Washington, D.C. – The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) today announced that in the fourth quarter of 2019 the commuter rail industry continued to make progress toward implementing Positive Train Control (PTC). The commuter rail industry is strongly focused and committed to completing full implementation by the December 2020 deadline.
PTC is a complex signaling and communications technology that provides critical safety redundancies to the commuter rail industry. Currently, 57% of commuter rail service miles are in PTC operations or Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD)**. This represents an 8.4% increase from the third quarter of 2019.
As of December 31, 2019, 97% of railroads are PTC certified, in revenue service demonstration or field testing:
- 57% are PTC certified by FRA or are operating with PTC
- 30% in revenue service demonstration
- 10% are in field testing
- 3% are preparing for field testing
“Safety is a fundamental operating principle and a promise to our riders. For APTA and commuter rail operators, safety is a core value,” said APTA President and CEO Paul P. Skoutelas. “Riding commuter rail is 18 times safer than driving an auto, and as an industry, we are committed to continuing to be a leader in rider safety by implementing positive train control and making commuter rail even safer.”
For more information on PTC, visit apta.com/ptc.
**Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) is an important step in implementation of PTC, as it allows each railroad to collect and validate data on the performance of their PTC systems. This testing supports the data used in the PTC Safety Plan, that railroads in the RSD phase have either submitted or plan on submitting prior to receiving certification by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).
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The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) is a nonprofit international association of 1,500 public and private sector organizations which represent a $71 billion industry that directly employs 430,000 people and supports millions of private sector jobs. APTA members are engaged in the areas of bus, paratransit, light rail, commuter rail, subways, waterborne services, and intercity and high-speed passenger rail. This includes: transit systems; planning, design, construction, and finance firms; product and service providers; academic institutions; transit associations and state departments of transportation. APTA is the only association in North America that represents all modes of public transportation. APTA members serve the public interest by providing safe, efficient and economical transit services and products.
