On Sept. 12, 2008, a commuter rail train collided head-on with a long haul freight train in the Chatsworth district of Los Angeles, killing 25 people and injuring more than 100. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined the cause of the crash to be the failure of the train’s engineer to stop at a red signal — likely because of distraction resulting from texting.

On December 18th, 2017 America’s rail transportation system was once again rocked by a potentially avoidable tragedy.  Amtrak Cascades 501 derailed on its first commercial voyage en route from Seattle to Portland when it traveled more than 50mph above the limit around a curve on a newly installed section of track.  One NTSB official publically suggested that Positive Train Control (PTC) technology might well have prevented the tragedy:  “Every year that we wait to implement PTC to its fullest extent means that more people will be killed and injured,” said the NTSB’s Bella Dinh-Zarr.

PTC Radio Testing

Two versions of PTC have been developed for two-way radio communications.  PTC-ACSES, utilizing GE model TD-220 radios, has been adopted by commuter railroads, while PTC-ITCR, utilizing Meteorcomm radios, is used by the nation’s long-haul carriers.  Working with key users and the radio manufacturers, FREEDOM is the only company that has developed test solutions for these important public safety technologies.

Below are two documents that give brief overviews of our PTC test capabilities.  Click on the thumbnails to download the documents.  Click on the buttons below to contact us to receive more information on PTC test solutions from Freedom Communication Technologies.

PTC-ACSES Testing Overview
PTC-ITCR Testing Overview