FRA: We’ve got PTC funds available. Act now!
The Federal Railroad Administration on May 15 issued a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for $250 million in Positive Train Control (PTC) Systems Grants.
Positive Train Control
Batory to railroads: We’re here for you
Characterizing progress on Positive Train Control as “uneven,” Federal Railroad Administrator Ron Batory pledged that the agency he now officially leads “is taking a proactive approach to ensure railroads acquire, install, test and fully implement certified PTC systems in time to meet the congressional interim deadline of Dec. 31, 2018.”
Union Pacific adds 1,900 PTC miles
Union Pacific provided a second quarter update on its progress regarding implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) and notes it has made strides toward its 2018 goal.
NCTD PTC RSD under way
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has authorized initiation of Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) operations for Positive Train Control (PTC) on North County Transit District (NCTD) Coaster trains, including revenue (passenger-carrying) trains, on the San Diego subdivision.
NJT completes PTC radio spectrum acquisition; sets ops, capex budgets
New Jersey Transit has executed a lease agreement with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority for the last component of radio spectrum needed for its Positive Train Control (PTC) system, and has set its FY2017 operating and capital budgets.
Commentary
“Civil War-era” technology? You’re joking, right?
I’ve heard some pretty disingenuous (that’s a polite word for “dopey”) things said about railroads in my nearly 25 years at Railway Age. Nearly all of them have come from uninformed generalist reporters who are mostly clueless about what we do, how we do it, and the technology we employ—and that they don’t take the time to understand.
Commentary
Maybe, maybe not
All you need to know about FRA’s NPRM, Train Crew Staffing, can be found by clicking HERE. Or maybe by reading below. Your call.
GAO report confirms need for PTC deadline extension
A new report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds that most U.S. railroads will not be able to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) technology by the current Dec. 31, 2015 deadline, and that legislation extending the deadline is necessary.
Commentary
PTC: It’s the deadline, stupid
Syntax-challenged George W. Bush was bang-on correct in saying, “You got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in.” So it is with Positive Train Control (PTC)—a $14 billion safety overlay utilizing computers, transponders and GPS to stop or slow a train automatically before certain types of accidents occur.
Dispatcher’s delight
Dispatching, says Norfolk Southern Manager-Dispatch Planning Systems Charlie Turnipseed, “is like a game of chess.” Like chess players, train dispatchers are constantly thinking ahead, planning movements, moving “pieces”—trains—across the “board”—the railroad’s 22-state, 11-operating-division, 20,000-mile system—and dealing with “opponents”—the numerous types of events that can impact a train’s movement between origin and destination.