The federal deadline for full implementation of PTC is December 31, 2020.           NJ Transit/Twitter

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has given NJ TRANSIT approval to begin Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) of its Positive Train Control (PTC) system, moving the transit agency one-step closer to meeting the federally mandated deadline of PTC certification by December 31, 2020.

“Entering the RSD phase of PTC is a major milestone and a testament to the incredible work by our employees working around the clock with our contractors to ensure this important safety technology implementation remains on schedule,” said NJ TRANSIT President/CEO Kevin Corbett. “Two years ago, we had just 10 months to take the project from only 12-percent to 100-percent complete toward the December 31, 2018 federally mandated interim milestone for installation – we were successful.  With this announcement, and the continued support from the FRA, I’m confident we will meet the December 31, 2020 federal deadline for full implementation of PTC.”

The FRA’s approval allows NJ TRANSIT to initiate RSD on the Morristown Line between Summit and Denville. Previously, field testing has been conducted on test trains that did not carry customers. During RSD, NJ TRANSIT’s current safety technology called Automatic Train Control (ATC) will remain active and will not be affected by the testing.

NJ TRANSIT continues to conduct and expand its non-revenue testing on its other rail lines and is working collaboratively with Amtrak and freight operators to ensure interoperability of all PTC systems.

In December 2018, NJ TRANSIT marked 100-percent completion of the FRA’s 2018 year-end milestone for PTC that included installation on 282 locomotives and cab cars, 326 miles of wayside infrastructure such as poles and antennas and trained 1,745 employees.