Railroads are making modest gains in meeting a federally mandated year-end 2018 deadline for installing technology to prevent collisions and derailments, the Federal Railroad Administration says. Carriers’ progress toward the positive train control (PTC) systems goal also varies widely, the agency says.
FRA’s latest PTC update, released on Nov. 28, shows that freight railroads had the technology active on 12% of their route miles as of Sept. 30, up from 9% for the previous quarter. FRA also said passenger railroads, including commuter-rail lines, had equipped 23% of their mileage with PTC, an uptick from 22% in the second quarter.