Safetran Systems Corporation was an American company that manufactured
switch machines,
railroad wayside signal systems, rail transit signaling and rail-highway
level crossing
A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line or the road etc. crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, o ...
active warning systems.
The company was a major supplier of freight/commuter rail and transit signal systems with projects on
CSX
CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...
,
Norfolk Southern
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
,
Union Pacific
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF, ...
,
BNSF
BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that provide ...
,
Canadian National Railway
The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States.
CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...
,
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
,
MBTA,
Metra
Metra is the primary commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 243 train station, stati ...
,
Metrolink,
Metropolitan Transit,
New Jersey Transit
New Jersey Transit Corporation, branded as NJ Transit or NJTransit and often shortened to NJT, is a state-owned public transportation system that serves the U.S. state of New Jersey and portions of the states of New York and Pennsylvania. It ...
,
New York City Transit,
SEPTA
SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...
,
Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
and others.
History
Safetran was founded in 1920
[Safetran history]
on Invelsys Rail Group website (archived, 8 Oct 2011) when Safetran's predecessors started developing and fielding products for the growing railroad infrastructure (See
Timeline of United States railway history for details about the significant development of the United States' rail infrastructure.)
Safetran previously owned Burco Services which provides warehousing, purchasing, packaging, pre-assembly and total "
logistics management
Logistics is the part of supply chain management that deals with the efficient forward and reverse flow of goods, services, and related information from the point of origin to the point of consumption according to the needs of customers. Logi ...
" for construction projects. In July 1984,
Hawker Siddeley
Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in list of aircraft manufacturers, aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers ...
purchased a 40% shareholding.
The company was headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky.
[ Safetran was part of Invensys Rail Systems; however, ]Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
acquired the rail company officially in April 2013.
The whole Invensys company (excluding the Invensys Rail division that owned Safetran) was acquired by Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric SE is a French multinational corporation that specializes in digital automation and energy management.
Registered as a Societas Europaea, Schneider Electric is a ''Fortune'' Global 500 company, publicly traded on the Euronex ...
in July 2013.
Significant applications
* The Northeast Corridor
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...
of the United States utilizes hardware and software developed with the Alstom
Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
corporation to offer an Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System
Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) is a positive train control cab signaling system developed by Alstom. The system is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, protect against overspeed, and protect work crews with temporar ...
solution for Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak (; ), is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates intercity rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
services along the Corridor.
* The Brighton park crossing and Pershing Main interlocks utilize Safetran's Grade crossing predictor hardware and software, modernizing one of Chicago
Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
's many historic (and increasingly obsolete) crossings.
* The city of Placentia, California
Placentia () is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States. Its population was 51,233 during the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 46,488 in the 2000 United States Census, 2000 census. This includes the community ...
implemented a Quiet Zone utilizing Safetran Grade Crossing Predictors, Wayside Access Gateways, Spread Spectrum Radios, and Home/Distant Link hardware and software.
* Long Island Rail Road
The Long Island Rail Road , or LIRR, is a Rail transport, railroad in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, stretching from Manhattan to the eastern tip of Suffolk County, New York, Suffolk County on Long Islan ...
is implementing Safetran's Vital Interface Unit (VIUs) to implement Positive Train Control
Positive train control (PTC) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains a ...
(PTC) along the two lines which span Long Island as part of a consortium upgrade of signaling headed by Bombardier Inc.
Bombardier Inc. () is a Canadian aerospace manufacturer that produces business jets. Headquartered in Montreal, the company was founded in 1942 by Joseph-Armand Bombardier to market his snowmobiles, and it later became one of the world's big ...
and Siemens
Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...
. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is a New York state public benefit corporations, public benefit corporation in New York (state), New York State responsible for public transportation in the New York metropolitan area, New York Ci ...
is implementing Safetran's PTC as part of the need to upgrade the two largest commuter rail lines in the United States to increase locomotive speeds, provide additional train stations, and address the growing number of commuters.
Major United States offices
* Marion, Kentucky
Marion is a home rule-class city in Crittenden County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the seat of its county. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 3,039.
The farm communities surrounding Marion are home to a large Amish popu ...
* Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
* Rancho Cucamonga, California
Rancho Cucamonga ( ) is a city located just south of the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains and Angeles National Forest in San Bernardino County, California, United States. About east of Downtown Los Angeles, Rancho Cucamonga is the List ...
* Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
* Lee's Summit, Missouri
Lee's Summit is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri and a suburb of the Kansas City metropolitan area. It resides in Jackson County (predominantly) as well as Cass County. As of the 2020 census, its population was 101,108, making it the 6th ...
Safetran Traffic Co
The Colorado company named "Safetran Traffic" shares the same company logo as Safetran the rail supplier company, however while the two companies shared a common history, Safetran Traffic split from the parent Safetran Corporation, operating independently.
Safetran Traffic is part of the Anaheim, California
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, part of the Greater Los Angeles area. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orang ...
-based company Econolite since 2006.Econolite and Safetran join forces
on Road & Bridges, August 1, 2006
References
External links
Official site(archived, 25 Aug 2010)
Safetran Traffic related company
{{Railway signalling
Hawker Siddeley
Railway signalling manufacturers
Manufacturing companies based in Louisville, Kentucky
Manufacturing companies established in 1920
American companies established in 1920
Siemens