AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES

Transcription

1 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES SUPPLEMENT Issue DLR meeting the challenge of 2012 Jonathan Fox, Director, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Olympic plans in place for Newcastle Bernard Garner, Director General of Nexus Transport planning for London 2012 David Emmerson, Head of Rail Contracts, Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) SPONSORS

2 2 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES Jonathan Fox Director, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) DLR meeting the challenge of 2012 London s transport network and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in particular will face its biggest test yet during the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games with the world looking on. With forecast passenger numbers of seven million over the 16 day Olympic period, equalling numbers usually carried by the network over an entire month, DLR has an extremely busy summer ahead. The London 2012 Games have been described as Britain s largest peacetime logistical exercise. London is expecting around 8.8 million Olympic Games spectators and two million Paralympic Games spectators. The organisers of the London 2012 Games aim for 100% of spectators travelling to and from Games venues to use public transport, walking or cycling. In aid of this, all spectators will receive a free All Zones Travelcard for the day of their event. There is a high concentration of key venues in East London and most of them are directly served by the DLR; the Olympic Park, ExCeL, Greenwich Park and the Royal Artillery Barracks. The DLR network is the key transport link within South and East London. DLR will carry over three million extra passengers across its network for the entire duration of the Games. Where on a normal day DLR carries approximately 300,000 passengers, during the busiest days of the Games, it is forecast that DLR will carry approximately 500,000 passengers, almost 60% more than usual. In addition to ensuring that spectators travelling to the Games experience an excellent transport service, at DLR we also want to make sure that everyday customers continue to experience the high standards they have come to expect from us and are enabled as far as possible to carry on their business as usual. DLR has set the bar high with current customer During the busiest days of the Games, DLR will carry approximately 500,000 passengers satisfaction rates of 82%, which have increased steadily in recent times. As DLR enters the home straight to London 2012, it is focused on ensuring that every aspect of DLR operations is rearing to go for the summer. DLR improvements to meet the biggest challenge yet DLR has planned and delivered extensive improvements to the network in advance of the Games. The Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) has invested around 80 million towards station improvements with a further 650 million of Photographer: Ian Bell and TfL Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012

3 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 03 investment by Transport for London (TfL) and other partners. Overall, 6.5 billion has been invested in London s transport system. The improvements to the DLR can be split into three broad categories expanding the network and increasing capacity; station improvements; and journey quality and reliability improvements. An expanding network DLR has expanded its network twice in the last four years. A 180 million extension from King George V under the Thames to Woolwich Arsenal opened in During the Games, this will serve the Royal Artillery Barracks venue, and it also connects south east London to the Olympic Park via the 211 million Stratford International extension. The extension opened in 2011 and added five new stations to the DLR network, including new interchanges at West Ham and Stratford International, both gateway stations for the Olympic Park. Delivering a service fit for the Olympics and Paralympics For nine weeks, DLR will be operating enhanced services to cater for the uplift in demand across its network. The period commences on 14 July to cater for the Olympic Torch Relay and pre-olympic events that occur on that date. The next phase in the nine week period is from 27 July when the Opening Ceremony takes place, through to 12 August when the Olympics close. The transition period will see the same service as the pre-olympic Period. Since most of the Paralympics events are served by DLR, the including the day that London hosts the Marathon, 22 April. Different operational plans Many stations will operate differently during the Games period, particularly venue stations. Typically, venue stations will operate with a one way system to maximise capacity and throughput of passengers. Twenty-six stations on the network have their own Olympics station management plan. All of these stations will be staffed whereas for business as usual DLR only has staff at four stations. Other resources are being drafted in too, with extra Passenger Services Agents Increased capacity To increase capacity, 55 new railcars have been added to the DLR fleet, co-funded by TfL and the ODA and costing over 100 million. This means DLR now has 149 vehicles, allowing the operation of more 3-car (90m-long) trains. Extensive