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| West Side Express SPRC in Oregon |
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| Track work on the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit Line |
ng Island Rail Road has long hoped to provide diesel multiple-unit (DMU) service to its riders on both the Montauk and Green Branches on the railway's east end. Those hopes now have capital funding identified.LIRR currently runs limited service using conventional coaches powered by diesel locomotives over the outlying portions of each branch. The service often has been criticized for its relatively high cost-per-passenger and per-passenger-mile, as well as for its lack of frequency. DMU operations could allow LIRR to offer more frequency both for weekday rush hours and during weekends, particularly summer weekends when Long Island beaches on either fork are a draw.
MTA's website at present only acknowledges LIRR's plan for "Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) Spec Development" as part of the agency's 2009-2014 Capital Program.
Wednesday January 25 2012 8:00AM- 9:45AM | Washington Hilton
Presiding Officer: Nelson, David O. - Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
Sponsored By: Commuter Rail Transport Committee AP070
The last decade’s rapid advancements in computer and communications technologies have opened whole new ways for commuter railroads to communicate with and serve their customers. I-phones, androids, smart cards, Facebook, and Twitter all now have an emerging role in commuter rail service delivery. The session sampled how various commuter railroads across the country are employing new technology to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their customer service and business processes.
Technological Innovation on Boston's Commuter Rail Network (P12-5563)
Boston's MBTA has recently reclaimed its leadership in application of computer technology to improving transit service delivery for its bus, rapid transit and commuter rail customers Joshua Robin, the MBTA's director of innovation will describe three recent technological innovations that have been applied to the T's commuter rail network. Virtually all commuter rail customers enjoy free wifi service on MBTA trains. Passengers parking at most commuter rail parking lots can now pay for their daily parking using their cell phone after they've already boarded the train. Third party innovators are starting to use MBTA train movement data to communicate the progress and identify delays on the commuter rail network as they are already doing for MBTA bus customers.
Presenter: Robin, Joshua K,
Challenges and Triumphs of Launching a Smartcard Program for a Commuter Rail System (P12-5564)
Reloadable stored value cards are becoming more and more common on local bus and rail transit systems. They pose more challenges for the distance based fares charged by commuter railroads. Rene Matthews and Brad Barkman of
Presenter: Matthews, Renee ,
Social Media, Commuter Rail, and Transit Customer Communication (P12-5565)
As more and more commuters are plugged into the web with Smart Phones, laptops and other devices the role of social media such as Facebook and Twitter in the customer relations process is becoming more salient. Paul O'Brien of the Utah Transit Authority and the FrontRunner will describe
Presenter: O'Brien,
Commuter Rail: Balancing Freight Clearance with Level Boarding and
Federal regulators and passenger railways are both concerned about passengers with mobility impairments that limit their abilities to use stairways. Toward that end, federal policy and railway practice strongly encourages developing services that allow for level boarding and alighting from commuter rail trains without using stairways. Beyond benefiting individuals that have trouble using stairs, level boarding can also lead to significant improvements in service delivery for the rest of the public by reducing unproductive station dwell times, improving safety and creating opportunities improve crew efficiency. One principal obstacle to level boarding has been the concerns of freight railroads that operate over (and often own) trackage shared with the passenger trains. The freight operators wish to maintain a full horizontal clearance envelope allowing unrestricted operations. These concerns often limit the close door/platform interface necessary for level boarding. This paper summarizes current FTA policy on level boarding, discusses the benefits of level boarding, reviews the tension between freight clearance concerns and level boarding and reviews the state of the practice in serving passengers with mobility impairments. Based on the industry review, it highlights three innovations that have been implemented or considered to expand the scope of level boarding among North American commuter railroads. Finally it provides recommendations for further research.
Authors: Nelson, David O., Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. | Martinez, Eloy , LTK Engineering Services | Bonina, Stephen , Stadler US, Inc.
For more than a decade the subcommittee has been working to improve understanding of economic, technological, and regulatory factors defining the public transportation applications of self-propelled rail cars relying on-board sources of motive power. Over that period, the number of North America revenue applications of the technology has increased manifold with eight new systems in Dallas TX, Ottawa ON, Trenton NJ, Oceanside CA, Miami FL, Portland OR, Austin TX and Denton TX.
With these developments, empirical industry experience on the performance of this class of transit vehicles has greatly increased. But this experience is not well documented or widely communicated to inform future vehicle investment decisions. Information concerning the capital costs of the various systems is well documented. However, operating experience with respect to the cost of fuel, maintenance and operation is not. Similarly information concerning reliability and other service factors is also only anecdotal at best.
The proposed research program would work with the various organizations responsible for service to assemble and report data concerning Operating Costs, Service Statistics and Infrastructure Features. The report will provide an overview of each of the eight services and tabulate the range of values and metrics that describe the economic and service performance of the North American fleet including but not limited to Vehicle Maintenance Cost per Peak Vehicle; per Fleet Vehicle; and per Revenue Vehicle Mile; Mean Miles between Vehicle Failures; Fuel Consumption and Cost per Vehicle Mile and Total Transport Cost per Vehicle Mile and per Vehicle Hour
Click Here for a full copy of the proposed research needs statement. Comments are appreciated.
2012 Annual Meeting Agenda
AP070(1) Self-Powered Rail Car Technologies Subcommittee
Monday January 23, 2012, 3:45 to 5:30 pm
Columbia Hall 2:
David O. Nelson, Chairman | Acting Secretary, Adamson E. Streit
1. Approval of Minutes from Mid Year Meeting Saturday June 11, 2011
2. Discussion Topics
a. Recent Developments involving Compliant Cars
i.
ii.
iii.
iv. Trinity Railway Express
v.
vi. GO Transit: Has ordered 12 DMUs from Nippon Sharyo
vii. VIA
viii. Other systems?
b. Recent Developments involving Non-Compliant Cars
i. FRA RSAC and Alternative Compliance: Technical Criteria and Procedures for Evaluating the Crashworthiness and Occupant Protection Performance of Alternatively Designed Passenger Rail Equipment for Use in Tier I Service Final Report Published October 2011
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
vii. Plans for other systems?
3. Research Plan and Agenda
i. Updating the roster of North American SPRCs
ii. Empirical analysis of DMU Economics
iii. How will Alternative Compliance affect fleet decisions of North American transit providers?
iv. Other suggestions
