Removing PTC?

[OWTX]

PTC discontinuance would require filing an RFA with the FRA.

There is a list of conditionals on when to file (or not) for PTC changes.

[blue streak 1]

There is always a very slight chance that NS will sometimes in the future need to have decent freight over the loops ?

[ClassA]

My father lives and rail fans along the S Line in Western NC. It used to be pretty busy when it had through freights. It's still fairly busy east of the loops and west of the loops, so I would presume that they would keep PTC in place. I doubt they would bother removing PTC once installed. It seems like the railroads are completely comfortable just leaving stuff where it is when decommissioning.

[BaltACD]

rixflix

Hey Balt,

sorry for a quick side trip on this thread, but is the walk-through dam with portholes still in Patapsco State Park? I hiked the Old Main ROW Relay to Ellicott City a few years back and didn't see it. Guessed it was only visible from the roadway.

Rick

Don't know.  I think that was down near Oella and I am not familar with that local area.  Patapsco runs along the banks of the river for miles.  I live in Sykesville and there is a segment of the park along the South Bank of the river for about 2+ miles on River Road.  There are segments of the park off Marriottsville Road and various other segments of the park are accessable off Old Frederick Road and various other local roads.

[rixflix]

Hey Balt,

sorry for a quick side trip on this thread, but is the walk-through dam with portholes still in Patapsco State Park? I hiked the Old Main ROW Relay to Ellicott City a few years back and didn't see it. Guessed it was only visible from the roadway.

Rick

[BaltACD]

I don't know what regulations are in place on territories where PTC has been installed and the characteristics of that line operations have changed.

I do know when Hurricane Agnes washed out miles and miles of B&O's Old Main Line in June 1972 and it took until 1975 to restore the track structure to be in a condition run trains, the company wanted to discontinue operation of the the CTC Signal System that had been in operation at the time of the wash outs.  The ICC being supervising governmental agency would not permit the subdivision to be restored to operation without the company presenting a plan to reinstall the signal system with dispatch.  

The ICC had specific rules concerning the circumstance under which signal systems can be discontinued.  The ICC is gone.  What the current rules are, I don't know.

[dubch87]

I was panning along Norfolk Southern's S-Line west of Salisbury, N.C. and noticed that PTC is installed between Salisbury and Statesville. The line was downgraded last year with through traffic removed. I am assuming the line no longer has enough volume to require the use of PTC (was surprised it had enough to begin with).

Would a railroad stop using PTC if it's no longer required on a line, presumably to save costs on operation and maintenance? Or would they continue to use the system since it has been installed? Can they "legally" stop using it without a bunch of paperwork, or even physically be able to stop, i.e., would the signaling system even work if the positioning component was removed? One would assume it's not just a matter of flipping a switch.