works have also been carried out to allow these 3-car services to run across the whole network, including extended platforms and a replacement station at South Quay. A new junction has also been provided at West India Quay to allow more trains to serve Canary Wharf from both Bank and Stratford. Station improvements A large number of station improvements have been made. Lifts have been upgraded at several stations to increase reliability and speed. Elsewhere, improvements designed to provide additional access and egress capacity in stations include; new staircases; new entrances; new escalators and additional train platform space. Finally, upgrades to the network have allowed more reliable operations. These include the replacement of track across the network to provide a better ride quality; renewal of conductor rail; a new power substation to support more three-car trains; a stabling facility and an upgrade to signalling software which has reduced journey times by taking better advantage of the improved infrastructure. Stratford International station Paralympics service which will commence on 29 August will be similar to the Olympics service levels. Enhanced timetable Ten different timetables will be operated over the course of the nine week period. Generally, the enhanced timetables mean that DLR will be running a peak service all day which will really test the capabilities of its assets. A significant amount of maintenance work is being accelerated ahead of the Games period to ensure service delivery performance can be sustained for the entire period. Testing of the timetables commenced in January 2012 and DLR recently completed a three-day test which saw three different timetables tested successfully. The test coincided with high volume crowd events at one of the key Olympic venues, London ExCeL. The first test date also saw DLR break previous passenger number records, with a total of 354,000 passengers travelling on the network in one day. The next significant test will be to run the Olympic timetables for five consecutive days TfL to operate the additional trains in the timetables, First Line Response Technicians to fix things quickly if they go wrong, cleaners and other technicians. A volunteering programme is underway which will mean some office-based staff will be assisting spectators by providing travel information and answering questions. During the Games, DLR will have 144 of 149 vehicles in service and all trains will be 3-car long with a capacity of 660 passengers. DLR will be providing capacity for 18,000 passengers per direction per hour to venues such as Greenwich Park and ExCeL. Trains will be running later during the Games. On Opening and Closing Ceremonies, DLR services will operate for an hour later than usual. All of these additional services should mean that DLR is equipped to cater for the extra demand it will face over the nine week Olympic timetable period. TDM campaign As part of wider TfL plans, DLR is part of the Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012

4 04 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES Travel Demand Management campaign that stakeholders has been essential to delivering all seeks to reduce everyday demand during the of the improvements necessary before the Games. Following an extensive TfL campaign, Games and enabling us to prepare and rehearse many large businesses have been convinced to our plans effectively. do things differently during the Games with more flexible arrangements for employees and Beyond the Games taking deliveries at times when the road In August 2012, DLR will celebrate its network won t be as busy. 25th birthday. The network has come a long Seventy per cent of the capital s roads will way since opening in 1987, with 11 railcars remain unaffected as will up to two thirds of and two million passengers per year. The Tube and DLR stations. London will be open for network is now a 1 billion railway with business as usual; however, at certain times in investments such as the London City Airport Extensive works have been carried out to allow 3-car services to run across the DLR network certain places in central London and around Games venues, there will be congestion. The approach is very much to encourage passengers to Reduce, Re-mode, Re-time and Re-route journeys as far as possible. extension, the Woolwich Arsenal extension and the Stratford International extension as well as more railcars and infrastructure works to enable 3-car train operation costing the best part of 800 million. Further advice can be found at Plans for DLR have not stopped there. The network experienced 11% growth in passenger demand in By 2015, the network will be An accessible network DLR is a fully accessible network with step free access to stations and trains. To cater for carrying 100 million passengers per year. DLR has to continue to come up with solutions to meet that growth within the overall TfL plan. the demands of people with restricted mobility using the very busy network during the Games, DLR has undertaken a programme to overhaul its lifts, improving both reliability and capacity. New extension proposals Given governmental direction in developing high-speed rail in the UK, a study has been undertaken to consider connections to the City and Canary Wharf of which DLR is an Communicating with stakeholders Strengthening our relationships