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[quote user="BroadwayLion"]LION once took a course in economics 101. It is not about money. It is about compliance with a perceived need expressed by a government agency. Politicians are a few steps lower than reporters, but they do know one thing: How to get elected, ergo, what flies with the public and what does not. Railroad will listen to government on this, because 1) public relations is a good thing, 2) smoother operation of railroad is good thing. 3) keeping employees alive is a good thing, 4) good union and labor relations is a good thing, --(And just what does the union want on this issue)-- and 5) reinvestment of funds in infrastructure rides well with the public and with stockholders, and besides it is tax deductible. It is a win-win situation to do it with irrelevant costs on the other side. Besides, half of the infrastructure is there already (signals) and signals can be upgraded and the expense written off to PTC installation, and it is one more step on the road to full automation of some trains. ROAR[/quote] From the present day perspective, PTC seems like an item that will one day be completed, like building a bridge or skyscraper.  But in reality, PTC may not be a single item.  Instead it may be a process that has no final objective or ending.  Even from our present day view, the presumed endpoint is unknown.  There is a deadline, but it seems obvious that it cannot be met.  As far as I know, no new deadline has been set. Extending the deadline will give more time to get the job done, but it also gives more time for the art to evolve.  Portions of the system may be obsolete before it is finished.  The installation may have a hard time keeping up with the advancing technology.  Cost overrun is likely to be huge, and that will pose the prospect of making radical changes in direction in the ever-evolving installation. So, I don’t think PTC will be like an item that is one day finished.  It will be like a process that is ever becoming.  And somewhere along the road of that process is full automation.   And the road probably does not even end there.  The entire railroad system is likely to evolve rapidly in many different ways that will include big changes in operation.
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