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Amtrak/WSDOT are working on this, however, the Host Railroads nation wide are wanting to implement minimum axle counts to help with signal shunting. The CN/IC already is doing this in the Midwest, and both BNSF and UP are rattling their swords, with BNSF wanting a 24 axle minimum and UP a 30 axle minimum. If this happens, it further impacts Talgo operations in the PNW!

So for practical purposes the railroads (especially UP) don't want to run any passenger trains shorter than a Chief or Zephyr or Starlight? The corridor people don't have enough equipment (or the demand, for some trains) for (5 car minimum on BNSF or) 6 or 7 car trains, if their locomotives could even handle that with any sort of acceleration. So for practical purposes those axle counts rule out corridor or commuter passenger service on UP lines. Is that the ulterior motive, or is it some actual failure in the PTC system? One presumes that in the past the 4-5 car (sometimes even 3 on commuter lines like Metrolink) trains that are common outside of rush hour would not have gotten lost in the dispatcher's office or failed to shunt signals ... and more than 6 cars (which is still too short for UP's minimum) is too long for a lot of station platforms now in use. Perhaps we need a lot more Cabbages - how many junk F40s are still around?