A multi-railroad effort to determine the viability of non-proprietary positive train control (PTC) technology is about to enter a critical phase.
As of press time, Conrail, Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation were preparing to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for two prototype on-board systems — systems designed by two different suppliers — “to make sure that they are interoperable,” says Gerhard Thelen, Conrail’s assistant vice president of engineering and chairman of the project’s executive group.
Last June, the railroads solicited bids for an interoperable PTC system — one, they hoped, that wouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.
A key piece of the project’s first phase, the design of a locomotive-based electronic interface platform with open architecture, was “pretty much completed” as of late January, Thelen says.
The Railroad Electronics Business of Rockwell was developing the platform, to be installed on locomotives that can be used on any railroad with various PTC systems. The project was funded by a $500,000 Federal Railroad Administration grant issued to Conrail last May.
RFPs for the project’s second phase — the wayside component — should be issued in April, with design and prototype contracts awarded during the third quarter, Thelen says. The entire project should be completed by late 1999.
— Pat Foran, managing editor
Source: The February 1998 issue of Progressive Railroading
