Naeem Ali

CBTC Solutions

CBTC technologies may not have the aura of an iPhone but they have been just as disruptive in the rail industry as the iPhone has been for mobile communications. Prior to the introduction of CBTC technologies, the rail signaling industry used the same design philosophy for 140 years since the invention of the first fail safe track circuit in 1872. But as the population densities increase, the demands on transit operators to move more passengers have also increased and the traditional method of signaling has reached its limits. For the past 30 years, the urban transit industry has been moving away from traditional signaling and adapting CBTC technologies; the adaption rate has been exponential over the past 15 years. The consequence, 150 years of rail signaling tradition has been rendered obsolete. The problem for the industry is the experience and knowledge of thousands of traditional signal engineers is not directly transferable to a railroad property using a modern CBTC signaled solution. CBTC requires a new mindset and approach when working with this new technology. The number of engineers around the globe with CBTC knowledge and experience is scarce and the engineers with this specialized knowledge are employed by the suppliers. For transit operators, there is a void of experienced and knowledgeable CBTC engineers. At CBTC Solutions, we fill this void by providing CBTC consultants with the expertise and experience in developing and deploying CBTC technologies.