A fact sheet from U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) showed that a new report found that there are still issues facing the railroad industry when it comes to positive train control implementation.
The report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewing the railroad industry’s progress toward meeting an implementation deadline of Dec. 31, 2020, found that while railroads have addressed some challenges, issues with software, vendor expertise, and resources remain a challenge.
However, the GAO found that some railroads have redirected staff and made tracks available to make progress towards implementation and testing, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and reduced operations and ridership, as well as other unforeseen circumstances.
“While some railroads reported making progress on specific challenges GAO has previously identified, longstanding software and vendor issues have grown more acute as many railroads face compressed schedules to implement PTC by December 31, 2020,” the report said.”For example, five selected railroads have had to compress their schedules, meaning they must complete tasks in a shorter time than originally planned, due to software issues or other unique circumstances. The compressed schedules and recurring challenges, as well as unexpected events such as the COVID-19 global pandemic, create risks that could affect some railroads’ ability to meet the extended deadline.”
Wicker, chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, released a fact sheet that highlighted what the Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Agency (FRA) has done to further implementation of PTC.
“In reviewing railroads’ progress toward meeting the implementation deadline, GAO found that most railroads were in the final two stages of PTC implementation with more than three-quarters of railroads in revenue service demonstration or working to achieve interoperability,” Wicker’s fact sheet said.
Federal regulations as part of the Positive Train Control Enforcement and Implementation Act of 2015 require railroads to complete implementation of PTC, advanced technology designed to stop or slow a train before accidents occur, by the end of the year.