The Association of American Railroads replied on Nov. 28 to the Federal Railroad Administration's third quarter 2016 data in the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC). The FRA concluded the "data show uneven progress across the country and across railroads toward activating the life-saving technology."
AAR replied: “The FRA’s latest status update illustrates the complexities involved in developing, installing and then thoroughly testing this complex, revolutionary technology to ensure it is providing additional safety benefits.
"The freight rail industry continues to work all out on PTC testing and installation and to move this complex safety system from concept to nationwide reality across the country on about 60,000 miles of track.
"Implementing this developed-from-scratch technology remains a remains a priority for the nation’s freight rail industry with Class 1 freight railroads remaining on track at having PTC fully installed by the deadline.
"To this point, the freight rail industry has invested more than $7.1 billion on this complex technology, spending $100 million a month on continuous development, testing and installation, with final costs expected to reach about $10.6 billion by the time it is fully operational.
"The reality is that this revolutionary technology is not-off-the shelf, it had to be developed from scratch and isn’t just about plugging in or turning on components. It is a complex step-by-step process, both in terms of safety, engineering and implementation. Freight railroads have designated teams of safety and technology experts along with trained employees working fulltime on PTC, as well as having special PTC labs and designated pilot territories in place to ensure everything works properly and the system is fully operational.
"Interoperability is essential to Positive Train Control, with ongoing development and field-testing being a critical focus that must take place to make sure PTC is safely deployed. Each railroad needs to thoroughly test its own system and then go through an extensive process of testing interoperability between its system and other interchange systems. Not only must the overall technology function effectively within a railroad’s existing communication and dispatching system, PTC must be interoperable so that any train operating on another railroad’s network can communicate with the host railroad’s PTC system.
“Federal statistics show rail safety has been improving over the last several decades with the last five years the safest years on record for freight rail safety. Still, the freight rail industry recognizes the need to further enhance safety and continues to spend billions of dollars every year on maintaining and further modernizing the U.S. rail network. More than $600 billion since 1980, averaging $26 billion a year over the past five years, including more than $30 billion in 2015 alone.
"In addition to positive train control, freight railroads are constantly incorporating a suite of new technologies to improve rail safety, including sophisticated track detectors and specialized inspection vehicles, as well as drone technology for track inspections.”