114-515: Positive train control ( PTC ) is a family of automatic train protection systems deployed in the United States. Most of the United States' national rail network mileage has a form of PTC. These systems are generally designed to check that trains are moving safely and to stop them when they are not. Positive train control restricts the train movement to an explicit allowance; movement is halted upon invalidation. A train operating under PTC receives
228-619: A Metro-North derailment in the Bronx killed four people and injured 61. This crash was caused by excess speed, something PTC is capable of guarding against. In 2015, an Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia killed eight and injured 185. In this incident, the train accelerated beyond safe speed due to actions of a distracted engineer of the Amtrak train. According to the NTSB, this crash could have been prevented by
342-582: A Metrolink passenger train and a Union Pacific Railroad freight train at September 12, 2008, in Los Angeles , which resulted in the deaths of 25 and injuries to more than 135 passengers. As the bill neared final passage by Congress, the Association of American Railroads ( AAR ) issued a statement in support of the bill. President George W. Bush signed the 315-page Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 into law on October 16, 2008. Among its provisions,
456-438: A movement authority containing information about its location and where it is allowed to safely travel. PTC was installed and operational on 100% of the statutory-required trackage by December 29, 2020. The American Railway Engineering and Maintenance-of-Way Association (AREMA) describes positive train control systems as having these primary functions: In the late 1980s, interest in train protection solutions heightened after
570-792: A worst-case scenario , further decreasing performance. In its 2009 regulatory filing, the FRA stated that PTC was in fact likely to decrease the capacity of freight railroads on many main lines. The European LOCOPROL/LOCOLOC project had shown that EGNOS -enhanced satellite navigation alone was unable to meet the SIL4 safety integrity required for train signaling. From a purely technical standpoint, PTC will not prevent certain low-speed collisions caused by permissive block operation , accidents caused by "shoving" (reversing with inadequate observation), derailments caused by track or train defect, grade crossing collisions, or collisions with previously derailed trains. Where PTC
684-516: A PTC implementation is to use wireless components at all). If wireless data transmission is necessary, there are a few advantages to the 220 MHz spectrum, provided it can be acquired at a reasonable cost. The first reason to consider using 220 MHz spectrum is PTC interoperability for freights and for some, but not all, commuter rail operations. Freight operations in the US often include the sharing of railroad tracks where one railroad's rail vehicles operate as
798-433: A PTC system that would have enforced the 50 mile per hour (80 km/h) speed limit and prevented the overspeed and subsequent crash of the train. In 2017, another Amtrak derailment near Dupont, Washington killed three and injured 62. The engineer mistook the train's current location, and therefore was not following proper restrictions for the length of track the train was in, failing to notice signage that should have indicated
912-424: A challenge. It remains to be seen whether the performance envelope of PTC protocols developed and optimized for less numerous, slower and/or larger trains can support a more complex operational scenario, such as that of a commuter rail operation, without impacting on-time performance. Detailed and exhaustive protocol simulation testing can ease the risk of problems, however, there are too many variables, especially when
1026-523: A city, plus that in the contiguous urban, or built-up area. Chicagoland is an informal name for the Chicago metropolitan area. The term Chicagoland has no official definition, and the region is often considered to include areas beyond the corresponding MSA, as well as portions of the greater CSA. Colonel Robert R. McCormick , editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune , usually gets credit for placing
1140-400: A common PTC system through an interface device (similar to a network gateway or protocol converter) at each wayside location. One radio talks to freight trains using I-ETMS and one radio talks to passenger trains using ITCS. In this case interoperability stops at the wayside and does not include the wireless segment out to the rail vehicles or the onboard systems. In the third example, similar to
1254-645: A day, nonstop. The Chicago metropolitan statistical area (MSA) was originally designated by the United States Census Bureau in 1950. It comprised the Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake and Will, along with Lake County in Indiana . As surrounding counties saw an increase in their population densities and the number of their residents employed within Cook County, they met Census criteria to be added to
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#17328513922101368-414: A guest on another railroad's host tracks. Implementing PTC in such an environment is most easily achieved by using the same PTC equipment, and this includes radios and the associated radio spectrum. When a commuter railroad operation must operate on a freight railroad territory, the commuter will most likely be required to install PTC equipment (including a radio) on their rail vehicle that is compliant with
1482-600: A history of being difficult to use for such applications. This difficulty is not unique to train control. Interference, both man-made and natural, can at times affect the operation of any wireless system that relies on one frequency band. When such wireless systems are employed for real-time control networks it is very difficult to ensure that network performance will not sometimes be impacted. CSX encountered this problem when it experienced propagation ducting problems in its 900 MHz Advanced Train Control System (ATCS) network in
1596-463: A lack of availability, difficulties in negotiating complex multi-party deals to gain enough adjacent spectrum, and because the financial cost of the acquisitions may make the task impossible for some state agencies. However, research suggests that dynamic spectrum allocation can solve the spectrum allocation problem at 220 MHz bandwidth. Many of the railroads have requested that the FCC reallocate parts of
