Using satellite technology, the Canadian National Railroad can now literally stop a runaway train in its tracks.
The technology was developed as another layer of safety if a train engineer suffers a medical event or loses control of the locomotives he is responsible for.
The technology is called Positive Train Control (PTC) and Canadian National PTC specialists have been in Du Quoin for the past week retrofitting switching cabinets and signaling devices to make PTC active in this area.
The nation’s freight rail industry remains on schedule for having Positive Train Control (PTC) fully implemented across the country and in accordance with the extension passed by Congress last year.
PTC is a set of highly advanced technologies designed to make freight rail transportation—already one of the safest U.S. industries—even safer by automatically stopping a train before certain types of accidents occur. The technology is being implemented on 60,000 miles of track across the country.
From the outset, the 2015 deadline proved arbitrary and unworkable, and was compounded by technical and legal complexities. Railroads advised Congress for years that they would not be able to meet the deadline. As the deadline approached, railroads and freight rail customers made it clear that there would be serious consequences for the nation if the deadline was not extended.
In response, Congress passed H.R.3819 - Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015, which provides a three-year extension to 2018 for the installation of PTC.
Specifically PTC is being developed to prevent:
- Train-to-train collisions
- Derailments caused by excessive speed.
- Unauthorized incursions by trains onto sections of track where maintenance activities are taking place.
- Movement of a train through a track switch left in the wrong positions.
PTC will not prevent accidents caused as a result of:
- Track equipment failure.
-Improper vehicular movement through a grade crossing.
- Trespassing on railroad tracks.
- Some types of train operator error.
The system monitors the train’s position and speed and activates braking as necessary to enforce speed restrictions and unauthorized train movement into new sections of track.
PTC monitors railroad track signals, switches and track circuits to communicate authorization for movement to the locomotive.
The storehouse for all information related to the rail network and trains operating across it—speed limits, track composition, speed of individual locomotives, train composition, etc.—and transmits the authorization for individual trains to move into new segments of track.
The work will continue day and night in Du Quoin until it is completed.
