Seven railroads to miss US safety deadline

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Federal officials released a schedule for positive train control (PTC) that shows which carriers still will miss the implementation date in 2018. Carriers also can seek a two-year extension to that deadline. (jpmueller99-Flickr / Wikimedia Commons)

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Federal officials released a schedule for positive train control (PTC) on Wednesday that shows at least seven of the nation’s carriers will not meet the congressional deadline to install the safety system.

PTC, due to be implemented by 2018, is designed to slow or stop trains and prevent collisions or derailments. CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern are among the seven carriers that expect to miss the deadline.

In October, after much outcry from the railroad industry and industries such as agriculture and chemical producers that rely on rail service, the US Congress passed a bill giving carriers extra time to install PTC.

Yet a group of railroad companies have informed the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that they do not expect to have the technology installed until 2020. Such a delay would require special permission for the individual carriers from Anthony Foxx, US secretary of transportation.

FRA officials said they are encouraged that many railroads have submitted plans to either meet the deadline or finish installation ahead of schedule. There are approximately 31 freight and passenger carriers that will achieve the safety mandate before or by the deadline.

Originally, companies were to have PTC across the nation’s rail system by 2015. The measure came about in 2008 with the passage of a safety law.

The PTC technology is a system of GPS, wireless radios and a computer network to keep track of trains. It can either reduce speed or stop movement on all lines carrying passengers or toxic chemicals.

For government authorities and the general public the issue was solely about safety, but for the railroad industry the impact was about cost and time. Most estimates say implementing the technology would cost the railroad industry around $70bn.

Railroads began repeatedly warning authorities and the public that they would fall short of the year’s end deadline, and as a result they would stop hauling toxic, yet vital, commodities such as ammonia and chlorine.

Congress then passed the Surface Transportation Reauthorization Act of 2015, which pushed back the PTC deadline until 31 December 2018, with a provision that railroads can seek a waiver for an additional two years if warranted.

Twenty-one passenger and commuter railroads and the seven major freight railroad companies operating within the US had urged Congress to extend the deadline to 2018, and at least two of the majors had threatened to halt hazardous shipments.

Norfolk Southern announced in October that it would no longer accept shipments of poisonous-inhalation-hazard commodities effective 1 December 2015, while Union Pacific also threatened to shutter hazardous shipping in December as the original deadline loomed. Neither company followed through with the transportation halt.

Norfolk Southern officials declined to comment on their inability to achieve PTC, until after the 2018 deadline.

According to the FRA schedule, Union Pacific will meet the deadline by 2018.

CSX Transportation said safety is the company’s highest priority and it is fully committed to deploying PTC on its network as soon as possible, especially considering the logistical undertaking.

A spokesperson said CSX on 26 January submitted its PTC plan to FRA detailing how the carrier will deploy all necessary technology by the end of 2018 and, following an extensive period of testing and training, have a fully operational system in place in 2020.

“For CSX, accomplishing that goal means conducting a complete airborne laser-imaging survey of our entire 21,000-mile network, with all assets mapped to within 7 feet of their precise location. Installing 4,600 wayside units, replacing signals along 7,500 miles of track, installing 1,285 radio base stations, equipping 3,200 locomotives and training approximately 19,000 employees,” said a CSX spokesperson.

“Deploying an interactive PTC system is a complex undertaking requiring the creation and integration of new systems which, as a safety-critical component of CSX’s operating systems, must perform flawlessly from the moment it is activated. CSX is committed to deploying such a system as soon as we can safely do so.”

At this time, CSX has installed more than 2,400 wayside units, replaced signals on over 4,700 miles of tracks and completed 500-plus radio base stations.

The carrier said more than 160 locomotives also are fully equipped and 2,895 locomotives have been at least partially equipped, with nearly 12,000 employees trained.  CSX also has begun the final development and testing phase of PTC on some of the regional subdivisions of its network.

The carrier currently has 1,000 employees working on PTC deployment and through the end of 2015 had invested $1.5bn. CSX expects to spend a total of $2.2bn before the system is complete in 2020.