Integration of Automation into Urban Rail Transit

This paper describes how the coming decade will bring many changes to public transit and significant increases in ridership demand and the additional demand for value-added services, which are coupled with ever increasing energy costs are anticipated. The end result will be an intense focus on services. One of the means to help transit management deal with these often conflicting requirements is to increase the reliance on automation and technology. Communication Based Train Control (CBTC), allowing increasing levels of automation, provides examples of how we can help transit management respond to 21st century demands, but these are also examples that are difficult to achieve in practice. How do we overcome the gap? This paper discusses the means and methods used to better define system requirements, integrate new technology into the organization, design for system efficiency, safety and reliability, and develop a work force capable of maintaining high levels of safety and reliability. Bombardier Transportation is the global leader in the development, design and supply of automated transportation systems for urban and airport applications. Since the debut of the world’s first automated people mover (APM) system at Tampa International Airport in 1971 and through the parallel development of the Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) technology in the 1970’s, as well as the first radio CBTC system in service, Bombardier has remained at the forefront of the introduction and development of full automation through CBTC. This paper presents an overview of the process that has been developed over the years, to successfully integrate a modern CBTC automated train control system into the latest rail transit vehicle technology used for the Yongin Rapid Transit System in South Korea. The paper also provides an end-to-end view of the requirements, design, development, testing and delivery of the system.