Bnsf Railway Will Achieve: Fill & Download for Free

Thank you for the A2A.I will discuss only one: Positive Train Control (PTC).It is a technology which promises to drastically reduce the huge number of accidents and fatalities in the Indian Railways. Indian Railways is the largest employer in India; it is also the largest killer of rail travellers in the world. Even American train regulators are adopting it in stages for freight.Various types of Collision Avoidance Systems have been implemented across the globe. Most if not all of these operate differently from PTC in North America.Automatic train controlYesterday's (Feb 9, 2016) head-on collision between two trains in Southern Germany which has already taken 10 lives is just a reminder of how far we have to go in making air travel safer.Aerial view of rescue forces working at the site of a train accident near Bad Aibling, Germany, Feb 9, 2016.==================In the United States==================The Amtrak crash outside Philadelphia in May 2105 that killed 8 people has re-ignited the call for a nationwide network of “positive train control” systems. Voices have been clamoring about whether or not this train-stopping and slowing tech is worth the estimated $10 billion price tag it carries for commercial freight tracks.Positive train control is designed to prevent accidents like the Amtrak crash in Philadelphia. “PTC” works by slowing and stopping trains that are cruising over posted speed limits. That technology might have helped prevent last week’s crash, as the train sped to over 100 miles an hour in a less-than-50-mph zone. But while the US Congress has set a deadline of Dec. 31, 2015 for a nationwide network of train control, a fully functioning system is far from reality.Just how does Positive Train Control technology work?As Ed Greenberg with The Association of American Railroads says, “it’s not out-of-the-box” technology – so there are no handy instruction manuals, no ready-made kits. Each section of rail would operate a little differently.But broadly speaking, here’s how the system works:It’s a network set up between 3 devices: a train’s on-board computer, trackside ‘ping’ points, and dispatch stations.Before heading out on a trip, the train’s on-board computer downloads information about the route: posted speed limits & any known construction or hazards along the way.During the journey, the train’s computer keeps in contact with dispatchers via signaling devices (antenna or GPS-based) along the route–sometimes these devices are even embedded in the tracks themselves. The ping points are connected to the train’s computer and dispatchers over a radio network—letting them know how fast the train is going, where it is, and whether or not it needs to slow down.If the train is moving too fast, the computer on board the train warns the conductor.In an emergency, the train’s on-board computer can override the conductor & apply the brakes.Besides slowing and stopping trains that are cruising too fast, Positive Train Control could also be used to prevent collisions between trains (since the system would know where each train is), keep trains from rolling into work zones, and stop trains from cruising through track signals left in the wrong position.Positive Train Control (PTC) uses communication-based/processor-based train control technology that provides a system capable of reliably and functionally preventing train-to-train collisions, overspeed derailments, incursions into established work zone limits, and the movement of a train through a main line switch (called a "point" in Indian and British railways) in the improper position.Types of PTC Systems in the United StatesACSES (Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System). A transponder-based system, in use on Amtrak's Northeast Corridor originally put into use on the Northeast Corridor by the specific requirements of an Order of Particular Applicability. (Type Approved and Certified by FRA.)ETMS (Electronic Train Management System). A GPS- and communications-based system being deployed by BNSF Railway, originally put into use by the specific requirements of 49 CFR Part 236, Subpart H. (Type Approved and Certified by FRA for restricted use.)I-ETMS (formerly called Vital Electronic Train Management System). A GPS- and communications-based system, not yet ready for deployment. It is the system of choice for CSX Transportation, Norfolk Southern Railway, and Union Pacific Railroad. BNSF Railway is to upgrade to it when software is available, various passenger/commuter and other railroads are adopting it for