U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) announced that the Positive Train Control implementation deadline can’t be met and the Federal Railroad Administration doesn’t have enough staff to certify safety plans for new accident avoidance systems known as positive train controls.
Most railway operators in GAO’s review (20 of 29) estimate that they will implement positive train control (PTC) in 1 to 5 years after the statutory deadline of December 31, 2015. Of the remaining 6 railway companies, one was excepted from installing PTC based on limited speeds on its track, and 4 commuter railways and 1 small freight railway operator estimate they will have PTC operational on their own tracks by the deadline.
‘The ability of these 5 railway companies to fully operate with PTC may be affected because other companies that operate equipment on their tracks—known as tenants—or that own tracks that they operate on—known as hosts—may not be equipped with PTC. In addition, the ability of railway companies to meet the deadline may be affected by the interoperability of their PTC system with those of other railways and whether they can obtain final system approval from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Railway companies GAO interviewed said they continue to face implementation challenges. FRA has overseen railroads’ PTC implementation through a variety of methods, but these efforts were not sufficient to monitor and report on the progress of individual railroads,’ GAO said.
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