On Friday, GE Transportation announced that it has won a contract to supply TriMet, Portland, Oregon's Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District transit network, with an advanced voice radio and data communications system to help increase safety and efficiency for TriMet's 115 million annual passengers.

The new system will monitor and manage the location of TriMet's fleet of vehicles and personnel while improving communications between dispatchers, passengers, and operators as well as emergency and public safety responders. The state of the art intelligent transportation system will automate and improve dispatch functions, giving dispatchers the ability to manage routes and make changes in the event of operational delays, capacity or emergency issues, improving on time performance for customers throughout the Portland area.

GE's contract is in partnership with Innovations in Transportation, Inc. (INIT), which will be providing the additional operational technology for TriMet's advanced computer aided dispatch/automatic vehicle location system, including on-board computers, mobile data terminals and an automatic passenger counting system. The total contract value for the combined system is $35 million.

Implementation of the system will begin immediately with no interruption to service. The Company anticipates the project to complete in 2013.