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Firm behind signaling system has had glitches

Shanghai Daily, September 28, 2011

• Ambulances arrive at the exit of subway line 10 after a train rear-ended another Tuesday afternoon in Shanghai. [Photo/Xinhua]

  Behind yesterday's crash, an equipment provider with a troubled history soon surfaced to arouse more public concern.
  
  It wasn't the first time that signal failure caused trouble on the city's ever-expanding Metro system. Line 10 was put into service in April last year.
  
  The signaling system that malfunctioned and led to yesterday's accident was designed by Casco Signal Ltd, a key supplier that was also blame for the fatal bullet train collision in Wenzhou on July 23, killing 40 people.
  
  Casco, the joint venture founded by China Railway Signal and Communication Corporation and Alstom (China) Investment Company Ltd in 1986, has provided the signal system to Shanghai's Metro Lines 1, 3, 4 and 10.
  
  The signaling system, Communication Based Train Control system (CBTC), in use on Metro Line 10 trains was believed to be "currently the most advanced signaling system in the world" and "would be widely used on other Metro lines after testing," according to a previous Shanghai Daily interview with Metro operators.
  

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