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freight locomotive on September 12, 2008, in Chatsworth, Calif., killing 25 people and injuring 135 in the worst train acci- dent since 1993. Cellphone records show the engineer received seven and sent five text messages between 3 p.m. and the time of the accident. Positive Train Control (PTC) describes technology designed to automatically stop or slow a train before certain accidents occur. In particular, PTC is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, derail- ments caused by excessive speed, unau- thorized incursions by trains onto sections of track where repairs are being made, and movement of a train through a track switch left in the wrong position. It is a massive program that touches almost every aspect of train operations on major lines. AAR estimates that the major freight railroads will spend approximately $8 bil- lion to put it into effect; by the end of 2012 railroads had spent $2.8 billion. While PTC seems like a great idea, not all railroaders are in favor of total imple- mentation all at once. Jim Young, chair- man of UP, has openly opposed it. Before people are too critical of Young and oth- ers that feel the technology is not ready, one should take note of the fact that the law will try to force sweeping changes across 37 railroads almost simultaneous- ly. (If it weren't for Autoland, the auto- matic landing system that enables airplanes to land safely in fog-bound air- ports, Air Alaska could simply cross Seattle off their destinations list. Autoland wasn't just forced on all airlines when someone discovered airport fog, it took decades to perfect.) The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (RSIA) requires Class I railroads to install PTC systems on tracks that carry passengers or toxic-by-inhalation (TIH) materials. Based on a January 2012 final Federal Railroad Administration rule, AAR estimates that PTC technology will have to be deployed on approximately 63,000 miles of U.S. freight rail lines. This will involve the installation of PTC capability on thousands of locomotives; a large, new wireless com- munications network and tens of thousands of track-side devices connected to signals, switches and other wayside devices. As originally written, the RSIA mandat- ed that PTC be put into service by the end of 2015. Since enactment of the legisla- tion, railroads have devoted enormous human and financial resources to develop a fully functioning PTC system, and progress to date has been substantial. Still, only one of the four major lines suggests it may be able to meet that date. The others say it may take as long as 2022. Train Speeds in 2013 All six railroads of the major coal-hauling railroads use the same definitions to cal- culate their performance data, ensuring a high degree of consistency of the mea- surements. The level of one railroad's per- formance relative to another's may differ sharply because each railroad is unique. Differences between railroads include ter- rain, physical routes and network design, traffic mix and volume, the extent of pas- senger operations, and operational prac- tices. External factors, such as weather and port operations, can also cause varia- tions between railroads and over time. In addition, individual differences in the col- lection and reporting of operational data may affect the absolute level of the mea- sures on each road to some degree. BNSF and UP haul coal from the Powder River Basin to coal-fired power plants in the Midwest over similar terrain. UP also hauls coal out of mines in the mountains of Utah and Colorado. In 2013, BNSF coal trains averaged 20.2 miles per hour while UP trains averaged 27 miles per hour, which seems like reverse statis- tics. One would expect slower times for UP because of the mountains. In other words, it takes BNSF about a third more time to deliver the same amount of coal that UP delivers, which inevitably translates to higher rate requirements for BNSF. CSXT and NS haul coal out of mines or tipples in Central and Northern Appalachia to coal-fired power plants in the east and to major export terminals along the East Coast. In 2013, CSXT coal trains averaged 19.7 miles per hour, while NS coal trains averaged 17.8 miles per hour. The major difference between the two systems is that, at any particular time, a large number of loaded NS coal cars are parked at Lambert's Point wait- ing to be dumped, while those on CSXT export routes are unloaded rapidly upon arrival at the terminals. One must be careful about jumping to conclusions based on the AAR train speed statistics, especially when the results do not seem to make sense. Clearly, caution should be used when interpreting Figure 2. Even though AAR takes great care to make sure the data submitted to them weekly are on an apples-to-apples basis, the great disparity between BNSF and UP train speeds in Figure 2 cries for a careful examination by anyone to whom the data are important. A professional engineer and coal consul- tant with transportation experience, Dave Gambrel writes articles for Coal Age and Engineering & Mining Journal (E&MJ;) that offer miners advice on transporting com- modities to markets. He may be reached at bunkgambrel@earthlink.net. t r a n s p o r t t i p s c o n t i n u e d March 2014 www.coalage.com 25 Figure 2: Western coal train speeds (miles per hour)-monthly 2013. (From AAR Railroad Performance Measures) Figure 3: Eastern coal train speeds (miles per hour)-monthly 2013. 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