U.S. Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) announced that in the third quarter of 2018, PTC implementation shows progress as PTC is in operation on 71 percent of freight railways’ required route miles, and 26 percent of passenger railways’ required route miles.
“The progress made over the last year is a testament to what can be accomplished with proper focus and attention. We encourage any railways seeking an alternative schedule to submit their formal requests in a timely fashion,” said FRA Administrator Ronald Batory.
As of September 2018, 24 railway companies have installed 100 percent of the PTC system hardware required for implementation. 11 other railway companies have installed between 95 and 99 percent of the required hardware.
All railway operators using radio spectrum-based PTC have acquired sufficient spectrum. The Quarter 3 data shows a 67 percent decrease in the number of “at-risk” railways, down to five from 15 at the end of 2017. This is also a 44 percent decrease in at-risk railways since Quarter 2 of 2018.
FRA considered any railway company that had installed less than 95 percent of its PTC system hardware to be at risk of not meeting either the congressionally-mandated deadline of December 31, 2018, or the statutory criteria necessary to qualify for an alternative schedule. Hardware installation is an initial phase of implementation and only one of six statutory criteria required for an alternative schedule, which has a deadline of no later than December 31, 2020.
The five at-risk railway companies as of quarter 3 are the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Altamont Corridor Express, New Jersey Transit, Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain), and National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak). Together, they own or control approximately 1,302 route miles of the 58,000 route miles subject to the statutory mandate.
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