Burns Supports Amtrak’s PTC Dash to the Finish Line
The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) required railroads to install positive train control (PTC) systems on tracks that carry passengers, poison, or toxic-by-inhalation materials. As originally written, the RSIA mandated that PTC be put into service by the end of 2015, but recognizing the challenges of the under developed technology, Congress extended the PTC implementation deadline to Dec. 31, 2018. Prior to the deadline, Amtrak was the first railroad in the U.S. to put its ACSES PTC system in service on the Northeast Corridor.
Burns was selected by Amtrak to complete the PTC final design, installation, system integration and testing on Amtrak’s Hudson (New York) and Springfield (Connecticut) Line. The Hudson Line runs approximately 90 miles from Poughkeepsie to Hoffmans, New York, and has 21 control points (CP’s) on the line. The Springfield Line runs from New Haven, Connecticut to Springfield, Massachusetts, approximately 60 miles, and accommodates 12 interlockings.
As the Systems Integrator, Burns is responsible for the overall design, implementation, testing and commissioning of a fully-integrated ACSES PTC system on both branch lines, involving existing relay and VMIS-based signaling systems, TSR Safety Server, locomotives and the CETC office control system. As part of the system integration processes, testing will be completed to ensure all equipment is operating reliably and safely, and that the new PTC system has seamless, continuous operation with existing adjacent PTC lines. Interoperability design and integration testing is required between Metro-North, CSX and CP Rail at various points along each respective branch line.