California State Rail Plan 2007-08 to 2017-18

Chapter III – Operations Programreservations 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 where passengerscan make their own reservations on-line that are used to print a boarding pass priorto departure, either on the passengers’ own computer or at a check-in terminal atthe airport. A similar system for train travel would be much more convenient formany passengers, particularly those boarding at small unstaffed stations along theroute, because it would eliminate the need to obtain actual paper tickets prior totraveling, or purchasing them on board.The system would have many operational advantages. Conductors would scan thetickets with hand-held bar code readers and the information would be storedelectronically, eliminating the manual processing of tickets, both on-board thetrains and in Amtrak’s central accounting offices. Tickets could be also purchasedon-board, and on-board credit card sales could be checked for invalid credit cardusage. The hand-held system will also print out a seat check for each ticketvalidation or on-board ticket sale. By cross reference to the maintained ticket saledatabase and the validation of ticket use or sale while in service, it will be feasibleto produce a passenger manifest. This is a significant safety and security featureand will be similar to that currently required of the passenger airline industry.This system would also allow actual trip origin-destination information, instead onthe current estimates (particularly for 10-ride and monthly tickets), to betterinform management of actual usage, thus allowing better insight and managementof the service delivered to the customer.The CCJPA in 2007 is undertaking an automated ticket validation pilot project thatis funded by the Department. Depending upon the results, the Department willdevelop a plan for project implementation on the Pacific Surfliners andSan Joaquins.Wireless Train Management SystemThe Department is investigating the use of wireless train management that is awireless network of communication between locomotives, wayside signalingsystems, and dispatchers that functions as a safety overlay on top of existing traincontrol and signal systems. The purpose is to improve safety and to prevent traincollisions and accidents. A computerized system is installed inside eachlocomotive that receives information from the railroad’s existing GlobalPositioning System (GPS) network, and once the train is underway, the systemtracks the train’s location. The system can: override and automatically controltrain speed, relay information such as speed limits and track switch positions to acomputer screen inside the locomotive cab, sending warnings to the crew, andautomatically starting the braking process (if the crew does not respond promptly).Wireless train management is a significant safety milestone for the rail industry.53