with our stakeholders has been a key tenet of the DLR approach to delivering successfully for the Games. The DLR has nurtured these relationships through consultations, regular meetings and briefings with stakeholders to ensure lines are always open for two-way communication. Ongoing support from obvious option. A further study is underway to consider extending north of Stratford International to serve the outer boundaries of the Olympic Park, including the velodrome and the International Broadcast Centre building. These are permanent features of the Legacy strategy. An extension eastwards towards Dagenham Dock has long been an option but is essentially a TfL question of timing with any further progress dependent on when the delivery of 10,000 new homes is cemented along the route. An extension south of Lewisham towards Bromley is also being studied to seek a viable alignment. Further capacity In the shorter term, DLR is concentrating on improv ing its already impressive performance, improving customer satisfaction and investing in capacity. Current propositions include: A new station at Pudding Mill Lane which will serve the Olympic stadium in legacy Double tracking between Bow Church and Stratford Off peak frequency increase Additional railcars to increase peak frequency Making all trains 3-car long Congestion relief projects at key interchange stations such as Canning Town and Shadwell station Station access improvements. In the final run up to the 2012 Games, DLR continues to rehearse and refine plans to ensure its readiness to successfully cross the finishing line of this most challenging summer ahead. BIOGRAPHY Jonathan Fox started his career in 1986 as an Operations Management Trainee with British Rail. This led to a number of operational and commercial jobs on British Rail s former Southern Region culminating in a senior commercial role at London Bridge on the former South Eastern Division. In 1989 Jonathan joined the then Trainload Freight Business Unit managing various contracts in the petroleum sector. In 1992 he joined Rail Freight Distribution as part of the commercial team planning the launch of commercial services through the Channel Tunnel. This led to a number of commercial roles following the opening of the Tunnel in 1994, particularly in the automotive and intermodal sectors. In 1998 Jonathan joined Allied Continental Intermodal in Reading, a joint venture company between British and French Railways and Swiss forwarding company Intercontainer, as Chief Executive. In 2001 he moved to English Welsh and Scottish Railways (EWS) as General Manager of its International Division, taking responsibility for all through freight traffic passing through the Channel Tunnel. His tenure there included day-to-day management of the illegal immigrant crisis at Sangatte. In 2003 Jonathan joined Transport for London as Director Rail Projects reporting to the Managing Director Rail, TfL, taking sponsorship responsibility for TfL s involvement in such projects as Crossrail and the East London Line. In December 2004 Jonathan became Director of Docklands Light Railway Limited. Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012

5 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 05 TELENT DELIVERS NEW CONTROL ROOM SYSTEM FOR THE DOCKLANDS LIGHT RAILWAY telent Technology Services Limited is continuing to help Serco DLR keep ahead in their migration of services to an IP infrastructure. telent has already designed and implemented a gigabit IP network, then migrated legacy SCADA systems and CIS displays on to this new network as well as providing a new IP based long line PA system. The completion of the MICA manage - ment system for the new DLR control centre, which provides for the resilient control of CCTV and public help points, is the latest delivery to use this infrastructure. The control system, which is the first deployment of telent s latest version of MICA, builds on the system telent has deployed at a large number of London Underground stations. This now uses Silverlight technology, a develop - ment tool that allows creation of powerful and engaging user interfaces, fully exploited to provide a simple interface for the control of the large number of assets DLR have across the railway. It also supports thin client operation, very beneficial for the DLR, having multiple control desks distributed across control rooms and at key stations. telent have integrated the management of several legacy analogue CCTV systems, new recording equipment and help points. The approach will allow incremental expansion, seamless to the operators of the system, avoiding major disruption and the expense of complete replacement of the legacy systems. telent see this as key to providing a migration path to new IP CCTV technology in the challenging rail operational environment. Leading the way in IP networking What you hear from many technology integrators Convergence, rationalisation, reduce cost of ownership, improved service, speed of deploying new services And what you don t How to design and deploy an IP network whilst still running a railway How to integrate with existing assets with minimum disruption What systems can be supported and what need special consideration At what point do I choose to interface into the existing infrastructure Wouldn t it make sense to use a technology partner who has done it all before?

