California State Rail Plan 2007-08 to 2017-18

2007-08 – 2017-18 California State Rail Planadditional technology trials, and development of partnerships around the world inthis new industry. The CCJPA is developing a Request for Proposal (RFP) to beready by 2008 to establish and maintain a wireless network.A comprehensive wireless and wired network could have many significantapplications for improvement of safety, operations, cost-control, and customerservice. Systems such as this are in use today in Europe on several railway lines,and more are in the planning and development stages. The network would includehardware installations on the State-owned rolling stock and would likely includeequipment installations along the right-of-way (ROW) and other fixed facilities.Such a system can allow for data to be sent between all points in the railwayservice, from stations, maintenance facilities, a future safety/security center, and,of course, the moving trains. The benefits of a comprehensive wireless networkare discussed in more detail in Chapter III.Automated Ticket ValidationAutomated Ticket Validation (ATV) is a wireless application that can beimplemented in advance of a full wireless network. It would improve customerservice, operations, and safety. Rail passengers have been able to makereservations and purchase tickets over the internet for some time now, but thetickets purchased are traditional paper tickets and must be mailed to the purchaseror picked up at an Amtrak ticket office prior to departure. Airlines went one stepfarther and introduced “paperless” ticketing several years ago. A similar systemfor train travel would be much more convenient for many passengers, particularlythose boarding at small un-staffed stations along the route, because it wouldeliminate the need to obtain actual paper tickets prior to traveling.On-board the system would also have many operational advantages. It wouldproduce a real-time record of all passengers on-board. This is a significant safetyand security feature and will be similar to that currently required of the passengerairline industry. This system would also allow actual trip origin-destinationinformation, instead on the current estimates (particularly for 10-ride and monthlytickets), to better inform management of actual usage, thus allowing better insightand management of the service delivered to the customer.In early 2008 the CCJPA is undertaking an automated ticket validation pilotproject. Dependant upon the results of this project, the CCJPA will implementthis project.Safety and Security ApplicationsA wireless/wired network with sufficient bandwidth to transmit digitized livevideo is a significant advancement for safety and security for the passenger railindustry. CCJPA is specifying in its RFP for a wireless network, a network thatcan provide sufficient bandwidth to allow video cameras along the railway line, atstations, and other facilities that can be viewed in real-time, and activated using124