Onboard ATC Upgrade for Taiwan High-Speed Rail

SYSTRA has been awarded a contract to perform the Independent Safety Assessment of upgraded Automatic Train Control onboard equipment for high-speed trains in service in Taiwan, in collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Returning to Taiwan’s high-speed rail programme
The project marks SYSTRA’s first collaboration with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries on the upgrade of onboard systems for Taiwan’s high-speed trains. While this is a new partnership between the two companies, SYSTRA has a long operational history with Taiwan’s high-speed rail network, which entered commercial service in 2007. Between 1990 and 2007, SYSTRA teams contributed to multiple development phases of the network, including planning studies, feasibility assessments, and verification of detailed technical specifications for civil and rail systems.

This renewed involvement focuses specifically on onboard signalling and train control, reflecting the increasing importance of system assurance in maintaining safety and performance on mature high-speed networks.

Independent Safety Assessment of upgraded ATC systems
Under the contract, SYSTRA is responsible for the Independent Safety Assessment (ISA) of the Automatic Train Control (ATC) onboard equipment currently being upgraded on trains in operation. ISA is a structured verification process intended to provide independent evidence that a system meets defined safety requirements throughout its lifecycle.

The upgraded ATC has been developed by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and is based on technologies used in the latest generation of Shinkansen trains operating in Japan, specifically the N700S platform. The assessment covers the newly designed onboard equipment rather than the wayside infrastructure, with a focus on ensuring that safety-related functions perform as intended under operational conditions.

Compliance with RAMS and European railway standards
SYSTRA’s assessment scope includes verification of compliance with Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety (RAMS) requirements, a core framework used internationally to evaluate railway system performance and lifecycle robustness. In addition, the work addresses compliance with the European standards EN 50126 and EN 50128, which define processes for the specification, development, validation and verification of railway control and protection systems and their associated software.

By applying these standards, the assessment examines system architecture, safety integrity levels, hazard analysis, and lifecycle documentation to confirm that the upgraded ATC meets accepted benchmarks for safety-critical railway applications.

System assurance expertise as a selection criterion
According to the tender documentation, SYSTRA’s recognised expertise in system assurance and independent certification was a key factor in the contract award. This included references to previous certification activities carried out in France, as well as the company’s historical involvement in Taiwan’s high-speed rail programme.

The project illustrates how established system assurance methodologies and internationally recognised standards are being applied to the modernisation of high-speed rail fleets, supporting continued safe operation as onboard technologies evolve.