Metra has announced a proposed weekday schedule revision for the BNSF line. According to Metra, the proposed schedule change is being considered as a result of a federal mandate to enact a new Positive Train Control (PTC) safety system that will automatically stop a train if the engineer fails to obey a signal or exceeds the speed limit. The implementation of the new system is reported to result in additional time required to initialize the system before each individual run, necessitating the proposed schedule adjustments.
The proposed schedule changes are planned to go into effect this summer. Comments regarding the proposed changes will be received by Metra until April 15 on the Metra website or through this link: https://metrarail.com/about-metra/newsroom/new-safety-system-prompts-revision-bnsf-schedule.