Leading Indonesian Rail Systems Provider PT Len Railway Systems Future-proofs West Java Cikarang-Cikampek Rail With The Highest Safety Standards

INDUSTRY.co.id - Singapore, February 3rd, 2022 - The biggest Indonesian provider of railway application and safety systems, PT Len Industri (Persero), and its subsidiary, PT Len Railway Systems (LRS), have successfully upgraded the signaling and telecommunication system across the Cikarang-Cikampek rail service, at West Java, Indonesia, to conform to current and emerging safety standards. 

"The rail industry is the critical bloodline for many economies and businesses in the Asia Pacific. Indonesia too, is building critical rail infrastructures to provide regional cities with efficient and cost-effective supply chain and consumer transportation. A complete and sustainable rail system includes infrastructure, signaling, operations, staff, and maintenance. As rail networks evolve and grow, rail suppliers and operators need to rise up to industry and global safety and cybersecurity standards to reduce risk and to assure stakeholders," says Friedhelm Best, Vice President Asia Pacific, HIMA.

"There is a trend for rail operators to move towards independence in operations, and having the systems to be able to run independently, operators and suppliers will need to provide products and solutions that can inter-operate with 100% compatibility and reliability, as well as future conformance to standards and preferences."

PT Len Industri strengthens relationship with HIMA

In 2016, HIMA signed a significant strategic contract with PT Len Industri to upgrade the safety technology for 25 rail stations in Indonesia at a value of $1.8 million euros, which was HIMA's largest rail contract in Asia Pacific then.

PT Len Industri and the rail operators evaluated all available options, and determined that the open source communication architecture used by HIMA equipment was the way to future-proof their investments, and to integrate new HIMA equipment seamlessly with legacy systems and technologies from other vendors.

Upgrading the Cikarang-Cikampek rail for highest safety standards

A step up from this collaboration, PT Len Industri and PT Len Railway Systems replaced the existing interlocking systems at the Cikarang-Cikampek rail to maximum safety and reliability.

The Cikarang-Cikampek rail runs a long-distance train service from both the eastern trip of Java Island and Bandung. The congested traffic can be a challenge for operators as minor issues in signaling systems can escalate to significant impact or even damages.

Delays and long queues at the station had happened before when the legacy interlocking system was disrupted, primarily due to memory buffer overflows.

The operator determined that the interlocking system had to be upgraded to ensure overall safety and operating efficiency. The legacy solid state interlocking (SSI) system was replaced with the latest SiLSafe 4000 signaling system provided by PT Len Industri.

The new interlocking system is powered by the HIMA HIMax safety system with the high-performance and uninterrupted safety controller. The HIMax solution enables multi-tasking from up to 32 independent applications and is certified in accordance with the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) 4 requirements by CENELEC, the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardisation, formed from committees of 34 European nations.

Successful switch-over to new safety systems in just 30 minutes

Completed in December 2021, the replacement of the signaling and telecommunication system project was conducted in 8 stations along the Cikarang-Cikampek rail, namely Cikarang, Lemahabang, Kedunggede, Karawang, Klari, Kosambi, Dawuan, and Cikampek, on active and ongoing railway lines. While the construction process took 10 months, the switch-over process was successfully carried out in just 30 minutes.

The switch-over process included the deactivating of the existing SSI signaling system to activating the new SiLSafe 4000 signaling system. With only 30 minutes, integrators had to ensure that sufficient manpower and precise strategies were in place before the switching process.

Additionally, the replacement of the existing interlocking system was followed by a change in the operating pattern of the train route. Originally reaching only to the Cikarang station, this replacement further supports the expansion of the operating facilities to reach the Karawang station.

"As automation and interconnectivity become prevalent in the rail industry, companies are under increasing pressure to modernise and integrate with the latest technologies. PT Len Industri and PT Len Railway Systems are leaders and innovators who leap away from outdated proprietary technologies and adopt future-proof safety and security systems for rail operators. Their choice of HIMA's HIMax to replace antiquated systems was an excellent decision during this extremely tight schedule and rough operating conditions," added Best.

HIMA Rail Industry Solutions

With the world's first CENELEC SIL 4-certified programmable safety controller, HIMA has revolutionised the railway industry. The commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products are open safety controllers that ensure end users and integrators independence, flexibility and cost savings, and can be easily integrated and maintained in a wide variety of solutions.

As the core element, HIMA systems provide functional safety and IT security in applications such as level crossings, interlockings and rolling stocks.

HIMA Process Industry Solutions

HIMA solutions help increase functional safety, strengthen automation security and boost plant profitability. For over 50 years, HIMA has been a trusted partner to the world's largest companies in the process industry (including chemical, petrochemicals, oil, gas, and energy-producing companies).

With more than 40,000 installed TÜV-certified safety systems (SIL 3 and SIL 4) worldwide, HIMA qualifies as the technology leader in this sector. As a safety expert, HIMA provides the safety technology as well as consulting, engineering, services, and training to best assist the customers throughout the entire safety lifecycle. The world's first scalable platform with built-in automation security, HIMA’s Smart Safety Platform enables a broad range of systems on a single technology basis, from small solutions for all the way up to highly complex applications.

The independent safety controllers are physically separated and employ open standards. Users can thus combine the most suitable safety solution with any leading BPCS (basic process control system).

Typical safety applications include emergency shutdown (ESD), burner control (BCS/BMS), turbo machinery control (TMC), pipeline management control with leak detection (PMC), fire and gas (F&G) and high-integrity pressure protection systems (HIPPS), subsea and tank farms.