1710-424: A large commuter rail operation when a train is broken down at the interlocking and 10–20 other trains are within communications range of a single wayside location. Such a what-if scenario may be tested at a few interlockings but not at the 30 or more interlockings on a large commuter property. A large group of industry experts from the federal government, manufacturers, railroads, and consultants are participating in
1824-553: A limited number of vendors, and they are focused only on 220 MHz . One radio vendor in particular, Meteorcomm LLC, is able to support the I-ETMS PTC protocol with a 220 MHz radio. Meteorcomm is jointly owned by several of the Class I freights, and some in the industry have indicated that using their 220 MHz radio and associated equipment will be done on a per-site licensing basis. Recurring fees may be associated with this process too. There
1938-434: A more interoperable, robust, reliable, future-proof, and scalable solution for the wireless component of PTC. The railroad industry, like the process industry and the power utility industry, has always demanded that the return on investment for large capital investments associated with infrastructure improvements be fully realized before the asset is decommissioned and replaced. This paradigm will be applied to PTC as well. It
2052-574: A multi frequency-band radio. In addition, in mid-2008, an FRA sponsored effort by the AAR to develop a Higher Performance Data Radio (HPDR) for use at 160 MHz actually resulted in a contract being awarded to Meteorcomm for a 4-band radio to be used for voice and data. These more recent multi-band radio efforts were shelved in late 2008, after the Rail Safety Improvements Act became law, and the freights decided to pursue PTC using 220 MHz alone, in
2166-612: A period of stagnant investment and decline following World War II . Starting in 1990, the United States National Transportation Safety Board ( NTSB ) counted PTC (then known as positive train separation) among its "Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements." At the time, the vast majority of rail lines in US relied upon crew members to comply with all safety rules, and a significant fraction of accidents were attributable to human error, as evidenced in several years of official reports from
2280-699: A population of over 8 million, which includes the following locations in Illinois: The city of Chicago lies in the Chicago Plain, a flat and broad area characterized by little topographical relief. The few low hills are sand ridges. North of the Chicago Plain, steep bluffs and ravines run alongside Lake Michigan. Along the southern shore of the Chicago Plain, sand dunes run alongside the lake. The tallest dunes reach up to near 200 feet (61 m) and are found in Indiana Dunes National Park . Surrounding
2394-592: A reliance on wireless communications is being touted as a benefit. The wireless method has proven most successful on low density, unsignaled dark territory normally controlled via track warrants , where speeds are already low and interruptions in the wireless connection to the train do not tend to compromise safety or train operations. Some systems, like Amtrak's ACSES, operate with a hybrid technology that uses wireless links to update temporary speed restrictions or pass certain signals, with neither of these systems being critical for train operations. The equipment on board
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#17328513922102508-429: A second set of onboard equipment so they can operate PTC on their own property while also operating PTC on a freight's property. If a multi-band radio (such as the current generation software-defined radios ) is not available, then separate radios and separate antennas will be necessary. With the complexity of track geometries, PTC requires a variable amount of the spectrum in a time critical manner. One way to achieve this
2622-519: A single frequency-band configuration. Amtrak and most commuter operations quickly followed suit, selecting 220 MHz . Soon after the Rail Safety Improvements Act was passed, many commuter railroads chose not to develop their own PTC protocol and instead decided to save time and money by using a protocol developed for either freight or long haul passenger (Amtrak) operations. Deploying such a protocol for urban commuter operation, where it will be necessary to support numerous, small, fast-moving trains, will be
2736-525: A small freight or commuter railroad only operates on their own territory and hosts other guest railroads (freight or other passenger rail), there is still no interoperability-based reason the host is obliged to use 220 MHz spectrum to implement PTC. Such a railroad could implement PTC by freely picking any radio spectrum and requiring the guest railroads to either install compliant PTC equipment (including radios) on board their trains or provide wayside equipment for their guest PTC implementation to be installed on
2850-461: A study group sponsored by the IEEE 802.15 working group, to look at using lessons learned in protocol development in the IEEE 802 suite to propose a comprehensive solution to the wireless component of PTC. While this effort may not significantly change the current United States PTC efforts already underway, an open standard could possibly provide a way forward for all of the railroads to eventually deploy
2964-499: A tremendous rate since the early 1960s. Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, and Naperville are noteworthy for being four of the few boomburbs outside the Sun Belt , West Coast and Mountain States regions, and exurban Kendall County ranked as the fastest-growing county (among counties with a population greater than 10,000) in the United States between the years 2000 and 2007. Settlement patterns in
3078-487: A whole had a population of 9,806,184 as of 2022. The Chicago urban agglomeration , according to the United Nations World Urbanization Prospects report (2023 revision), lists a population of 8,937,000. The term "urban agglomeration" refers to the population contained within the contours of a contiguous territory inhabited at urban density levels. It usually incorporates the population in
3192-494: A wireless data network. This is often considered to be a form of Communications Based Train Control and is not a necessary part of PTC. The train may be able to detect the status of (and sometimes control) wayside devices, for example switch positions. This information is sent to the control center to further define the train's safe movements. Text messages and alarm conditions may also be automatically and manually exchanged between
