PTC

On November 25, CN said that it has successfully met the federal requirement to operate PTC on all 35 of its U.S. subdivisions required to be equipped with PTC, meeting these requirements 13 months in advance of the December 2020 deadline. In late October, Union Pacific reported it implemented PTC on 1,113 route miles in the third quarter, which brings its required PTC-operated route miles to 15,791, or 93%, which includes all required passenger train routes.

The freight railroad sector is replete with many moving parts, including hauling various types of freight commodities and intermodal goods, as well as what is viewed as a very active regulatory environment. And there are other things, too, including technology, policy, the sector's role in the over all economy, among other things. To help put everything into perspective

Four of the nation’s top market analysts discuss volumes, rates, PSR implementation and recent service challenges in an effort to help shippers plot a clear course for the rest of 2019.

The FRA said that based upon railroad’s First Quarter 2019 PTC progress reports submitted to FRA by April 30, railroads required to implement PTC are making significant process toward full implementation on required main lines. That is made clear with PTC systems now in operation on almost 48,050 of 58,000 route miles, or nearly 83%, subject to mandated PTC implementation, marking a 3% gain over the fourth quarter of 2018.

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) recently reported that Class I railroads have made significant strides in its efforts to implement positive train control (PTC) on 83.2% of the required Class I PTC miles in the United States.

As the late December deadline for the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) by United States railroads gets closer, the overall outlook for PTC looks encouraging.

The United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) recently released data for second quarter 2018 Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation. Based on FRA’s data, a key takeaway is that decent progress is being made, with 15 U.S. railroads having installed 100% of PTC system hardware that needs to be installed for implementation.

United States Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao penned a letter to Class I railroads, as well as passenger railroads and state and local transportation agencies, regarding the federally-mandated Positive Train Control (PTC) mandate, which is slated to be fully implemented by December 31, 2018.

As was the case in the third quarter, progress was made, albeit at a still fairly low clip, with FRA data indicating that freight railroads now have PTC active on 16 percent of their tracks, which is up from 12 percent in the third quarter, and 9 percent in the second quarter.

Even though the rate of progress being made by railroads in implementing Positive Train Control (PTC) may be viewed as low, things appear to be heading in the right direction.

Company's technologies help connect disparate devices and control systems.

Entitled the Positive Train Control Enforcement and Implementation Act of 2015, the bill would extend the 2015 PTC implementation deadline to the end of 2018.

While railroads and other industry-related entities have made it clear that the Congressionally-mandated December 31, 2015 deadline for Unites States freight and passenger railroads to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) is unlikely to be met on time, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said today that chances of it happening are bleak.

When it comes to the chances of the December 31, 2015 Positive Train Control (PTC) deadline being extended, something which railroads say is badly needed, it appears they need to be prepared to be disappointed. That was the chief takeaway of a statement from Sarah Feinberg, acting administrator of the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

It was a busy day for railroad-related legislation yesterday, with the United States Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approving two bills with a railroad focus by a voice vote. The respective bills are S. 808, the Surface Transportation Board Reauthorization Act of 2015 and S. 650, the Railroad Safety and Positive Train Control Extension Act.