BlackBerry QNX OS for Safety has been selected by Critical Software to serve as a secure and trusted foundation for a railway protection system being deployed to improve the overall safety of Portugal’s national rail network.
Infraestruturas de Portugal (IP), the Portuguese railway infrastructure manager, had been looking for a solution that performed movement authority and speed supervision functionalities.
IP awarded Critical Software with a contract to design, supply and supervise the installation of a complementary safety system to be deployed for its fleet of maintenance vehicles that inspect things like tracks, bridges and overhead lines.
“Overseeing the safety of the legions of maintenance vehicles that work across a rail network as vast as Portugal’s is no small task and something that requires having a high level of trust and reliability in one’s suppliers,” said Luís Gargaté, Business Development Director at Critical Software.
“Beyond just a supplier, we see BlackBerry QNX as a true partner. Besides supplying the operating system, their support to help us certify the overall solution will be crucial to deploy it faster.”
The QNX-powered system from Critical Software will perform active supervision of vehicle operations, avoid Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD) scenarios and ensure applicable speed restrictions are met on Portugal’s 2,526 km (1,731 mi) of track.
“Increasing rail safety and separating maintenance workers from train traffic is critical to saving lives.
BlackBerry QNX is trusted by rail partners around the globe to help them develop safe, secure mission-critical systems that they can count on and it’s a real pleasure to share both our expertise and proven technology to support the comprehensive safety solution that Critical Software will be rolling out across the Portuguese rail network,” said Jörg Zimmer VP, BlackBerry Technology Solutions.
Trusted by devices where reliability and safety are critical, the QNX OS for Safety has been adopted across multiple industries including rail transportation, industrial controls, automotive and medical. The QNX OS for Safety is pre-certified to ISO 26262 ASIL D and IEC 61508 SIL 3. The pre-certified solution provides Critical Software with a strong basis to develop a system that meets stringent safety certifications and standards including IEC 62279: 2015, a railway functional safety standard.
