Technology – Community of Metros Benchmarking Group

Community of Metros News: COMET 2023 Annual Meeting in Dubai, 12-16 November

December 22, 2023November 17, 2023

The Transport Strategy Centre (TSC) together with Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) of Dubai welcomed over 70 attendees from 28 member metros during the COMET 2023 Annual Meeting in Dubai. This was the first major opportunity for all COMET members to come together in person since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The meeting started with an executive day based on the themes of financial, operational, and environmental sustainability. Metro executives discussed shared challenges in the new post-COVID period, and heard wide-ranging discussions on the potential future opportunities from other metros.

The remainder of the meeting consisted of breakout sessions on the topics of technology and innovation, KPI presentations across several success dimensions, and structured discussions on the topics of staffing and reliability. Members also heard the latest update on Transport for London’s Elizabeth Line 18 months after its opening, and from new member Bangalore BMRC on their challenges and lesson learnt from its rapid network expansions.

During technical visits, delegates visited the multi-agency Enterprise Command and Control Centre, Expo Station, and RTA’s Operational Control Centre where members had discussions with Dubai metro operator, Keolis-MHI, and learnt the details about the operations and maintenance contract. Thank you to RTA for its generous hosting of a very interesting and successful COMET Annual Meeting.

Research: Noise and Vibration

January 5, 2021July 25, 2020

Noise and vibration are byproducts of urban rail systems, exacerbated by siting metro infrastructure near to sources of demand. This study was carried out as a follow-up to previous work that has been carried out in CoMET and Nova on the topic and examined practices to reduce and mitigate noise and vibration from 27 CoMET and Nova metros.

The research covers a number of areas including benchmarking of metro networks, benchmarking of noise and vibration levels, key issues causing noise and vibration across metros, relevant regulation, targets, and importantly initiatives to reduce and mitigate noise and vibration. The study identifies the key actions that metros can undertake during planning, design and operations, as well as proactive and reactive measures that metros can take once the system is already operating and established. The widest and likely most effective range of actions can be taken early in design and planning, but there are a number of options across operations and maintenance that can help to manage and reduce noise and vibration. The challenge is for metro operators will be to continue to mitigate, manage and reduce noise and vibration impacts alongside rising expectations for liveability in cities, regulatory requirements, and the long-term nature of infrastructure design.

Research: Real-time Information

January 5, 2021July 23, 2020

Real-time information is rapidly becoming a baseline expectation for customers using metro systems. Metros have a wide array of operational and asset data sources, and a multitude of options to present this information to customers. This study brought together practices from 27 CoMET and Nova metros to understand how they provide accurate real-time information to customers by exploring their back-end management of data and front-end presentation of real-time information.

Data relating to train operations are most commonly available across metros, relying on signalling systems for example. Less commonly available are data to do with passenger movements (increasingly important to manage passenger flow in stations and trains). Generally, real-time information in stations becomes more focused on train running the closer the passenger gets to the train, to ensure that customers receive the most relevant information they need to support their journey. Metros are also recognising that digital/remote availability of real-time information is also increasingly important to customers, but so far these are not a substitute for good quality real-time information in stations and trains.

Multimodal operators have an additional opportunity to integrate their real-time information across modes, but integration with other modes and through third party interfaces is an opportunity to present real-time information seamlessly to the customer. Lastly, the study explored the innovations and trends that metros are investing in to improve their real-time information to customers, including greater personalisation and targeting of information and greater accuracy of data.

Research: Digital Transformation of Metros

March 16, 2021March 5, 2020

The Digital Transformation of Metros study reviewed the strategies, initiatives, and technologies used by metros to implement digital transformation for four key purposes: safety improvement, station operations and management, train operations, and depot management. In recent years there have been several digital trends observed in metros, including provision of real-time train loading information, centralised station management, customer-facing staff equipped with tablets, installation of passenger counting equipment, etc. Metros’ long-term digital transformation plans typically involve multi-phase programmes with strong support from management, employee expertise, and partnership with external parties. Ultimately, digital transformation is highly related to transforming employees. Therefore the study summarised metros’ good practices to create a digital culture, as well as ways to remove barriers along the journey to digital transformation.

