Railinc supports the interoperability efforts of the rail industry as it implements Positive Train Control (PTC). Railinc’s suite of PTC products enables railroads to effectively and efficiently communicate key data, adopt new interoperable standards, and exchange train information necessary for PTC implementation during interoperable service.

Railinc currently supports the industry with the following PTC applications:

PTC ILM

This suite of applications provides a platform that enables the railroad industry to manage the interoperable configuration items (ICI’s) that make-up PTC throughout their lifecycle. PTC ILM consists of several application modules, including:

  • Interoperable Asset Configuration Management - enables users to identify the versions and attributes of deployed PTC artifacts to facilitate interoperability between rail industry systems.
  • Interoperable Change Management - enables users to manage the deployment and decommissioning of versions of PTC artifacts to facilitate interoperability between rail industry systems.
  • Interoperable Release Management - enables users to view and manage PTC Interoperable System Releases, ensuring that industry-wide standards for ICI’s are followed.

PTC ITS

This application provides a standard method for railroads without Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) capabilities to send and receive EDI 161 and EDI 824 train sheet messages and EDI 418J consist messages via a graphical user interface. This ensures that all PTC railroad partners can exchange important information with each other.

EDI 161 is known as a “Train Sheet,” which informs the receiver that a train will be travelling on their track at a certain time. EDI 824 is the acceptance or rejection of the EDI 161 message.

EDI 418J contains consist information (information that describes the make-up of the train) that is shared between a tenant and a host railroad. This information may be useful in an emergency.

In PTC ITS, the railroad whose locomotive is traversing on tracks owned by another railroad is referred to as the “tenant.” The railroad that owns the tracks being traversed is referred to as the “host.” Tenant railroads initiate an EDI 161 Scheduled Departure Date (SDD) message to start a trip and can send subsequent EDI 161 updates throughout the trip. Host railroads send an EDI 824 acceptance or rejection message and subsequent updates to the EDI 161 within trackage. Host and tenant railroads can also view and submit EDI 418J consist messages.

PTC MAIN CDX

This application provides a technology platform for railroads to request and receive the necessary diagnostic data from each other to assist in PTC interoperability.

MAIN CDX enables a requesting railroad to create and submit a request for PTC shared asset data, and enables the asset owning railroad to respond (complete or deny) the request. During this process, the request undergoes various status changes, which are displayed on a Dashboard. Once a request is completed or responded to (or cancelled or denied), any PTC shared asset data is purged from MAIN CDX after seven days.