3306-525: Is able to support the Amtrak ACSES protocol with a 220 MHz radio. It should be stressed that the main concern among the freights regarding the PTC deadline is the availability of PTC equipment. With an eye to anti-trust issues and ready radio availability, Meteorcomm radio designs have been second-sourced to CalAmp radios. This all may mean that there is not enough 220 MHz PTC radio equipment available for all of
3420-499: Is also designed to work with the Wabtec TMDS dispatching system to provide train control and dispatching operations from Anchorage. Data between locomotive and dispatcher is transmitted over a digital radio system provided by Meteor Communications Corp (Meteorcomm). An onboard computer alerts workers to approaching restrictions and to stop the train if needed. Alstom 's and PHW's Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) system
3534-665: Is backwards compatible to existing systems and that perhaps improves PTC system performance and also includes improvements that save on operational costs, then a railroad would be prudent to consider a plan for replacing their PTC radios. Wabtec is working with the Alaska Railroad to develop a collision-avoidance, Vital PTC system, for use on their locomotives. The system is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, enforce speed limits, and protect roadway workers and equipment. Wabtec's Electronic Train Management System, (ETMS)
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3648-474: Is further concern that the 'buy in' and licensing fees will be significant, and this has led some to speculate that the owners of Meteorcomm (the freights) may have legal exposure to anti-trust violations. For many railroads, there is no other practical option to meet the federal mandate than to install PTC at 220 MHz using I-ETMS with the Meteorcomm radios. On the northeast corridor, another radio vendor, GE MDS,
3762-430: Is greater and has less impact on train schedules. In addition, the PTC implementations deployed by commuter operations will be running much closer to the performance envelope than that of either Amtrak or the freights. For commuters in particular there is therefore some concern that implementing PTC with a single frequency band may not be sufficient. The single frequency-band approach to supporting real-time train control has
3876-416: Is highly unlikely that there will be any major upgrades to initial PTC deployments within even the first 10 years. The calculation for return on investment is not a simple one and some railroads may determine, for instance after five years, that an upgrade of certain components of PTC may be justified. An example could be the radio component of PTC. If an open standard creates a less expensive radio product that
3990-549: Is home to a number of the nation's leading research universities including the University of Chicago , Northwestern University , the University of Illinois at Chicago , DePaul University , Loyola University , and the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). The University of Chicago and Northwestern University are consistently ranked as two of the best universities in the world. There are many transportation options around
4104-479: Is home to more than 400 major corporate headquarters, including 31 in the Fortune 500 such as McDonald's, United, and Blue Cross Blue Shield. With many companies moving to Chicagoland, and many current companies expanding, the area ranked as the nation's top metropolitan area for corporation relocations and expansions for nine consecutive years, the most consecutive years for any region in the country. The Chicago area
4218-918: Is home to the largest futures exchange in the world, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange . In March 2008, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange announced its acquisition of NYMEX Holdings Inc, the parent company of the New York Mercantile Exchange and Commodity Exchange. CME'S acquisition of NYMEX was completed in August 2008. A key piece of infrastructure for several generations was the Union Stock Yards of Chicago, which from 1865 until 1971 penned and slaughtered millions of cattle and hogs into standardized cuts of beef and pork . This prompted poet Carl Sandburg to describe Chicago as
4332-463: Is in the form of nationwide licenses and some is not. The consortium plans to make this spectrum available for use by the US freights, but has indicated as recently as 2011 that they are unsure if they have enough spectrum to meet their needs. Several commuter railroads have begun purchasing 220 MHz spectrum in their geographic areas, but there is widespread concern that the acquisition of enough 220 MHz spectrum may be difficult to accomplish because of
4446-540: Is installed in the absence of track circuit blocks, it will not detect broken rails, flooded tracks, or dangerous debris fouling the line. The wireless infrastructure planned for use by all US Class I freights, most small freight railroads, and many commuter railroads is based on data radios operating in a single frequency band near 220 MHz . A consortium created by two freight railroads called PTC 220 LLC has purchased significant spectrum around 220 MHz , from previous licensees for use in deploying PTC. Some of this spectrum
4560-456: Is installed on Amtrak's Michigan line , allowing trains to travel at 110 mph (180 km/h). The 2015 Philadelphia train derailment could have been prevented had positive train control been implemented correctly on the section of track that train was travelling. The overspeed warning/penalty commands were not set up on that particular section of track although it was set up elsewhere. Wabtec 's Electronic Train Management System, (ETMS)
4674-484: Is installed on a segment of the BNSF Railway . It is an overlay technology that augments existing train control methods. ETMS uses GPS for positioning and a digital radio system to monitor train location and speed. It is designed to prevent certain types of accidents, including train collisions. The system includes an in-cab display screen that warns of a problem and then automatically stops the train if appropriate action
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4788-452: Is installed on parts of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston . ACSES enhances the cab signaling systems provided by PHW Inc. It uses passive transponders to enforce permanent civil speed restrictions. The system is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions (PTS), protection against overspeed and protect work crews with temporary speed restrictions. GE Transportation Systems ' Incremental Train Control System (ITCS)
