In its second-quarter progress report, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has determined that the implementation of positive train control (PTC) systems in 42 railroads is proceeding steadily.
As of June 30, PTC systems were operational on the majority of routes required by Congress. Around 50,300 of the 58,000 route miles are now so equipped. The FRA warns that significant work remains for railroads to complete remaining upgrades by Dec. 31, 2020, but the latest figures do represent a 4 percent increase since the first quarter of this year. The biggest issues FRA sees going forward revolve around activating PTC on the remaining required main lines and achieving interoperability with tenant railroads.
“FRA is determined to help all affected railroads successfully satisfy the statutory deadline for full PTC system installation, testing, certification and ultimately initiate operations governed by PTC on all required territories,” FRA Administrator Ronald Batory said. “FRA is currently directing its focus and resources on the technical challenges facing the railroads, including commencing revenue service demonstration, interoperability testing, and safety plans.”
Host commuter railroads report that as of June 2019, PTC systems were operating in advanced field testing on around 698 route miles and in revenue service on 443 route miles, or around 37 percent of the host commuter railroads’ required route miles. On the other hand, Class I freight railroads report operational systems on approximately 91 percent of their required main lines over the same timeline. As a host, Amtrak now has all but two route miles governed by PTC. As a tenant operator, those figures were down to 16,031 route miles, or 84 percent.
All railroads remain committed to full PTC system implementation on required main lines by the Dec. 31, 2020 date. Between now and then, a series of meetings with the FRA are expected.