6 06 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES Olympic plans in place for Newcastle Newcastle is one of the regional UK cities hosting London 2012 Olympic football matches. For Bernard Garner, Director General of Nexus, this means providing first-class travel for spectators while driving forward an ambitious modernisation programme for the Tyne and Wear Metro system. He explains how the passenger transport executive has risen to the challenge. Newcastle, in North East England, is a venue for men s and women s Olympic football, with nine matches taking place on six event days at the iconic St James Park ground. The home of Newcastle United, St James Park, is one of the largest football grounds outside London with a capacity of more than 52,000, and its city centre location made it an obvious choice for the 2012 Games organisers. At Nexus, the passenger transport executive for the wider conurbation, we are playing a full part in making sure the Olympics is a triumphant occasion, by providing a first-class experience for visitors from all over the world, and for local people who want to be part of an unmissable event. The Tyne and Wear Metro, which Nexus owns and manages, is at the heart of plans to move Olympic spectators to and from the St James Park venue with the minimum of fuss. The light-rail system provides a direct link from Newcastle International Airport to stations close to the Games venue in just 20 minutes, as well as boasting more than 2,000 park-and-ride parking spaces within a 25 minute travel time. Metro also connects with national rail services from London at Central and Sunderland stations, and provides frequent services to areas with the greatest concentration of hotels in the suburb of Jesmond and the coastal towns of Whitley Bay and South Shields. St James station is right under the football ground and on the very edge of the permitted IOC Olympic venue cordon getting to the Games could not be easier by Metro! The big challenge for Nexus is to meet its commitment to support the Games while at the same time driving forwards the most ambitious investment programme in Metro s 30-year history. We are investing 385 million, the majority committed by the UK Government, in the Haymarket provides a good example of already completed modernisation works at stations. wholesale renewal and modernisation of infrastructure and ticketing systems, and the refurbishment of stations and trains. Our work is not only securing the future of Metro for decades to come but transforming the quality of the travel experience for our 38 million passengers each year. Of course, modernisation demands shortterm pain in return for the long term gain this comes in the shape of line closures and station lifts and escalators being out of service for short periods while they are replaced. Business and community leaders in North East England understand the enormous economic and social benefits of the work we are doing, but were concerned that the Olympic schedule would be affected by the hundreds of projects that make up the Metro: all change modernisation programme. We already plan modernisation work to avoid the major sporting and cultural events in the region, which Metro plays a huge part in supporting. Chief among these is the Great North Run, the world s largest half marathon, when Metro will carry up to 100,000 runners and spectators between the start and finish lines. We also avoid line closures around the Sunderland International Airshow, concerts at Sunderland s Stadium of Light featuring world-class acts like Coldplay and Bruce Springsteen, and the busy shopping weekends in the run-up to Christmas. So, while Nexus is no stranger to supporting Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012

7 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 07 An extensive replacement programme of Metro ticket machines with new smart-enabled technology will be delivered by the summer. big sporting and cultural occasions, the twoweek Olympics was one more event for our senior engineers to work around. The pressure on the Metro: all change modernisation programme has come in two ways. We decided that no track infrastructure works requiring line closures should take place during the Olympic period, but this added to the pressure on the overall programme, because it reduced the number of windows available to project managers, and because the Olympics falls within the school summer holiday period, when major works would normally be planned due to the reduced patronage on Metro. We have been able to achieve our aim without affecting the programme by careful planning with our contractors. A 23-day Major Line Closure will begin between Wallsend and Tynemouth stations (including a stretch of the oldest dedicated commuter railway in the world, first opened in 1839) immediately after the Olympics. Line possessions to prepare for this will take place prior to the Olympics, much earlier than would normally be the case, with our contractors and sub-contractors using the two weeks of what would otherwise be down time to move