GAO Additional Authorities Could Benefit PCT Implementation
Date: 11/29/2013 Positive Train Control (PTC) Systems Are Integrated Command, Control, Communications, and Information Systems for Controlling Train Movements with Safety, Security, Precision, and Efficiency What Government Accountability Office (GAO) Found To install positive train control (PTC) - a communications-based system designed to prevent certain types of train accidents caused by human factors - almost all railroads are overlaying their existing infrastructure with PTC components; nonetheless, most railroads report Private Freight Rail Investments and Maintenance in Network, Equipment and Training Yield Record Industry Safety Achievements Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger today told a Senate Commerce Committee panel that massive private investments in safety enhancing infrastructure and maintenance on such things as tracks, new equipment, as well as employee training and cutting edge technologies, have helped make our nation’s railroads safer than ever in their history. These safety-enhancing investments have included roughly $2.8 billion spent since 2008 on implementing positive train control (PTC) technology in an effort to meet a deadline of December 2015 as mandated by the Rail Safety Improvement Act. Due to both technological and non-technological challenges that have arisen throughout the implementation process, however, freight railroads have determined it will not be possible to have a fully interoperable nationwide PTC system up and running by the 2015 deadline. Hamberger said the current 2015 deadline should be extended by at least three years, to Dec. 31, 2018, with flexibility given to the Secretary of the Department of Transportation to consider additional extensions should they be deemed necessary. Unprecedented Technological Challenge PTC development and implementation includes a daunting array of tasks that railroads must perform, including: ### CONTINUATION:
PTC systems will improve railroad safety by significantly reducing the probability of collisions between trains, casualties to roadway workers and damage to their equipment, and over speed accidents. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has named PTC as one of its "most-wanted" initiatives for national transportation safety.
they will miss the December 31, 2015, implementation deadline. Both the Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) have reported that most railroads will not have PTC fully implemented by the deadline. Of the four major freight railroads included in GAO’s review, only one expects to meet the 2015 deadline. The other three freight railroads report that they expect to have PTC implemented by 2017 or later.
AIS offers customization computer display unit, locomotive cab display unit, locomotive control display and interoperable electronic train management system (I-ETMS) display design service to meet customer specific platform requirements and standards for communications and train control systems.
A new console enhances automatic train control system design by allowing the operator of a mass transit vehicle to communicate with the vehicle's automatic train control system. The console utilizes microprocessor controls, a liquid crystal display, a standard keypad, and RS-232 communications. The operator is alerted to abnormal operating conditions and guided through corrective measures. Self-diagnostic routines are run during normal operation and during routine out-of-service maintenance. The application of microprocessors and associated technology allows changes in train operating characteristics to be made quickly and easily in the car borne software. Increased operator awareness of the state of the automatic train control system should reduce lost time and increase revenue service availability.