As we reported yesterday, the latest Federal Railroad Administration report on PTC implementation progress is mostly positive. The report said that 98.8 percent of the rail mileage requiring PTC is either operational with the new technology or is in the revenue service demonstration (RSD) phase, and this mileage is expected to be completely ready by the deadline of December 31, 2020.

One notable exception to this positive progress report, though, is the FRA’s concern that two commuter lines may not be able to meet the deadline – NJ Transit and New Mexico Rail Runner Express. For NJ Transit, two factors have FRA officials worried. First, the fact that only about a third of route miles have been tested. Second, the lack of PTC agreements and interoperability testing with other roads which host NJ Transit trains.

The progress report shows that of the 375 route miles on NJ Transit that need to be complete with PTC, only 100 are in RSD or some form of testing. Unless trains are in RSD, they cannot carry passengers, prompting NJ Transit to cancel 63 trains this week to allow capacity for testing. The agency’s ability to do this was aided by the pandemic, which has resulted in NJ Transit’s ridership being down 80 percent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

More information is available online.

Source: nj.com

The post NJ Transit cancels a lot of trains to work on PTC appeared first on Railway Track and Structures.