PTC

With the revelation the engineer of the Metro-North train that crashed Sunday in the Bronx and killed four people might have zoned out just before the crash, the conversation has turned toward the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC).

The National Transportation Safety Board this week handed down a trio of recommendations in response to a January 2006 Norfolk Southern derailment that injured three people and caused more than $5 million in property damage. First, the NTSB recommended that Class I Railroads “modify, as necessary, your initial and recurrent training and operating rules to emphasize to your employees and the crews of other railroads operating on your territory that any signal that appears to display extra lighted aspects in a signal head should be treated as an improperly or imperfectly displayed signal.” Next, the NTSB recommended that Norfolk Southern