CBTC – Community of Metros Benchmarking Group

Community of Metros News: 2026 Virtual Events in the First Quarter

March 23, 2026

The TSC has kicked off 2026 with real momentum, hosting six vibrant virtual events in the first quarter. It is inspiring to see members getting connected and sharing insights through the online discussions.

Study Webinars: The Headway-Based Scheduling and Dispatching Webinar (January) discussed the advantages, challenges, and real-world applications of headway-based operations. In March, the CBTC Operations and Maintenance Structure Webinar reviewed findings of the on-going study encompassing the experience of 34 metros.

Virtual General Meeting (February): Members received the latest COMET data updates and heard presentations from New York NYCT and Hong Kong MTR on their member-led studies.

Virtual Workshops: The Virtual CBTC Workshop (February) built on the success of the 2023 in-person event, featuring updates from 15 metros navigating the complexities of CBTC deployment. The Virtual Metro Automation Workshop (March) energised discussions around GoA3 and GoA4 implementation, with exciting project updates from Sydney Metro, Metro de Madrid, Copenhagen S-Tog, and other metros.

Metro de Madrid ‘Metro of the Future’ Exhibition

Data Collection Clinic (March) equipped members with a clear overview of the 2026 data process and new tools designed to help them harness the value of COMET’s datasets.

Community of Metros News: CBTC Workshop in New York, 10-13 July

August 29, 2023July 28, 2023

An expert workshop on Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) took place in July, hosted by New York NYCT. The workshop was hosted jointly with the International Suburban Rail Benchmarking Group (ISBeRG) of TSC. Over the course of three days, forty attendees joined from sixteen metros and one railway who were planning, installing, or had already implemented CBTC.

TSC and members presented on three key themes: challenges when migrating to CBTC, how to prepare for implementation of CBTC, and how to best leverage CBTC to benefit metro operations. The delegates had in-depth discussions around these topics and exchanged ideas based on their own experience.

Members also took part in technical visits to the NYCT Rail Control Center as well as the Corona Maintenance Yard to view signalling infrastructure. Additionally, New York PATH welcomed delegates to their operational control center based in New Jersey. Very positive feedback was received after the event and members are looking forward to the next in-person CBTC workshop.

Metro News: Guangzhou Metro develops new CBTC system

March 26, 2014April 6, 2013

In cooperation with the China Railway Academy of Science and Technology, Guangzhou Metro has successfully developed a new CBTC signaling system which has now passed the scientific and technological achievement appraisal by Guangdong Province, China. This is an important achievement because the number of CBTC systems on offer is currently very limited.

The technical design of the MTC-I CBTC program was finished in 2008, experimental testing was finished in 2009, and field trials were conducted in 2010. Meanwhile, the CBTC system has received third party safety certification by Lloyds, and safety certification of related subsystems including computer-based interlocking system platform, trackside controller subsystem, on-board ATP subsystem, FIMI fail-safe intelligent input and output modules, axle counter (Safety Integrity Level 4) and ATS system(Safety Integrity Level 2). The system uses wireless communication based moving block technology. The achievement of scientific and technological identification and third-party safety certification has enabled the MTC-I CBTC signaling system to move into the engineering application stage.