New Jersey Transit has received Federal Railroad Administration approval on its submission for the positive train control alternative schedule, which allows for full PTC implementation by the end of 2020.
In approving the request, the FRA certified that Transit successfully met all of the criteria required by the end of 2018.
“This accomplishment is the result of a herculean effort by New Jersey Transit leadership and staff to turn around a once-languishing PTC program left to us by the prior administration,” Gov. Phil Murphy said in a prepared statement. “There are few one-year achievements this administration is prouder of because getting PTC done, and done right, is the driving force behind the rest of our efforts to fully restore NJ Transit into a transportation system that New Jersey residents deserve.”
Positive train control is a system of computers and sensors that stops trains in the case of operator failure. It is a federally mandated requirement that exists in response to fatal wrecks.
“We had to accomplish four years’ worth of work in just ten months and couldn’t have been successful without the support and guidance from our partners at the FRA,” NJ Transit Executive Director Kevin Corbett said in a statement.
On Dec. 14, 2018, NJ Transit submitted to the FRA a request for an alternate schedule that allows for full PTC implementation by Dec. 31, 2020. The agency also at that time submitted documentation that it had met the six statutory requirements to qualify for the alternate schedule.
The six criteria are the installation of PTC system hardware including on 282 locomotives/cab cars, 120 wayside interface units and 112 poles; acquired all wireless spectrum necessary; completed training of at least 823 employees; initiated field functionality testing on a segment from Summit to Denville; and included an alternative schedule for implementing PTC as soon as practicable, but not later than Dec. 31, 2020.
