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Positive Train Control Boosted by L.A. Train Collision
Positive Train Control (PTC), a technology that automatically brakes a locomotive as it passes through a red signal, could have prevented Friday's Los Angeles train collision
John Dodge, Editor-in-Chief -- Design News, September 15, 2008
It seems inconceivable that trains can still collide as they did in Los Angeles Friday, especially when a technology already exists that most likely would have prevented the accident.
Positive Train Control automatically brakes a locomotive passing through a red signal and has been under development for years. It's slated on a limited basis for about 2,600 miles of track in the U.S., according to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). Unfortunately, those plans did not include the MetroLink line northwest of Los Angeles where 25 people lost their lives late Friday and scores of others were injured when a commuter train smashed into a Union Pacific freight train.
"We strongly support the PTC technology and are working to resolve remaining issues so it's more affordable and more prevalent for the years to come," FRA Administrator Joseph R. Boardman said today. By remaining issues, one is coming up with the correct software algorithms to stop heavy 100-car freight trains as well as much lighter and shorter commuter trains.
What's more, issues with interoperability between railroads must be ironed out. Sufficient and reliable radio frequency bandwidth must be found so signals can travel between trains, dispatchers and central computers. And personnel such as dispatchers and engineers must be trained to use PTC. Finally, it must be affordable, which suggests a price tag can be put on lives given Friday's carnage.
These seemingly resolvable issues remain even though the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has had PTC on it list of "most wanted" safety improvements since 2001.
And the FRA would prefer the government not force railroads to adopt PTC. "It does not need to be mandatory. We know it works better when it's voluntarily applied," Boardman said. The FRA sets safety standards and rules for the nation's railroads.
That position will be sure to rankle the public, railroad unions and survivors of Friday's accident. Already, unions have accused railroads of planning to reduce train crew size if PTC installations move ahead on a broader scale.
During today's teleconference, Trains magazine columnist and International Herald Tribune reporter Don Phillips mentioned that a PTC-like technology has been around for 30 years in use on Burlington Northern (BN) iron ore trains in Minnesota and even on steam-powered trains in the 1930s. He wondered why it is taking so long.
Grady Cothen, FRA deputy associative administrator for safety standards, said the BN system has problems. Boardman said PTC will not be prevalent for another five years.
"We all thought we had it with original Burlington Northern systems and it has been frustrating ever since," Cothen said. He added the system will not be applied unless it comes at a "cost we can afford."
Asked what will make PTC affordable, an exasperated Boardman responded this way:
"I wish we did not have to focus on cost and affordability. It would be easier if we did not have to focus on cost. For a long period of time, the government has been required to do those kinds of analysis before a rule can be put into effect. Railroads can't just go ahead and buy the hardware and software off the shelf," he said.
The estimated cost to install PTC over 100,000 miles of track in the U.S. is estimated to be more than $2 billion, Boardman said.
PTC promises to prevent train-to-train collisions, enforce speed limits and slow orders and protect maintenance of way workers when they are on the track. However, experts agree the LA Basin presents an acute challenge because train density is so high and the freight shares the rails with passengers.
The Association of American Railroads, the main lobby for the railroads in Washington, claimed as recently as 2005 that "current costs far exceed potential benefits" and that PTC is not foolproof. That was a slide in an AAR presentation at the National Transportation Safety Board symposium on PTC. The same presentation also said accidents have already been dramatically reduced since 1980 using less functional but proven technology such as Centralized Train Control (CTC), Automatic Train Control (ATC) and cab signals.
With Friday's accident, the pressure to moderate that view will be rising.
Talkback
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Positive train control has been available for decades.Tell us something new.
Chris Pollard - 2008-09-24 21:27:21
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