Meeting – Community of Metros Benchmarking Group

After the successful in-person 2023 Western Meeting in San Francisco, the Transport Strategy Centre (TSC) had the pleasure of welcoming COMET members during the 2023 Eastern Meeting, which was hosted by Kuala Lumpur Rapid Rail. Despite being a smaller group with seven metros, the intimate setting allowed for in-depth discussion on various topics, including financial performance and future funding, station staffing and recruitment, metro demand, energy efficiency, and reliability performance.

During the technical visits, members visited the Sungai Buloh Depot and the Operational Control Center, as well as experienced a ride on the new Putrajaya Line. The line was officially launched in 2021 with an extension through the city centre reaching south near the airport in March 2023.

COMET fully resumed in-person meetings in 2023, with the first successful meeting held by San Francisco BART in April. It brought together 22 metros discussing topics of fare evasion, recruitment and retention, crime and disorder, and energy efficiency.

The delegates visited BART Powell Street station and Hayward Maintenance Yard. The technical visits also included a tour of fare gate prototypes installed at the Rockridge station and a visit to San Francisco Central Subway.

During the meeting sessions, metros shared the latest development of their own systems, and heard detailed information from the metro spotlight presentations, including San Francisco BART’s presentation on the new rolling stock project, and Berlin BVG’s presentation on their measures of combating crime and disorder.

Community of Metros News: COMET 2023 Eastern Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, 23-26 May

Community of Metros News: COMET 2023 Western Meeting in San Francisco, 19-21 April