system integrated successfully with Siemens, Thales, and Bombardier signaling equipment, supported Africa’s first ETCS L2-compliant automatic train control deployment, and improved transport capacity and operational efficiency on key routes.

Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa