Joe, I seriously doubt that any government agency can coerce a railroad in install PTC. The consequences of supplanting exiting wayside logic circuits is infinitely more complex and expensive than ever conceived. Persons with simplistic minds believe that a railroad can install a super computer in Fort Worth or Omaha and spontaneously replace all existing wayside logic circuits. Not so! Safety and reliabily issues are not sorted out.

Railroads could save millions of dollars if they utilized GPS receivers on locomotives for location (dispatcher indication) only! However, railroad managers rely on vendors which add a mirid of software “innovations.” Most of these novelty subroutines are ineffective. I know of no railroad manager who would take the initiative to insist on a modest GPS system to aid dispatchers. They do not conceptualize the advantages.