The U.S. Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced Tuesday that all required freight and passenger railroads in the United States have fully implemented positive train control before the Dec. 31, 2020 deadline.
FRA also said that it has certified that each host railroad’s PTC system complies with the technical requirements for PTC systems and that railroads have reported that interoperability has been achieved between all host and tenant railroads that operate on PTC-governed main lines.
“Achieving 100 percent PTC implementation is a tremendous accomplishment and reflects the Department’s top priorities – safety, innovation, and infrastructure,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.
In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act, which mandated the implementation of PTC systems on Class I railroads’ main lines. PTC systems are designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into work zones, and movement of trains through switches left in the wrong position.
Tuesday’s announcement, the USDOT said, results from more than a decade of work by the FRA and the 41 railroads subject to the statute, including seven Class I railroads, Amtrak, 28 commuter, and 5 other freight railroads.
“On behalf of extraordinary professionals at FRA and myself, I congratulate the railroads, particularly their frontline workers, as well as PTC system suppliers and vendors on this transformative accomplishment,” said FRA Administrator Ronald L. Batory. “Furthermore, many industry associations, including the Association of American Railroads, American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association, American Public Transportation Association, Commuter Rail Coalition, National Railroad Construction, and Maintenance Association, Railway Supply Institute, and Railway Systems Suppliers, have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to supporting this unprecedented undertaking.”
The USDOT supported the implementation of PTC technology through $3.4 billion in grant and loan funding to railroads and other entities that needed financial assistance.