Expected to hear from rail representatives to prevent train accidents. Good afternoon. Today the committee gathers for a hearing to examine the next steps in positive train control implementation. Im glad to convene this hearing on this important issue with my friend and colleague Ranking Member senator cantwell. I want to thank our panel of witnesses for appearing. Mr. Ron batori, administrator of the railroad administration, susan, director of infrastructure, u. S. Government accountability office. Bob, Vice President of Strategic Development web tech corporation. Chris matthews assistant Vice President of Network Control systems. And jim, chief executive officer and executive director of metro. Todays hearing will evaluate progress, implementation of positive train control, ptc and examine the potential challenges in meeting the final implementation deadline of december 31st, 2020. As recent Committee Hearings have highlighted ptc is an Important Technology which has the ability to prevent accidents including over speed derailments such as the tragic derailment in dupont, washington, in 2017. As well as preventing train to train collisions. Ptc enforcement, an act passed by congress and signed into law under president obama in october 2015 required railroads to implement ptc by october 31st. It allowed the railroad to apply for an extension of up to 24 months. If and only if that railroad met important milestones. Under secretary chao and the administrator batoris leadership this has been faithfully implemented as of december 31st, 2018, all railroads either submit documentation to show they met the requirements for system activation or qualified for an extension for up to two additional years. As we will hear today many railroads received such extension. Since that december 2018 deadline railroads have continued to make progress on ptc implementation. This hearing provides an opportunity for updates on the current status of ptc implementation. Across the network and the gains that have been made since the end of last year. Witnesses should discuss how freight and Passenger Railroads are itch lmtimplementing ptc an describe the remaining work needed. They must be able to operate seamlessly across tracks owned by different railroads. Achieving interupper ability requires coordination across the Rail Industry including between the federal railroad administration, unit railroads, vendor suppliers and other stakeholders. This undertaking is particularly complex in regions of this country where multiple railroads interact. I hope witnesses will provide an update on interoperability testing and any successes or challenges identified through such testing. I also invite our expert witnesses to discuss any suggestions they may have for further facilitating interoperability throughout the network. With the final deadline for implementation less than a year and half away todays hearing will help this committee focus on any other issues that may require additional attention. For instance, at past ptc hearings we heard about challenges related to vendors and software as well as railroads in the early stages of field testing. So i invite our witnesses on the availability of vendors to support ptc installation and provide testing and services. Witnesses might also identify any other challenges to full implementation as the final deadline approach said. I look forward to a robust discussion of the progress of ptc implementation. I thank all of our witnesses for appearing today. And before as we recognize senator for a special introduction ill recognize our Ranking Member senator cantwell. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you for holding this important hearing on the next steps of positive train control implementation. I look forward to hearing your perspectives how railroads will meet that deadline of 2020 to fully implement ptc. The importance of this lifesaving technology was made abundantly clear in my state of washington when the 501 derailed near dupont washington, and fell on the highway. The National Transportation safety board investigation found ptc would have prevented this tragedy. But sadly this is one of many ptc preventable tragedies. In fact since the safety board first recommended positive train control implementation ptc could have prevented over 150 different crashes and many fatalities and injuries. So im pleased chairman wicker shares my commitment to making sure 2020 is a full ptc implementation deadline and this Committee Takes its oversight role seriously when it comes to positive train control. Its unacceptable in the year 2019 we still have not fully implemented even when its been fully implemented in the Train Railroad association, there will still be miles of track that would not be part of ptc. They will be exempted including over 1,400 miles of track including amtric. Both expressed concerns during this Previous Committee hearing last month, and we followed up that hearing to seek more information about the Safety Measures that should be in place where ptc is not operational. This includes speed action plans and ptc equivalent technology. I want to thank the sfrter for the response and for your commitment to ensuring safety everywhere amtrak operates. This will help prevent another dupont, washington, accident happening again. No technology is a cure all or complete replacement for well trained engineers and conductors who have strong safety cultures at a railroad and for the track maintenance and structurally sound Railroad Cars that are needed. That said, implementing ptc is truly a major step for safety and i know its been a Long Time Coming to get to where we are today. Railroads and especially Commuter Railroad systems have faced many challenges so i look forward to the opportunity to hear from the witnesses about the steps to have ptc fully implemented everywhere and make sure it is required on our National Rail system and look forward to asking specific questions about that implementation and the 1,400 miles of track that wont be covered. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And now i turn to our friend for a special introduction. Thank you, mr. Chairmantouch it is my pleasure to introduce the metro ceo and director who has successfully led our Organization Since 2017. Every weekday metro operates nearly 700 trains that transport nearly 297,000 passengers. Metro provides service to and from Downtown Chicago on 242 stations on 11 lines covering more than 1,200 miles of tracks. Jims extensive experience and Technical Expertise enable him to lead one of the largest and complex Commuter Rail systems while squeezing every drop of value out of the resources metro received. A few months ago jim invited me to tour metro and watch as electricians install and fine tune aboard the spots. Jim explained to me thou how theyre able to stretch every dollar just a little further by doing the wuork inhouse. Metro has spent nearly 250 million on positive train control efforts while receiving less than 50 million in federal granlts or supported effort. Metro expects its ptc implementation to ultimately cost between 350 mill i know and 450 million. Where these costs are a challenge i am confident pemetro customers are getting the most bang for their buck with jim at the helm. Welcome, jim. Thanks for being here today. We stand to hear a lot from you and i thank you mr. Chairman. I yield back. Thank you, senator, and we now will proceed to hearing summaries of five minutes or less from each of our witnesses. Well begin with administrator batori. Sir, you are welcome. Good afternoon, all. Chairman wicker, Ranking Member cantwell and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to testify about one of the highest priorities, railroads full implementation certified in the inoperable ptc systems as soon as possible and by december 31, 2020. Faa commends the industry for its notable progress to date. As of march 31st ptc uzin operation on 83 of the 58,000 miles subject to the statutory mandate. Nevertheless, we will still kpre complete extensive work in the next three months. Notably railroads reported the full implement on their required railroads in 2018. The other four railroads requested an alternative schedule which the statutory mandate required faa to approve if the railroad qualified by law. As of march 5th faa approved all applicable alternative schedules well before the statutory 90day deadline. Fra continues to actively monitor railroads progress including the quarter 2 reports due today. Preliminary reports indicate ptc was in operation on 87 of the required main lines nationwide as of june 2019 including 91 of the Class One Railroads requiring main line. Host Commuter Railroads and 47 of their required miles as of june, a 12 increase next quarter one. Amtrak reports pc is in operation in 99. 8 of its required main lines. In addition six other railroads must implement ptc on their main line that holds Passenger Rail service. It has been operating on its full implemented ptc system since 2018. The other five are conducting field testing. Currently fra is directing its focus on the ptc mandated rail lines that have a high concentration of host and tenant railroads including Commuter Railroads. On july 12th i initiated monthly meetings with executive leadership of amtrak and Commuter Railroads that operate on the northeast corridor excuse me or their own ptc required main line in the northeast. As this committee is aware interoperability remains the primary challenge to railroads full implementation by 2020. Approximately 101 tenant railroads operate on ptc mandated lines. Because they operate on multiple host railroads there are 227 host 10 want relationships where interoperability must be achieved. As of march 31st, 70 of the tenant railroads achieved interoperability and 38 were conducting testing. Since may ive met with 61 of the 71 nonclass one tenant railroads to discuss next steps for interoperability. Fra also hosts four additional collaborations over the next 17 months focusing on best practices to achieve the ultimate statutory deadline. Railroads continue to cite that ptc vendors and suppliers are resource constrained in part due to increased demand as the deadline approaches and with late engagement. After being confirmed as administrator ive networked the ten major vendors and suppliers to start the Critical Role they play. This year ive sent letters that underscore issues that require some suppliers immediate resolution including the recall of the equipment due to manufacturing defects and capacity limitations hindering railroads. Fra continues to engage with vendors and suppliers as they are integral to the railroads ability to meet the deadline. In addition to Technical Assistance dot is awarded 2. 