Amtrak Gets PTC Waiver
The FCC Wireless Bureau granted Amtrak’s request for permanent authority to operate 66 wireless radio base stations to implement a congressionally mandated positive train control (PTC) system. Amtrak had been relying on a grant of special temporary authority to operate…
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the base stations, which are located on the southern portion of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, the bureau said Thursday. The waiver covers stations on Amtrak’s line from New York to Washington and on a branch line from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the bureau said. Amtrak is using automated maritime telecom system spectrum, the bureau said. The order requires Amtrak to protect nearby broadcast stations, using channels 10 and 13, from interference. Amtrak said in a recent report that “since it began testing its PTC base stations -- initially in July 2015 at transmitter output power levels ranging from 5 to 20 watts, and beginning in December 2015 at power levels up to 25 watts -- it has not received a single report of interference from either television viewers or broadcasters,” the bureau said. Some have said a deadly crash outside of Philadelphia could have been prevented had PTC been deployed on the section of track where the accident occurred (see 1506100037). Congress required Amtrak, and many commuter and freight railroads, to deploy interoperable PTC systems as part of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008.