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It's been a busy summer for the Signals Training Consortium. Since June, the consortium has completed three more instruction-ready courses:
* Course 105: Introduction and Overview to Cab & Wayside Signaling
* Course 106: Introduction and Overview to Interlockings
* Course 301: Troubleshooting Track Circuits
To date, two of the three have been piloted by partner locations. On July 14, Metro-North Railroad piloted course 301: Troubleshooting Track Circuits. This was the first troubleshooting course to be piloted by the consortium. As all troubleshooting courses in this suite do, Course 301 starts with an overview to general troubleshooting procedures and strategies. Then equipment specific common failures and causes are explained. Lastly, participants are given scenarios built off of real world examples to which they must apply their knowledge and troubleshooting approaches to find the root cause of the problem. Metro-North trainer Daniel Arritt was impressed with the flow of the course and had very minimal edits.
Last week starting on August 4, Denver RTD piloted course 105: Introduction and Overview to Cab and Wayside Signaling with two new hires (employed for less than four months). Pre and post test scores with these new hires shows nearly a 200% knowledge gain. As per the goal of piloting courseware, both Metro-North and Denver RTD have submitted suggested edits to strengthen the courseware. Center staff will make these updates before courseware is finalized.
To see samples of the training materials developed by the signals training consortium visit Transit Training Network. For more information on the consortium, contact project manager Mark Dysart.
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The National Academies of Science-Engineering-Medicine - August, 2015
TRB's Transit IDEA Report 71: Transit Information Access for Persons with Visual or Cognitive Impairments explores ways to use technology to address the needs of passengers with visual impairments and of passengers with cognitive disabilities. This project envisioned a new location-based information access system that provides personalized transit information to each user, regardless of possible sensorial or cognitive impairments, with the goal of potentially increasing ridership to large segments of the community who are currently unable or unwilling to travel independently.
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By and large, the way Americans book and pay for city transportation has worked the same way for decades. The process of buying a physical ticket to access public transit comes to us from a distinctly pre-digital era, yet it remains ubiquitous across the country. In an era of globalizing forces, city transportation systems have maintained their local color and variety. That creates complications when passengers want to switch from, say, a taxi to a bus to a light rail train and need different forms of payment for each. Or when somebody travels to a different city and needs to buy a whole new roster of ticketing options to do the exact same thing.
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Gamification slowly but surely filters in many meaningful aspects of our lives. Transportation is not an outlier of this process. Public transit, as a part of transportation, should keep up with this trend to attract and retain riders, especially the elusive millennials. Gamification is "the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game contexts to engage users in solving problems and increase users' self-contributions," according to Wikipedia. The game itself does not have to be complicated but it has to possess certain elements to become successful: rewards, competition, and immersion into the process which increases the level of satisfaction and takes mind of time spent on waiting or getting to a destination.
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Expect a groundbreaking soon for the $65 million railroad passenger-car factory Chinese rail giant CNR Changchun Railway Vehicles Co. is planning for East Springfield, said Stephanie Pollack, Massachusetts secretary and CEO of the Department of Transportation. Pollack was in Springfield Wednesday mostly to talk about the Interstate 91 project. But she also discusses the 220,000-square-foot factory CNR is building to supply new subway cars to the MBTA. The T falls under Pollack's jurisdiction.
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The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is creating an office of "extraordinary innovation" (OEI) to champion new ideas for improving mobility throughout the region. The office will also help the agency set an innovative and fiscally responsible course for the future, Metro officials said in a press release. The small OEI team will serve as the creative engine for inventive plans, practices and thinking. It will work with academic institutions, senior transportation veterans, and transportation and policy think tanks to understand both new and old mobility ideas.
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The Cleveland State Line posted record-breaking ridership, up nearly 20 percent during the first six months of operation. Officials of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (RTA) say June ridership was up 28 percent compared to a year ago and up 23 percent for the second quarter of 2015.
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ANYONE STILL IN the market for a SEPTA Regional Rail pass for use during the papal visit is in luck. SEPTA said that remaining passes will go on sale this coming weekend at the 18 rail stations serving the public on Sept. 26 and 27. The purchase deadline for customers offered a pass in the initial lottery process ended at 3 p.m. yesterday after an extension.
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Denver has enjoyed great success in transit development and South Florida has a critical need for solutions. A delegation of 53 elected officials and business and community leaders recently took a whirlwind 12-hour tour of Denver's commuter rail system, light rail, bus rapid transit, free downtown trollies and urban and suburban transit-oriented developments and participated in learning sessions with the transit agency's prime movers.
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Progress is being made between Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 and Milwaukee County Transit System. Contract negotiations continued Monday with both sides saying they're reviewing and considering a variety of options and proposals. The union has been without a contract for months and went on strike for three days during Summerfest.
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Building Transportation Infrastructure
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Key decisions are coming that will determine whether the 16-mile Purple Line light rail project between Bethesda and New Carrollton. MD, is built next year. At issue: whether public officials can find the right mix of federal, state, and county tax dollars combined with private financing to pay for the $2 billion transit system connecting Prince George's and Montgomery Counties through downtown Silver Spring. Republican Gov. Larry Hogan has announced the state will back the Purple Line's construction as long as the two counties agree to pay more cash up front.
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The Maryland Department of Transportation will draw up a plan within 60 days for improving Baltimore's mass transportation network after a tense two-hour meeting Monday between Transportation Secretary Pete Rahn and elected officials.
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Rapid transit may come to central Indiana sooner than many people thought. An IndyGo spokesman said if all goes as planned, construction could start on phase one of the Red Line in 2017 with rapid bus route up and running in 2018. Next week, the transit company begins a series of public meetings to vet the plan and seek buy-in before applying for a federal transportation grant.
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