4902-629: Is no single defined standard for "interoperable PTC systems". Several examples of interoperable systems illustrate this point. First, the UP and BNSF are interoperable across their systems. They are both implementing I-ETMS and will use different radio frequencies in different locations. In the second example, Amtrak is interoperable with Norfolk Southern in Michigan. Amtrak uses ITCS, while Norfolk Southern uses I-ETMS. To interoperate, two 220 MHz radios are installed in each wayside location and they both interface with
5016-535: Is not taken. CSX Transportation is developing a Communications-Based Train Management (CBTM) system to improve the safety of its rail operations. CBTM is the predecessor to ETMS. Automatic train protection Automatic train protection ( ATP ) is the generic term for train protection systems that continually check that the speed of a train is compatible with the permitted speed allowed by signalling, including automatic stop at certain signal aspects. If it
5130-463: Is not, ATP activates an emergency brake to stop the train. This rail-transport related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Chicago metropolitan area Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL–IN MSA Other Statistical Areas in the Chicago CSA The Chicago metropolitan area , also referred to as Chicagoland , is the largest metropolitan statistical area in
5244-608: Is one of the 40 largest in the world . According to the 2020 Census , the metropolitan's population is approaching the 10 million mark. The metropolitan area has seen a substantial increase of Latin American residents on top of its already large Latino population, and the Asian American population also increased according to the 2020 Census. The metro area has a large number of White , Black , Latino , Asian , and Arab American residents, and also has Native American residents in
5358-537: Is part of the Great Lakes Megalopolis , containing an estimated 54 million people. The term " collar counties " is a colloquialism for the five counties (DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry , and Will) of Illinois that border Chicago's Cook County. After Cook County, they are also the next five most populous counties in the state. According to the Encyclopedia of Chicago , there is no specifically known origin of
5472-561: Is the West Side , which has a somewhat lower median income, but the western suburbs contain many affluent and upper-middle class areas. According to the 2000 Census, DuPage County as a whole had the highest median household income of any county in the Midwestern United States , although there are individual cities and towns in other surrounding counties in the metro that have even higher median incomes. According to 2022 estimates from
5586-624: Is the nation's oldest continuously operating junior college today. Later U of C president Robert Maynard Hutchins was central to the Great Books movement, and programs of dialogic education arising from that legacy can be found today at the U of C, at Shimer College , and in the City Colleges of Chicago and Oakton College in the Northwest suburbs. From 1947 until 1988, the Illinois portion of
5700-439: Is to extend the PTC software-defined radios, such that it has the intelligence to allocate the spectrum dynamically. Adding the intelligence to the radio also helps to improve the security of the PTC communication medium. If a small freight or commuter railroad does not operate on another railroad territory, then there is no interoperability-based reason that obligates them to use 220 MHz spectrum to implement PTC. In addition, if
5814-570: The Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times . Local television channels broadcasting to the Chicago market include WBBM-TV 2 (CBS), WMAQ-TV 5 (NBC), WLS-TV 7 (ABC), WGN-TV 9 (Ind), WTTW 11 (PBS), MeTV 23, WCIU 26 (CW), WFLD 32 (FOX), WCPX-TV 38 ( Ion ), WSNS-TV 44 (Telemundo), WPWR-TV 50 (MyNetworkTV), and WJYS-TV 62 (The Way). Radio stations serving the area include: WBBM (AM) , WBEZ , WGN (AM) , WMBI , WLS (AM) , and WSCR . Elementary and secondary education within
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#17328513922105928-521: The 220 MHz spectrum to them. They argue that they must have 220 MHz spectrum to be interoperable with each other. The FCC has stated that there is no reallocation forthcoming, that the railroads are not justified in requesting spectrum reallocation because they have not quantified how much spectrum they need, and that the railroads should seek spectrum in the secondary 220 MHz markets or in other bands. There are no regulatory or technical requirements that demand that 220 MHz be used to implement PTC (if
6042-650: The Chicago Automobile Trade Association 's "Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana" advertising campaign are directed at the MSA itself, as well as LaSalle, Winnebago ( Rockford ), Boone , and Ogle counties in Illinois, in addition to Jasper , Newton , and La Porte counties in Indiana and Kenosha , Racine , and Walworth counties in Wisconsin, and even as far northeast as Berrien County, Michigan . The region
6156-655: The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA). In September 2008, Congress considered a new law that set a deadline of December 15, 2015 for implementation of PTC technology across most of the US rail network. The bill, ushered through the legislative process by the Senate Commerce Committee and the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee , was drafted in response to the collision of
6270-484: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported that Amtrak and the major Class I railroads had taken steps to install PTC systems under the law, but commuter rail operators were not on track for the 2015 deadline. As of June 2015, only seven commuter systems (29 percent of those represented by APTA) were expecting to make the deadline. Several factors have delayed implementation, including
6384-499: The U.S. state of Illinois , and the Midwest , containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. Encompassing 10,286 square mi (28,120 km ), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hinterland , that span 13 counties across northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana . The MSA had a 2020 census population of 9,618,502 and
