Project Overview
NCTD is committed to making our rails as safe as possible for our passengers and neighbors. Complying with all federal regulations is one part of ensuring that our railway remains safe. The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandated that freight and commuter rail lines adopt PTC by 2015. In late 2015, Congress extended the deadline by at least three years to December 31, 2018. PTC is an integrated command, control, communications, and information system that controls train movements, thus promoting safety of all who use the rails.
Human error remains a major cause of some of the worst train accidents in U.S. history. PTC technology, however, prevents many types of human error from causing accidents. For example, through PTC technology, if a train engineer does not slow a train that is in danger of collision, then the train slows itself. By using global positioning system (GPS) technology, digital communications and on-board computers, PTC technology continuously monitors train locations, automatically overrides dangerous train movements and will stop a train if the crew cannot.
Implementation
Implementation is complete!
NCTD’s implementation of PTC is now complete. All of the subsystems of each PTC segment have been installed and tested. NCTD tested in Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) which was the final testing of all of the subsystems. NCTD’s initiation of RSD entailed operating revenue (passenger carrying) COASTER trains with PTC in operation.
After testing occurred, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) examined and certified the PTC system and operation. On December 27, 2018, NCTD notified the FRA of full implementation of the system. And on December 31, 2018, the FRA acknowledged receipt of NCTD’s letter for full implementation of the PTC – one of only four railroads in the country to accomplish this by the deadline.
How Does it Work?
PTC is a predictive and proactive technology that detects upcoming conditions and is able to stop the train when needed. PTC technical architecture is comprised of five key segments:
- Office
- Wayside
- On-Board
- Roadway Worker
- Communications
The office segment has PTC servers and databases which store track information, train locations, work zones, and speed restrictions.
The wayside segment issues movement authorities to locomotives based on information received from wayside systems, location information from trains, and work status from roadway segments.
The communications segment includes the fiber optic cables, cellular network, 220MHz radio system, and GPS. The communications segment provides the communication path between the office, track elements, trains, and roadway workers.
NCTD constructed a PTC test and training facility. The test and training facility is equipped with all PTC elements and will perform end-to-end testing before and after NCTD’s PTC system is commissioned. NCTD will also use this facility to familiarize train operators and maintenance staff with the requirements of PTC and to test hardware and software modifications. Equipment used to train staff on PTC offers a simulated view of the rail tracks, as captured below.
