Metra contracts with Wabtec for Electronic Train Management System
November 7, 2006
WILMERDING, Pa. - Chicago commuter railroad Metra and Wabtec Railway Electronics have signed a contract for Wabtec to provide its Electronic Train Management System® to the regional commuter railroad. Under the contract, Wabtec will install ETMS on 24 locomotives and 24 passenger cars used on the Metra Rock Island line between Chicago and Joliet, Ill. Installation will begin in early 2007, with the ETMS-equipped locomotives and cars in revenue service in 2008. MotivePower, another Wabtec subsidiary, originally built some of the locomotives in 2003-04.
With ETMS, movement-related information, such as authority limits, speed limits, signal aspects and work zones are passed through a digital communications network to an onboard computer. The onboard computer, with location information provided via a global positioning system, will automatically initiate enforcement braking if the engineer fails to respond appropriately to movement and speed limit information. In addition, a computer screen inside the locomotive cab displays the authority limits, speed limits and work zones, as well as a moving map detailing grade, curvature and track topology.
The system could help avoid accidents such as one that killed two Metra passengers in September 2005 at 47th and Wentworth in Hyde Park on Metra's Rock Island line. The National Transportation Safety Board said the train was going 69 mph even though the speed limit on that section of track was 10 mph. The engineer might have missed a signal at 53rd Street, although he testified that he had all clear indications when he went past the signal. The NTSB report indicated the signals were working and were yellow over yellow - a sign for trains to reduce speed. The Wabtec system would have forced the train to slow down automatically. The 2005 derailment followed another in the same location two years earlier.
November 7, 2006
WILMERDING, Pa. - Chicago commuter railroad Metra and Wabtec Railway Electronics have signed a contract for Wabtec to provide its Electronic Train Management System® to the regional commuter railroad. Under the contract, Wabtec will install ETMS on 24 locomotives and 24 passenger cars used on the Metra Rock Island line between Chicago and Joliet, Ill. Installation will begin in early 2007, with the ETMS-equipped locomotives and cars in revenue service in 2008. MotivePower, another Wabtec subsidiary, originally built some of the locomotives in 2003-04.
With ETMS, movement-related information, such as authority limits, speed limits, signal aspects and work zones are passed through a digital communications network to an onboard computer. The onboard computer, with location information provided via a global positioning system, will automatically initiate enforcement braking if the engineer fails to respond appropriately to movement and speed limit information. In addition, a computer screen inside the locomotive cab displays the authority limits, speed limits and work zones, as well as a moving map detailing grade, curvature and track topology.
The system could help avoid accidents such as one that killed two Metra passengers in September 2005 at 47th and Wentworth in Hyde Park on Metra's Rock Island line. The National Transportation Safety Board said the train was going 69 mph even though the speed limit on that section of track was 10 mph. The engineer might have missed a signal at 53rd Street, although he testified that he had all clear indications when he went past the signal. The NTSB report indicated the signals were working and were yellow over yellow - a sign for trains to reduce speed. The Wabtec system would have forced the train to slow down automatically. The 2005 derailment followed another in the same location two years earlier.
--Dorian--
