Operating the largest light rail network in the United States is no small feat. Based on the agency‘s five-year strategic plan to focus on customer needs, strive for continual improvement and deliver quality service, DART pursued an ITS solution that would help them better manage their fleet and service their passengers. A primary goal was to track trains throughout the city with greater accuracy than the existing Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system allowed.

Capture of train operational statistics such as precise arrival and departure times and passenger loads was a manual process, and other statistics like dwell times and door opening events were captured only by limited sampling.

In addition to the difficulty with tracking and predicting train arrival and departure times, passengers onboard or at the stops relied solely on train operators to make announcements. Messages were not always articulated clearly, and making the announcements added to operator workload. DART needed a way to give passengers stop information consistently and with clarity – an important part of their approach to ensuring the safety and security of their passengers and employees.