The Southern California Regional Rail Authority, the governing board of Metrolink, recently awarded Parsons a $120 million contract to design, procure and install Positive Train Control (PTC) technology on Metrolink's 512-mile regional commuter rail system.

Parsons' responsibilities will include design, installation, documentation, testing, integration and commissioning. In addition, Parsons will lead the overall radio frequency infrastructure development, manage the development of the network management system and provide a replacement of the dispatching system.

This significant contract represents the first of its kind to be awarded in the U.S. rail industry. It is the first application of PTC in compliance with the U.S. Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which mandates that passenger and freight railroads install PTC by 2015.

Fully interoperable with the Union Pacific's and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway's PTC systems, Metrolink's PTC system-wide implementation program will consist of the following:

• A PTC back-office system.

• Replacement of the current Computer Aided Dispatch system.

• PTC on-board computers, display screens, GPS tracking, and radios on 57 cab cars and 52 locomotives.

• Stop enforcement system at 476 wayside signals.

• A six-county specialized communication network to link the wayside signals, trains and the centralized dispatch office.