Transportation security

We Need PTC on Trains, Why It’s Way More Than Throwing a Switch

A number of high-profile passenger rail crashes have captured public attention recently. Although their circumstances may differ, the tragedies are a grim reminder that train safety belongs high on our list of transportation policy priorities...

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), positive train control (PTC), a system that prevents train-to-train collisions, overspeed derailments, incursions into established work zone limits, and the movement of a train through a switch left in the wrong position, would have corrected for the overspeed crash in December (the same may be true for the crash in South Carolina).

Congress originally mandated that PTC be installed on all passenger and toxic cargo rail lines nationwide by the end of 2015, but that deadline was extended to the end of 2018.

It’s understandable why NTSB would highlight PTC as an expression of its frustration with delays in implementing this important safety technology. It’s been on NTSB’s Top Ten Most Wanted List for years.