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It’s September, so kids are back in school, summer’s almost over — and Kansas City Southern’s Centralized Traffic Control (CTC) project is more than halfway complete on the Meridian Speedway.

So far, the railroad has installed CTC on 170 miles of the Shreveport, La.-to-Meridian, Miss., mainline. By year’s end, the Class I will install the system on another 135 miles.

Crews are assembling and constructing microprocessor-based signal equipment, wayside signals, power switches and track circuits, and spacing signals to provide proper train braking distance. CTC is designed to provide broken rail and switch protection, boost train velocity, and enable dispatchers at KCS’ Shreveport system transportation center to control switches and signals.

“We’ve already seen improvements in running time over the Vicksburg and Meridian Subdivisions,” said Jerry Heavin, KCS senior vice president of international engineering, in a prepared statement.

KCS currently uses CTC on lines between Kansas City, Mo., and Beaumont, Texas, and Shreveport and Wylie, Texas. Next year, the Class I plans to upgrade the K.C.-to-Beaumont line’s system.