Contact Us
Contact Us

"*" indicates required fields

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority Media/Sharon Hill Light Rail, Communications Based Train Control System

Burns delivered engineering design services to install a new Communications Based Train Control system on SEPTA’s Media/Sharon Hill Line (MSHL).

SEPTA installed CBTC technology to improve safety for travelers along the 12-route-mile light rail system connecting West Philadelphia and the Delaware County suburbs. Using radio communications between vehicles, CBTC can automatically prevent collisions between light rail trolleys by enforcing safe stopping distances and limiting vehicle speeds.

Safety features include:

  • Automatic Train Protection (ATP) – prevents excessive speeds, entry into restricted track sections, opening of trolley doors between stations, and other unsafe conditions.
  • Automatic Train Supervision (ATS) – oversees train operations through vehicle regulation, mission planning, and alarm monitoring.

Burns served as the engineer of record, delivering design/build contract bid documents, construction drawings, and CBTC specifications.

Burns developed a staging plan to modernize the light rail system’s safety control equipment amid multiple infrastructure upgrades and on-going service operations. New infrastructure involved installation of fiber optic and cellular networking, a 220-MHz radio system, and GPS tracking as well as production of a comprehensive CBTC system database.

System characteristics include:

  • High-resolution vehicle location determination, independent of track circuits, using wayside transponders and carborne tachometers.
  • Continuous high capacity, bi-directional vehicle-to-wayside RF data communications utilizing a spread spectrum radio network through a point-to-point transmission process.
  • Carborne and wayside safety critical vital processors, providing safe train separation assurance and civil speed, positive stop signals, and work zone enforcement.
  • Axel counters, providing a secondary train detection system in the event of a communication systems failure.
  • Revamped central control systems, complete with new work stations, monitoring boards, and redundant emergency backup systems.

SEPTA installed the CBTC system in 2024. Transitioning to the new system is expected to be finalized in 2025.

Featured photo: “Media Trolley 072107 018”, by John Mueller, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr

Location

Media, PA

Client

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

Learn more about Burns' train signals, controls + communications services

Train Signals, Controls + Communications

Key Team Members

Ryan Breier

Vice President, Signals, Communications & Train Control

William Wiedmann, FIRSE

Chief Signals & Train Control Engineering Specialist

Ryan Sheridan

Railroad & Transit Project Manager