Federal agency: Most railroads will meet PTC deadline; challenges remain NEWSWIRE

WASHINGTON — Coronavirus complications and missing interim deadlines still put railroads at risk for missing the year-end deadline for full positive train control implementation in the U.S.

In a Government Accountability Office document released this week, the agency reports that railroad officials say they are confident their companies will meet the Dec. 31 deadline, but that challenges remain.

Software, for one, remains a problem. Railroads are still having to customize PTC applications for their railroads and territories and receive software that works.

“Specifically, it took longer than anticipated for [one commuter railroad on the Northeast Corridor] to receive software with no critical defects, such as being able to recognize a stop message for a speed restriction, which contributed to a delay of at least 3 months in the railroad entering RSD,” the report reads.

Vendor issues are also a problem, especially for railroads that started late and must meet the same deadlines. The vendors have only limited resources to help these time crunched railroads.

But these issues were largely known before the Coronavirus pandemic, which in its own way, has the potential to disrupt vendors’ ability to make and delivery PTC gear or to travel to railroads and help them install equipment or troubleshoot problems.

The agency said that as of Dec. 31, 2019, exactly four railroads — commuter railroads — have achieved both functional PTC and have demonstrated that their systems are interoperable with other roads’ equipment. Interoperability refers to the ability of different PTC systems to work with each other and various railroads’ locomotives, regardless of manufacture. Model railroaders, as an example, largely achieve this with digital command control systems.

Forty-two railroads are required to meet a Congressional deadline of Dec. 31, 2020, to have PTC fully implemented.

Two other commuter railroads were still in the equipment installation phase and had yet to begin field testing or the important revenue service demonstration testing.

Class I railroads, which operate most of the country’s rail network, were at least in revenue service demonstration testing or had completed testing, but were working on interoperability.

GAO report writers said interoperability remains a challenge for the large railroads because of the number of “tenant” railroads, often short lines, with which the PTC systems are not yet up and working.

Though they remain confident they’ll meet the deadline, certain railroad officials that the GAO interviewed said they are developing contingency plans in cases where the railroad is non-compliant with the PTC mandate.

The full report is available online.