Metrolink Gets $46.3 Million for Rail Safety Upgrade

From Metrolink:

Metrolink Secures $46.3 Million in PTC  Funding  

Southern Californians will be the first to benefit from new, life-saving safety technology

Los Angeles - Metrolink's plans to implement Positive Train Control (PTC) ahead of the federal mandate received a boost last week when the agency received $46.3 million dollars in funds to support the installation of the new rail safety technology.

PTC is collision avoidance technology that monitors and controls train movements remotely, and can prevent train-to-train collisions, unauthorized train movement into a work-zone, movement of a train through a switch left in the wrong position and trains exceeding authorized speeds. PTC implementation is mandated for all rail providers by 2015 by the federal Rail Safety Improvement Act.

The California Transportation Commission allocated $22.8 million in Proposition 1A High Speed Rail Passenger Train bonds and $10 million in Proposition 1B State and Local Partnership Program funds  to advance the agency's PTC implementation program.  Additionally, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Railroad Administration awarded a $13.5 grant to Metrolink to fund a segment of the program that supports the Pacific Surfliner, located between San Onofre in Orange County and Moorpark in Ventura County.

"Metrolink is grateful to the leaders who demonstrated their commitment to rail safety by allocating these funds. Our program is now fully funded, and Metrolink is well on our way to being the first commuter rail agency in the nation to implement positive train control," said Metrolink Chairman Richard Katz. "We'd also like to thank Senator Dianne Feinstein, who worked with agencies at the federal, state and local levels during the obligation process for the FRA grant.Thanks to her numerous efforts in support of positive train control, Southern Californians will be the first in the country to benefit from this critical, life-saving rail safety technology."

In addition to the funds for the PTC program, the CTC also allocated $800,000 in State Transportation Improvement Program Intercity Rail Program funds to Metrolink for the design of its sealed corridor safety enhancement program in Ventura County.