The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) is close to starting the project of installing the positive train control system mandated by Congress. The Federal Railroad Administration has approved a Capital Metro PTC “implementation” plan, Melvin Clark, the Capital Metro rail official in charge of the project, said.
At the end of the month, the Capital Metro board will consider hiring a contractor to both design and build the system of controls, which include equipment on the trains, along the track and in a central office. The estimated cost, based on Capital Metro’s five-year capital spending plan, is $51.7 million. About $13 million of that would come from federal grants with the remaining $39 million coming from local sources.
The transit agency, which must equip its 32-mile commuter corridor with the system, is behind what has already been a much-delayed national curve, based on a Federal Railroad Administration scorecard. The federal deadline for installing the system is 31 December 2018, at which point Capital Metro could ask federal regulators for a two-year extension.
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