Senate hearing focuses on technology’s role in transportation

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
image description
A still taken from a video played at the July 7 hearing.
BNSF

The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation's Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security held a hearing on July 7 taking on the role technology plays in transportation systems.

 

“How technology integrates with our railroads, trucks, pipelines and ports will have a major impact on safety, efficiency, and reliability,” said U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), the subcommittee chairman. “This hearing is an important opportunity to highlight America’s leadership and review how the federal government can better keep up with new technological developments.”

“In order to remain globally competitive, it is vital that we invest in our transportation infrastructure and advanced developing technologies. Staying on the cutting edge of the latest transportation technologies is critical to our nation’s capacity to transport goods, grow our economy and improve safety,” said U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), the subcommittee ranking member.

Greg Fox, executive vice president, Operations for BNSF testified at the hearing that BNSF uses “technology to help drive risk reduction and continuous safety improvement on the railroad.”

Fox outlined several technologies BNSF utilizes, such as track geometry vehicles, rail defect detection systems, wheel temperature detectors and machine visioning systems. He also touched on the use of Unmanned Aircraft Systems, i.e., drones, the railroad has been using for supplemental visual track and bridge inspections.

“Leveraging the tremendous amount of data generated by all these technologies is where we are headed next. Advanced Analytics covers a broad spectrum of activities, but is aimed at drawing insights and value from large amounts of data, with the ultimate goal to improve decision making,” testified Fox. “Our goal is to drive proactive maintenance practices that ultimately prevent incidents from occurring in the first place.”

BNSF is currently working with IBM on a “Big Data” Advanced Analytics initiative to harness the data produced and decipher it into useful information.

“The current breadth of technology and its potential going forward is tremendous, as long as we have a regulatory environment that encourages innovation. I would respectfully suggest that safety outcomes should be the focus when government regulation is necessary, not the technologies and the analytics themselves, because those are complex and evolving at a very fast pace,” said Fox. “Ultimately, the rail industry will continue to deploy technology in support of risk reduction and ensuring railroads can continue to earn the revenues necessary to invest adequately in infrastructure, maintenance and technology will be one of the most significant things that Congress can do.”

Other transportation industry officials who testified at the hearing include Susan Alt, senior vice president, Public Affairs, with Volvo Group North America; Paul Misener, vice president of Global Public Policy with Amazon and Michael Christensen, senior executive lead, Supply Chain Optimization with the Port of Long Beach.

Tags: