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Despite a recent report in the Northshore Eagle-Tribune newspaper, noting problems with train safety improvements north of Boston, the Franklin Line and other Commuter Rail routes that connect with South Station have actually met key milestones, and did so on time.
According to the MBTA, the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 requires every railroad across the country to have Positive Train Control (PTC), and the organization is more or less on track to complete this needed work.
As of August 2020, MBTA completed Phase I of the Commuter Rail Safety and Resiliency Program. The MBTA PTC safety system is now active on all MBTA Commuter Rail lines. Phase II, which includes implementing Automatic Train Control (ATC), is now underway.
And that's where the North-South divide comes in. The Franklin Line and other "South Side" lines completed this crucial safety addition in 2020. Now, it's the turn of the North Side, where progress has been much slower. In fact, work may not be completed until 2024, according to the Eagle-Tribune, which said overall, the work is 72 percent complete.
According to MBTA, Automatic Train Control (ATC) sends signal indications to the train cab in addition to using physical signal lights alongside the tracks. These signals are part of the MBTA Positive Train Control (PTC) System that alert the engineer of potentially unsafe conditions.
If the crew does not respond to an alert, the system will automatically slow or stop the train.
ATC is an upgrade to the existing signal system and is required by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) as part of the PTC System implementation.
The work, which will eventually include all rail lines, could have prevented hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries over the last half century had it been in place.
