Amtrak announced that will implement Positive Train Control, in coordination with BNSF, over several BNSF-owned subdivisions, marking the first activation on host-owned territory used by Amtrak.
Subdivisions that serve Amtrak Southwest Chief (Chicago-Kansas City-Albuquerque-Flagstaff-Los Angeles route) and California Zephyr (Chicago-Omaha-Denver-Salt Lake City-Oakland, San Francisco route) are the first to roll out, with full activation on BNSF routes expected by the end of August.
Amtrak is on track to achieve installation and operation of PTC across the network it controls by the year-end deadline, and is working with partners throughout the industry to advance system’s implementation.
Where PTC is not implemented and operational, it is expected that nearly all carriers will qualify for an alternative PTC implementation schedule under law. For those carriers and routes operating under an extension or under an FRA-approved exemption, Amtrak is performing risk analyses and developing strategies for enhancing safety on a route-by-route basis to ensure that there is a single level of safety across the Amtrak network by January 1, 2019. For those very limited routes where a host may not achieve an alternative schedule by year’s end, Amtrak will suspend service and may seek alternative modes of service until such routes come into compliance.
Amtrak is also working with tenant railways that operate over Amtrak’s infrastructure as they work to ensure that they have sufficient PTC-commissioned rolling stock by the deadline to operate normal services.
To date, Amtrak fully equipped PTC on 380 of 444 owned locomotives, 8 of 11 installation/track segments are completed, 607 of 900 route miles in PTC are operational.
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