At 8:58 a.m. on December 26, Wuhan Metro Lines 8 and 21, equipped with CASCO’s Urbalis 888 train operation control system, were both put into service, representing another achievement made by CASCO in Wuhan market after Wuhan Airport Line and Metro Line 6, which were put into service on last December 28.  

Wuhan Metro Line 8 (Phase I) starts from Sanjintan and ends at Liyuan, with a full length of 16.7km while Metro Line 21 starts from Houhu Avenue and ends at Jintai, Xinzhou District with a full length of 35.012km.

Both lines adopted CASCO’s LTE-based CBTC signaling system, respectively coming as the second and the third LTE-based CBTC line around the globe. And Wuhan Metro Line 6, the first such line in the world, was also equipped with CASCO’s CBTC signaling system which successfully connected to 4G LTE technology and became the first in the industry to realize interconnection of train-ground communication between different manufacturer equipment on the basis of LTE-M standard of China Urban Rail Transit Association. 

Unlike Metro Line 8 and other metro lines in Wuhan, Line 21 is the first DTO (attended driverless) line in Wuhan. With the support of CASCO’s Urbalis 888 signaling system, it can realize fully automatic train operation with functions including automatic departure, automatic whistle, automatic operation, automatic station counterpoint adjustment, automatic door opening/closing, automatic switchback, automatic depot entry/exit and train memory location. With automation level of GoA3, it has full-automatic operation (unmanned) functions in normal mode, which requires driver interference only in emergency, making it another full-automatic operation line in service after Shanghai Metro Line 10 and Beijing Airport Link in China. It should be noted that all these three lines are equipped with train operation control system of CASCO. 

In full-automatic driving mode, passengers will enjoy greatly improved transport experience with punctuality rate and operation efficiency significantly improved. Meanwhile, the signaling system will effectively reduce safety hazards due to human factors such as driver fatigue, operation error and sudden illness, thus better ensuring driving safety. 

In the future, CASCO will continue to make intensified efforts in Wuhan market and create full-process assured experience for customers as always to protect public transport in all aspects.