Ansaldo STS (STS.MI), a Finmeccanica Group company, has won new orders totalling around EUR 102 million in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

In Turkey, Ansaldo STS has signed agreements with the Italo-Turkish joint venture, Salini-GCF-Kolin, to supply rail signalling, automation and telecommunications systems for the Gebze-Kosekoy stretch of high-speed track between Ankara and Istanbul.

The new line will be equipped with the standard European ERTMS/ETCS level 1 signalling system, which Ansaldo STS is already supplying in Turkey under another contract previously awarded. Entry into operation is scheduled for 2014.

Also in Turkey, Ansaldo STS is to supply – via Korean multinational Hyundai-Rotem – on-board signalling systems for 80 locomotives that Turkish state rail operator TCDD plans to purchase from the Korean supplier to expand and upgrade its fleet.

The systems will comply with ERTMS/ETCS level 1 standards and final delivery is scheduled for 2013. These two contracts strengthen the technological leadership and presence of Ansaldo STS in a strategic country with major investment already allocated to modernisation of its rail network.

In the United Arab Emirates, Ansaldo STS has been awarded a contract by the Italo- Indian joint venture created by Saipem-Tecnimont-Dodsal for the system integration of the newly constructed Shah-Habshan-Ruwais line, the first stretch of the constituent rail network owned by Etihad Rail (the UAE rail operator).

The contract is to supply signalling, automation and telecommunications systems, as well as other smaller systems for the management and control of passenger and freight traffic, for a line about 260 km long that will link the Shah industrial complex with the port of Ruwais.

The signalling system to be supplied by Ansaldo STS will comply with the ERTM/ETCS level 2 European standard, currently the most advanced in a market which Ansaldo STS leads. The works will take 36 months and completion is scheduled in two phases, the first after 24 months and the second after a further 12 months.

The acquisition of the contract for the turnkey construction of an automatic metro for the women's university campus in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) in 2009 confirms Ansaldo STS' desire to gain a leadership position in the Middle Eastern countries within the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council). These countries have planned a substantial programme of investment to create an interoperable rail network and currently represent one of the most attractive markets in the global arena. In the GCC countries, Ansaldo STS currently has secondary operational offices in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.