Northern San Diego

The North County Transportation District (NCTD) provides integrated, multi-modal transportation services for the rapidly growing communities of north San Diego County. The NCTD was challenged with bringing a new high-capacity central rail corridor into service through major communities in the area, and fully integrating it with existing commuter rail and fixed route bus services. Also, DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) equipment assigned to the new rail corridor required approval for operations from state and federal transportation regulators before the service could be launched.

• Obtain regulatory approval for new equipment operating on the rail corridor.
• Integrate schedule of new rail service with existing commuter rail and bus services.
• Operate with precision to accommodate multimodal connections at corridor stations.

The DMU train is common in Europe but new to the United States. Veolia Transdev has accumulated much experience with DMUs since first operating the same Siemens vehicle in Germany over a decade ago. our expertise and support during the start-up process helped to ensure all issues were identified and efficiently resolved with Siemens and NCTD.

• Shepherded new DMU equipment through regulatory approval process and developed new operating procedures to satisfy regulatory requirements.
• Worked with NCTD to develop an operational plan to guide inter-modal system operations.
• Tested and verified system performance in advance to ensure flawless start-up of new rail operations.
• Maintained rigorous on-time performance for seamless inter-modal travel.
• Developed cost-savings plan to help NCTD overcome serious budgetary challenges.

• Improved service levels - including an expanded weekend operating plan to accommodate demand.
• A marketing program aimed at increasing ridership among students attending the three colleges along the route. Offers included reduced price monthly passes.

Result: A 30% increase in passenger numbers since 2007.