Friday, February 13, 1998 (Washington, DC)

Union Pacific Line in Illinois

FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES POSITIVE TRAIN CONTROL PROJECT

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) today announced plans to conduct a Positive Train Control (PTC) demonstration for freight and passenger revenue service on a 123-mile segment of a Union Pacific (UP) railroad line between Springfield, Ill., and Chicago.

"Safety is President Clinton’s highest transportation priority, and this demonstration is a test of technology that reflects our commitment to continue the U.S. transportation industry as the safest in the world," said FRA Administrator Jolene M. Molitoris.

The demonstration project, which will take place over a four-year period, involves extensive cooperation between the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), the Association of American Railroads (AAR), and the FRA.

The major freight railroads and Amtrak, through the AAR board, have joined with the FRA and IDOT in this partnership to develop and demonstrate full Positive Train Control in revenue service and interoperability with other train control systems now being demonstrated.

The AAR board voted to invest $20 million over the next four years. These funds will be combined with future appropriations and the $15 million already available to FRA and IDOT. The project will ultimately include more efficient "flexible block" operation. The FRA funding for this project comes from the Next Generation High Speed Rail Program.

The PTC project will involve use of the Nationwide Differential Global Positioning System (NDGPS) to automatically locate each train, computers onboard each locomotive, and a digital radio network to automatically link each locomotive to the UP’s Harriman Control Center in Omaha. The on-board computer is designed to automatically monitor the train’s speed, assuring that locomotive engineers do not exceed permitted speeds, do not pass red signals, and do not operate the train beyond track limits approved by the control center.

The PTC system is designed to provide enhanced protection to maintenance workers on the track. Highway-rail grade crossings also will be linked to the new control system. The control system also is expected to enhance management’s control of operations and maintenance, thus improving customer service and productivity in the railroad industry.

"Through this partnership of the federal government, the railroad industry and the state of Illinois, we are moving forward with the implementation of this advanced technology to improve safety and train operations in the Chicago-St. Louis high-speed rail corridor," said Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Kirk Brown.

The ultimate target for this system is flexible block operation, in which the control center moves the maximum possible number of trains, safely, by permitting operations more closely spaced than permitted by the current wayside signal system.

According to Molitoris, the project also will include a robust demonstration of interoperability to assure that locomotives from other PTC systems can safely and effectively operate over the full control PTC system in Illinois. Priority will be given to working out interoperability considerations with the Incremental Train Control System now being demonstrated under FRA sponsorship in Michigan, with the Amtrak Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System being installed in the Northeast Corridor, and with the PTC system emerging from the Norfolk Southern/CSX/Conrail and other PTC projects.

Molitoris commended the railroad industry for its commitment to the future by applying new technologies to improve railroad safety. She said the PTC demonstration project is a reasonable step to test new technologies that hold great promise for improving transportation.

The FRA selected the Illinois project and provided initial funding because it will demonstrate full positive train control, in which information from each train is carried back to control offices where central computers coordinate operations and then issue operating authorities over the digital radio network to each train. At the same time, the FRA will support a joint effort with rail labor organizations to assure training in these applications of new technology.

The AAR will use this stretch of track as a PTC test bed to determine the validity of the proposed full PTC technology and to assess the potential safety and productivity gains offered by the new technology.