Last week's Amtrak crash outside Philadelphia that killed 8 people has re-ignited the call for a nationwide network of “positive train control” systems. Voices have been clamoring about ...

Positive Train Control is similar to a collision avoidance system in a car, and would take control of a train if the engineer fails to stop or slow down. That's a simple explanation of PTC. Making ...

Neil Brown, a mechanical systems manager with Metrolink, explains in 2012 the workings of positive train control technology installed aboard a commuter train in Los Angeles.

Amtrak Crash: Demonstrating Positive Train Control Investigators say the area where Amtrak Train 188 crashed did not have a speed control system, also known as Positive Train Control, in place.

Two freight trains collided in Texas after one ran a stop signal, the National Transportation Safety Board says. Three people died. The section of track did not have Positive Train Control installed.

Metra is implementing Positive Train Control, a computerized system designed to help prevent crashes, and hopes to have the $400 million system installed on all its rail lines by the end of next year.

The Positive Train Control systems that are supposed to make trains safer have mostly not been put in place because of high price and technological hurdles.

The Federal Railroad Administration has called positive train control the “single-most important rail safety development in more than a century.” So why don’t we have it everywhere?