6498-439: The grade profile . The navigation system can use fixed track beacons or differential GPS stations combined with wheel rotation to accurately determine the train's location on the line within a few feet. While some PTC systems interface directly with the existing signal system, others may maintain a set of vital computer systems at a central location that can keep track of trains and issue movement authorities to them directly via
6612-571: The "Hog Butcher for the World". The Chicago area, meanwhile, began to produce significant quantities of telecommunications gear, electronics, steel, crude oil derivatives, automobiles, and industrial capital goods. By the early 2000s, Illinois' economy had moved toward a dependence on high-value-added services, such as financial trading, higher education , logistics , and health care. In some cases, these services clustered around institutions that hearkened back to Illinois's earlier economies. For example,
6726-511: The 1990s. The ATCS protocol, which the AAR had recommended the FCC consider as PTC in 2000 (when AAR sought a nationwide 900 MHz "ribbon" license), can support train control operation at both 900 MHz and 160 MHz . The latter frequency band is only used for ATCS on a few subdivisions and shortlines. More recently, the industry had been moving toward a more robust multi-band radio solution for data applications such as PTC. In 2007, BNSF first won FRA approval for their original ETMS PTC system using
6840-713: The 20 years between 1987 and 2007, there were only two PTC-preventable accidents with major loss of life in the United States (16 deaths in the Chase, Maryland wreck (1987) and 11 in the Silver Spring, Maryland wreck (1996)), and in each case, the causes of the accidents were addressed through changes to operating rules. The cost of implementing PTC on up to 25 commuter rail services in the United States has been estimated at over $ 2 billion and because of these costs, several services are having to cancel or reduce repairs, capital improvements, and service. Other services simply do not have
6954-591: The ACSES solution using 220 MHz . Amtrak's early work paid off and meant that they would be traversing commuter properties that installed the same protocol at the same frequency, making them all interoperable. (Actually most of the Northeast Corridor is owned and operated by Amtrak, not the commuter properties, including the tracks from Washington, D.C. to New York Penn Station and the tracks from Philadelphia to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . The State of Massachusetts owns
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#17328513922107068-482: The Chicago Combined Statistical Area at the time. Within the boundary of the 16-county Chicago Combined Statistical Area lies the Chicago urban area , as well as 26 smaller urban areas. Some of the urban areas below may partially cross into other statistical areas. Only those situated primarily within the Chicago combined statistical area are listed here. The Chicago metropolitan area is home to
7182-583: The Chicago Mercantile Exchange, a trading exchange for global derivatives , had begun its life as an agricultural futures market . In 2007, the area ranked first among U.S. metro areas in the number of new and expanded corporate facilities. It ranked third in 2008, behind the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown and Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan areas , and ranked second behind the New York metropolitan area in 2009. The Wall Street Journal summarized
7296-568: The Chicago Public Schools compared to those in some neighboring suburban schools. Historically, the Chicago metropolitan area has been at the center of a number of national educational movements, from the free-flowing Winnetka Plan to the regimented Taylorism of the Gary Plan . In higher education, University of Chicago founder William Rainey Harper was a leading early advocate of the junior college movement; Joliet Junior College
7410-613: The Chicago area's economy in November 2006 with the comment that "Chicago has survived by repeatedly reinventing itself." Chicago has been at the center of the United States' railroad network since the 19th century. Almost all Class I railroads serve the area, the most in North America. In addition to the Chicago Loop , the metro area is home to a few important subregional corridors of commercial activities. Among them are: Listing of
7524-531: The Chicago metropolitan area is provided by dozens of different school districts, of which by far the largest is the Chicago Public Schools with 400,000 students. Numerous private and religious school systems are also found in the region, as well as a growing number of charter schools . Racial inequalities in education in the region remain widespread, often breaking along district boundaries; for instance, educational prospects vary widely for students in
7638-400: The Chicago metropolitan area tend to follow those in the city proper: the northern and northwestern suburbs are generally affluent and upper-middle class , while the southern suburbs (sometimes known as Chicago Southland ) have somewhat lower median incomes and a cost of living, with the exception being the southwest suburbs which contain many upper-middle class areas. Another exception to this
7752-437: The FRA for an early version of ETMS using a multi-band radio that included 45 MHz frequencies, 160 MHz frequencies, 900 MHz frequencies and WiFi. A small freight or commuter that selects one or more of these bands or another one such as 450 MHz might find it easier to acquire spectrum. They will need to research spectrum issues, radio equipment, antennas, and protocol compatibility issues to successfully deploy PTC. There
7866-509: The MSA. The Chicago MSA, now defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as the Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL–IN–WI Metropolitan Statistical Area , is the third-largest MSA by population in the United States. The 2022 census estimate for the population of the MSA was 9,441,957. The Chicago MSA is further subdivided into four metropolitan divisions. A breakdown of the county constituents and 2021 estimated populations of
7980-457: The U.S. Census, poverty rates of the largest counties from least poverty to most are as follows: McHenry 4.0%, Dupage 6.7%, Will 6.9%, Kane 7.8%, Lake 8.0%, and Cook 13.6%. However, Cook County, which contains luxury high rises and expensive houses in sections of the city and expensive houses along the waterfront in the North Shore area, would also have the highest percentage of expensive homes in
