The Ada language has been chosen to develop the automatic piloting system on the new Paris underground line METEOR. Reliability, security and long-term software lifecycle were determining criteria for the choice of the language.
Developed on behalf of the Paris Transportation Authority (RATP) by GEC-Alsthom for the trains and Matra Transport for the automatic systems, the 20-km long METEOR line will link the South-West and North-East Parisian suburbs and will be equipped with 18 railway stations. The trains will feature the Matra Transport automatic piloting system. This system automatically controls the train traffic, regulates train speed, manages variou alarm devices, and allows traffic of both automatic and non-automatictrains on the same line.
The on-ground and embedded system's soft ware is developed on VAX/VMS platform with Alsys AdaWorld's cross environment targeting Motorola 68020 processors, and Alsys SMART (SMall Ada Run Time).
The METEOR project amounts to 6 billion French francs, not including the trains and is scheduled to ensure up to 96 million passenger trips annually beginning in 1997.
(reprinted from Alsys World Dialogue, Spring 1994)