Light Rail Manila Corporation - ATOMS
Name of Organization / Company: Light Rail Manila Corporation, Pasay City, Metro Manila, Philippines
Category: Award for the Innovation in Technology Development > Public Enterprise
Entry Title: ATOMs: Traffic management efficiency in just one click
Essay:
BACKGROUND
Incorporated in July 2014, Light Rail Manila Corporation (LRMC) engages in the development, construction, operation, maintenance, repair, management and other allied businesses involving railways and railroad projects in the Philippines.
In October 2014, LRMC signed a Concession Agreement with the Philippine Government for the rehabilitation and modernization of the 32- year old Light Rail Transit Line 1 (LRT- 1), Metro Manila’s oldest light rail system which has been operated by the Light Rail Transit Authority, a government agency under the Department of Transportation.
Due to poor maintenance, however, the quality and quantity of trains has been deteriorating from 144 light rail vehicles (LRVs) in 1998 to 77 LRVs by the time LRMC took over in 2015. Passenger comfort, expressed in Load Factor (number of passenger per hour/direction divided by number of trains capacity per hour/direction), continually declined because of the failure to measure and manage these factors with accurate data.
LRMC assumed operations and maintenance of LRT- 1 in October 2015 with a commitment to reverse the negative customer experience of poorly maintained trains and overcrowding into being the commuters’ choice of public transportation in Metro Manila.
SOLUTION
Four months into assuming operations of LRT- 1, LRMC’s Information Technology and Management team, Operations Support Division, Engineering Department and the technical advisors from Paris Metro’s Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) began analyzing the requirements to automate the analysis and generation of real- time operational and engineering data for the Company to meet key performance indicators on train availability, train reliability, train punctuality and to strategically improve passenger experience on LRT- 1.
A year was spent on researching, developing and testing the system and another year for transitioning operation controllers, maintenance engineers and data handlers from recording data on pen and paper to excel sheets and then finally on Windows. Finally, in February 2018, the Automated Operations Management System (ATOMS) was launched with 19 modules generating data that can be viewed in real- time at different workstation. With ATOMS, LRMC was able to make quick decisions on traffic management so that a train is at every station every three minutes.
RESULTS
ATOMS has enabled LRMC to efficiently optimize resources to meet customer needs for more trains, more trips, shorter queuing time, more comfortable and faster rides – enabling passengers to get home earlier and spend more time with their families. Specifically:
- Engineering is now able to ascertain which LRVs are experiencing faults, which trains to pull out of the line and predict which trains are due for preventive maintenance and when;
- Operations Support is able to analyze accurately and generate real- time data needed to ensure train availability, train reliability and train punctuality. LRMC’s daily ridership grew by an average of 6% every year since 2016, reaching 458k passengers per day in 2018; LRMC has been breaking all time high ridership numbers with max daily ridership reaching 613k in Dec 2018.
- Management has been able to surpass 20 key performance indicators monitored by Government;
- Management has reliable information needed for long- term fleet expansion.
In three years since assuming management of LRT- 1, LRMC was able to improve efficiencies and introduce innovations that resulted in increased number of trains and trips, reduced passenger waiting time, improved safety and cleanliness of the stations, increased ridership, extended operating hours, increased customer satisfaction and the achievement of ISO certifications for quality management and environmental management.
Today, LRT- 1 is the fastest mode of transportation in Metro Manila averaging 55 minutes for every 60 minutes’ ride in a cars, 60 minutes in a taxi and 100 minutes in a bus. It is also the most efficient in transporting the commuters with a maximum capacity of 347 passengers in one LRV versus six passengers in cars, six in taxis and 60 in a bus
LINKS: