Metrolink peer review report - Ventura County Star

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METROLINK COMMUTER RAIL SAFETY PEER REVIEW PANEL Final Report – January 5, 2009 Issue Papers been in the cab. These situations have occurred, presumably, because of distractions related to conversations between crew members, other communications occurring within the cab of the locomotive or possibly simultaneous inattention by both crew members. In fact, there is no quantitative evidence that a second set of eyes within the cab provides an added safety benefit. The Panel has not done a quantitative analysis of this issue, but would recommend that SCRRA perform a Hazard Analysis under its SSPP including research and analysis of accident data where there has been a second set of eyes to better inform its decision on this issue. NTSB, for example, has specific information on all accidents and SCRRA could ask for 10 years-worth of properly sorted data. 56
METROLINK COMMUTER RAIL SAFETY PEER REVIEW PANEL Final Report – January 5, 2009 d. DigiCon Dispatch DigiCon train dispatching system will no longer be supported by DigiCon effective December 31, 2008. Issue Papers Observation The Panel believes that after December 31, 2008, SCRRA, through their signal engineering consultants, will be able to maintain and modify the software specific to the Metrolink controlled and dispatched system. Regarding the basic underlying DigiCon system, SCRRA may have enough spare parts to maintain the system hardware until another system is in place. However, the system software will not have technical support and a failure of the basic operating system is a concern. While SCRRA has redundancies built into the system, including software backups, should a failure occur, the system would be obsolete and not supported with readily available parts and services important to such a system. Recommendation The Panel recommends that plans to transition from the DigiCon system should move forward as soon as possible. In addition, a written action plan should be in place for the period from January 1, 2009 until a new dispatching platform is in place for maintenance and other emergencies specific to the non-supported portion of the system. Background As of December 31, 2008, DigiCon will no longer provide technical support for the Digital Traffic Control operating system currently used by Metrolink to dispatch and control trains within its operating territory. As a result, Metrolink will no longer receive the support for the basic software that is the observation for this system. The overall system combines the DigiCon operating system as an observation with a separate program that contains the signal and operational logic specific to the Metrolink system. SCRRA does not own the source code that is the fundamental operating environment for the system, but does own its Metrolink -specific dispatching software application. DigiCon has offered to sell a copy of the source code for the system. The asking price began at approximately $60 million and has now dropped to $10 million. There is concern within the SCRRA operations group about the ability of Metrolink to maintain the DigiCon system adequately after December 31, 2008. This concern is based on the fact, again, that SCRRA does not own the source code for the dispatching system and that this will create a serious dispatching issue if the system fails. In addition, the operations group does not appear to have a complete understanding on how the dispatching system will be updated with the advent of the enhanced Orange County Metrolink service as well as the numerous other projects currently underway. The Panel held a subsequent discussion with SCRRA’s Manager, Communication and Signal Engineering (C&S), regarding this issue. The SCRRA engineering group has actions in place to transition to a different dispatching system platform. The current plans are to transition to a new platform with the change to PTC. This group is in the process of developing a Request for Proposals for such a system. The software concern is primarily regarding the basic platform. Metrolink incorporates within the DigiCon environment separate software containing the logic and operational map of the Metrolink system. As upgrades are made to the system, the C&S group, through its signal engineering consultants, updates the logic sequence 57
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Metrolink peer review report - Ventura County Star

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