Passenger Trains > late #4 trains and PTC?

Some time after that Arizona derailment, #4 is still tending to run 2-3 hours late into Lawrence, KS. One person suggested it was due to BNSF's PTC, which right now is limiting the train to 70 mph, whereas #4 has traditionally gone 90 mph in stretches out west. Any truth to this notion?

Carl Graves, Lawrence, KS

I don't think so. Train 3(16) is at this very moment travelling 86.9 mph westbound near Gallup, NM, and train 3(17) is travelling 83.5 mph approaching La Plata, MO. Train 4 was travelling 78 mph approaching Raton, New Mexico a few minutes ago (speed limit is 79 there, with no PTC required).

PTC has nothing to do with the weather delays, signal issues, and freight congestion that have been occurring in the southwest for the past few days, no matter how much the Amtrak fan club would like to blame it on that.

PTC does not currently affect running times . However, dwell times at Engineer crew change points are taking a beating. This is due to the lengthy initialization process with the railroad back office servers. Engine crews must upload their trip information and verify everything is accurate. This process will surely become more swift as crews get broken in, but ultimately crew changes will still take considerably longer now that PTC is required.

thetuck Wrote:
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> PTC does not currently affect running times .
> However, dwell times at Engineer crew change
> points are taking a beating. This is due to the
> lengthy initialization process with the railroad
> back office servers. Engine crews must upload
> their trip information and verify everything is
> accurate. This process will surely become more
> swift as crews get broken in, but ultimately crew
> changes will still take considerably longer now
> that PTC is required.


This sounds like something that should be done once or automatically, not at crew change points. Amtrak's ITCS system is initialized (tested?) once at departure and then automatically as the territory is entered.

thetuck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PTC does not currently affect running times .
> However, dwell times at Engineer crew change
> points are taking a beating. This is due to the
> lengthy initialization process with the railroad
> back office servers. Engine crews must upload
> their trip information and verify everything is
> accurate. This process will surely become more
> swift as crews get broken in, but ultimately crew
> changes will still take considerably longer now
> that PTC is required.

Takes less than 5 minutes to do said process. The biggest time eater is running restricted speed until you're roughly 1500 feet from the next signal.

>
> Takes less than 5 minutes to do said process. The
> biggest time eater is running restricted speed
> until you're roughly 1500 feet from the next
> signal.

Still, why does the system need to be reset at crew changes? Unless there are defined territory change points the cab unit should automatically download the TSRB's and track profile databases as it moves along. From the documentation I have seen the system fails safe if any required data is missing, so an engineer couldn't just take off with an improperly configured head unit.

mbrotzman Wrote:
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> >
> > Takes less than 5 minutes to do said process.
> The
> > biggest time eater is running restricted speed
> > until you're roughly 1500 feet from the next
> > signal.
>
> Still, why does the system need to be reset at
> crew changes? Unless there are defined territory
> change points the cab unit should automatically
> download the TSRB's and track profile databases as
> it moves along. From the documentation I have
> seen the system fails safe if any required data is
> missing, so an engineer couldn't just take off
> with an improperly configured head unit.

Because PTC requires that engineers enter their credentials into the system during init. The system tracks who is assigned as the crew for that train.

niagara484

niagara484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Because PTC requires that engineers enter their
> credentials into the system during init. The
> system tracks who is assigned as the crew for that
> train.
>

"It's déjà vu all over again."

Originally, train orders required the conductor and engineer to sign train orders. With great controversy, the Form 19 order was developed to speed operation. Now, over a century later, trains sit while the engineer signs the orders. The progress is unbelievable.

TAW

I believe it and way back when as kids we heard how much easier computers were gonna be for everyone, yeah right!

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