News
As a Newer, Agency CATS Learns/Shares as an Active Member in the Center’s Rail Training Consortia
Posted February 2016
The Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) has been in existence since 1976 but has had rail for less than a decade. CATS’ first light rail line, Lynx Blue Line, opened On November 24, 2007 and runs a total of 9.6 miles between Uptown Charlotte and stops short of Pineville. The Blue Line Extension, scheduled to open in 2017 will extend the main line by 9.7 miles to University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Being a rail agency that is relatively new and has a relatively small service area, CATS saw a great opportunity in joining the two current National Training Consortia that the Center is coordinating:
National Signals Training Consortium
National Rail Vehicle Maintenance Consortium
Signals Maintenance Training Consortium
CATS joined the Signals Training Consortium at its onset in 2013 and joined 20 other public transportation agencies and their unions in an effort to create a standardized national training program for signal maintainers. This was a great opportunity for CATS not to only obtain a complete set of training materials but also to both learn from and share with other locations. Working with locations that have been around for much longer, some since 1834, h elps involved CATS Subject Matter Experts perspective that they may not have otherwise. One example is feedback that was given during the groups meeting in Charlotte in October 2014 and the subsequent tour of their maintenance facility. During this tour, partner locations identified an issue with how the pantographs were riding on the power lines and shared how they addressed this issue at their location. CATS has been a champion not only in participating in courseware development but also in hosting the group and in piloting many of the courses.
Rail Vehicle Maintenance Training Consortium
Following the success in Signals Training Consortium, CATS decided to participate in the newly established Rail Car Training Consortium in late 2015, along with eleven other agencies. CATS’ training manager and SME have become active participants at the courseware development webinars. In addition, CATS is partnering up with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to build a pipeline of qualified maintenance and engineering workforce for its rail services.
For more information on the Center’s Rail Maintenance Training Consortia, contact us at info@transportcenter.org .