compatibility and interoperability. (Type Approved by FRA.)ITCS (Incremental Train Control System). A GPS- and communications-based system used by Amtrak on its Michigan line, authorized for passenger train speeds up to 110 mph, originally put into use by the specific requirements of an FRA-approved waiver. ITCS certification through Amtrak's request for expedited certification process is pending successful resolution of a few remaining issues prior to FRA approval for certification.Enhanced Automatic Train Control (E-ATC). A system that uses an underlying automatic train control (ATC) system, in conjunction with other “enhanced” features or systems to achieve the core required functionalities of PTC. These systems are often integrated with underlying cab signal systems (CSS) and centralized traffic control (CTC) systems, in addition to other signal or train control system enhancements the railroad elects to make, to meet the full requirements of PTC.The race to finish PTC2018 or 2020, whatever the case may be, isn’t very far off. According to a Positive Train Control implementation chart published on the Federal Railroad Administration website, 30 out 37 U.S. freight and passenger railroads required to have PTC—roughly 80%—will have the technology in place by the year-end 2018 extended deadline.Railroad by Railroad Positive Train Control (PTC) Status==================In the United Kingdom==================An outline of the history, development and basic principles of UK railway signalling, including multi-aspect signals, from which Indian Railways have evolved, is here:UK SignallingMetro Signalling and ATP:Metro SignallingAutomatic Train OperationATP is the safety system which ensures that trains remain a safe distance a part and have sufficient warning to allow them to stop without colliding with another train. ATO (Automatic Train Operation) is the non-safety part of train operation related to station stops and starts.The basic requirement of ATO is to tell the train approaching a station where to stop so that the complete train is in the platform. This is assuming that the ATP has confirmed that the line is clear.ATOTrain Protection in the UKIn spite of the excellent safety record of railways as a means of transportation, there have been occasions when drivers have allowed their train to pass a point where they should have stopped. Many of these incidents have resulted in collisions, some involving loss of life and most involving damage to equipment or property. Most incidents are the result of a driver failing to ensure that his train stops at a stop signal. In the UK, this has become known as SPAD or Signal Passed At Danger.Such incidents have occurred on railways ever since they began in the early 19th century and various systems have been introduced to try to prevent them. These have taken the form of both warning and train stop systems. In the UK, a warning system is used on most main lines. An alarm sounds in the driver's cab whenever a train approaches a caution or stop signal. If the driver fails to acknowledge the alarm, the train brakes are applied. The system is called AWS (Automatic Warning System).It was realised (even before WW1) that some sort of automatic and enforceable warning was needed. This (after a number of experiments and some complete systems had been tried) eventually took the form of a track mounted, non-contact inductor which became known as AWS (Automatic Warning System). The AWS "ramp" as the inductor is known, is placed about 185 metres (200 yards) on the approach side of the signal (diagram, left).The AWS ramp is placed between the rails so that a detector on the train will pass over it and receive a signal. The ramp will thus warn the driver of the status of the signal. The French railways use a similar system called "the Crocodile", the Germans, the "Indusi".Train ProtectionEuropean Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS)This tried and tested system will replace traditional railway signals with a computer display inside every train cab, reducing the costs of maintaining the railway, improving performance and enhancing safety.A driving cab fitted with ERTMS - the screen is in the centreIt will offer a host of benefits to the railway and the application of its cab signalling component, the European Train Control System, ETCS, will spell the end for traditional signalling.European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS)This is just the beginning! Train control and protection technologies are still evolving, and you will have to keep an eye open for developments.

