The Customer

A Canadian railway through scenic, mountainous terrain required a specialised communications solution. BC Rail, Canada's third largest railway in terms of revenue, operates exclusively in British Columbia. The BC Rail line consists of 2,315 km (1438 miles) of mainline and 740 km (460 miles) of industrial, yard and track sidings throughout the province.

The Challenge

BC Rail required communications for maintenance staff along a 600km (370 mile) stretch of line between Vancouver and Prince George. Winds and the mountainous terrain posed some issues. Most radios being used by staff were not capable of scanning and so the TaitNet QS Simulcast system was an ideal solution.

The Solution

Simplicity of operation and effective wide area coverage are two key requirements of train communications and both are features of Tait's unique Quasi-Sync system. Quasi-Sync provides low maintenance simulcast - transmitting the same frequency from many transmitters.

BC Rail maintenance staff no longer have to worry about selecting channels. Using several channels for wide area coverage can make a system diffi cult to operate and it can be expensive.

Traditional simulcast can also be costly to maintain. Transmitter frequencies drift causing distorted audio signals in areas where coverage overlaps. Rail operations in Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Canada, and emergency services and utilities in the USA, South Africa, Switzerland and Austria are using other Quasi-Sync systems.

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Tait networks

Tait networks offer the proven reliability and quality performance that customers need in a communications system.