Originally Posted by
CPRich
MrsCP's company was selling PTC solutions at least 8 years ago.
Unless she works for Wabtec or GE, the product probably doesn't meet the needs of US railroads. The system also has to meet minimum requirements as outlined by the law. The prevalent system right now is ACSES/ACSES-II which was developed by Alstom for Amtrak and has been in use since 2000 on the Northeast Corridor although it was not installed on the entire system at the time of the crash in 2015. Freight railroads are moving to get I-ETMS by Wabtec at the moment, which is compatible with ACSES and can operate alongside it.
The problem with getting the ball rolling after the mandate is that passenger railroads (such as commuter operations, not Amtrak) suddenly have to find money to pay for it, and if they received federal funding for the installation (which most did), they're only allowed to buy one from an American company per the Buy America act. Most east coast commuter railroads are getting ACSES-II.
The system that the freight railroads get also have to be compatible with Amtrak's ACSES so that Amtrak can continue to operate over their tracks, as well is interoperability with any other competing systems that other freight railroads might install as they frequently interchange trains with the locomotives. The five major freight railroads (BNSF, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern, and CSX) are all getting Wabtec's I-ETMS.