SONET

Synchronous Optical Network

(SONET) for Houston's MetroRail

MetroCom turned up the 8 SONET Nodes and 16 Communications Station Cases. These transport video for the CCTV cameras that view the Ticket Vending Machines on the station platforms; Information for the Variable Message Signs VMS; The audio for the Public Address System; Information for the Ticket Vending Machines; Alarm circuits for the the equipment.

Houston METRO has built a 7.5-mile light rail line from the University of Houston-Downtown to south of the Reliant Astrodome. Running at street level in its own corridor but crossing with traffic at intersections, the electrically powered system has signal priority and will remove about 1,200 daily bus trips from the busy Main and Fannin street corridors. The Main Street corridor is the key artery linking downtown Houston to Midtown, the Third Ward, the world-renowned Texas Medical Center, three major universities, the Museum District, Hermann Park and the Zoo, and the growing Reliant Park, where a new football stadium, exhibition center and other venues are. METRORail is projected to spur $500 million to $1 billion in economic development along its path, and its annual boardings are estimated at 10 million to 13 million by 2020, or about 40,000 boardings each weekday. Construction started in April 2001, and METRORail will open in early 2004 under a very ambitious schedule.