The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) on Friday published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend certain regulations on positive train control (PTC) systems.
“This proposed rulemaking intends to establish clear, uniform processes for addressing issues with PTC systems while eliminating uncertainty and inconsistent application of FRA’s regulations,” said FRA Administrator Amit Bose.
PTC technology is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into established work zones, and movements of trains through switches left in the wrong position.
The NPRM would standardize regulations concerning railroad operations when PTC systems are not enabled, which can occur due to a PTC outage or when PTC systems are temporarily disabled to facilitate maintenance, repairs, or upgrades to railroad infrastructure, according to the NPRM.
“We expect that these changes will ensure that railroads consistently provide FRA with the information necessary to assess the scope and circumstances of temporary outages in a timely manner, establish additional operating requirements to protect public and worker safety when outages occur, and enhance the efficiency of rail operations,” Bose said.
Under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Congress mandated the implementation of PTC systems on Class I railroad main lines that carry high levels of freight traffic and certain hazardous materials, on main lines over which intercity or commuter rail passenger transportation is regularly provided, and other tracks as prescribed by the U.S. Transportation Secretary.
As of December 2020, PTC technology is in operation on all required freight and passenger railroad route miles, and PTC technology currently governs rail operations on nearly 59,000 route miles, the proposed rulemaking says.
FRA is soliciting public comments on this NPRM for 60 days.