SEPTA readies life-saving train-control safety features
In the middle of the night Thursday, hours after Regional Rail service is put to bed, trains will still be running on the Warminster line.
In the middle of the night Thursday, hours after Regional Rail service is put to bed, trains will still be running on the Warminster line.
They're the subjects of the final Federal Railroad Administration tests on SEPTA's Positive Train Control system, a long-awaited braking system that may be days away from coming online for the first time. PTC will automatically slow or stop a train that is exceeding recommended speed limits on the rail. Experts have said the system would have prevented the Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May that killed eight.
"We're coming kind of to the end of our work," said Jeff Knueppel, SEPTA's general manager.
SEPTA has spent about $328 million installing the system on 280 miles of track and 290 locomotives. SEPTA will be the first commuter rail in the country to activate PTC on its trains.
Testing should be finished by Friday night at the latest, he said. "What's not as clear is when the FRA will be satisfied and allow us to begin operating on the Warminster line," he said.
If the FRA doesn't request any changes, the system could be active on passenger trains on the Warminster line as soon as Monday, Knueppel said.
Once PTC is active on the Warminster line, the next priorities will be the Fox Chase and Doylestown lines, Knueppel said. All three lines run trains in both directions on a single track. It isn't clear when PTC will be activated on all 13 of SEPTA's Regional Rail lines, Knueppel said.
The braking system got a lot of attention after Amtrak's fatal crash, but Knueppel said the system would have also prevented another collision in the area, a July 2006 accident that saw two SEPTA trains collide head on in Abington Township. There were 42 injured in that crash.
PTC has been a major investment for SEPTA even aside from the price tag. Installation began in 2011 as SEPTA tried to meet a congressionally mandated deadline to have the system running by the end of 2015. Along with installing equipment for the braking system, SEPTA combined the work with efforts to modernize its entire rail system.
In recent months, SEPTA officials said the process of taking cars out of service to install PTC equipment contributed to lateness that has plagued the network. Late last year, Congress responded to rail agencies complaints that the deadline was unrealistic by moving it to the end of 2018, but SEPTA officials remained committed to getting the system online close to the original deadline.
With PTC wrapping up, there are other projects SEPTA will tackle next, Knueppel said. Updating signaling devices will be one of the first tasks the teams working on PTC will turn to when the braking system is finished, he said.
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