RALEIGH – A recently awarded grant will help the N.C. Department of Transportation’s Rail Division continue its efforts to improve safety along the Piedmont service corridor.
The Federal Railroad Administration awarded the division a $584,080 grant under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) program to help purchase and install Positive Train Control hardware on its locomotives. Positive Train Control technology and equipment reduces collisions between trains and automatically enforces speed limits. The division installed the technology on locomotives currently in its fleet ahead of the Dec. 31, 2018 federally mandated deadline. The grant money will be used to outfit locomotives that will be required for expanding the Piedmont passenger service, including an upcoming fourth round-trip between Charlotte and Raleigh beginning in the next few years.
A second grant will help reduce emissions from the division’s locomotives. The division received a $484,500 Diesel Emissions Reduction grant from the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality to implement a specialized air pollution reduction system known as a Blended After-Treatment System (BATS) onto one of its locomotives. The division expects to have its full fleet of locomotives equipped with the BATS systems within the next 2-3 years, at which time it will have one of the cleanest locomotive fleets in the nation.