On August 20, 1969, two Penn Central commuter trains collided head-on near Darien, Connecticut, killing four and injuring 43. That tragedy 45 years ago began the NTSB's call for development and implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC) systems. Since then, the NTSB has issued almost 50 PTC-related safety recommendations and has included PTC on its Most Wanted List every year from its inception in 1990 until enactment of the RSIA. Unfortunately, despite some progress in the four decades since that original recommendation, PTC preventable train collisions still occur. In this paper, we identify human and organizational factors that affect a successful PTC implementation and evaluate the application of High Reliability Organizing (HRO) characteristics in the implementation of this safety system.
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