AAR: PTC operating on nearly all required Class I route miles

Positive train control (PTC) was in operation on 98.5 percent of the required Class I route miles at the end of 2019, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) announced yesterday.

The nation's largest railroads remain on track to meet the federally mandated deadline of Dec. 31, 2020, for full PTC implementation, with several railroads already operating it across their entire required PTC footprint, AAR officials said in a press release.

For the remainder of 2020, the Class Is will continue testing to ensure PTC systems are fully interoperable and work seamlessly across operations, as railroads regularly run across each other's tracks, they said.

"PTC — coupled with other advanced technologies — drives down risk and fuels railroads’ next leap forward to ensure our people, infrastructure and equipment are safer than ever," said AAR President and Chief Executive Officer Ian Jefferies. "Railroads are committed to an accident-free future, and fully implementing PTC continues our industry’s progress toward that ultimate target."

As of the end of 2019, Class Is had invested $11.47 billion in PTC development, installation and implementation. The technology now is in operation across 53,001 miles of their 53,676 miles of PTC-required track.

All seven Class Is had installed all necessary wayside, back office and locomotive hardware; had all spectrum in place; and completed all necessary employee training as of the end of 2018.

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandated railroads to implement PTC to prevent four major types of train accidents: train-to-train collisions; derailments caused by excessive speed; unauthorized incursions by trains into sections of track where maintenance activity is taking place; and movement of a train through a track switch left in the wrong position.