8094-650: The accident. In 2018, another collision occurred when Amtrak train rammed a stationary freight train in Cayce, S.C ., killed two crew members and injured 116 others. Chairman of the NTSB, Robert Sumwalt , stated that "an operational PTC is designed to prevent this type of incident." A typical PTC system involves two basic components: Optionally, three additional components may exist: There are two main PTC implementation methods currently being developed. The first makes use of fixed signaling infrastructure such as coded track circuits and wireless transponders to communicate with
8208-456: The accidents was not sufficient to cover the cost of PTC across the Class I railroads. Therefore, PTC was not economically justified at that time. The FRA concurred with this cost assessment in its 2009 PTC rulemaking document. The reason behind the lack of economic justification is that the majority of accidents are minor and FRA crash worthiness standards help mitigate the potential loss of life or release of hazardous chemicals. For example, in
8322-465: The area. The Tribune was the dominant newspaper in a vast area stretching to the west of the city, and that hinterland was closely tied to the metropolis by rail lines and commercial links. Today, the Chicago Tribune' s usage includes the city of Chicago, the rest of Cook County , eight nearby Illinois counties (Lake, McHenry , DuPage , Kane , Kendall , Grundy , Will , and Kankakee ), and
8436-520: The combined statistical area, which spans 19 counties and additionally extends into southeast Wisconsin , had a population of nearly 10 million people. The Chicago area is the third-largest metropolitan area in the United States and the fourth-largest metropolitan area in North America (after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles), and the largest in the Great Lakes megalopolis . Its urban area
8550-554: The commuter operation in and around Philadelphia , Ansaldo is implementing ACSES , the Amtrak northeast corridor PTC protocol. For CSX all the ACSES PTC transactions will be handed to CSX at the SEPTA back office, and CSX will be responsible for deploying I-ETMS infrastructure that they will use to communicate with their freight trains. The SEPTA interoperability model is very similar to that of
8664-483: The compliance deadline by three years, to December 31, 2018. President Barack Obama signed the bill on October 29, 2015. Only four railroads met the December 2018 deadline; the other 37 got extensions to December 2020, which was allowed under the law for railroads that demonstrated implementation progress. On December 29, 2020, it was reported that the safeguards had been installed on all required railroads, two days ahead of
8778-402: The corporate headquarters of 57 Fortune 1000 companies, including AbbVie Inc. , Allstate , Kraft Heinz , McDonald's , Mondelez International , Motorola , United Airlines , Walgreens , and more . The Chicago area also headquarters a wide variety of global financial institutions including Citadel LLC , Discover Financial Services , Morningstar, Inc. , CNA Financial , and more. Chicago
8892-422: The corridor), or worse, found themselves in the ridiculous position of trying to install three different PTC systems on each Amtrak train to traverse the commuter properties. This was not the case. Amtrak had a significant head start over the commuter rail agencies on the corridor in implementing PTC. They spent a considerable amount of time in research and development and won early approvals for their ACSES system on
9006-594: The deadline. There is some controversy as to whether PTC makes sense in the form mandated by Congress. Not only is the cost of nationwide PTC installation expected to be as much as US$ 6–22 billion , most all of it borne by U.S. freight railroads, there are questions as to the reliability and maturity of the technology for all forms of mainline freight trains and high density environments. The PTC requirement could also impose startup barriers to new passenger rail or freight services that would trigger millions of dollars in additional PTC costs. The unfunded mandate also ties
9120-552: The first US passenger carrier to install the technology on its entire system. After some delays, demonstration PTC in revenue service began in February 2014; the system is expected to be completed in late summer 2015. In the Chicago metropolitan area , the Metra system expected it will not be fully compliant with the PTC mandate until 2019. In October 2015, Congress has passed a bill extending
9234-488: The first, Metrolink, the commuter rail agency in Los Angeles, is implementing I-ETMS and will use the same PTC equipment as both the UP and BNSF. Metrolink is procuring their own 220 MHz spectrum so that trains on Metrolink territory (commuter and freight) will use other channels than those used by the UP and BNSF. Interoperability is achieved by directing the onboard radio to change channels depending on location. For SEPTA ,
9348-421: The four metropolitan divisions of the MSA are as follows: Chicago–Naperville–Elgin, IL–IN–WI Metropolitan Statistical Area (9,509,934) The OMB also defines a slightly larger region as a Combined Statistical Area (CSA). The Chicago–Naperville, IL–IN–WI Combined Statistical Area combines the following core-based statistical areas , listed with their 2021 estimated populations. The combined statistical area as
9462-409: The freight railroad's PTC system, and this generally means the use of 220 MHz radios and spectrum. If the commuter uses the same PTC equipment, radios, and spectrum on their own property, they will be able to use it when their vehicles travel onto a freight's territory. From a practical standpoint, if the commuter instead elects to use another type of PTC on their own property, they will need to install
9576-428: The funds available for PTC and have deferred action assuming some change from Congress. Railroads that operate lines equipped with cab signalling and existing Automatic Train Control systems have argued that their proven track record of safety, which goes back decades, is being discounted because ATC is not as aggressive as PTC in all cases. The number of PTC preventable crashes has increased in recent years. In 2013,
9690-478: The hands of the FRA to adopt a more nuanced or flexible approach to the adoption of PTC technology where it makes the most sense or where it is technically most feasible. While the FRA Rail Safety Advisory Committee identified several thousand "PPAs" (PTC preventable accidents) on US railroads over a 12-year period, cost analysis determined that the accumulated savings to be realized from all of
