FRA set to impose fines for railroad carriers not Positive Train Control-compliant by end of 2015

When it comes to the chances of the December 31, 2015 Positive Train Control (PTC) deadline being extended, something which railroads say is badly needed, it appears they need to be prepared to be disappointed.

That was the chief takeaway of a statement from Sarah Feinberg, acting administrator of the United States Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

The objective of PTC systems is to prevent train-to-train collisions, overspeed derailments, and incursions into roadway work limits. PTC sends and receives a continuous stream of data transmitted by wireless signals about the location, speed, and direction of trains, according to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). PTC systems, added the FRA, utilize advanced technologies including digital radio links, global positioning systems and wayside computer control systems that aid dispatchers and train crews in safely managing train movements.

A mandate for PTC systems was included in House and Senate legislation-H.R. 2095/S. 1889, The Rail Safety and Improvement Act of 2008. The legislation was passed shortly after a September 12, 2008 collision between a freight train and a commuter train in Los Angeles. And it calls for passenger and certain hazmat rail lines to take effect by 2015 and authorizes $250 million in Federal grants. PTC has received renewed attention, following a tragic Amrtak accident in the Philadelphia area earlier this year. And as per the mandate, the December 31, 2015 deadline requires freight railroads to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on 40 percent of its network

Speaking before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, Feinberg stated that PTC is required on Class I railroad main lines where any poisonous or toxic by inhalation hazardous materials are transported and is also required on any railroad’s main line where any scheduled intercity or commuter rail service is conducted.

“Safety is the Federal Railroad Administration’s top priority,” said Feinberg. “The rail system is not as safe as it could be without the full implementation of PTC. A safe rail system requires the full implementation of Positive Train Control. And that’s why FRA will enforce the Dec. 31, 2015 deadline for implementation, just as Congress mandated.”

While it is clear the FRA has its sights set on PTC implementation by the end of this year, freight railroads have maintained for several years that this deadline is far from realistic.

An April 2014 report by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) explained that a one-year moratorium on installing 20,000 communication antennas imposed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which was then followed by a federal approval process mandated by the FCC, had subsequently delayed the implementation of nationwide interoperable PTC. And due to these challenges the AAR explained that by 2015 PTC will be installed on only 20 percent of the freight rail, and PTC, network, rather than the Congressionally-mandated goal of 40 percent.

The AAR and its Class I members have made it clear for some time that its chances of meeting the original deadline were less than likely.

“Everyone in the industry is greatly frustrated at the inability to move forward and do what we need to do to advance PTC installation,” said Association of American Railroads President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger in April 2014. “It’s been two steps forward, three steps back for months and we simply don’t have the certainty we need to move ahead and get PTC tested, fully functioning, certified and ready to go.”

And in July 2013, Hamberger told a Senate Commerce Committee panel that the 2015 target date for railroads to install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology may be somewhat overly ambitious.

The Committee paid heed to Hamberger, with Ranking Member John Thune (R-SD) and Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), and Mark Pryor (D-AR) introducing legislation, entitled the Positive Train Control Extension Bill, that would push back the statutory deadline for PTC implementation on roughly 50,000 miles of U.S. railroads to December 31, 2020 as well as offer up an optional two-year extension should approval from the Federal Railroad Administration be granted.

Also covered in this bill, according to its language, was an extension for short line railroads that operate on PTC-mandated track.

To date, the AAR said the freight rail industry has spent roughly $4 billion on PTC installation and added that the industry expects to install PTC technology on about 60,000 miles of mainline track.

Some significant areas of progress freight railroads have made on PTC, according to the AAR are:
-installing or partially installing PTC equipment on 50 percent of the locomotives on which it will be required;
-deploying one third of the wayside units that will be required;
-replacing half of the signals needed for implementation and
-mapping most of the track that will be equipped with PTC

In her comments, the FRA’s Feinberg said that the she has established a new PTC Task Force Team within FRA that is charged with managing and monitoring each individual railroads’ progress, tracking data and ensuring it has the most accurate and up-to-date information.

And she added that based on the information FRA has received from 32 of the 38 railroads it is tracking for PTC “enforcement purposes,” it has found that Class I railroads have: completed or partially completed installments on about 50 percent of locomotives that require PTC equipment; replaced about 50 percent of signals that need replacement and competed most of the required mapping for PTC tracks.

Meanwhile, by the end of 2015, she said that the AAR predicts that: 39 percent of locomotives will be fully equipped; 76 percent of wayside interface units will be installed 67 percent of base station radios will be installed; and 34 percent of required employees will be trained.

For those railroads not compliant by January 1, 2016, Feinberg said the FRA will impose penalties on railroads that have not fully implemented PTC, with fines based on FRA’s PTC penalty guidelines that establish different penalties based on violation, with one potential violation being a $15,000-$25,000 fine for failure to equip locomotives, which could be assessed per day, per violation and could be raised of lowered depending on mitigating or aggravating factors, with the total amount of penalty each railroad faces depending on the amount of implementation progress the railroad has made.

PTC has been commonly referred to as the “unfunded mandate” in railroad circles. A major concern of freight railroads has been that PTC rules finalized in January 2010 required PTC on sections of tracking where the cost is not justified, according to a March 2011 Wall Street Journal report.