Class I railway Union Pacific said Wednesday it is continuing to make significant progress in implementing positive train control (PTC) and it will meet all deadlines for installation on its network.
PTC is a wireless communication system that can prevent an accident by overriding a conductor to slow or stop a train. The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required PTC implementation across a significant portion of the nation's rail system by Dec. 31, 2015, but Congress later extended the deadline to Dec. 31, 2018, with the possibility of an additional two-year extension under certain circumstances.
As allowed by federal law, the railway said it will continue to implement, test and refine the complex suite of technologies comprising the system in 2019 and 2020.
Union Pacific’s PTC footprint is the largest of all North American railroads.
Union Pacific said that installing and implementing PTC across the U.S. rail network is costly and complex, saying that one of the most challenging parts is ensuring system interoperability among all U.S. rail lines and locomotives.
The railway said that as of Aug. 17, preparing additional track segments for PTC operations was 99 percent complete; educating more than 25,690 additional employees on PTC operations was 97 percent complete; and the total number of installed PTC route miles was 70 percent complete.