Report: CN, CSX, NS won't meet 2018 PTC deadline

Three Class Is — CN, CSX and Norfolk Southern Railway — have informed the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that they won't meet the 2018 deadline to implement positive train control (PTC), according to a report by the Associated Press (AP).

Four commuter railroads — SunRail in Florida, Metra in Chicago, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Trinity Railway Express in Texas also will miss the 2018 deadline, according to the AP.

Railroads were required to report to the FRA of their PTC plans last week. The other four Class Is — Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway Co., Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern — told the FRA they would meet the 2018 deadline, AP reported.

Late last year, Congress extended its original PTC deadline of Dec. 31, 2015, to the end of 2018. The new legislation also allowed that, under certain circumstances, railroads would have until 2020 to implement the safety technology.

After Congress approved a later date, FRA Administrator Sarah Feinberg advised railroads not to assume they have until 2020 to install and begin using PTC on their networks.