the approach to the accident curve are now protected by PTC, preventing a recurrence of this type of accident in the Northeast Corridor. Amtrak routes beyond the Northeast Corridor are operated on tracks owned by other railroads, so PTC implementation on those routes depends upon those railroads installing the necessary equipment.
The NTSB has advocated the implementation of PTC systems to prevent collisions and overspeed events for over 40 years and has placed it on its Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements for 22 of the 26 years that the list has been in existence. The NTSB has investigated many deadly accidents that could have been prevented by PTC, but progress in implementing PTC has been slow. Following a PTC-preventable accident in Goodwell, Oklahoma, in June 2012, the NTSB noted the value of frequent implementation updates from each railroad so the FRA and the public could follow progress. Toward that end, the NTSB issued Safety Recommendation R-13-27 asking that all railroads subject to the PTC provisions of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 provide regular implementation updates to the FRA:
Provide positive train control implementation update reports to the Federal Railroad Administration every 6 months until positive train control implementation is complete. The update reports should consist of two sections: components and training. The components section should include a description of the positive train control component to be implemented, the number of components, the number of components completed on the report date, the number of components that remain to be completed, the overall completion percentage, and the estimated completion date. Components are defined as locomotives, wayside units, switches, base station radios, wayside radios, locomotive radios, and any new and novel technologies that are part of a positive train control system. The training section shall include the number of safety-related employees and equivalent railroad carrier contractors and subcontractors that need to be trained, by class and craft; minimum training standards for those employees and contractors, meaning the knowledge of and ability to comply with federal railroad safety laws and regulations and carrier rules and procedures to implement positive train control; the percentage of employees who have completed training; the percentage of employees who remain to be trained; and the estimated date that training will be completed.
The NTSB also issued Safety Recommendation R-13-23 to the FRA:
Publish the positive train control implementation update reports submitted by all railroads subject to the positive train control provisions of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 and make the reports available on your website within 30 days of report receipt.
Several railroads responded that they would file such progress reports. However, the FRA declined to make the progress reports public. On January 2, 2014, the FRA responded that the annual reports required by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 "provide only a snapshot in time" and that "alone, and without the additional context, the data contained in a railroad's [implementation plan] has little value and does not account for the fluidity, complexity, and depth of PTC system implementation. To publish this information would likely mislead and
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