BOSTON — The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has completed implementation of Automatic Train Control on its commuter rail lines, the agency has announced. The ATC project involves a federally mandated signal upgrade required as part of positive train control.
“Our state transportation system must be safe for all users, and completing MBTA Automatic Train Control and Positive Train Control projects is a huge step forward in protecting our passengers and employees on commuter rail routes,” state Transportation Secretary Monica Tibbits-Nutt said in a press release. “We are in a good place with the MBTA’s capital investments as they are furthering safety goals and supporting the comprehensive vision in the Safety Improvement Plan to increase workforce training and improve policies, procedures, and quality management.”
PTC and ATC are now in place on the nearly 400 miles of the MBTA’s 12 commuter rail routes, concluding a $900 million project and completing what the agency called a “herculean” 5½-year effort on the 170 miles of the system that operate out of North Station. (ATC implementation had been completed on south lines in 2020.) The project involved 400 design packages, construction work at 300 signal locations, and some 500 test trains. Work also included modernizing infrastructure with microprocessor interlockings, the removal of intermediate signals, installation of LED color light signals, and bidirectional signaling on the Rockport Line and part of the Haverhill Line.
“This is the kind of behind-the-scenes project that riders may not physically see,” said MBTA CEO Phillip Eng, “but required a monumental effort and results in the safest service possible for both our riders and employees.”
More on the PTC/ATC program is available here.
Is this the PTC system that everyone else had to install before the end of 2018. or 2020 if they were nice to FRA?
How did MBTA get a bye?