Posted on 05/14/2015 6:56:59 PM PDT by Second Amendment First
The Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia on Tuesday night was equipped with an automatic speed control system that officials say could have prevented the crash, which killed eight passengers and injured hundreds. But the system, which was tantalizingly close to being operational, was delayed by budgetary shortfalls, technical hurdles and bureaucratic rules, officials said Thursday.
In 2008, Congress ordered the installation of what is known as positive train control systems, which can detect an out-of-control, speeding train and automatically slow it down. But because lawmakers failed to provide the railroads access to the wireless frequencies required to make the system work, Amtrak was forced to negotiate for airwaves owned by private companies that is often used in mobile broadband.
Officials said Amtrak had made installation of the congressionally mandated safety system a priority and was ahead of most other railroads around the country.
But the rail system struggled for four years to buy the rights to airwaves in the Northeast Corridor that would have allowed them to turn the system on.
“The transponders were on the tracks,” said one person who attended a Thursday morning briefing for the staff of members of Congress. “But they also said they weren’t operational, because of this ongoing spectrum issue.”
Despite the delays, the system may have been just months from being operational * The Federal Communications Commission had approved Amtrak’s application for the purchase of wireless spectrum from an entity called Skybridge Spectrum Foundation on March 5, clearing the way for final tests on the system, a spokeswoman for the commission said.
If the system had been operational, “there wouldn’t have been this accident,” said Representative Robert A. Brady, Democrat of Pennsylvania.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
“But the rail system struggled for four years to buy the rights to airwaves in the Northeast Corridor that would have allowed them to turn the system on.”
Amtrak could not buy the rights. The FCC is run by the Obama administration. Or was it the states that Amtrak had to buy the rights from? What states are in the NE Corridor?
The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railway line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore to Washington, D.C.”
And it makes a pass through NJ and Delaware.
What do ALL these states have in common?
Lieberals...
As I stated, I don’t know exactly what Amtrak’s grievance is...
But you are thinking in terms of who gets what frequency.
I am thinking in terms of tower infrastructure.
The only place Amtrak would need to be concerned with tower infrastructure is on their own rail network, which for all intents and purposes is only the NE Corridor. When they operate on other owned track, as they do over the remainder of the country, they only need to have the compatible equipment on their locomotives. In like manner when another railroad operates on Amtrak's rail they would need the compatible equipment installed on their own locomotives to interact with the PTC setup Amtrak provides.
Since the mandate for PTC applies nation wide and since interchange between railroads is a fact, eventually all systems will need to be compatible with whatever standard and whatever frequencies that are adopted.
As a for instance, to operate on NJT or Metro North track in this area your lead locomotive must be equipped with cab signals. That is your responsibility to supply that part of the equipment. It is not your responsibility to install your own cab-signalling system on NJT/Metro North towers. They as the host railroad supply that. No strong-arming needed. (Other than the minor point that if you do wish to operate on their track you must have complied on your end of the process. Otherwise, you just don't get to play with their toys..)
“Since the mandate for PTC applies nation wide and since interchange between railroads is a fact,”
There is no mandate, law, or regulation which forces the railroads to all use the same equipment, or even the same frequency for PTC, and there is no ‘standard’ of any type, other than the required results. No standard radio, no standard freq,...not even a requirement that radios be used. Its all up to the railroads.
They shoulda straightened out that curve decades ago. Like when that crooked Johnson wuz Prezzy. No, not Slick, lBJ..
Why cant they do some spread spectrum thing?
They shoulda straightened out that curve decades ago. Like when that crooked Johnson wuz Prezzy. No, not Slick, el BJ..
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