The Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority (Sound Transit) plans to implement a new Passenger Information Management System (PIMS) with the help of the ARINC rail solutions team at Collins Aerospace Systems, a business unit of United Technologies Corporation.
 
PIMS aims to transform operations for Sound Transit's Link light rail vehicles, Sounder Commuter Rail trains, and Tacoma Link light rail vehicles by integrating information services for all three transit modes into a single enterprise solution.
 
In doing so, the hope is "to enable real-time data acquisition and processing to predict train arrival, which can provide passengers with reliable and accurate audio and visual message delivery on all rail cars and transit platforms. In addition, the solution will offer a Google Transit Feed to be used by Sound Transit to transmit messaging to the general public via the Internet. This open architecture-based solution provides the scalability and flexibility required for any future agency expansion needs across all transit modes."
 
Cybersecurity is another main point for the PIMS project.
 
The ARINC cybersecurity team will be performing "security hardening and implementation services aligned with American Public Transportation Authority guidelines and best practices throughout every stage of the project."
 
The company hopes that by applying these tools and techniques it will reduce vulnerabilities within the PIMS systems and applications on a continuous basis.
 
"As the current provider of Sound Transit's train control system, we will leverage technology and provide new applications that build upon our current passenger information product suite to quickly design, integrate, secure, and install the next generation PIMS solution," said Frank Koren, director of Business Development within the Information Management Services division at Collins Aerospace.
 
"Sound Transit has committed to significantly expand its transit services, which comes with the need to provide ongoing high-quality customer experiences. Our proven track record of developing cutting-edge customer information systems will help them ensure they do so for years to come."
 
Andrew Corselli.