“Wabtec is pleased to support [Rail Runner]’s deployment of PTC,” said Rajendra Jadhav, President, Wabtec Electronics. “With 22,000 locomotives and cab cars across the United States equipped with Wabtec PTC technology, it is a privilege to help advance the rail industry’s vital safety mission, and we look forward to accelerating our work with [Rail Runner].”
Under the contract, Wabtec will implement its Interoperable Electronic Train Management System PTC safety-overlay system on Rail Runner, including all necessary wayside and communication design and dispatch upgrades, with full PTC Back Office Server support and equipment and software upgrades to nine Rail Runner locomotives and nine cab cars. The contract schedule calls for Rail Runner PTC assets to be in revenue service by late 2020.
As an on-board geographic database and global positioning system, I-ETMS continuously calculates warning and braking curves based on all relevant train and track information including speed, location, movement authority, speed restrictions, work zones and consist restrictions, providing an additional safety overlay. Intended to help prevent track authority violations, speed limit violations and unauthorized entry into work zones, I-ETMS provides significant enhancements to rail safety.
— A Wabtec news release. May 23, 2019.
An amazing amount of money. You can buy a number of locomotives and cars for that amount. And they will still be usable 40 years later (with 1-2 refurbishments). PTC will require extensive outlay every year…
Great, it’ll be done just in time to shut the line down for lack of money.