NEW YORK — The Long Island Rail Road has begun operating select trains on four branch lines with positive train control, expanding use of the technology to 65 miles of the commuter railroad, LIRR president Phillip Eng announced.
The Far Rockaway, Long Beach, Oyster Bay, and West Hempstead branches are the latest to begin PTC testing, joining the Port Washington Branch, which began PTC use in December of 2018; a portion of the Montauk Branch (Babylon-Pachogue), where it was introduced in April, and the Hempstead Branch, which initiiated PTC use in August.
The 65 miles represent 21.5 percent of the railroad’s PTC system. This is almost double the mileage in revenue service testing as of the LIRR’s most recent report to the Federal Railroad Administration, through June 30, 2019. At that time, the railroad listed 33.1 miles in revenue service demonstration testing, which requires 135 test runs with regularly operating trains. The Port Washington Branch had completed that phase of testing in April.
Earlier this month, a consultant told Metropolitan Transportation Authority board members that the LIRR and Metro-North commuter railroads had only a 60 to 65% chance of meeting the Dec. 31, 2020 deadline for full PTC implementation. [See “Consultant says Long Island Rail Road, Metro North may miss PTC deadline,” Trains News Wire, Oct. 22, 2019.]
And look at the photo – turnouts, slip switches, crossovers, etc., etc. – M of W headaches.
Patchogue – don’t forget the “t”.