FRA Announces $25 Million Available for Positive Train Control Implementation [View all]
Hat tip, the RailfanLegal Yahoo! group: FRA Announces $25 Million Available for Positive Train Control Implementation
FRA Announces $25 Million Available for Positive Train Control Implementation
Monday, April 4, 2016
Administration has requested $1.25 billion to help railroads achieve implementation
WASHINGTON The U.S. Department of Transporations Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today announced that it is accepting applications for $25 million in competitive grant funding available to railroads, suppliers, and state and local governments for Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation. The funding is part of the 2016 Consolidated Appropriations Act that funds the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Positive train control is a long overdue technology that prevents accidents and saves lives, said U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. These funds will help us get closer to implementing PTC, and I encourage applications that can make these limited dollars go as far as possible.
Applications will be accepted until May 19, 2016, and FRA will give preference to projects that would provide the greatest level of public safety benefits. As part of the Presidents Fiscal Year 2017 budget proposal, FRA requested $1.25 billion to assist commuter and short line railroads with implementing PTC.
PTC prevents certain train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into established work zone limits, and trains going to the wrong tracks because a switch was left in the wrong position. In 2008, Congress mandated PTC implementation on certain railroad main lines where railroads transport poisonous-by-inhalation hazardous (PIH) or toxic-by-inhalation hazardous (TIH) materials, or any line where a railroad provides regularly scheduled passenger service. Last October, Congress extended the original deadline from December 31, 2015 to at least December 31, 2018.
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View a list of when railroads predict that they will achieve full PTC implementation:
https://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0628