So Much to Do, So Little Time

Abstract

Only three passenger railroads—Amtrak, Metrolink, and Alaska Railroad Corp—are projected to meet the federally mandated December 31, 2015, deadline to implement positive train control (PTC). Funding, evolving technology, negotiations over interoperability with Class Is, the need to acquire the required 220 MHz radio spectrum, and the relatively small number of PTC vendors and service suppliers are the primary challenges. Rail leaders and PTC managers are working to get as much completed as possible by the deadline, but they continue to ask Congress to extend the deadline to 2018. In addition, they are seeking federal funding to cover the estimated $2 billion to implement PTC and the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA’s) review and authorization of the systems. Regardless of what Congress may do, passenger railroad leaders agree with the PTC goal of preventing train-to-train collisions and will continue to try to make headway with their plans with the hope of getting some mechanism of relief. It is expected that many of their concerns, particularly a deadline extension, will be discussed by legislators this year. They realize that additional funding will be a challenge and will continue to make every effort to move ahead.