Railroads Say They Don’t Have Enough Spectrum for Safety System

"The major freight railroads are already well underway in designing a PTC network in the 220-222 MHz band, relying on a collection of nationwide and regional 220 MHz licenses,” AAR said. “But that spectrum will not be sufficient to support all PTC operations in certain congested areas.” AAR noted that Meteorcomm, the radio design vendor for PTC-220, is developing a radio that can operate from 217.6-222 MHz using 25 kHz channels. AAR suggested spectrum dedicated to the Automated Maritime Telecommunications System (AMTS) band at 217-218/219-220 MHz and the Interactive Video and Data Service (IVDS) band at 218-219 MHz “is a suitable supplement to existing PTC-220 spectrum.”

AAR reminded the FCC that three waivers filed by rail carriers to start PTC systems remain on hold and called on the commission to act on the waivers and put in place a streamlined procedure for applications still to come. Options include a “blanket waiver” for railroads seeking to use the 220 MHz, AMTS or IVDS bands for PTC operations, AAR said. It also called on the commission to conduct an inventory of all spectrum in the 217.6-222 MHz range “and consider approaches to making any unused spectrum available for PTC operations.”

Amtrak told the FCC it is trying to put in place a PTC system but lacks spectrum to do so. “Acquiring access to adequate spectrum remains one of the primary obstacles to the rail industry’s -- and in particular the passenger rail carriers’ -- ability to timely and successfully implement PTC by the December 31, 2015, PTC deployment deadline established by Congress,” Amtrak said. Spectrum issues affect the entire rail industry, the passenger carrier said. “A number of larger freight carriers and a few passenger rail carriers have obtained spectrum to satisfy most of their short term needs,” Amtrak said. “Even these carriers, however, have geographic areas in which spectrum shortages will severely hamper their efforts to meet the statutory PTC implementation deadlines."

The Joint Council On Transit Wireless Communications, representing commuter railroads, asked the FCC to reallocate the 500 KHz A and B blocks “where available” within the IVDS band to a new PTC private radio service for its members. Commuter rail lines “operate as a service to the general public and that public benefit should be considered when the Commission is evaluating how best to assign spectrum for PTC and related purposes,” the council said. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), serving the New York City area, and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit Authority (DART), asked the FCC to allocate IVDS spectrum for their use. “The MTA has been pursuing the acquisition of spectrum since the PTC mandate was imposed,” it said. “The only substantial blocks available within the interoperable range for our core operating areas, or at least part of our core areas, are in the IVDS and AMTS ranges, and there are incumbent license holders in these areas.” MTA said, costs aside, “it is apparent that under the best of circumstances we do not have the ability to make a purchase that will meet all or even substantially most of our PTC spectrum needs. Without the ability to do so, the entire PTC project is put at risk."

DART noted that the IVDS service has never seen much use, though the spectrum was first sold by the FCC in a 1992 auction. “The 218-219 MHz service failed to flourish in a communications environment increasingly evolving toward wideband and now broadband digital service,” DART said. “No equipment was ever developed specifically for this service, and there has been only minimal deployment of equipment that qualified for operation on the band as evidenced by the number of licenses still held by or recovered by the FCC.”