Aimed at preventing rail disasters like the one that killed 79 people in Spain last month, Los Angeles commuter-rail operator Metrolink is installing a sophisticated control system along its 512 miles of track.
The $210.9-million project involves a network of software, signal network updates and communications towers—known as positive train control (PTC)—that will interoperate with similar systems overlayed onto freight-railroad networks operated by United Pacific, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) and others.