ClearBlade to deliver Grade Crossing Monitoring and Equipment Monitoring at hundreds of locations across their transit network.
AUSTIN, TEXAS AND CHICAGO, IL (PRWEB) FEBRUARY 22, 2023
Chicago Metra’s board approved a $3.9 Million contract with ClearBlade, an industry leading IoT Platform and Edge AI company, to deliver Grade Crossing and Equipment Monitoring at hundreds of locations across their transit network.Metra is one of the largest and most complex commuter rail systems in North America. The agency provides service to and from downtown Chicago with 242 stations over 11 routes totaling nearly 500 route miles and approximately 1,200 miles of track. Metra operates 646 weekday trains, and is responsible for 24 railyards, 565 grade crossings, 12 fuel facilities, and 847 bridges.
On May 10, 2022, Metra published a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking qualified firms to provide an essential safety solution for rail crossings. Metra is required to maintain, inspect and test grade crossing warning devices and all signals at interlockings periodically. The grade crossing remote monitoring solution will deploy a real-time Grade Crossing notification and warning solution for Grade Crossing anomalies and events, so critical devices can be monitored and repaired quickly.Metra’s requirements included a flexible and modular Edge and back-office platform for monitoring all wayside assets including:
● Grade crossings
● Positive train control wayside systems
● Snow melter systems
● Track circuits
● Switch machines
● Power systems
ClearBlade was awarded the contract to implement Metra’s required grade crossing monitoring systems due to the company’s prior experience in implementing IoT technologies into rail systems. ClearBlade’s Edge software is being used by multiple rail operators to process field equipment data and stream events to ClearBlade’s back-office Platform.
“ClearBlade is a game changer for our rail operations. Their platform and edge software’s flexibility and ease of use will allow us to monitor critical rail infrastructure and improve efficiency,” said Alan Bakotic, Senior Director PTC and Engineering at Metra. “Since 2007, ClearBlade has been delivering the most flexible, secure, and scalable software available for IoT and Edge. Our award-winning, patented approach is built differently and proven at scale,” said Eric Simone, Co-Founder and CEO of ClearBlade. “The rail industry is one of our primary verticals and we are extremely excited to be selected by Chicago Metra to provide this critical functionality.”
Read the original press release on PRWeb.