Commuter railroads behind freight railroads on PTC
Written by David C. Lester, Editor-in-Chief
Mudslide along Sounder North commuter line suspends service until at least Thursday, Jan. 7.
Sound Transit
The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) reported this week that commuter railroads are continuing to make progress toward meeting the PTC implementation deadline of December 31, 2020. However, commuter roads are running behind their freight counterparts, which have an overall completion rate of 92.4%. (Read our report on freight railroad PTC readiness here).
According to an APTA press release, commuter railroads have achieved the following around PTC:
- 50% are in revenue service demonstration
- 37% are PTC certified by FRA or are operating with PTC
- 10% are in field testing
- 3% are preparing for field testing
While the implementation deadline is over a year away, that’s not a lot of time to complete work needed for PTC readiness. However, APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas said “we are committed to staying at the forefront of rider safety by implementing positive train control and making commuter rail even safer. The commuter rail industry is strongly focused and committed to completing full implementation by December 2020.”
For more information of commuter rail PTC, go to apta.com/ptc.
For the latest rail news, go to rtands.com.