towards full mobilisation. The second major pressure is on longterm modernisation works within stations, particularly our major city centre interchanges. Monument, in the centre of Newcastle, for example, despite being only a light-rail station, is in the top 10 busiest railway stations outside South East England, having more passengers than some city centre stations on the national rail network. Monument, along with Central and other large stations, is at the start of an escalator modernisation project which will replace life-expired assets in a carefully-phased programme, ensuring that disruption is spread evenly across the city centre. By careful planning we have been able to make sure this work does not coincide with the Games period while at the same time avoiding any additional cost through the need to RAIL AND MASS TRANSIT DISC BRAKE TECHNOLOGY, DESIGNED, TESTED AND MANUFACTURED IN THE UK EFI or European Friction Industries as it is known is the UKs leading independent friction material designer and manufacturer located in Bristol UK. EFI is derived from over 60 years of history in the manufacturer of brake friction and is a specialist in heavy vehicle brake materials for Truck, Bus,Transit and Rail applications. Manufacturing in the UK the largest range of disc pad designs, many with UIC approval for Rail and Rapid Transit the EFI product has been used as OE fitment and aftermarket on numerous projects such as Washington, Sacramento and Denver in the USA and Docklands (DLR) and Tyne & Wear Metro in the UK. EFI is supplying the brake pads for the DLR expansion in preparation for the increased traffic during the Olympic Games. Recently EFI concluded a 5 year DTI joint project to develop the world first totally environmentally friendly brake friction material called ECOBRAKE which has delivered a very successful brake material that eliminates toxic dust waste, extends pad and disc operating life and improves performance. EFI boast 5 dynamometers for its test work including a scale one-to-one Rail Dyno which was acquired from British Rail and is one of the only full scale dynamometer in Europe. With such expertise EFI is looking to expand its partner agreements with new Rail and RT operators, Industrial or truck brake users and invites enquiries to Tony Prideaux on Tonyp@efiltd.co.uk. EFI also pioneered and patented a Cartridge converter for Budd Caliper brakes with Via Rail in Canada. Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012

8 08 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES Aside from meticulous engineering planning, Nexus is now turning its focus to managing the visitor experience through firstclass customer service from our own staff and that of DB Regio Tyne and Wear Ltd, the concessionaire which operates stations and trains on Metro under contract to us. We are working very closely with the tourism and visitor teams from Newcastle City including the food festival Eat! and the Bridges Festival, a cultural event which takes as its backdrop the iconic and world-famous river crossings of the Tyne Gorge, in the heart of the city centre. For Nexus and Metro this means planning in extra trains and flexible services, not only to cater for attendance at both matches and fireworks displays, but to cope with Metro station entrance below St James Park football ground. demobilise and then remobilise the contract for the works. Maintaining the best possible level of amenity at city centre stations is vital not only for the smooth movement of Olympic spectators but so that North East England and the whole UK leave the best possible impression with international visitors. We hope the milestones we will have already delivered in Metro s wider modernisa - tion programme will add to a lasting impression of Newcastle as a modern and forward-looking regional capital. We will, by the summer, have delivered the extensive replacement of Metro ticket machines with new smart-enabled technology, giving the greatest possible flexibility in purchase and payment. A growing number of Metro s train fleet will also have been through a comprehensive threequarter life refurbishment, with entirely new passenger saloons and a sleek metallic grey and black exterior livery. The award-winning Haymarket hub, winner of the 2010 UK Rail Business Awards Station Excellence category, is an example of moderni - sation work already completed at stations and one of four city stations that will be gateways to the venue, alongside St James, Central and Monument. Nexus is heavily investing in renewal and modernisation of infrastructure. Council and the Newcastle-Gateshead Initiative to provide a first class welcome. Key to this is a consistent, and consistently high, standard of information and service from all front-line customer service representatives in the city. It should not matter whether someone is a Metro station assistant, a tourist office worker, or an official London 2012 Olympic volunteer they should provide the same warm welcome and first-up advice to visitors whether they have travelled 10 or 10,000 miles to be at our Olympic