UP: PTC making steady progress

Written by  Ben Vient, Managing Editor

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Union Pacific on Oct. 6, 2016 updated its Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation program. Through Sept. 1, 2016, UP has invested $2.1 billion in PTC. The railroad’s current estimate for PTC’s total cost is about $2.9 billion.

UP's reported progress so far:

• 88%, or 15,271 miles, of total route-miles are now installed with PTC signal hardware.

• PTC hardware has been partially installed on about 83% of UP's 5,656 locomotives earmarked for the technology.

• UP has equipped 2,016 locomotives with PTC hardware and software for revenue service demonstration (a test of the PTC system in a defined rail corridor).

• 84% of the wayside antennas needed to support PTC along the company’s right-of-way have been installed, also through Sept. 1, 2016.

UP reported that around 40 PTC trains per day are operating in the L.A. basin and central California, across 800 track-miles. Union Pacific freight trains with PTC-equipped locomotives and PTC-trained crews began operating in California in late 2015. Classified as “revenue service demonstration” or RSD, the locomotives, equipment and crews are in operational testing for safety compliance, "a monumental undertaking across all PTC components and service groups," UP said. "RSD service allows Union Pacific to continuously refine its implementation of this built-from-scratch technology and gather feedback."