New Technologies to Improve Commuter Rail Service Delivery

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, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

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 Miami's Tri Rail system will discuss the scope and challenges presented by implementation of the region's "Easy Card" of the Tri-Rail commuter railroad.

Presenter: Matthews, Renee , South Florida Regional Transit Authority

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 Salt Lake's social media program for customer communication.

Presenter: O'Brien, Paul , Utah Transit Authority

Commuter Rail: Balancing Freight Clearance with Level Boarding and ADA Accessibility Requirements (12-1711)
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.

Proposed NCTRP and NCRRP Research Needs Statement

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.

Agenda for 2012 Annual Meeting

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: Washington Hilton, Washington, DC

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. Denton A Train: Opened June 20, 2011 with a fleet of 10 RDCs leased from Trinity Railway Express. 45 weekday revenue trains., six station stations, 38 minutes end-to-end

ii. Portland West Side Express

iii. South Florida Tri-Rail

iv. Trinity Railway Express

v. Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit: Has ordered 18 DMUs from Nippon Sharyo

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. Denton TX A-Train: Has placed an order for 11 Stadler GTWs to replace the Budd RDCs being used for start up. The first of these cars arrived for testing the fall of 2011

iii. Ottawa O-Train: Is planning increases in service frequency and coverage

iv. Austin’s Capital MetroRail: Launched March 22, 2010

v. New Jersey Transit RiverLINE

vi. Oceanside Escondido Sprinter

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