events. Nexus will be supporting the Games away from Metro through its involvement in bus parkand-ride and city centre park-and-walk facilities to feed in to St James Park. Newcastle-Gateshead is providing a host of related events around the Olympic schedule, the unpredictable nature of football, with the potential for extra time and penalties. The Olympic events themselves might produce some last minute drama, but at Nexus we have already got all our plans in place. BIOGRAPHY Bernard Garner is Director General of Nexus, the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive. He has worked for Nexus for almost 30 years, in all areas of local public transport, previously holding the position of Director of Strategy. Nexus owns, manages and is modernising Metro in a 385 million Government-funded programme. It is also leading NESTI, the North East Smart Ticketing Initiative, which will see the introduction of a single smart travel system across North East England over the next two years. Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012

9 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 09 David Emmerson Head of Rail Contracts, Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) TRANSPORT PLANNING FOR London 2012 Imagine 10 Football World Cups all running simultaneously to give you some idea of the magnitude of holding the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. To put this in perspective: Some 20 million spectator journeys travel to and from venues Around 14 billion of venues and transport infrastructure has been invested over the last seven years Up to three million extra journeys a day will take place across London National Rail services will put on some 1,750 extra train services The Javelin rail service will see nearly three times more high-speed departures from St Pancras International. The London 2012 Games has been referred to as the Public Transport Games. It is the first time where an event on this scale will result in 99% of London spectators travelling on some form of public transport. For rail, this creates an added pressure with around 90% of spectators using national and TfL rail services. The task of pulling this together sits with the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), and for the rail elements, the Rail Contracts team. Remarkably, for such a major undertaking, the team consists of just seven people. Each is a specialist, covering areas from Station Management and Customer Experience, to Service Specification, Commercial Evaluation, and Contract Management. The planning process for spectator transport started before London won the bid in The outcome is a mix of major infrastructure investment and a transport service that has been tailored to meet anticipated passenger demands during the Games, and will leave a lasting legacy of improvements to the network. Javelin Part of the original bid was to create a highspeed service between London and Stratford, with departures from St Pancras International every 7-8 minutes. A similar service will be available via a major Park & Rail operation from Ebbsfleet International. National Rail Games Ticket For National Rail services, a special Games ticket has been developed, offering greater flexibility than advance fares, and uniquely, being available for purchase 12 months before the start of the Olympics. This meant having an agreed rail timetable for the Games in July 2011 a first for the UK rail industry. Customer Experience Plan A major challenge for the team has been the creation of a Customer Experience Plan that covers both national rail and TfL services, helping to deliver an enjoyable transport journey for customers. During the Games there will be a large increase in the number of staff located at London stations and outer London venue stations, providing help and assistance. There will be special Games signage in place at station for directions, and staff wearing magenta tabards for easy identification. Asset Resilience The strain on the transport network during the Games will be very noticeable and agreements have been put in place with TfL, Network Rail and High Speed 1 to improve their overall resilience. This ranges from having additional response teams located within the Stratford area, to the upgrading of signalling equipment. Likewise, there will be stand-by engineers at stations, who are able to provide a much faster response time than under existing contracts. With so many people passing through stations, even the slightest hold-up may have the ability to force the station to close. With enhanced services during the Games there is less time to undertake routine maintenance and all operators have had to review existing plans and, where necessary, bring forward works to avoid potential disruption during the Games. Security of the network is an important area and the ODA has sponsored a BTP production of a DVD for operational staff, emphasising the importance of maintaining a high level of vigilance at all times. Two unusual projects the team has been involved in are the creation of the largest floating pontoon in Europe to enable access to an additional DLR station at Excel, and temporarily raising the height of Platforms 1 and 4 at Stratford International to allow the Javelin service to use them a coverage of over 2,500m 2. BIOGRAPHY David Emmerson is Head of Rail Contracts at the Olympic Delivery Authority. A Chartered Accountant and part-time tutor for the Institute of Rail Operators, David has worked within the rail industry for over 20 years, working for a mix of Public and Private sector transport organisations. London 2012 promises to be the largest movement of passengers for an organised event ever seen in Britain. Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012

