Prevention of End-of-Track Collisions in Passenger Terminals via Positive Train Control: Benefit-Cost Analysis and Operational Impact Assessment

End-of-track collisions at passenger terminals have raised safety concerns because of their potentially severe consequences such as infrastructure and rolling stock damage, service disruption, and even casualties. As introduced in the previous study sponsored by the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration, the implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems at passenger terminal stations could potentially prevent end-of-track collisions. As the second phase of that project, this paper aims to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed concept of operation via quantitatively identifying the safety benefits, incremental costs, and operational impacts associated with PTC enforcement on terminating tracks. The benefit-cost analysis indicates that the safety benefits may exceed the incremental costs over a 20-year period under specified circumstances and assumptions. In addition, the preliminary results disclose that the operational impact in PTC enforcement should be negligible, except for the rare occurrence of wayside interface unit (WIU) failure or radio failure in the Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS)-type PTC system that would result in a stop well short of the targeted point and potentially delay both onboard passengers and inbound/outbound trains. Both benefit-cost analysis and operational impact assessment methodologies are implemented in a decision tool that can be customized for different terminals with heterogeneous infrastructure and operational characteristics and be adapted to other transportation modes.

Human and Organizational Factors of Positive Train Control Safety System The Application of High Reliability Organizing in Railroad

On August 20, 1969, two Penn Central commuter trains collided head-on near Darien, Connecticut, killing four and injuring 43. That tragedy 45 years ago began the NTSB's call for development and implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems. Since then, the NTSB has issued almost 50 PTC-related safety recommendations and has included PTC on its Most Wanted List every year from its inception in 1990 until enactment of the RSIA. Unfortunately, despite some progress in the four decades since that original recommendation, PTC preventable train collisions still occur. In this paper, we identify human and organizational factors that affect a successful PTC implementation and evaluate the application of High Reliability Organizing (HRO) characteristics in the implementation of this safety system.

Prevention of End-of-Track Collisions at Passenger Terminals via Positive Train Control

A series of end-of-track collisions occurred in passenger terminals because of noncompliant actions from disengaged or inattentive engineers, resulting in significant property damage and casualties. Compared with other types of accidents, end-of-track collision has received much less attention in the prior research. To narrow this knowledge gap, this paper firstly analyzes the safety statistics of end-of-track collisions, then develops a fault tree analysis to understand the causes and contributing factors of end-of-track collisions. With the objective of mitigating this type of risk, this paper discusses the potential implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) for the passenger terminal. This paper primarily focuses on the enforcement of the two most widely implemented systems, the Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) and the Interoperable Electronic Train Management System (I-ETMS). For each implementation scenario, the Concept of Operations (ConOps) is proposed that depicts high-level system characteristics for the proposed PTC system enforcement at stub-end terminals. Ongoing work is being carried out by the authors to fully evaluate the cost-effectiveness and operational impacts of enforcing PTC in terminating tracks to prevent end-of-track collisions.

Internet of Things (IoT)-Based Apparatus and Method for Rail Crossing Alerting of Static or Dynamic Rail Track Intrusions

This paper deals with Physical Safety and Security at rail crossings. There are about 150,000 public railroad grade crossings in the U.S. Unfortunately, approximately 2,000 accidents occur every year in the U.S., resulting not only in many injuries, but also in over 200 deaths annually. The predicament is that for various reasons, people, cars, and trucks find themselves on the rail tracks of an oncoming train at a railroad crossing. The system discussed in this paper provides a relatively inexpensive Internet of Things (IoT)-based capability that can be used to alert a rail operator that there is an obstruction on the tracks, and/or possibly to interwork with (but not replace) a Positive Train Control (PTC) system thus attempting to automatically stop an incoming train. In fact, IoT is now being deployed in railroads for a variety of applications. A brief description of cybersecurity issues related to IoT deployment is also included.