The Tech Corner: Greater Boston’s Regional Rail Installs Cutting-Edge Safety Improvements

Burns recently helped the MBTA achieve full PTC functionality.

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New signaling, called Positive Train Control (PTC), marks years of safety upgrades across Greater Boston’s commuter railways.

PTC prevents collisions, overspeed derailments, unauthorized work zone access, and movement through misaligned switches. The technology enhances safety, boosts operational resilience, and reduces travel delays along 14 lines, ensuring more reliable commutes throughout the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA)’s 394-mile system.

PTC combines two important technologies. The Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System (ACSES) overlays ATC to enable full PTC functionality. ACSES uses wayside transponders, installed between rails, to send data to an onboard system. As trains pass over, the system receives updates on speeds, speed restrictions for bridges, curves, or other route changes.

While traveling, the onboard ATC system receives braking requests from the ACSES controls if the train needs to be slowed down or brought to a stop. When approaching another train, the on-board ATC system receives instructions on the speed limit that will allow proper separation between vehicles. If the approaching train’s engineer fails to reduce speeds to below the allowable limit, the ATC system will automatically apply the brakes.

MBTA’s phased approach began on commuter rail lines running out of South Station. Because MBTA shares its south-side commuter railways with Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, both operators’ PTC systems had to be fully interoperable. This involved installing Automatic Train Control (ATC) systems along with ACSES on each south-side line until the entire South side was equipped. Following a line-by-line testing and installation approach, today, PTC systems are fully in place across MBTA commuter rail lines operating out of both North and South stations.

Burns is proud to have played a leading role in PTC system design for MBTA’s historic rail safety program, integrating state-of-the-art technologies throughout MBTA’s legacy railroad infrastructure and locomotive fleet.

Burns Engineering

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2001 Market Street, Suite 600
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Office: 215-979-7700
www.burns-group.com