SF, NYC, and DC Sign Deals to Upgrade Transit Technology

IBM’s Smarter Planet project, which uses technology (and sometimes plain old polling) in an effort to revamp urban infrastructure, today signed deals with transit agencies in San Francisco, New York City, and Washington D.C. to “smartly” manage the ins and outs of keeping trains and buses running.

San Francisco’s BART, New York’s LIRR, and Washington D.C.’s Metro plan to install the Maximo software, a program that anticipates and schedules preventive maintenance on rail cars, tracks, buses, and other equipment.

The move could prove particularly beneficial for D.C., which was urged by federal safety regulators to phase out the older rail car model that was involved in a fatal accident in June but found itself short of cash to fund a full-cale replacement. In a statement on the IBM deal, Metro’s deputy information technology chief said a recent meeting with China’s Guangzhou Metro, which also uses Maximo, helped pave the way for the agreement.