At 4:30 am on September 20th, with the smooth cutover of the telecommunication and signal system, the newly built Intercity Railway Dispatching and Command Center of Shandong Province was officially opened, and the original CTC Dispatching Centers of Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway and Jiaozhou-Jinan Passenger Dedicated Line were decommissioned. Under the overall deployment of relevant departments of China Railway Jinan Group, CASCO and other participating construction units worked tirelessly for four hours to successfully complete this "brain transplant" surgery.

The newly built Dispatching Command Center

As a provincial demonstration area for building a powerful transportation country, Shandong has achieved remarkable results in railway construction in recent years. By the end of 2023, the total operating mileage of railway in Shandong reached 7,828 kilometers, with over 2,800 kilometers of high-speed railway, ranking first in the country. Faced with the rapid expansion of the railway network, the carrying capacity of the existing high-speed railway and passenger dedicated line dispatching centers of Jinan Group has approached its limit, with urgent space constraints in the equipment room and dispatching hall. A new command hub was urgently needed to meet the demand for the connection of newly built lines and enhance the dispatching and coordination capacity of railways across Shandong and even neighboring provinces and cities.

Against this background, the planning and construction of the new Intercity Railway Dispatching Command Center of Shandong Province were imperative. As the signal system supplier for this project, CASCO provided the TDCS/CTC system and assisted in the integration and relocation of the existing dispatching center.

Dispatching Center

After the opening of the new Dispatching Center, the integration and intelligence level of the signaling system has been significantly improved. With the CTC system as the core, CASCO integrated query subsystem, integrated maintenance platform, simulation testing subsystem, information security, power and environmental monitoring system, and other equipment, significantly reducing the interface coordination work between systems. Information innovation equipment is used in multiple locations in the new Dispatching Center, covering all CTC network equipment, servers and database software for query subsystem, query terminal host, etc. With the launch of the new version of integrated maintenance platform, smart large screens and 3D equipment room function were applied for the first time in Jinan Group, supporting centralized display of information and visual monitoring across the bureau. The introduction of new technologies has provided strong support for the safe and efficient operation of the dispatching command system.

Central Equipment Room

During the construction, the biggest challenge faced by CASCO was the high complexity of CTC system structure integration, as the core databases, core communication servers, core networks, etc. in the existing dispatching center required integration and modification. Additionally, the construction had a wide impact, involving 14 dispatching consoles, including the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, Jinan-Qingdao High-Speed Railway, Jinan-Zhengzhou High-Speed Railway, Rizhao-Lankao High-Speed Railway, etc., and 205 stations, making a heavy workload of software updates and testing.

Equipment Room Operators

Facing the daunting challenges of tight schedule and heavy tasks, CASCO demonstrated exceptional organization coordination capability and efficient execution. Since the entry of signal equipment in October 2023, CASCO and its subcontracted suppliers dispatched over 200 engineers to participate in the construction and 16 window point operations, completing system integration and modification, software update and testing, equipment switching tests, and other work without affecting normal operation. At the same time, CASCO closely cooperated with communication and other related professions to complete equipment testing ahead of schedule, ensuring the smooth relocation of the dispatching center and system cutover.

Dispatching Hall Operators