Positive Train Control

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 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.

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.

The objective of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems is to prevent train-to-train collisions, overspeed derailments, and incursions into roadway work limits.

The December 31, 2015 Congressionally-mandated deadline for Positive Train Control (PTC) systems to be implemented on United States railways gets closer every day, but that does not mean the deadline will be met. In fact, it is quite the opposite, with both the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and various railroads and industry observers saying it most definitely will not be met.

While the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has long stated its goal of having Positive Train Control (PTC) technology installed on 40 percent of its network by December 31, 2015, railroad industry stakeholders have repeatedly stated that reaching that deadline would be a stretch. It now appears that the railroad sector has some members of Congress sharing the same line of thought with legislation rolled out this week that pledges to extend the PTC deadline to 2020.

Not surprisingly, the December 31, 2015 deadline for freight railroads to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on 40 percent of its network, as per a mandate from the Federal Railroad Administration will not be met. That was the chief takeaway of a report from the Association of American Railroads.

With most United States-based railroads signaling they will miss the 2015 deadline for installing Positive Train Control (PTC), the Government Accountability Office said in a report it is asking that Congress should consider amending the Railroad Safety Improvement Act (RSIA) and grant the Federal Railroad Administration the authority to extend the deadline on certain rail lines on a case-by-case basis.

While the deadline for railroads to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology is December 2015, the top executive of the Association of American Railroads (AAR) told a Senate Commerce Committee panel last week that target may be somewhat overly ambitious.

While railroads are extremely focused on safety, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) said this week that representatives from major U.S. freight railroads told the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) this week that the possibility of implementing fully interoperable positive train control (PTC) across the more than 60,000 route miles required by the Congressionally mandated 2015 deadline is not currently feasible.

Last week, the Association of American Railroads said it remains fully committed to implementing Positive Train Control (PTC) even though it noted that myriad challenges stand in the way to get that accomplished by a 2015 deadline.

A report submitted to Congress by the Federal Railroad Administration earlier this month stated that there are still many obstacles to implementing Positive Train Control systems for U.S. railroads.

The proposed changes would provide greater flexibility to railroads and the FRA in assessing the need for PTC without adversely affecting the safety of America’s rail lines.

The topic of Positive Train Control (PTC), which has been commonly referred to as the “unfunded mandate” in railroad circles, has a chance to be less onerous and costly as the White House moves forward with its review of federal regulations that have a negative impact on the United States economy and future growth as part of its January 2011 Executive Order on Improving Regulations and Regulatory Review.