SmartDrive Systems recently announced that Transdev North America has selected SmartDrive Rail for deployment on the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcars, managed by the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority. In addition, Transdev has expanded its portfolio of safety offerings to include the patented SmartDrive Rail program. Since 2011, Transdev has deployed SmartDrive’s solution on over 7,000 vehicles across agencies nationwide.
“Within a week of deployment on the Cincinnati Bell Connector, we clearly saw the benefit of video safety for rail,” noted Ken Westbrook, president, Transdev Rail. “Having already experienced firsthand the positive impact SmartDrive has had on our bus lines, we predicted great things with the streetcar rollout and SmartDrive didn’t disappoint. We look forward to introducing the solution to our rail customers.”
Rail operators face an increasingly risky operating environment as cities become more congested and look to transit agencies to help solve a range of transportation challenges through the use of rail—be it light rail, streetcars or heavy rail. Streetcars face unique safety challenges because they often share the same roads as cars and trucks. With distractions on the rise for both pedestrians and drivers, transit agencies are exposed to significant risks in this mixed-use environment—particularly at crossings, intersections and other locations where motorists, rail cars and those on foot are in close proximity.
SmartDrive is deployed across the Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar fleet, which operates on a 3.6 mile loop and shares the road with other vehicles. Transdev selected SmartDrive based on its proven track-record over the past six years with the company’s bus transit customers. With SmartDrive Rail, Transdev is able to protect the Cincinnati Bell Connector operators in this challenging mixed environment. With the SmartDrive video safety program, Transdev customers have reduced collisions and improved safety while delivering a smooth ride for passengers.
“We commend Transdev on its commitment to a program that leverages the most advanced technology available to support its customers’ efforts to protect operators and keep riders safe,” stated Jason Palmer, president of SmartDrive. “Our longstanding collaboration with Transdev is a testament to the value of our solutions and we are extremely proud to work hand-in-hand with this highly respected transportation provider.”
SmartDrive Rail helps customers manage the challenging urban operating environment by capturing collisions and identifying operating risks and compliance issues. When an issue occurs, event video is immediately offloaded and management is notified within minutes of an incident, enabling them to respond appropriately to the situation as quickly as possible. The solution’s triggering capability integrates with rail-specific safety systems including positive train control, automatic train protection and track brake systems. This enables SmartDrive Rail to understand when a vehicle is functioning outside normal parameters, capturing event video that is then reviewed and scored for risk by rail safety analysts. The video, along with the identified safety risks and other pertinent data, is prioritized for coaching and available through a web interface. SmartDrive Rail is the only solution that provides an end-to-end managed service, validating and scoring risk, prioritizing for the customers and escalating to management in the event of a collision.
“Protecting operators, pedestrians and motorists has always been at the top of our priority list,” added Transdev’s Westbrook. “Within the first few weeks of deployment, SmartDrive has already provided immediate value—delivering better insight to the risks our operators face and supporting several incident investigations.”
