According to Freightwaves, The U.S. operations of the Class I railroads are closer to reaching full compliance with the federal mandate to implement positive train control (PTC) by the end of December, according to data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
FRA’s data tracks how far along freight and passenger railroads are with implementing PTC, a safety technology aimed at reducing accidents because the technologies enable parties to see where trains are located on a network in relation to each other.
The data shows that Class I railroads are in 100% compliance in the following areas as of the end of June 30:
-Locomotives fully equipped and operable with PTC.
-Track segments operable with PTC.
-Training completed.
Percentage of route miles governed by PTC that are in operation or are in revenue service demonstration, an advanced testing stage that is among the last steps to completing the installation and implementation of PTC.
There are two areas in which the Class I railroads have yet to be fully compliant. One is PTC system certification, which was at 86% at the end of the second quarter. This figure is flat with the first quarter, and it represents the percentage of host railroads that have received certification based on the approval of a PTC safety plan.
The other area is interoperability. The interoperability rate of the Class I railroads in the second quarter was 79%, compared with 58.7% at the end of the first quarter.
Interoperability occurs when the controlling locomotives and/or cab cars of any host railroad and tenant railroad operating on the same PTC-equipped main line are able to communicate with and respond to the PTC system, even when trains are moving over property boundaries. The final step is interoperability with other trains, which is viewed as the last piece in fulfilling the statutory mandate.
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By: LFS Marketing
August 18, 2020
