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19 finalists announced for MTA’s Genius Transit Challenge

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19 finalists announced for MTA’s Genius Transit Challenge

The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced the 19 finalists in three categories for the MTA Genius Transit Challenge today. Winners will be declared in early 2018 and will receive up to a $1 million genius award (or the profit of 363,636 card swipes, according to the New York Times). The MTA assembled a panel of technology and transportation experts to review the 438 submissions, narrowing it down to 64 and then 19. During phase two of the competition, the final contenders refined and elaborated on their original submissions.

The three categories are: to improve signaling, to identify strategies to better deploy subway cars, and increase communications infrastructure. Each submission in these categories was reviewed on “its ability to fulfill the Challenge’s core objectives, whether it could be implemented in a rapid timeframe throughout the Subway System, innovativeness, and cost-reasonableness.” With the recent release of the RPA’s newest plan, we can only hope at least a few improvements are made, genius or otherwise.

FINALISTS IN THE SIGNALS CATEGORY
AECOM: Intelligent Alignment of Service Delivery to Customer Demand
Alstom: Train-Centric Peer-to-Peer CBTC
Ansaldo STS: Video Odometry, Heads-Up Display and Augmented Reality
Arup: Acorn: Autonomous Car Operating Rail Network
Robert James (Individual): Connected Vehicles & Ultra-Wideband for Communications & Location
Metrom Rail : Positive Train Control System based on Ultra-Wideband
Siemens : Dramatically Accelerate Communications-Based Train Control Deployment
Thales Group: Several Integrated Ideas to Accelerate Communications-Based Train Control Deployment
Thales Group: Next Generation Positioning: Autonomous Train Car Platform

FINALISTS IN THE CARS CATEGORY
Alstom: Upgrades to Improve Subway Car Reliability
Craig Avedisian (Individual): Modify Cars to Enable Trains to Have 4 More Cars
Bombardier: Modular Car Concept Utilizing a Common Vehicle Platform
CRRC MA: Technology-Advanced Cars with Shorter Vehicle Lifecycle
CSINTRANS: Open Information System to Improve Operations Efficiency & Customer Communications
Faiveley (Wabtec): Newly Developed Brake Control System

FINALISTS IN THE COMMUNICATIONS CATEGORY
Alcatel-Lucent (Nokia): Standards-Based Trackside Private LTE Network with an IP/MPLS Backbone
Alstom: Multi-Service High Capacity, Flexible Network
Bechtel: The Big B: Semi-Automated Robotic System
Transit Wireless: Dedicated LTE Network to Connect Trains to Tunnel Entrances and Trackside Radios

The MTA Genius Transit Challenge Finalist Judges

Sarah Feinberg, Former Administrator, Federal Railroad Administration
Daniel Huttenlocher, Dean and Vice Provost, Cornell Tech
Charles Phillips, CEO, Infor; Former Co-President and Director, Oracle
Kristina Johnson, Chancellor-elect, SUNY
Nick Grossman, General Manager, Union Square Ventures
Eliot Horowitz, Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer, MongoDB
Balaji Prabhakhar, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Stanford University
Joe Lhota, Chairman, MTA
Pat Foye, President, MTA
Veronique “Ronnie” Hakim, Managing Director, MTA
Janno Lieber, Chief Development Officer, MTA

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