#railroads #gps #data #services #commuter #rail

 

 

Speakers: Michael Helta, MDOT MTA Chief Innovation Officer                 

               Steve Gladstone MDOT MTA Office of Communications and Marketing, Director of Digital Content

               Mike Scanlon, Bombardier Transportation Services - MARC Operations and Communications Center Trainmaster 

               David Johnson (DJ), MARC Train Chief Transportation Officer

Topic:       Establishing a Modern Real-Time Tracking Solution for MARC Train...It's Not As Easy As It Seems!

 

MARC Train was the first commuter railroad in North America with a GPS-based train tracking system, rolling out "MARCTracker.com" in 2000.  However, that was 2000 - a lot has changed in technology since then!  MARCTracker.com was a proprietary system that was not compatible with modern GPS systems and, more importantly, GTFS-RT feeds -- which means that the data is not easily usable by the public and can't be used by programmers to make their own apps.  The presenters will discuss the challenges that MARC Train faced developing the new system -- including dealing with multiple different types of equipment, vendors, contractors, and technologies. 

 

 

Michael Helta is the Chief Innovation Officer at the Maryland Transit Administration.  In his role, Michael seeks out strategies, technologies, and tactics to continually improve services to better the customer experience wherever possible. Improvements include developing real-time arrival information for the first time across all modes, developing an agency data warehouse, improving operational SOPs, improving service-related communications, and much more.  Prior to his current role, Michael was the agency’s Manager of Project Development which included preliminary design of capital projects, long-range planning analysis, policy administration, and short-range studies and before that served as the Chief of Capital Programming overseeing the agency's 6-year $2.5B capital budget. Michael has BAs in Psychology and Criminal Justice and a Masters in Community Planning all from the great University of Maryland at College Park. Before his career in transit Michael had experience working in social services as a director of a non-profit volunteer elderly home repair program, as an in-home family therapist for at-risk youth, and moonlighted as a pizza delivery guy.  A native of Maryland, Michael has now lived in Baltimore for over 10 years and loves every minute of it. In his free time, you can find him playing disc golf, riding buses, or hanging out with his cat named Carl.

Steve Gladstone is the Director of Digital Marketing and Content for the Maryland Transit Administration's Office of Communications and Marketing. For the last three years, he's constantly sought out ways to support and improve communications and experiences for both internal and external customers. He serves as a floating developer for the agency, leveraging his degree in computer science to assist his own department and others in coding local and cloud-based solutions to the myriad of problems we all face while doing the best he can to leverage application openness and ensuring interoperability across systems.

Mike Scanlon joined CSX Transportation as a Yardmaster at Curtis Bay in Baltimore in 2012.  In 2014, he became Trainmaster for Baltimore Terminal and in 2015 became Trainmaster for the Keystone and S&C subdivisions in Western Maryland and Southwest Pennsylvania, where he was part of the Positive Train Control (PTC) testing program.  He joined Bombardier Transportation Service in 2016 as part of the MARC Train Camden and Brunswick Line operations team and became the morning lead Trainmaster in the MARC Operations and Communications Center in 2018.  In that role, he has done extensive work to roll out technology improvements to streamline the behind-the-scenes processes and procedures that go into operating Camden and Brunswick Line service.

David "DJ" Johnson is the Chief Transportation Officer for MDOT MTA's MARC Train and the Chairman of the IEEE/VTS National Capital Chapter. He joined MARC Train in 2009 as a Trainmaster and held positions of increasing responsibility before being appointed Chief Transportation Officer in February 2017.  Johnson and his Operations team are responsible for the day-to-day management and oversight of contract operators on all three MARC Train lines, including 24/7 response to service disruptions and other unusual circumstances.  He and the Operations team are also responsible for customer service and outreach to MARC Train passengers.