Move to most advanced BELTPACK(R) locomotive
remote control systems
CPR signs major upgrade agreement
for 40 BELTPACK(R) Systems
MONTREAL, Nov. 21 /PRNewswire/ - CANAC Inc., North America's leading supplier
of solutions to the rail industry, today announced that Canadian Pacific
Railway (CPR) has signed an agreement to upgrade its fleet of forty BELTPACK®
locomotive remote control systems (LRC) with the most advanced technology
available in the railroad industry today.
Over the next two months CANAC will upgrade twenty-four of CPR's BELTPACK®
Version I systems to Version II, including the supply of sixty new ergonomic
operator control units (OCU IIe) and eight repeaters. As well, sixteen Version
II systems that CPR already owns will be upgraded with the addition of forty
new state-of-the-art OCU IIes.
Significantly smaller, lighter and ergonomically improved over all other
unit designs, the OCU IIe weighs just 3.4 pounds (a 44 percent reduction
in weight and a total volume reduction of 39 percent compared to its predecessor)
and was designed in collaboration with ergonomists and kinesiologists, based
on input from more than 250 operators who use the BELTPACK® system.
Frank Trotter, President and CEO, CANAC commented ``CPR is the second
largest BELTPACK® user in North America. We are pleased they have decided
to upgrade their flat yard systems with CANAC's latest technology. This
further reinforces BELTPACK® as the established LRC system of choice
for Class 1 railroads.''
BELTPACK® is a computer-based LRC system that permits safe operation
of a locomotive by a qualified operator either on the locomotive or standing
near the track. The state-of-the-art BELTPACK® system links one or two
operators using a portable Operator Control Unit (OCU) via radio link to
an advanced onboard computer programmed with the industry's best train handling
practices. This Brain in the Train(TM) is one of the keys to BELTPACK®'s
superior contribution to the safety and efficiency of rail yard operations.
With more than 2.5 million hours of operation on Class 1 railroads, BELTPACK®
has made yard switching operations more than twice as safe for railroad
workers compared to traditional manual operations.
With more than 200 systems in use across North America, BELTPACK®
is the premier product in CANAC's portfolio of remote control systems for
railroads and industry, all produced at the company's ISO 9002-certified
facilities in Pittsburgh, PA. Founded in 1971, CANAC provides knowledge-based
products and services to freight and passenger railroads, industries operating
their own railroads, investors and governments throughout the U.S., Canada
and Mexico.
