Positive Train Control Requires Towers Coast to Coast

April 29, 2014

New wireless infrastructure is becoming available as railroads roll toward the December 2015 deadline to implement positive train control (PTC), which is the multi-billion-dollar communications-based, accident-prevention system mandated by the government.

Ventev True Positive Stop Articulating Tower

PTC involves outfitting locomotives with cellular and satellite communications equipment. Communications equipment and towers are also required at all non-monitored switch locations, also known as dark territories, all across the country, so the trains will know the position of each switch.

PTC is a perfect opportunity for wireless integrators to subcontract the deployment in dark territories, according to Jeff Lime, vice president, Ventev Wireless Infrastructure.

“Dark territories will be the last areas to receive PTC because they represent the least risk of an accident,” Lime said. “Intelligence is currently being built into the system to track the railroads’ assets, but we are waiting for the railroads to go full bore into deployment in the dark territories.”

The Ventev True Positive Stop Articulating Tower can be a 20-foot, 40-foot or 60-foot tower that sits on a precast concrete base, which is articulated with an 18-volt power drill to bring the top of the tower down to ground level giving convenient access to the equipment on the tower,” Lime said. “There is no need for a boom truck or a tower climber. It is safer, and the foundation and tower can be deployed in about an hour.”

PCTEL Demonstrates Mobile Tower at PTC World Congress

PCT Lattice Series mobile tower

Just last month, PCTEL demonstrated its PCT Lattice Series Mobile Tower at the PTC World Congress in Orlando, Fla. The tower is available in heights of up to 106 feet. It can be used for cellular network expansion, disaster recovery and remote communications. The company also displayed its expanded product portfolio of wayside, locomotive and fleet management antennas and site solutions.

PCTEL’s PCT Lattice Series mobile towers are designed to deploy payloads of up to 1,200 pounds in the field in less than 45 minutes.