Research: Metro Security

August 19, 2019March 2, 2019

Trends concerning crime were found to be highly regionalised both for types of crimes committed (against person, property etc.) and evolution. Over the period from 2012 to 2017, the rate of crimes across CoMET and Nova metros is decreasing for 65%, with the largest decreases occurring primarily at Asian metros that already have very low crime levels.

(Am – American Metro, As – Asian Metro, Eu – European Metro)

Patrols and CCTV are ubiquitous means of surveillance though they have different secondary benefits. Nearly all metros reported that security staff are multifunctional and can respond to customer queries as well as providing crowd control and passenger assistance. This is also typically complemented by station staff notifying security of issues and monitoring CCTV.

Technological advances were identified as key drivers of change within metro security both to inform strategies and to monitor crime. The key areas where advanced technology for security are developing include passenger screening, smart cameras, the use of apps, and the provision of enhanced infrastructure (such as 5G networks).

Research: Using Data to Improve Maintenance

August 19, 2019March 15, 2018

Ongoing developments in information technologies, specifically the ability to capture, store, and analyse large datasets, are creating significant opportunities to improve maintenance. The study explored the move towards predictive and data-driven maintenance within CoMET and Nova metros.

There is a clear trend in metros to move toward one asset information system. Integration of systems can bring benefits such as increased efficiency in management and data consistency. It is found that metros are adopting advanced technology (e.g. mobile devices, automatic monitoring systems) to collect data more efficiently. Collection of more detailed maintenance data and use dedicated staff to manage data are also used at the same time to improve data quality.

In order to acquire sufficient data for analysis, metros have initiated various pilot projects adding sensors to monitor asset condition. The study collected the good practices within metros in terms of data collection, analysis and applications, as well as the tangible benefits of data analysis. With the development of auto-monitoring systems and evolution of ‘big data’ analysis, there is a significant opportunity to unlock new understanding about asset performance and lifecycles.

Research: Multifunctional Staff

November 4, 2015

Nova members have identified a need to innovate to increase staff productivity levels, and asked RTSC to investigate how metros around the world have used multifunctional staff. A wide variety of multifunctional roles were identified, classified into six broad types as shown below.

The best multifunctional staff roles fill in what would otherwise be unproductive time, with productive activity. This is often accomplished by matching functions that need to be done at separate times of day or functions that can be slotted in between other activities in a single location, such as light maintenance within stations.

Multifunctional working also has an important role at increasing staff satisfaction. By combining tasks, staff have the opportunity to work in a more varied and interesting role. This can improve the attractiveness of the metro as an employer and improve staff motivation. For example, one metro recorded reduced absenteeism among their most multifunctional staff. Multifunctional roles can also create a career progression – especially for staff who are technically excellent but do not necessarily want to manage other people.

Research: Station Management and Mobile Technology

May 8, 2015

Modern technology offers significant opportunities to improve station operations and the customer experience. At the same time this new technology is changing the nature of communications between staff and passengers.

This study found six key trends in terms of station staff organisation and management across the Community of Metros:

There is significant opportunity for many CoMET and Nova metros to rapidly and relatively cheaply improve customer information and assistance using remote and mobile technology.
Remote monitoring of safety-critical systems (i.e. watching an escalator on CCTV) is currently preferred to remotely controlling the system (i.e. turning an escalator on or off), even when that capability exists.
Some metros are beginning to use mobile applications to support staff operations, such as allowing staff to monitor and control CCTV, make public address announcements, or look up asset information from electronic manuals.
The application of mobile devices in station asset management currently focuses around inspections rather than more direct forms of asset control.
Metros are not creating overarching policies for the deployment of mobile technology, but instead choosing to focus on the end objective of improving customer experience and business productivity with whatever technology facilitates the task.
There is significant variation across the group in terms of hardware, software and practical use of devices.

We also identified five key trends in terms of station staff organisation and management across the Community of Metros:

Supported by electronic ticketing and self-service technology, ticketing staff roles are evolving to focus on broader customer assistance and increased visibility around stations.
There is increasing use of multi-functional staff across the Community of Metros, as well as an increase in their capabilities and responsibilities.
Metros are deploying increasing numbers of roaming staff, across a range of station operations.
Metros are dividing their network into a higher number of station control zones that each contain fewer stations, with benefits for local knowledge, staff camaraderie and teamwork.
Metros increasingly have one staff member per group performing a single coordinating role, responsible for both customer services and assets across a small group of stations.