Mission-critical communications company Zetron has announced it will work with Nokia to replace the existing analog radio infrastructure of the Public Transport Authority of Western Australia(PTA) with a next-generation communications network, including Zetron’s ACOM Command and Control platform.

The railway communications system contract is part of the METRONET infrastructure program, a collaboration across multiple government agencies in Western Australia intended to improve transport, housing and employment in the region. It is set to see PTA become the owner of the first fully MCx-capable railway communications network in Australia, with mission-critical voice, data and video services managed through the ACOM platform.

PTA is headquartered in Perth and is responsible for overseeing and operating all urban and regional public transport services throughout Western Australia, including buses, road coaches, trains and ferries, providing more than 100 million passenger journeys a year. The new communications network will cover PTA’s urban rail system, spanning over 250 km.

The agreement calls for Zetron to deploy 52 console positions across eight PTA command centres. Nokia will build PTA’s new digital communications network, including more than 160 LTE/4.9G radio sites. Once implemented, the ACOM system with Nokia 4.9G/5G private wireless solutions should provide PTA operators with integrated communications across a far wider data spectrum than the current analog system allows, enabling mission-critical voice, data and video services.

“The next-generation railway communications system at PTA will be powered by Nokia’s private wireless and mission-critical IP/MPLS technologies,” said Rob McCabe, Head of Enterprise for Oceania at Nokia. “Integrating Zetron’s mission-critical solutions provides the command and control innovation, flexibility and scalability to help make PTA’s new railway communications system truly world class.”

“Zetron has forged an excellent relationship with PTA over the past 15 years, resulting in an acute understanding of their communications needs and challenges,” added Brandon Williams, Vice President, Global Sales for Zetron. “So we’re extremely excited to work with Nokia to build what will be a transformative solution for centralised and distributed mission-critical communications for PTA operations personnel wherever and whenever needed.”

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