On Tuesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Administrator Joseph Szabo announced historic safety regulations requiring that Positive Train Control (PTC) technology be installed on the nation’s major rail lines as well as commuter and intercity passenger rail routes.

Railroads have until April 16 to submit PTC roll-out plans

The months-long wait for the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to issue a final implementation rule on positive train control (PTC) ended for U.S. railroads on Jan. 12. Now, the 30 roads affected by the federal PTC mandate — including the Class Is, Amtrak and 22 commuter railroads — have a few months to pore over the rule and ensure their implementation plans comply before they submit them to the FRA by the April 16 deadline.

Shippers Seek New Analysis of Rail Technology
Chlorine lobby says FRA's "faulty" cost-benefit study could lead railroads to overcharge customers

The Chlorine Institute, fearing freight railroads could pass along potentially large costs for new crash-avoidance technology to shippers, is asking the Federal Railroad Administration to fix what it calls a “faulty cost-benefit analysis” of the systems.

The FRA, in its Jan. 14 regulation concerning how carriers must implement positive train control systems by the end of 2015, included analysis that railroad executives say shows the high costs outweigh the benefits of the technology.