The USA’s Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has approved a $967.1 million loan to fund the development of PTC (positive train control) on New York’s commuter rail network.

The loan, which is the largest ever issued through the FRA’s Railroad Rehabilitation and Improvement Financing Program, is subject to approval from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) board.

In November 2013, the MTA awarded Bombardier and Siemens a $428 million contact to bring PTC to the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) and Metro-North Railroad. This new work involves upgrading signalling systems along 1,100km of track plus 1,500 trains.

PTC uses GPS to monitor a train’s position on the network; it can automatically intervene to avoid collisions with other trains, slow down trains travelling at excessive speeds, and stop trains entering closed sections of track or travelling through a switch that is in the wrong position. MTA says that it would help to prevent disasters such as the Spuyten Duyvil derailment in 2013.

Governor Cuomo said: “This loan is a dramatic investment in the MTA — one that will make trains safer for all riders on Metro-North and the LIRR. With this infusion of funding, crews will be getting to work on individual cars and along hundreds of miles of track to install ‘state of the art’ technology that can save lives.”