TCM Benefits

TCM offers valuable information for transportation operations managers and signal system maintenance alike.

For the operations department TCM provides the ability to quickly and efficiently identify locations requiring attention and to permit timely response and action on potentially serious issues.

For maintenance TCM enables the ability to provide insight into potentially serious problems and to assist in prioritizing of track circuit incidents. These features are major assets for the whole transportation organization.

Summary of Benefits

  • Alerts to Operators of the Operations Control Center, including critical information needed to manage potentially safety critical conditions
  • Automated email notifications to registered users upon identification of track circuit anomalies
  • Automated daily reports on tracking anomalies and irregularities
  • Early detection of track circuit malfunction or deterioration
  • Maintenance prioritization for faster response to reoccurring problems
  • Improved asset reliability and subsequently more reliable service
  • Extended useful lifetime of assets
  • Improved Transportation Safety

Did you know…

  • The Track Circuit Monitoring Tool provides a means for rail operations and maintenance to identify track circuit conditions affecting daily operations, and provides information that gives supervisors information helpful to prioritize resources and react swiftly to restore the system to normal operation

  • TCM utilizes status information, delivered to a centralized facility to analyze thousands of track circuits in real time to detect irregular operation

  • TCM separates and reports only those issues, causing problems and affecting the reliability and potentially the safety of rail system track circuits

  • Outputs from TCM can alert appropriate personnel in real time to the location and severity of track circuit problems that…

    • may affect safety allowing immediate action to restrict the area in question until additional resources can further evaluate the problem
    • operating in an erratic manner with the ability to send information to maintenance resources that identifies the severity and location of the problems affecting reliable operation

  • TCM can be programmed to assess the most severe problems for investigation, so maintenance managers can direct their resources to the areas most likely to have the worst affect on daily operations

  • TCM can be used to develop reports showing the affects of erratic track circuit behavior on the daily operation of the transit system for analysis by maintenance and operations

  • The larges rail transit network that TCM monitors is Chicago Transit. The TCM server calculates the entire CTA network in less than 1 second. This includes 145 stations, 224 miles of track. TCM verifies 234,000 miles of train movements every day

  • TCM operates successfully in Washington DC, Chicago, Atlanta, and Denver RTD

See a list of TCM capabilities here.