WASHINGTON — In the wake of the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia in May, local commuter train services will sit down next week to talk about positive train control and ways to protect the safety of passengers.
Neither VRE nor MARC own the tracks where their trains run. They belong to Amtrak, CSX or Norfolk Southern. None have positive train control systems — a system that monitors trains to prevent speeding and collisions.
If a train is going too fast, as was the case with the Amtrak train crash in Philadelphia, the positive train control would automatically kick in and brake. If a train senses another train and the operator does not slow or stop, then the positive train control would automatically do so.
Automatic train control, a system used by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, serves a similar function, but does not have some of the key features of positive train control.
Norfolk Southern is installing a program called the Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS) on the Manassas Line.
“Norfolk Southern anticipates [Federal Railroad Administration] certification of the implementation of the I-ETMS system during 2016, following the conclusion of field testing activities and full activation anticipated over the VRE-operated lines by late 2016,” the agency writes in a letter to the Council of Governments.
CSX owns the tracks on VRE’s Fredericksburg Line and on MARC’s Brunswick and Camden lines. Amtrak owns the tracks on the Penn Line. CSX sent the Council of Governments a copy of written testimony to Congress on positive train control.
“CSX and other railroads have devoted enormous human and financial resources to develop a fully functioning PTC system, and progress to date has been substantial. However, despite railroads’ best efforts, the immense technological hurdles are such that a safe, reliable, nationwide, and interoperable PTC network will not be completed by the current deadline (January 1),” the testimony reads.
CSX did not elaborate on when it thinks it could accomplish installing positive train control.
Amtrak, VRE and the Maryland Transit Administration will brief lawmakers on the issue next Wednesday.
