News

SEPTA Pilots Master Technician Course on PLCs through the Transit Elevator/Escalator Consortium

Posted March 2016

Last week, SEPTA piloted the first master technician level course developed by the Transit Elevator Escalator Training Consortium.  Programmable Logic Controllers (course 401).  This course provides participants with a working knowledge and conceptual understanding of the essential operating functions and maintenance of programmable logic controllers (PLCs).  In addition this course outlines the proper steps to diagnose problems related to PLCs.

After a presentation and class discussion using Consortium materials by SEPTA instructor Dave Rice, participants applied information from the course to real world examples of failures on transit elevators and escalators using Allen-Bradley and LogixPro simulators.  Information collected through the pilot observation and review will be used to make minor edits to improve this course, including the possible addition of hands-on instructional strategies and activities as well as assessment refinement. Overall, participants were very excited to be involved in the piloting and enjoyed the course thoroughly.

For more information on the Transit Elevator Escalator Training Consortium contact Project Manager Jim Kinahan.