Fortescue Metals chooses TETRA for rail network

A TETRA system from DAMM Cellular Systems has been selected for Fortescue Metals Group’s (FMG) long-haul railway in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.

The contract was won in conjunction with Radlink, one of DAMM’s longstanding partners in Australia. The new TETRA system comprises 24 sites, covering 400 km of railroads and over 800 Sepura TETRA terminals. The DAMM equipment was supplied by Brisbane-based GMG Solutions.

In 2010, FMG first adopted TETRA as a futureproof, company-wide standard for all communications further to the successful pilot site rollout at its flagship iron ore mine at Christmas Creek in the Pilbara. DAMM’s TetraFlex network now covers all of the company’s operations and provides a unified communications platform to enable the smooth running of activities across all aspects of the business.

In a statement, Radlink’s Scott Manson said that FMG’s decision to extend TETRA technology to its long-haul heavy rail was driven by TETRA’s ability to address successfully its voice and data requirements, adding that the DAMM solution was chosen as TetraFlex exceeded coverage expectations and system performance.

FMG also felt that the terminals exhaustively addressed their safety and security requirements with functionalities such as man down and the guaranteed levels of authentication. FMG is now looking beyond the voice capabilities of the radio network to innovation and data applications.