10 10 AHEAD OF THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES ibus and the Olympics DELIVERING THE LEGACY BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER In 2005, London Bus Services Limited (LBSL) and Trapeze embarked on a major programme to upgrade the capital s bus management capabilities which, by 2009, had resulted in the complete rollout of passenger information within the vehicle, voice radio capabilities across the whole of London and extensive and flexible service control capabilities. Today, LBSL operates the world s largest public intermodal transport control system. This ITCS system shows the dispatcher at a glance exactly what is happening across the network encompassing more than 700 routes. All London buses are tracked wherever they are on the road across the whole of the greater London network using a combination of GPS, dead reckoning, Map Matching and logical For one of the world s largest bus networks, the ITCS system by Trapeze provides data for extensive and flexible service control capabilities and comprehensive dynamic passenger information navigation. This provides London with the first advantage from ibus the ability to track the vehicles independent of the defined route network, thereby enabling dynamic reaction to changing traffic conditions. The ibus system transmits the location of the vehicle in real-time to the control centre which then calculates the predicted arrival time based on a combination of recent and historic travel times. This provides LBSL with the second advantage of ibus its ability to automatically react to changing traffic conditions and the impact this had on earlier buses. This will enable the ibus system to adapt the predictions during the London 2012 Games in line with actual travel times. The entire transportation network is defined in the data supply which is imported from the LBSL schedule and route management systems. This provides LBSL with the third advantage of ibus it can accommodate service changes generated specifically for the Games with complex combinations of normal and modified timetables. This coupled with the prediction algorithm allows ibus to adapt to the demands of the Olympics and Paralympics. Trapeze provides 24/7 monitoring of the infrastructure across the whole system. During the Games, Trapeze will work closely with LBSL to make sure that they are supported throughout with extra resources deployed to ensure response times are maintained. The ibus system has been delivering these advantages to LBSL and the bus users in London since 2007 when the first bus was installed and will continue to deliver these benefits beyond the end of the Games until at least The ibus system has been designed to cope with the demands of a modern metropolis like London. The ibus solution delivers real-time service control to the emergency control room staff as well as route management facilities to the depot staff tasked with maintaining the quality of the bus service delivery, not just throughout the games, but every year, year-after-year. By building the ibus system entirely on a computer network backbone, Trapeze provides LBSL and the operators with significant flexibility; workstations can be easily moved between locations. Data communication with the buses is provided over the public GPRS network and while this may become congested in certain areas, the ibus system continues to operate autonomously in the vehicles and will continue to provide both the passengers and the driver with up-to-date information. The systems will then automatically reconnect and resynchronise when capacity on the network allows. ibus includes an independent dedicated voice network which, in the event of an emergency in the vehicles, can be used to update the control centre with the vehicle location and emergency status, independent of the GPRS network; thereby continuing to ensure the safety of the public and bus drivers. With the ibus system, London can be confident that during the Games the system will enable service control to be maintained, voice communication to be reliably delivered and real-time passenger information that adapts to traffic conditions. BIOGRAPHY CONTACT DETAILS Brian Higbee CEng MIET General Manager and Project Director Trapeze Unit 3, Loughton Business Centre Langston Road, Essex, UK, IG10 3FL Tel: Fax: brian.higbee@trapezegroup.com Web: Volume 10, Issue 2, 2012