As many as two-thirds of the nation’s 29 commuter railroads might not be on track to meet deadlines and milestones for implementation of positive train control (PTC) before the year-end deadline, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released on Wednesday.
GAO found that commuter railroads’ schedules for meeting PTC implementation milestones don’t reflect Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) time estimates. Seven of 19 railroads could miss milestones ahead of the 2018 implementation deadlines and fail to meet statutory requirements for a revenue service demonstration (RSD)-based extension, GAO found.
FRA estimates that meeting the field testing milestone will take one year to complete, for example. However, GAO found that 14 commuter railroads planned to start testing less than a year before the 2018 deadline, “increasing the potential risk that this milestone will not be completed.”
“However, FRA has the authority to establish alternative criteria for an extension not based on RSD, and several other factors can affect commuter railroads’ planned and future progress,” GAO stated. “As a result, the number of commuter railroads at risk of not meeting the deadline or qualifying for an extension could increase or decrease in the coming year.”
GAO found that FRA had not used a risk-based approach to help railroads prepare for the 2018 deadline, or meet qualifications for an extension. FRA has primarily provided informal assistance and used industry-convened groups to share information, and “in some cases, the information conveyed has been inconsistent according to industry representatives.”
“Some commuter railroads also told GAO that clarification about the agency’s planned process for reviewing and approving extension requests would be helpful,” GAO stated. “Federal internal control standards state that management should externally communicate the necessary quality information to achieve its objectives.”
FRA officials have indicated that they’re working on alternative strategies to communicate information about requirements for extensions, but that has not yet been accomplished. FRA has also failed to use information it receives from commuter railroads on PTC implementation to prioritize resources.
“With the year-end 2018 deadline approaching, and an anticipated significant increase in FRA’s workload, targeting resources to the greatest risk can help better ensure that FRA effectively fulfills its oversight responsibilities and provides commuter railroads the information they need to prepare for the 2018 deadline or seek an extension,” the GAO report concluded.