I answered a similar question a little while back . The question was “whether Indian Railways should act as a profit making body ?”. I am reproducing my answer . Hope the answer will give an idea about the privatization of any public transportation system .Not everything that is profitable is of social value and not everything of social value is profitable.—Professor John HarveyIndian Railways(IR), everyday, touches the lives of approximately 23million Indians directly and more than a billion indirectly .Though the backbone of transportation ,it is reporting continuous dismal financial performances for years . The passenger business incurs heavy loss that runs in tens of thousands of crores .The Freight business cross subsidizes the passenger business segment. The operating ratio hovers around 95-97% and thereby seriously raising questions about the sustainability of IR .Number of committees have been commissioned and their reports have suggested different approaches to make IR financially healthy . Many recommendations to improve the financial health of IR is under active consideration of the ruling Govt .One of the common recommendation of many such committees which also appeals to the common intelligentsia is to run Indian Railways commercially on sound business model so that IR will act as a profit making body . This essay will discuss the issues effect of IR acting as a profit making body .Need for IR to be Profitable-There is a utopian idea that whenever any enterprise runs as a commercial entity, it performs efficiently and it creates surplus. The feeling about IR is that the performance of IR is not meeting expectations . Its freight share is falling, The fund crunch and the heavy loss in passenger transportation segment is taking a toll on routine maintenance of tracks and rolling stocks .Frequent derailments and major accidents have casted serious doubts over safety of railway travel . Road transportation is wresting away large chunk of freight share from railways and Airways the passenger segment. These all raise a suspicion on the efficiency and effectiveness of Railway administration to provide the citizens of India a safe and cheap transportation . These corroborate the idea of commercialization of Indian Railways so that it will make profit, create surplus and take care of the assets by overcoming the fund crunch that hinders the routine maintenance of assets .Glimpses of Railways of the world-Before discussing whether the Indian Railways should act as a profit making body or not , I will examine the railways of developed countries and the profit they are earning .Japan-Japan has the most developed railway system in the world .The Japanese national railway was corporatized in 1987 into six different passenger railway companies based on geographical demarcations and one nationwide freight railway company . Except the JR east ,JR central and JR west no other companies operational profit. The JR Hokkaido is incurring so much operational loss that it has closed Rail operation on 1250km (50% of total route length of JR Hokkaido) of routes length.Delhi Metro- DMRC is one of the most successful metro systems in the world in terms of ridership . For the past few years DMRC is making operational losses. In 2014-15 it was INR 60 crores which increased to INR124crore in 2015-16 . DMRC is operating for the last 20 years in the nerve centre of India with a daily ridership of 2.76 millions ,still failed to make the metro operation a profitable one. .Amtrak- Amtrak is the national railroad passenger corporation operates in 46 states of USA over 34000km . It acts as a commercial organization. Amtrak continuously operates on loss . In 2015-16 the loss was 1.1 billion USD and in 2016-17 it was USD942 million.British Railway-After getting recommendation for reorganization of railway , the British Government privatized the national railway in 1997. But after many accidents and rapid deterioration of service, under massive popular pressure the railway was made a not for dividend company, Network rail in 2002, practically ending the commercialization of British railway. The Network rail was classified as a central government body in 2014 completing the cycle.Chinese Railway-one of the largest railway system of the world ,operates 121,000km route length including 19000km of high speed rail. It employs more than two million personnel .Fully owned by the government under the umbrella organization called NRA(National railway administration) declared an operating loss of 5billion USD in financial year 2015.German Railway- one of the busiest railway of Europe, operates 41300km of route length . declared a loss of 935 million Euros for the year 2015.From this analysis it is evident that not a single railway (whether public owned or commercially operated) which has passenger transportation as one of its main function, generates profit . The profitability of railways like BNSF or Union pacific is attributed to the fact that that those are purely freight transporting railways .It is a bad idea to operate IR as a profit making body -The total financial loss for IR in passenger segment can be broadly categorized in A) loss from mail/express trains B) loss from ordinary and sub urban services C) loss from parcel and postal services. As per the published data of railway board, except the 3-tier AC service all the classes of passenger services incur heavy loss. Now the question is what is the need for IR to continuously incur losses and still have to provide the cheapest possible transportation service to citizens of India where as it can definitely make a windfall as it is a natural monopoly and demand is so much so that travelers have to book ticket much before their travel date . it is possible to make IR obscenely profitable just by increasing the passenger fare , ,given the fact that a passenger pays at least two times the fare per km in bus in comparison to train travel for an overnight journey and three to four times in sub urban travel category as per the report of Bibek Debroy .The first step to make Indian railways to act like a profit making body is paving way