Regulatory Agency Turf War Halts Implementation of Positive Train Control

Last edited Tue Apr 22, 2014, 08:31 AM - Edit history (2)

April 2014

— by Julie Sneider, associate editor

Faced with a December 2015 deadline to implement positive train control (PTC), freight and commuter railroads say they are working as fast as they can to acquire, equip, install and test still-evolving technology that one day will lead to a nationwide crash-prevention safety system — a goal industry officials are committed to. But frustration is building over regulatory uncertainties that railroad leaders say are impeding their ability to get their PTC systems up and running.

No. 1 on railroad execs' list of hurdles? How to proceed with PTC installation despite the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) order to stop installing the necessary signaling antennas. None of the remaining 22,000 antenna structures needed for PTC to operate have been installed as a result of the halt order, which was issued in 2013 after the commission determined it needed more time to develop a historic preservation and tribal review process for the antennas' locations.

Although industry officials have said for the past several years that the federally mandated deadline was unrealistic for a host of reasons, the FCC antenna issue has made it apparent that getting a PTC system up and running by then is practically impossible, as Association of American Railroads (AAR) President and Chief Executive Officer Edward Hamberger testified on Capitol Hill last month. The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) also is on record in support of a deadline extension.