NJ TRANSIT’s Board of Directors has approved a lease agreement with the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) for the last component of radio spectrum needed for NJ TRANSIT’s PTC system. NJ TRANSIT will lease the 218MHz radio frequency spectrum from the MTA for a period of 50-years, at a total cost not to exceed $725,000. The acquisition will be used for the northern and eastern portions of NJ TRANSIT’s system.
“This is another milestone in our commitment to upgrading our current safety systems to Positive Train Control by the federal deadline at the end of 2018,” said Steve Santoro, NJ TRANSIT executive director. “We are aggressively tackling the challenges posed as PTC is being designed, developed and deployed simultaneously. Acquiring the needed radio spectrum was one of the larger hurdles which we have now crossed.”
The radio spectrum provides the wireless link that allows information to pass between the rail vehicles and wayside equipment, ensuring that the onboard PTC system is getting the most accurate and up to date safety data. NJ TRANSIT must have its own radio bandwidth or spectrum so transmissions do not overlap or interfere with any others in the region.
NJ TRANSIT is also in the process of securing the hardware and software components of the PTC system including thousands of transponders and 124 radio “towers” along 326 route miles in addition to the radios and antenna equipment for 440 locomotives, EMUs and cab cars.
NJ TRANSIT’s Board of Directors authorized the purchase of radio frequency spectrum from PTC-220, LLC for the southern, central and western portions of the NJ TRANSIT system in April 2016.
PTC is designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, over-speed derailments, incursions into work zone limits and train movements across switches in the wrong position. The PTC systems must maintain interoperability between commuter rail, freight and Amtrak trains and their associated wayside components.