History of the company

At the beginning of the century, the densification of railway networks and the expansion of stations made it increasingly difficult to use mechanical signal boxes in large stations, leading either to the multiplication of signal boxes (and an increase in staff) or to the use of the first electric signal boxes, which considerably increased the range of action, while eliminating the need for human power.
Mr Cumont drew on his knowledge acquired through the installation of Continental Hall Signal Company signalling stations from 1898 onwards. 2 Hall signalling stations were brought into service in October 1901 at Pétange station, the most important station in the Duchy of Luxembourg.

These are Hall-Taylor type electric signalling stations with individual levers (PELI). They retain a mechanical part that manages the interlockings, but it is an electric current, dependent on the track circuits, that controls the movements of the points and the signals.
In the case of a signal box with individual levers, the signalman begins by positioning the points correctly using the levers in the box, and is said to be forming the route (the route is “formed”). Next, he can turn green the signal(s) authorising the train to pass along this route, and if there are no safety conditions preventing this (route leading onto a track in the wrong direction, points not occupying the position ordered for these Hall signal boxes), the signal(s) turn green, and the route is then said to be “established”.

For 1900, these “safety conditions” that could prevent a signal from turning green were remarkable. With electrical control of the points and signals, the station was very modern and very safe for its time.
In conclusion, the Hall stations are very impressive, because they are very modern and very safe by the standards of the time, with control of the position of the points in particular, route control and control of the closure (= turning red) of signals.
The last Hall-Taylor type PELI is in service at Château-du-Loir and is due to be dismantled around 2026.

In addition, Compagnie des Signaux installed automatic blocks for the Paris metro and Hall system automatic blocks with track circuits for the Langon-Bordeaux and Bordeaux-Lamotte lines, on the PLM and Compagnie du Midi.

Delivered at the end of 1904 by the Compagnie de Signaux Electriques to the Société du Chemin de Fer for the commissioning of the northern connection to Bercy-PLM, the Pont-de-Lyon signal box, located on the inner ring road at Rapée-Bercy, comprised 50 small levers with horizontal travel for the electrical control of points and signals. It incorporated the latest improvements of the time, including the immobilisation of the points by track circuit in the event of occupation.

The whole complex was designed to handle 282 trains and 212 shunts a day, including machine exchanges; these figures show the scale of the traffic envisaged at the time.

CSEE installs Automatic Block Signalling System for the French State Railways and the Compagnie du Midi.

Acquisition of a stake in a lamp manufacturing plant in Ninove, Belgium.

CSEE is a complete signalling company, designing and manufacturing points motors, track circuits, relays, substations, signals, level crossing equipment, the CSEE five-shot detonator, remote transmission systems, hot axle box detectors and all the equipment needed to offer comprehensive rail signalling solutions.

1935: CGS (Westinghouse), which was later bought out by Aster, tried out a Track-Machine transmission on the Caen-Cherbourg line using 50 Hz Track Circuits pulsed at 0, 25, 75, 120 and 175 pulses, the forerunner of TVM.

1937: Commissioning of a CSEE signal box at Massy-Palaiseau station for what was to become the RATP after the war, and the future RER B line. The signal box was removed in 1985 and sent to the Cité du Train museum in Mulhouse in 1987.
This type of station will be installed at Viroflay Rive Droite, Vouvray and Colombes.

1938: CSEE produces 2 and 5 shot hammer detonators to repeat the stop signals following the imposition of the double repetition of signals (optical and acoustic).

1939: Commissioning of new substations at Artenay and Angerville designed by CSEE and known as PELI “Beauce type” stations.
Its official name is “CSEE type BV station”. It is a new station of the “BEAUCE-type CSEE signalling station with individual levers” type, the forerunner of the “standardised” PELI with industrial manufacture. A similar substation will be installed at Angerville.

Aster’s signalling business was taken over by Compagnie des Signaux in 1969.

This new type of station is known as an all-relay station, with automatic destruction of the route, which closes the original route signal as soon as the train crosses it, and with the recording of a route that saves the signalman time and trouble by ordering in advance a route that is incompatible with the current one. The recorded route is then formed automatically as soon as safety conditions are met.

The stations are fully electric and use relays. The bulky levers are replaced by simple buttons. Very compact, they even allow their operators to work while seated. The radius of action is very large, up to several kilometres. There are four other major innovations. The first is route recording. This means that the signalman can act on the buttons on his console without there being any immediate consequences on the ground.

His orders will only be carried out once all the safety conditions have been met. The second is the establishment of permanent routes. This allows several trains to follow each other in complete safety, without the need for an agent to intervene. The third is the automatic destruction of routes.

Once the train for which the route was set has passed, the points and signals are reset to their default position. The last is the remote control of smaller stations physically present on the ground, but without any console or Optical Control Panel.

The government took action, and under the aegis of the SNCF, carried out a huge modernisation project. The network was largely electrified at 25 kV.
The mechanical signalling stations were replaced by electrical signalling stations controlling the points machines, trackside components and signals.

Between 1950 and 1995, after a long series of prototypes, SNCF designed and standardized the PRS and commissioned 550 PRS substations built by various French signalling companies, including CSEE (e.g. Compiègne in 1956, Lille and Saint-Pierre-des-Corps in 1958, Jeumont in 1964, Paris-Austerlitz in 1971, etc.).

Since then, CSEE has manufactured more than 1 million S1 and NS1 relays.

The PRS NS1 at Lyon-Part-Dieu station was the last major station to be installed by CSEE, in 1983, with its 340 routes.

These track circuits transmit commands to the driver.
CSEE teletransmission using pairs of pure frequencies on the Frasne-Valorbe line, then on the Epernay-Reims line in Redeca 3.

With Aster, CSEE became the owner of the patent for jointless track circuits, which, when improved, gave rise to the TVM300 and TVM430 track circuits, used on all HSL in France, Korea and in the Channel Tunnel. Following the acquisition of Aster, CSEE became France’s leading manufacturer of railway signalling systems.

1970 : Development of the NS1 24V relay and 127 V 400 Hz light control units concentrating the controls.

Railway and metro signalling and control station projects in Uganda, Gabon, Cameroon, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Pakistan, Canada, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Portugal.

1973 : Development of the new Redecca III electronic teletransmission system on the PRS at Grigny
The Redecca III system developed by CSEE is a new-generation remote transmission system.

1976-77 : Studies began on track-to-machine transmission on high-speed lines and a measurement site was set up on the LGV Paris Sud-Est near Cluny.
These studies also gave rise to the SACEM system used for the RER A.

1978 : Studies on new safety computers based on safety microprocessors for automatic pilots on metro lines.

1980 : Development of the new Redecca IV electronic teletransmission system on the PRS at Grigny
The arrival of information technology brought better performance and new savings, as teletransmission remained expensive, based on the use of optical fibres or copper conductors. The first implementation of a new electronic teletransmission system was by CSEE, which in 1980 commissioned the remote control of the Fresnoy-le-Grand and Essigny-le-Petit substations, using its Redecca IV system. These new solutions coincided with the development of the High Speed Train, which made extensive use of them.

1989 : Creation of the Artificial Intelligence unit in cooperation with M. de Lapparent of the CEA.

1990 : Development of the TVM430, which will equip all future high-speed lines in France from 1993.

1997 : Commissioning of the first computerised automatic workstation (PAI) in Roanne.

1998 : First on-board tests of the European ERTMS 2 system on the Vienna-Budapest line.