Posted Jul 9, 2009, 12:36 AM
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Englewood, CO
Posts: 1,998
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Quote:
RTD scraps real-time updates of Colorado light-rail arrivals
A cheaper, simpler system will update train riders based on published schedules.
By Jeffrey Leib
The Denver Post
Posted: 07/08/2009 12:00:00 AM MDT
Updated: 07/08/2009 02:30:49 PM MDT
RTD has decided to swap a system that provided live "next train" announcements to passengers on light-rail platforms for a simpler one that tells travelers when the next two trains should arrive based on a published schedule.
The Regional Transportation District's contract for T-REX's southeast corridor light-rail project called for live next-train announcements over a public address system and on electronic variable message signs at stations.
The southeast train line opened in late 2006 but bugs with the communications system delayed certification of the next-train messaging system for at least two years and caused RTD to hold back about $5 million due the communications contractor.
Live next-train announcements relied on a complex computerized "train-tracking" system that presented challenges to engineers.
Bugs finally were worked out and RTD released the money to the contractor, but the agency now has decided that a live alert that the next train will arrive in three minutes isn't very useful to someone who arrives on the platform two minutes before its arrival, said Rick Clarke, RTD's acting assistant general manager for FasTracks/engineering.
So RTD will have communications personnel working on the West Corridor light-rail line retrofit the existing system with a simpler one that tells passengers on platforms when the next two trains are to arrive based on the published schedule, Clarke said.
"It is stepping back from the original intent of having real-time information," he said. But noting that 95 percent of trains stay on schedule, Clarke said, "Scheduled information provides most of what passengers need at much less cost and much less complexity."
In the small number of cases where trains are delayed, RTD's control center can make special announcements to passengers on platforms, he said.
The West rail line and all future FasTracks trains will have the simpler announcement system as well, according to Clarke.
He explained the switch to RTD directors Tuesday night as part of update on the "close-out" of the T-REX train project.
The $879 million project ended with a surplus of $3.7 million, which will be applied to power upgrades on the existing system, Clarke said.
The final price included about $30 million in southeast corridor upgrades, including new pedestrian bridges, that were not in the original scope of work, he added.
Also on Tuesday, RTD named engineer James Starling as corridor manager on the $707 million West light-rail construction project. He succeeds Dennis Cole, who died June 26 following a stroke.
The West line is the first FasTracks train under major construction. It is due to open in 2013.
Starling has been project manager on another FasTracks rail project, the North Metro train from Union Station to north Adams County.
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http://www.denverpost.com/ci_12774365
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