9804-450: The host railroad property. An interesting case that highlights some of these issues is the northeast corridor. Amtrak operates services on two commuter rail properties it does not own: Metro-North Railroad (owned by New York and Connecticut) and Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) (owned by Massachusetts). In theory, Amtrak could have found themselves installing their own PTC system on these host properties (about 15 percent of
9918-436: The land is covered by the tree and shrub canopy, made up of about 157,142,000 trees. The five most common tree species are buckthorn , green ash , boxelder , black cherry , and American elm . These resources perform important functions in carbon storage, water recycling, and energy saving. As of 2022, the metropolitan area had a population of 9,442,159. The population density was 1,312.3 per square mile. The racial makeup
10032-479: The law provides funding to help pay for the development of PTC technology, limits the number of hours freight rail crews can work each month, and requires the Department of Transportation to determine work hour limits for passenger train crews. To implement the law, the FRA published initial regulations for PTC systems on January 15, 2010. The agency published amended regulations on August 22, 2014. In December 2010,
10146-442: The level at which they had previously been safely operated by human engineers. Railway speeds are calculated with a safety factor such that slight excesses in speed will not result in an accident. If a PTC system applies its own safety margin, then the end result will be an inefficient double safety factor. Moreover, a PTC system might be unable to account for variations in weather conditions or train handling, and might have to assume
10260-403: The locomotive must continually calculate the train's current speed relative to a speed target some distance away governed by a braking curve. If the train risks not being able to slow to the speed target given the braking curve, the brakes are automatically applied and the train is immediately slowed. The speed targets are updated by information regarding fixed and dynamic speed limits determined by
10374-467: The low plain are bands of moraines in the south and west suburbs. These areas are higher and hillier than the Chicago Plain. A continental divide , separating the Mississippi River watershed from that of the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River , runs through the Chicago area. A 2012 survey of the urban trees and forests in the seven county Illinois section of the Chicago area found that 21% of
10488-475: The need to obtain funding (which was not provided by Congress); the time it has taken to design, test, make interoperable, and manufacture the technology; and the need to obtain radio spectrum along the entire rail network, which involves FCC permission and in some cases negotiating with an existing owner for purchase or lease. The Metrolink commuter rail system in Southern California is planning to be
10602-437: The northeast corridor with the FRA. They chose first to use 900 MHz and then later moved to 220 MHz , in part because of a perceived improvement in radio-system performance and in part because Amtrak was using 220 MHz in Michigan for their ITCS implementation. When the commuter agencies on the corridor looked at options for implementing PTC, many of them chose to take advantage of the advance work Amtrak had done and implement
10716-469: The northwest Indiana portion of the metropolitan area. In addition, Amtrak operates Union Station in Downtown Chicago as one of its largest rail hubs, with numerous lines radiating to and from the station. CTA bus routes serve the city proper, with some service into the suburbs. Pace bus routes serve the suburbs, with some service into the city. In addition, numerous CTA bus routes operate 24 hours
10830-492: The onboard speed control unit. The other makes use of wireless data radios spread out along the line to transmit the dynamic information. The wireless implementation also allows for the train to transmit its location to the signaling system which could enable the use of moving or "virtual" blocks . The wireless implementation is generally cheaper in terms of equipment costs, but is considered to be much less reliable than using "harder" communications channels. As of 2007, for example,
10944-401: The only three cities in the world to offer some 24 hour rail service running nonstop, everyday throughout their city limits. The Metra commuter rail network runs numerous lines between Downtown Chicago and suburban/satellite cities, with one line stretching to Kenosha, Wisconsin , which is part of the Chicago metropolitan area. The interurban South Shore Line runs between Downtown Chicago and
11058-466: The phrase, but it has been commonly used among policy makers, urban planners, and in the media. However, it also notes that as growth has spread beyond these counties, it may have lost some of its usefulness. Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) is an Illinois state agency responsible for transportation infrastructure, land use, and long-term economic development planning for the areas under its jurisdiction within Illinois. The planning area has
11172-554: The professional sports teams in the Chicago metropolitan area Major league professional teams: Other professional teams: The Chicagoland Speedway oval track has hosted NASCAR Cup Series and IndyCar Series races. The Chicago Marathon is one of the World Marathon Majors . The Western Open and BMW Championship are PGA Tour tournaments that have been held primarily at golf courses near Chicago. NCAA Division I College Sports Teams: The two main newspapers are
11286-431: The public safety radio community wherein different radio systems that use different frequencies and protocols are cross-connected only in the back office to support system to system communications. For the major freight railroads and Amtrak the answer seems to be that one frequency band is sufficient. These rail operations measure on-time performance on a much more coarse scale than commuters do so their tolerance for delay
11400-491: The railroads that must implement PTC. There are also issues with the use of these frequencies outside the US; in Canada, 220 MHz remains part of the radioamateur 1.25-metre band . Other bands besides 220 MHz will support PTC, and have been used to win approvals from the FRA for PTC. When Amtrak received their initial approval, they planned to use 900 MHz frequencies for ACSES. BNSF Railway won its first PTC approvals from
