Bombardier unveils new innovative light rail vehicle safety system at UITP 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden.

  • COMPAS provides enhanced safety for passengers and drivers, helping to prevent derailing
  • Innovative overspeed protection system co-developed with Austrian Institute of Technology

Today, mobility solution provider Bombardier Transportation presented its new and innovative safety system for urban light rail vehicles at the UITP Global Public Transportation Summit in Stockholm. Called COMPAS (Collision and Overspeed Monitoring and Prevention Assistance System), the technology was developed in cooperation with Bombardier Transportation’s research partner the Austrian Institute of Technology & Mission Embedded and enhances safety for tram passengers and drivers.

Christian Diewald, Managing Director of Bombardier Transportation in Austria, said, “We have completed the development phase of COMPAS and will shortly start the operational evaluation in two existing vehicle fleets. I am especially happy that we are testing this safety innovation in the new vehicles for our customer Wiener Linien in Austria, but also with our customer in Blackpool, UK.”

COMPAS is the transportation industry’s only system that combines two of the most requested driver assistance functions, a vision-based overspeed prevention and an automated obstacle detection assistance system. It’s designed to ensure the driver always maintains full control over the vehicle by using digital track data and visual odometry to prevent the vehicle from exceeding its pre-defined speed limits, thus enhancing safety for those in and around the vehicle.

The new system is expected to be granted commercial service authorization by mid-2020, with additional functions, such as increased vehicle autonomy enabling automated operation in depots, planned to for future integration.

COMPAS builds upon Bombardier’s proven Obstacle Detection Assistance System (ODAS ), a cutting-edge safety innovation already proven in passenger in service since being introduced in Frankfurt, Germany in 2017. Overall, the ODAS system has been selected by five light rail vehicle operators.