6 billion in grant financing and loan funding representing 18 of the 15 billion costs for li implementation. The industry also splats that Operation Maintenance costs will be substantial with aar citing hundreds of millions of additional dollars per year in maintenance and operation costs. Fra appreciates congress prioritization of safety and the continued funding it provides for ptc. Fra will continue to work with all stakeholders to help ensure railroads fully implement ptc systems quickly and as safely as possible. Fra plans to enforce statutory mandate by enforcing the maximum penalties by congress. Thank you for the opportunity to provide an update on Passenger Railroads implementation and oversight of ptc which is one of the most promising tech logical advances in rail safety in decades. Over the years weve reported on the progress implementing ptc which has been a complex and lengthy process involving almost all major rail lines and every aspect of railroad operations. While railroads were required to implement by last december fra was able to grant egtensions up to 2020 if railroads met specific requirements. While four railroads have fully implemented ptc, the others continue to work through implementation. Railroads progress in terms of installing equipment and testing, but much work particularly with respect to interoperability remains to fully implement ptc. Today i will focus on two main issues, railroads implementation progress and remaining challenges and the approach to meeting the 2020 deadline. Turning to the implementation update, since december many railroads reported making progress on testing and implementation of their own ptc systems. Six railroads reported implementing pks tc on all their territories, however, 11 railroads reported they remained in field testing which is an early stage of testing. Regarding interoperability as of march 11 of the 31 host railroads reported they achieved interoperability. Collectively of the 227 unique host tenant relationships railroads have achieved this for only 17 of the relationships. Turning now to implementation challenges, in response to a questionnaire most vendors reported Software Issues were still a problem. As the 2020 deadline nears less time remains to address these issues and associated delays. And a limited supply of vendors and high demand for services continues to pose problems. More than half of the railroads it was a major challenge includish host and tenant. For example Certain Software functionality still has to be developed, tested and implemented to address reliability issues to cause interoperability issues. In the northeast eight Commuter Railroads, amtrak and most freight are implementing the system on at least a portion of their system and track. In some cases two different ptc systems will be operated concurrently which adds to the difficulty. Workload challenges for the agency persists. Fra will continue to face a substantial workload through 2020, overseeing railroads ptc implementation and reviewing documents including lengthy safety plans. As such it will remain important for fra to prioritize resources based on risk as we recommended last year. The extended 2020 deadline for full ptc implementation is less than 18 months away and the railroad has substantial work to complete and challenges to address before that deadline. Going forward fra also needs to transition into overseeing ptc after the 2020 deadline. Similarly railroads will need to transition implementation to operating and maintaining their ptc systems. Therefore september 2020 represents not only the deadline but also a point which railroads and fra will face a new operational and oversight development. Mr. Chairman, this concludes my statement and ill be pleased to answer questions either you or members of the committee may have. Well, thank you very much. Good afternoon, chairman wicker, Ranking Member cantwell and all the members of this committee. Thank you for holding this important hearing on next steps for ptc implementation. My name is robert borg, it is a privilege to represent web tech and appear before you today along with two of our earliest ptc partners the nsf and metro. Going back to our ourgens in the core mission for web tech. Supporting our freight and passenger customer railroad commitments to meet the december 31st, 2020 deadline is of foremost priority. At the outset i thought it might be helpful to note that as currently approved by the fra and deployed by the railroads ptc functions as a safety overlay. That is ptc is designed to enforce existing railroad signal ind indications and other operating rules. This means ptc serves as a supplemental insurance measure. Web techs role in ptc builds on our interoperable electronic train Management System which is deployed on freight and Passenger Railroads operating outside the electrified northeast corridor. Web tech is a hardware and Software Provider for onboard and back office segments. Web tech also serves as a ptc system integrator for a number of passenger rrailroads. To enable to meet the rsia requirements web tech mafrered and delivered more than 23,000 onboard systems. Web tech also developed new Customized Software applications for the back office that interfaced to and in some cases replaced existing railroad back office systems. Our focus on enabling our customers to meet the d. C. 31 irs, 2020 deadline is two fold. First peb tech is committed to meeting our requirements for ptc interoperability. Specifically we have released Software Updates that enable increased track file size, and we are working towards another update this fall that will double the onboard capacity to handle trained bulletins. These and other planned software up grades along with even closer stakeholder collaboration are intended to enable our class one customers to continue their plans for completing interoperability and enabling more efficient ptc operations. Second, we are committed to delivering for our Passenger Railroad customers where web tech has a majority and a major System Integration role. Building on our experience across the Railroad System the first Passenger Railroad to complete interoperability testing and receive fraptc certification, we are supporting customer agencies to one, complete ptc service demonstrations, approve fra plans and it three val date host and tenant ptc