SEPTA shows off new system to stop a speeding train

A SEPTA train at a maintenance facility in Malvern was rolling along at 18 m.p.h. - five miles over its authorized speed limit - when a beep sounded and an orange light lit up on the display unit of the Positive Train Control (PTC) system.

In a few seconds, the one-car train automatically slowed and came to a stop, jerking dozens of riders on board.

The brief ride was staged by SEPTA to show off its new $328 million system that slows down speeding trains, if an engineer fails to comply with signals governing train speed and movement.

Positive Train Control would almost certainly have prevented the deadly Amtrak crash on May 12, in which Train 188 went into the Frankford Junction curve at more than 100 m.p.h., twice the speed limit, killing eight people and injuring 200.

SEPTA will be one of the first mass transit systems in the United States to install PTC system-wide. Congress is requiring many train operators to install PTC by Dec. 31, but most are expected to miss the mark.

"We are still working hard to meet deadline. There could be technical and other issues, but we remain optimistic," Jeffrey D. Knueppel, the deputy general manager at SEPTA, said at the briefing Wednesday at the agency's Frazer Maintenance Facility in Malvern.

To date, SEPTA has spent $239 million on the PTC installation on tracks, trains, and other facilities. In total, the SEPTA project will cost $328 million.

Senator Bob Casey (D., Pa.), who was on the test train, said SEPTA's work is a significant achievement and will be a boon to the economy of the Northeast Corridor of the country.

"Transit is the core of an economy; you can't have a successful economy without good transit," Casey said.

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