On September 12, 2008 a Metrolink train driver in Chatsworth CA missed a red light while sending 43 text messages and crashed the train killing 25 commuters on board. When this fact was discovered Los Angeles County Metro Rail administrators contacted us requesting that we invent a mobile transit type of cell phone detector and alerting system for their commuter trains. We designed and installed the first one and that is the beginning of the story.

Cell phone detection is not new to our company; as far back as 1998 we were designing and deploying them into cellphone restricted areas (corporate boardrooms, prisons, etc.) to prevent their use, now one of our existing customers wanted us to make a special unit and we created the detector and alerting method for their commuter trains attaching the trigger signal to their radio to alert the dispatcher so the date and time could be recorded.

In 2018 the patent for this line of products was granted that NSTN is now proposing to offer to new commuter rail and other transit authorities, contractors allowing employees use of their company vehicles and more specifically to detect improper and often illegal cell phone use.

The software back-office reporting and logging engine was designed by Mary Hanawalt of the Creative Information Group and it now includes GPS location targeting, the alerting engine (email tree, etc.) to report the issue to proper personnel and logging, archiving and reporting monthly to authorities on-demand.

Commuter train engineers and contractor vehicles supplied by facilities with policy against use of cell phones are the places where this unique patented system can be deployed. Please contact NSTN to learn more about how they can be installed in trucks, trains and any other vehicle where cell phone use is prohibited. We can use the detected signal to trigger an alert at the dispatchers desk for immediate reaction to the event.