FRA Announces $25 Million Available for Positive Train Control Implementation

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2. Amtrak crash shows U.S. anti rail-collision system may have gaps

World | Tue Apr 5, 2016 4:02pm EDT
Related: U.S.

Amtrak crash shows U.S. anti rail-collision system may have gaps

By Scott Malone

Sunday's fatal Pennsylvania Amtrak accident may have exposed possible blind spots in a nationwide collision prevention system that is meant to stop crashes on U.S. railroads.

Amtrak last year became the first U.S. railroad to fully install "positive train control" (PTC) systems on its routes {in the Northeast Corridor}, a congressionally mandated technology that uses antennae on locomotives and sensors on tracks to monitor trains' precise location and prevent collisions. ... A dilemma facing railroads is whether to spend funds expanding PTC systems to service vehicles like the backhoe involved in Sunday's crash, or put money into upgrades of aging rail infrastructure.

Officials are still investigating how the backhoe working on the tracks was struck by a Georgia-bound train in Chester, Pennsylvania, killing two construction workers and sending 35 people to hospital. ... It is not yet known whether the vehicle had a PTC device. Some railroads have considered installing them on maintenance equipment. It is not clear if Amtrak has done so, experts said.

"If you have a vehicle that's not riding the rails, but on the shoulder or across the rails or on rubber tires alone and you don't allow the circuit to know you're there, you're outside the PTC system," said Allan Zarembski, a professor at the University of Delaware's College of Engineering who specializes in rail safety.