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Trains News Wire EXCLUSIVE: Metrolink rolls out positive train control system
Are they so sure they are the first? I was under the impression that FrontRunner here in Utah was built with PTC already in place.
Back when radios were the cutting edge for railroads locomotives would be stenciled with something like “Radio Equiped For Safety.” For PTC how about something catchy like “PTC for you and me”?
Oh C’mon…all the BNSF locomotives they share the line with are equipped with PTC yet.
Oh C’mon…all the BNSF locomotives they share the line with arent equipped with PTC yet.
Oh C’mon…all the BNSF locomotives they share the line with arent equipped with PTC yet.
“The most instrumental piece of technology ever implemented for train safety,” ? More so than the air brake and automatic coupler?
Yes, Mr. Dahlquist in fact BNSF locos are equipped for PTC; the lineside equipment and the carrier frequency are the current holdups.
PTC is a federal mandate, yet they ponied-up only 9% of the cost?
Thank goodness that most people – including rail executives – don’t really speak the kind of sentences that public relations people attribute to them.
Thank goodness that most people – including rail executives – don’t really speak the kind of sentences that public relations people attribute to them.
Let’s hope it’s “Hacker Proof”, otherwise their may be no control, if possible terrorists gain use of the system, and cause accidents.
Does anyone else think this is scary? “PTC will undoubtedly make Metrolink the safest commuter rail system in the country.” PTC is a better tool, here apparently integrated into a new dispatching system, but it can’t anticipate everything and can’t replace vigilance at all times or redundant systems to alert operators to additional hazards, like maybe expecting to be held for a meet with a freight that isn’t usually on the road at that time. This guy already sounds like he is depending too much on his fancy new technology.
Does anyone else think this is scary? “PTC will undoubtedly make Metrolink the safest commuter rail system in the country.” PTC is a better tool, here apparently integrated into a new dispatching system, but it can’t anticipate everything and can’t replace vigilance at all times or redundant systems to alert operators to additional hazards, like maybe expecting to be held for a meet with a freight that isn’t usually on the road at that time. This guy already sounds like he is depending too much on his fancy new technology.
Now will this system have to be installed on every BNSF or other railroad in the US that runs a train on Metros tracks. i.e. BNSF has a runthru NW / UP / CSX unit on the lead…will it have to be equipted or changed out to run on Metro tracks?
Don’t forget the last unforgettable rail disaster involving Metrolink was between itself an a Union Pacific train. The UP and the BNSF have yet to implement PTC. Therefore, the present system will only effect Metrolink trains.
Nothing will replace an alert train crew.
Conventional cab signals are probably the most reliable and they have been in service for over 70 years and when locomotives are equipped with automatic train stop it is a magnificently safe system. All the extra bells and whistles" of PTC are nic to have but are the really necessary other than to make the congressmen who voted for it fell they have done the right thing. The freight haulers have to pay all of their own costs.