The Consolidated Control Facility, located in Chicago at 15th and Canal, is the focal point for management of Metra operated trains. It includes the computer aided dispatch system for train operations on the Metra system (including the Metra Contract Carrier Dispatch). The CTCO, which manages the private rail freight operations, is housed within this facility. The police dispatch and signal system control are other major functions of Control Facility. Responsibility for Positive Train Control will also be housed here.
| Functional Object | Description | User Defined |
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| Field Secure Area Sensor Monitoring | 'Field Secure Area Sensor Monitoring' includes sensors that monitor conditions of secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards), transportation infrastructure (e.g. Bridges, tunnels, interchanges, and transit railways or guideways), and public areas (e.g., transit stops, transit stations, rest areas, park and ride lots, modal interchange facilities). A range of acoustic, environmental threat (e.g. Chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors), infrastructure condition and integrity and motion and object sensors are included. | False |
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| Field Secure Area Surveillance | 'Field Secure Area Surveillance' includes video and audio surveillance equipment that monitors conditions of secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards), transportation infrastructure (e.g. as bridges, tunnels, interchanges, and transit railways or guideways), and public areas (e.g., transit stops, transit stations, rest areas, park and ride lots, modal interchange facilities). It provides the surveillance information to the Emergency Management Center for possible threat detection. It also provides local processing of the video or audio information, providing processed or analyzed results to the Emergency Management Center. | False |
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| Transit Center Fixed–Route Operations | 'Transit Center Fixed–Route Operations' manages fixed route transit operations. It supports creation of schedules, blocks and runs for fixed and flexible route transit services. It allows fixed–route and flexible–route transit services to disseminate schedules and automatically updates customer service operator systems with the most current schedule information. It also supports automated dispatch of transit vehicles. Current vehicle schedule adherence and optimum scenarios for schedule adjustment are also provided. It also receives and processes transit vehicle loading data. | False |
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| Transit Center Information Services | 'Transit Center Information Services' collects the latest available information for a transit service and makes it available to transit customers and to Transportation Information Centers for further distribution. Customers are provided information at transit stops and other public transportation areas before they embark and on–board the transit vehicle once they are en route. Information provided can include the latest available information on transit routes, schedules, transfer options, fares, real–time schedule adherence, current incidents, weather conditions, yellow pages, and special events. In addition to general service information, tailored information (e.g., itineraries) are provided to individual transit users. | False |
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| Transit Center Multi–Modal Coordination | 'Transit Center Multi–Modal Coordination' supports transit service coordination between transit properties and coordinates with other surface and air transportation modes. As part of service coordination, it shares schedule and trip information, as well as transit transfer cluster (a collection of stop points, stations, or terminals where transfers can be made conveniently) and transfer point information between Multimodal Transportation Service Providers, Transit Agencies, and ISPs. An interface to Traffic Management also supports demand management strategies. | False |
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| Transit Center Passenger Counting | 'Transit Center Passenger Counting' receives and processes transit vehicle loading data using two–way communications from equipped transit vehicles. | False |
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| Transit Center Security | 'Transit Center Security' monitors transit vehicle operator or traveler activated alarms received from on–board a transit vehicle. It supports transit vehicle operator authentication and provides the capability to remotely disable a transit vehicle. It also includes the capability to alert operators and police to potential incidents identified by these security features. | False |
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| Transit Center Vehicle Assignment | 'Transit Center Vehicle Assignment' assigns individual transit vehicles to vehicle blocks and downloads this information to the transit vehicle. It also provides an exception handling process for the vehicle assignment function to generate new, supplemental vehicle assignments when required by changes during the operating day. It provides an inventory management function for the transit facility which stores functional attributes about each of the vehicles owned by the transit operator. These attributes permit the planning and assignment functions to match vehicles with routes based on suitability for the types of service required by the particular routes. | False |
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| Transit Center Vehicle Tracking | 'Transit Center Vehicle Tracking' monitors transit vehicle location. The location information is collected via a data communication link between the transit vehicles and the transit center. The location information is presented to the transit operator on a digitized map of the transit service area. The location data may be used to determine real time schedule adherence and update the transit system's schedule in real–time. The real–time schedule information is disseminated to other information providers, which furnish the information to travelers. | False |
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| Transit Evacuation Support | 'Transit Evacuation Support' manages transit resources to support evacuation and subsequent reentry of a population in the vicinity of a disaster or other emergency. It supports coordination of regional evacuation plans, identifying the transit role in a regional evacuation and identifying transit resources that would be used. During an evacuation, it coordinates the use of transit and school bus fleets, supporting evacuation of those with special needs and the general population. Transit service and fare schedules are adjusted and updated service and fare information is made available through traveler information systems. | False |
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| Transit Garage Maintenance | 'Transit Garage Maintenance' provides advanced maintenance functions for the transit property. It collects operational and maintenance data from transit vehicles, manages vehicle service histories, and monitors operators and vehicles. It collects vehicle mileage data and uses it to automatically generate preventative maintenance schedules for each vehicle by utilizing vehicle tracking data. In addition, it provides information to service personnel to support maintenance activities and records and verifies that maintenance work was performed. | False |
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