11514-550: The region, making the Chicago metropolitan area population truly diverse. The Chicago metropolitan area represents about 3 percent of the entire US population. Chicagoland has one of the world's largest and most diversified economies. With more than six million full and part-time employees, the Chicago metropolitan area is a key factor of the Illinois economy, as the state has an annual GDP of over $ 1 trillion. The Chicago metropolitan area generated an annual gross regional product (GRP) of approximately $ 700 billion in 2018. The region
11628-445: The region. In an in-depth historical analysis, Keating (2004, 2005) examined the origins of 233 settlements that by 1900 had become suburbs or city neighborhoods of the Chicago metropolitan area. The settlements began as farm centers (41%), industrial towns (30%), residential railroad suburbs (15%), and recreational/institutional centers (13%). Although relations between the different settlement types were at times contentious, there also
11742-526: The region. Chicagoland has three separate rail networks; the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA), Metra , and the South Shore Line . The CTA operates elevated and subway lines that run primarily throughout the city, Downtown Chicago , and into some suburbs. The CTA operates some of its rail lines 24 hours a day, every day of the year, nonstop service, making Chicago, New York City, and Copenhagen
11856-420: The speed of freight trains over 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in length and weighing over 10,000 short tons (9,100 t), but concerns remain about taking the final decision out of the hands of skilled railroad engineers . Improper use of the air brake can lead to a train running away, derailment or to an unexpected separation. Furthermore, an overly conservative PTC system runs the risk of slowing trains below
11970-410: The speed restrictions in the area. The NTSB learned safety improvements had recently been made to the track, except for the PTC section of the improvements. It was ultimately concluded that the engineer's error in train location lead to the crash. Sound Transit , the owner of the section of railway where the accident occurred, was in the process of installing PTC, but it was not operational at the time of
12084-536: The term in common use. McCormick's conception of Chicagoland stretched all the way to nearby parts of four states (Indiana, Wisconsin , Michigan , and Iowa ). The first usage was in the Tribune' s July 27, 1926, front page headline, "Chicagoland's Shrines: A Tour of Discoveries", for an article by reporter James O'Donnell Bennett . He stated that Chicagoland comprised everything in a 200-mile (320 km) radius in every direction and reported on many different places in
12198-523: The track profile and signaling system. Most current PTC implementations also use the speed control unit to store a database of track profiles attached to some sort of navigation system. The unit keeps track of the train's position along the rail line and automatically enforces any speed restrictions as well as the maximum authorized speed. Temporary speed restrictions can be updated before the train departs its terminal or via wireless data links. The track data can also be used to calculate braking curves based on
12312-534: The tracks from the Rhode Island state line to the New Hampshire state line, but Amtrak "operates" these lines. Only the line between New York City and New Haven, Connecticut is actually owned and operated by a commuter line.) One other perceived reason to consider 220 MHz for PTC may be PTC-compatible radio equipment availability. Radio equipment specifically targeted toward PTC is currently only available from
12426-603: The train and the control center. Another capability would allow the employee-in-charge (EIC) to give trains permission to pass through their work zones via a wireless device instead of verbal communications. Even where safety systems such as cab signaling have been present for many decades, the freight railroad industry has been reluctant to fit speed control devices because the often heavy-handed nature of such devices can have an adverse effect on otherwise safe train operation. The advanced processor-based speed control algorithms found in PTC systems claim to be able to properly regulate
12540-473: The two Indiana counties of Lake and Porter . Illinois Department of Tourism literature uses Chicagoland for suburbs in Cook, Lake, DuPage, Kane, and Will counties, treating the city separately. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce defines it as all of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. In addition, company marketing programs such as Construction Data Company's "Chicago and Vicinity" region and
12654-468: The wireless ITCS system on Amtrak's Michigan Line was still not functioning reliably after 13 years of development, while the fixed ACSES system has been in daily service on the Northeast Corridor since 2002 ( see Amtrak , below). The fixed infrastructure method is proving popular on high-density passenger lines where pulse code cab signaling has already been installed. In some cases, the lack of
12768-432: The wireless component is considered, to guarantee beforehand that under certain worst-case operational profiles in certain locations, train operations will not be impacted. In fact, during system acceptance testing, such worst-case operational profiles may not even be tested because of the effort involved. One need only consider what it would take to identify the PTC protocol train capacity limitations at each interlocking of
12882-723: Was 50.1% Non-Hispanic White, 23.4% were Hispanic, 15.5% were Non-Hispanic African Americans, 7.2% were Asian, 0.1% were Non-Hispanic Native American, 0.4% identified as “some other race,” and 3.2% were non-Hispanic multiracial. According to 2022 estimates from the American Community Survey , the largest ancestries in the Chicago metro area were Mexican (18%), African (17.7%), German (12.8%), Irish (9.9%), Polish (8%), Italian (5.9%), English (5.2%), Indian (2.7%), Puerto Rican (2.3%), Filipino (1.7%), Swedish (1.5%), and Chinese (1.4%). The suburbs, surrounded by easily annexed flat ground, have been expanding at
12996-409: Was cooperation in such undertakings as the construction of high schools. As the Chicago metropolitan area has grown, more counties have been partly or totally assimilated with the taking of each decennial census. Counties highlighted in gray were not included in the MSA for that census. The CSA totals in blue are the totals of all the counties listed above, regardless of whether they were included in
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