KEARNY, N.J. — NJ Transit announced it had received Federal Railroad Administration certification for its positive train control system, ending doubts the agency could meet the Dec. 31, 2020, deadline for implementation. As recently as last month, the FRA said NJ Transit was in danger of missing the deadline.
NJ Transit said the certification came after three years of around-the-clock work and is a notable turnaround from January 2018, when the system was only at 12% completion for the interim goal of equipment and infrastructure installation required at the end of that year.
“We could not have been successful without the hard work and dedication of the NJ TRANSIT employees assigned to this project, which was arguably one of the most complex in the country,” NJ Transit CEO Kevin Corbett said in a press release. “… In addition to our employees, I want to thank our contractors (Parsons and Alstom), FRA Administrator Ron Batory and his team for their leadership and support, our partners at Amtrak, MTA, SEPTA and the many freight railroads — all of whom were critical to our success. Most importantly, I want to thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding over the last two years while we worked tirelessly to complete PTC and deliver a safer commute.”
NJ Transit’s efforts to catch up included a shutdown of its Atlantic City line and Princeton shuttle [see “NJ Transit restores Atlantic City service,” Trains News Wire, May 13, 2019], suspend direct service to New York on its Raritan Valley Line, and cancellation of some trains to increase testing [see “Digest: NJ Transit cancels trains, increase PTC testing in effort to meet deadline,” Aug. 13, 2020]
