A state-owned Chinese company receives a contract to build and maintain the next generation of railcars that service Metro stations at the Pentagon, near the White House and Capitol Hill, and throughout the Washington, D.C., metro area. What could possibly go wrong?
Possibly nothing, but maybe something. Commuter trains have come a long way from the unconnected transit assets that moved through and between cities independently. Modern rail cars are nodes in complex transit communications networks, extensions of a transit authority’s information and operational technology infrastructures, and even WiFi hotspots. Procurement announcements for the next generation of cars, like the one recently issued by D.C.’s Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), illustrate the complex, connected technologies that underpin promised improvements in automation, safety, and commuter experience.
Next-generation infrastructure projects will increasingly rely on smart sensors, sophisticated processing, and complex networks. These smart, connected technologies promise greater safety, reliability, and efficiency, if deployed properly. But they also present new and potentially…
