Railroads Seek Special Authority to Deploy More Spectrum for PTC

PTC-220 sought special temporary authority for 180 days from the FCC to begin deploying recently acquired automated maritime telecommunications system spectrum licenses for positive train control in 53 East Coast counties. “PTC-220 has previously alerted the Commission that it would need additional spectrum in the future to deploy PTC and non-PTC rail safety applications,” said a filing posted Tuesday. “Originally, the freight railroads designed their PTC networks to operate on a single nationwide ‘Common Channel’ that controlled all locomotive radios,” PTC-220 said: “Real-world operation, however, revealed that the single Common Channel did not adequately handle congestion.”