随着年末截止日期的临近，美国的铁路在将联邦强制性的自动火车控制系统设定到适当的位置方面取得了收益，但是一些承运人面临未能完成当时要求的所有工作的危险，并且可能面临罚款。

The Federal Railroad Administration’s latest更新on installing positive train control (PTC) devices and systems, released on Nov. 21, show that as of Oct. 31, four of the 41 railroads subject to the program remained at risk of missing the deadline.

PTC, which includes wayside and in-locomotive equipment, aims to prevent train collisions, excessive speed or going through a mainline switch that isn’t in a proper position.

The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal body, has for years cited the lack of operating PTC systems as a major safety problem.

The rail lines still at risk are all commuter-rail carriers: the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority in Austin, Texas; Altamont Corridor Express in California; New Jersey Transit; and the San Francisco-San Jose area’s Caltrain, operated by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board.

FRA put railroads in the at-risk category if they had put in place less than 95% of PTC-required hardware on locomotives and at the wayside by the end of October.

In January, NJ Transit had only 12% of its PTC equipment installed and “the outlook was extremely bleak,” Executive Director Kevin Corbett told the agency’s board at its Nov. 14 meeting. But as of the day of that meeting, he added, “We are at 88% complete and will continue to work tirelessly to meet our yearend goals.” [View NJ Transit Facebook video of board meetinghere。]

Still, Corbett acknowledged that “there is still a good deal of work to be done over the next two months and we are pressing ahead with all focus and energy that we need to make sure that we meet the FRA’s requirements…by the end of this year.”

The new FRA reports, released on Nov. 21, coverall 41 carriers as of Sept. 30和at-risk lines as of Oct. 31。Overall, they report notable progress this year on PTC, with the number of at-risk carriers down to four from 15 at the end of 2017.

截至9月30日，Amtrak被评为高风险，但在10月份取得了足够的收益以离开该类别。

As of Sept. 30, the control systems were operating on 71% of freight railroads’ PTC-covered route miles, but only 26% of passenger lines’ route miles.

今年的联邦资金为PTC计划提供了帮助。国会包括2018财年的2.5亿美元用于实施该系统的拨款，8月，FRA授予$203.7 million of that to 28 projects in 15 states.

Carriers must meet the equipment requirement and five other mandates to qualify for an FRA-approved extension of the deadline for up to two additional year.

Railroads that fail to reach PTC compliance by Dec. 31 face a range of possible civil penalties.

An FRA spokesperson said via email that, for violations of federal rail safety laws, regulations or directive under the agency’s authority, the minimum statutory civil penalty it may assess is $870 and the ordinary statutory maximum penalty is $28,474.

The penalty amounts reflect new adjustments for inflation, as specified in a11月27日联邦登记通知。

发言人补充说，FRA可以评估不遵守规定的每天的罚款，也可以“选择一次或每个月，季度，季度或其他时间间隔，在此期间不遵守该行动的时间间隔或其他时间间隔。”

2008年，国会规定使用PTC系统，并设定了2015年12月31日实施截止日期。

但是，当那个日期临近时，很明显，到那时铁路无法遵守。在截止日期之前大约两个月，颁布了新的立法，将实施日期延长到2018年底，如果承运人在实现多个实施目标方面取得了足够的进展，则允许另外两年的延期。

故事于2018年11月27日更新，并获得了新的，通货膨胀调整的FRA罚款。