FRA’s quarterly PTC whip-cracking

A quarterly status update released Aug. 17, 2016 by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) “underscores the need for railroads to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) as quickly and safely as possible.” The update also “highlights the Administration’s repeated calls for Congress to provide more significant funding to assist commuter railroads in implementing PTC.”

This latest status report, downloadable at the link below, includes railroad-by-railroad quarterly data as of June 30, 2016, on track segments completed, employees trained, radio towers installed, route-miles in PTC operation and other key implementation data. Some of this information is also displayed in infographics in the report. In March, FRA announced that it intended to require railroads to submit quarterly reports to FRA on their progress toward completing PTC implementation.

The appendices in the report show each railroad’s status the most recent information they’ve provided. The three pictographs show (1) each railroad’s targeted full PTC implementation year as reported to FRA; (2) the overall implementation status of the railroad industry broken down by freight and passenger railroads; and (3) the implementation status of each railroad required to implement PTC.

Of the approximately 38 PTC safety plans FRA expects to receive, FRA said it has received seven, “which FRA must evaluate and approve before it can grant PTC System Certification under 49 CFR part 236, subpart I. An additional 13 railroads plan to submit a PTC safety plan to FRA in 2016, but the majority of submissions are not expected until 2018, according to railroads’ annual progress reports,” FRA said. “Submission and approval of a PTCSP does not mean a railroad has completed PTC implementation on all necessary track segments; a railroad may submit a PTC safety plan when it believes there is enough data to support its safety case for system certification.”

“The PTC technology being installed is revolutionary and is a full-time focus of the nation’s freight railroads, which continue to work all-out on PTC testing and installation and to move this complex safety system from concept to nationwide reality across the country as quickly as possible, without sacrificing safety,” the AAR told Railway Age. “ Freight railroads have spent more than $6.5 billion of private money on PTC to this point, and the industry expects final costs to top $10.5 billion by the time the PTC is completed”

Earlier this week, FRA awarded nearly $25 million in grants to help railroads complete full PTC implementation. “Many of the awards will help railroads achieve interoperability among the different PTC systems that railroads are deploying,” FRA said. “This follows DOT’s announcement in July that commuter railroads and states can apply for approximately $199 million in PTC grants.”

FRA said that the Obama Administration “has consistently made funding and assistance for commuter railroads to implement PTC a priority. In his Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 budget request, the President requested $1.25 billion. This follows requests of $825 million in both FY 2015 and FY 2016. Since 2008, FRA has provided significant assistance to support railroads’ PTC implementation.”

Those efforts include: • Approving more than $650 million in grants to passenger railroads, including nearly $400 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding.

• Issuing a nearly $1 billion loan to the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority to implement PTC on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad.

• Building a PTC test bed at TTCI in Pueblo, Colo.

• Working directly with the Federal Communications Commission and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation to resolve issues related to spectrum use and improve the approval process for PTC communication towers.

• Dedicating staff to work on PTC implementation, including establishing a PTC task force.

In 2008, under the RSIA (Rail Safety Improvement Act), Congress mandated PTC on main lines where railroads transport poisonous-by-inhalation or toxic-by-inhalation hazardous materials, or any line where a railroad provides regularly scheduled passenger service. Last October, at the urging of the industry, Congress extended the original deadline from Dec. 31, 2015 to Dec. 31, 2018, with extensions possible on a case-by-case basis.