Passenger Trains > ARINC & AMTRAK NEC CETC SCADA

"ARINC Wins Centralized Electrification and Traffic Control System for Amtrak's Northeast Corridor Operations
Posted : Wed, 07 May 2008 17:55:38 GMT
Author : MD-ARINC
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - (Business Wire) ARINC Incorporated today announced it has won a contract to design and deliver a Centralized Electrification and Traffic Control (CETC) System for the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) Northeast Corridor (NEC) Operations. The project is part of a major Amtrak infrastructure improvement program for the Northeast Corridor.
The new system will provide Amtrak with a capability to improve the efficiency of their train operations and energy management on the Corridor.
The new CETC system will be based on ARINC’s industry-leading Advanced Information Management AIM® software platform, with a fully redundant architecture supporting multiple control centers and their associated emergency back-up centers. It will have the capability to operate the entire Northeast Corridor from any of several centers located throughout the Northeast, and will support train dispatching from Washington D.C. to Boston.
In addition to Amtrak trains, the system will be used to dispatch freight traffic from Norfolk Southern and CSX, and commuter trains from Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), Maryland Area Regional Commuter (Marc), New Jersey Transit, and Virginia Railway Express (VRE).
ARINC has designed and built rail operations centers and SCADA systems on the corridor for the MBTA, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Railroad, New York City Transit, New Jersey Transit, CONRAIL, SEPTA, Maryland MTA, and WMATA.
“ARINC is extremely pleased to be awarded this important contract from the National Railroad Passenger Corporation,” said John Belcher, ARINC Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud to include Amtrak as one of our customers. We look forward to working with all of our customers on the Northeast Corridor to improve the commuter and traveler’s experience using rail service from Washington to Boston.”
ARINC Incorporated, a portfolio company of The Carlyle Group, provides communications, engineering and integration solutions for commercial, defense and government customers worldwide. Headquartered in Annapolis, Maryland with regional headquarters in London and Singapore, ARINC is ISO 9001:2000 certified. For more information, visit the web site at www.arinc.com.
ARINC Incorporated
Brand Management & Communications
Linda Hartwig, +1 410-266-4652
corpcomm@arinc.com"
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/arinc-wins-centralized-electrification-and,383920.shtml

ARINC is an offshoot of the airline industry.

ARINC's original name was Aeronautical Radio, Inc., founded in 1929. For most of its life it has been the provider of radio communications for the domestic airlines. When the captain of an airliner talked to one of his company's base stations via radio, it was done via ARINC. Later, when airline crews and base stations exchanged digital information streams, ACARS© (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System), another ARINC innovation, was used.

ARINC has also been a leader in the development of standardized rack installations for airliner communications systems.

Until its sale to current owner Carlyle, ARINC was owned by four major airlines.

-GP

GenePoon Wrote:
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> ARINC is an offshoot of the airline industry.

Arinc was set up by the airlines to provide common standards for radio communications and electronic equipment for their industry. These standards now encompass everything from systems to connectors. For example, the Arinc 429 Digital Information Transfer System is a very common digital data bus standard used in aviation world-wide.

Arinc also has service businesses, such as ACARS, as Gene mentioned.

Ray

ARINC has been active in writing specifications for the AAR's Advanced Train Control System (ATCS) and other similar stuff.

The first of Amtrak's CETC systems was installed in PHL 30th Street in the 1980s. Other CETC offices are in NYP and BOS. The hardware and software are both badly in need of updating, so I'm glad to see Amtrak doing it.

rresor Wrote:
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> The first of Amtrak's CETC systems was installed
> in PHL 30th Street in the 1980s. Other CETC
> offices are in NYP and BOS. The hardware and
> software are both badly in need of updating, so
> I'm glad to see Amtrak doing it.

Boy your not kidding. Amtrak's CTC and SCADA system for the NEC has the look and feel of an early 80's computer system because .... it dates back to the early 80's. The system was designed and built by Chrysler's Defense Electronics division. Don't ask how Chrysler ended up building a railroad dispatching and power control system ... it's a VERY long story.

While the scope of the system has been expanded from it's original Washington (Avenue) to Wilmington (Landlith) configuration, it lacks many of the bells and whistles that most railroad dispatchers take for granted. The dispatching side is a basic NX type setup. Something as basic and "Stack Routing" (entering pre planned routes) is not available. I remember working CETC 4 during rush hour and having to constantly jump from "Phil" to "Hook" to Holly" and then "Wine" to keep the SEPTA trains moving. "Stack Route" would have helped a lot on that job. Hopefully the new system will offer some of the user friendly options found in programs such as Digicon, US&S, GRS and others.

CETC 1 - now that brings back memories .... some even good.


ESH