After the Rail Safety Improvement Act became law in October 2008, in the eight years between Q1 2009 and Q4 2016, railroads had only implemented PTC on 10,163 of nearly 57,848 required route miles. By contrast, between the close of 2016 and the close of 2018, this improved to 45,933 out of 57,848. In only the last two years, that’s an improvement from 16% to 83% for freight, and 24% to 30% for passenger rail.Similarly, in the eight years between 2008 and the end of 2016, just 9,465...
Remarks Prepared for Delivery byU.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao at theFirst Positive Train Control Collaboration Session Wednesday, February 6, 2019Thank you, Ron [Batory, FRA Administrator], for hosting this important gathering of our nation’s railroad leaders, and positive train control experts.Today is the first of 6 PTC Collaboration Sessions that the Department will convene between now and the end of...
Background Under the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, as amended by the Positive Train Control Enforcement and Implementation Act of 2015 (PTCEI Act), Congress requires Class I railroads and entities providing regularly scheduled intercity or commuter rail passenger transportation to implement PTC systems on certain main lines by December 31, 2018. See Title 49 United States Code (U.S.C.) § 20157. If a railroad meets all statutory criteria required for a...
