By John Cooper, Railroad Accident/FELA Lawyer

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is beginning to implement the regulations set forth in the Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008 that must be followed by all U.S. railroad companies regarding the use of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems.

Currently, the installation of PTC systems is voluntary and many railroad companies are against the safety upgrades because they believe it’ll be too costly. My colleague, Randy Appleton, wrote about the absurdity of this argument and how the money spent upgrading the safety of our railroads is microscopic compared to the costs associated with a major train crash.

Despite the railroad companies’ protests, the PTC systems represent a step forward in rail safety and train accident prevention. There are various PTC prototypes being tested, but the basic system relies upon GPS technology that reviews train speeds, track conditions and vehicle locations. In addition, the system alerts the rail crew of problems and if the crew fails to respond, the emergency brakes are activated.

This technology is an upgrade from the current systems in place for many railroad companies. Signal systems are the primary technology utilized to assist with coordinating train movement via instructions to train engineers and feedback to dispatchers about vehicle movement. However, signal systems are not perfect and the system failures are possible, according to Susan Kristoff, an engineering consultant.

Given these shortcomings and the persistence of fatal train wrecks across the country, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended a “train control system on mainline tracks which will provide for positive separation of all trains” to the FRA way back in 1987 and listed a positive train separation system on their top-10 list of desired safety improvements in 1990. As you can tell, it’s been a long time coming for these new regulations.

There are currently 11 different PTC projects involving nine railroads in at least 16 different states. These pilot projects are allowing railroad companies to test this technology while gradually implementing the PTC systems in order to comply with the required 2015 deployment completion date, according to the FRA.

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