Amtrak activates PTC along NEC

Written by Mischa Wanek-Libman, editor
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COVID-19 was expected to delay PTC installation work, but that has proven not to be the case.
Amtrak

Amtrak activated the final stretch of Positive Train Control (PTC) along the Northeast Corridor (NEC) on Dec. 18. The technology is now active on all Amtrak-owned track between Washington, D.C., and Boston.

 

PTC on the Philadelphia to New York segment was activated during the weekend of Dec. 18-20 and between Washington, D.C. to New York City the previous weekend, according to USA Today.

In the January/February 2015 edition of Ink, Amtrak’s employee magazine, the passenger carrier detailed the work to install its Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES), a component of Amtrak’s PTC system.

“We are trying to be the leader in passenger rail safety,” Mid-Atlantic Division PTC Engineer David James said in the article. “We will implement PTC over the NEC; then we will analyze, renew and start looking at the next evolution of PTC.”

The only hole in the system is along a Metro-North-owned stretch north of New York City. However, Amtrak and Metro-North are committed to closing that gap in the PTC system.

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