towards commercialization of Indian Railways. The idea that a For-profit commercial organization is always better placed to achieve productive efficiency than public ownership ,can be questioned on a number of grounds. Firstly , there is no conclusive evidence that to prove that commercial or for profit enterprises always perform better than their public counterparts when profitability given paramount importance (British railway and Amtrak burning examples).Secondly , when a public enterprise is made a commercial entity ,more often than not the day to day administration and the grass root management remains with the same set of people who were managing the affairs before . Thirdly and the most important of all the reasons why a publicly owned railway transportation system in a welfare state shouldn’t operate as a commercial organization is the allocative efficiency . Allocative efficiency refers to the capacity of government to distribute resources on the basis of the effectiveness of public programs in meeting its strategic objectives. It entails the capacity of the govt to shift resources from old priorities to new ones, and from less to more effective programs. This allocative efficiency has historically been the reason behind major infrastructure sectors such as power,posts ,railway transportation etc were publicly owned . The sectors like energy or telecommunication opened up to be operated as commercial organization when the allocative weaknesses (non commercial objectives of the welfare state) become comparatively less important. But in railway sector most of the time the allocative efficiency combined with structural losses (the promises of the Government for various uneconomical projects aimed at the upliftment of backward regions) far more outweigh the need for profitability . Most of the huge infrastructure projects come under this category. The vast area coming under the distributional consequences and the huge sunk cost associated with operating a railway system prohibits that it should operate as a pure for profit enterprise. As per the report of Bibek Debroy , for an example, the New delhi –Dibrugarh rajdhani which generates the most revenue per trip (around INR 30 lakh) goes into an operating loss of INR 14lakh . Now if IR will operate as a for profit entity, it has two options . First, withdraw the railway services in the routes which are not profitable( example JR Hokkaido ) ,second is to increase the fare . The main trunk lines like Delhi-Mumbai ,Delhi –Howrah or Howrah-Mumbai have potential to be much profitable ,at the same time many other routes which connects less developed regions of Odisha,Bihar ,Jharkhand or Uttar Pradesh to more developed areas like mumbai,surat,delhi etc does not have that capability to become profitable . The substantial fare hike if resorted to the heavily loss making suburban and passenger railway services , this will create more congestion in already crumbling road infrastructure in big cities . Discontinuing the railway operation in the routes which do not make profit or do not have much capability to become profitable , is not an option in a developing country like India . The increase in passenger fare beyond a certain limit will move passengers away from railways to roadways and airways for which the nation as a whole will have to pay dearly in the way of additional negative environmental impact and cost of transportation per passenger per km . Railways is still the most environmental as well as cost efficient transportation system. The socio-economic benefit will be much more than the financial profit that can be gained by commercializing the railway operations . The profitability and sustainability conundrum for a railway system when operated as a commercial entity can very well be exemplified by the withdrawal of Reliance infra from the Delhi airport metro line . For the last one and half century IR has remained the backbone of the country’s transportation system. It has always been assessed more in terms of its success in achieving the social objectives for India being a developing country and a welfare state. There is no actual quantification of benefits enjoyed by the citizens of India because of the subsidized railway transportation in monetary terms. It has never been attempted to account for the social economic benefits that Indians have enjoyed due to the continuous loss incurred in passenger transportation business undertaken by IR . before running IR as a profit making body , it is essential to quantify the advantages of IR so that whether the accrued finance losses is actually beneficial to the country as a whole or not can be clarified .Conclusion-The need for operating IR as a profit making entity has always been one of the most voiced and most reported recommendation .the various committees which have been formed time to time , have given such recommendation after delving into financials and pricing policies of IR. Unfortunately the roadmap to commercialization is not clearly delineated taking into the fact that IR still have to carry on the various social obligations imposed on it by the successive Governments . The dilemma of reconciliation of commercial operation with social and allocative efficiency spelt out for IR makes a strong point against it acting like a profit making entity . Recent experience of British railway with privatization (failure thereof) must act as an eye-opener to study in contrast the commercialization of Indian railways. A developing country like India having more than a billion people with ever increasing demand for safe and cheaper mode of public transportation cannot afford to conduct hit and trial experiment on such a sensitive sector which has distributional consequences . If the Government sees its own people as consumers IR will end up becoming a transportation sector just like airways which will cater to the need of a certain segment of passengers only who can afford. It is prudent that IR treat the people of India as citizens and not as consumers so that it will remain affordable to the poorest of the poor . Actually our policy makers have realized this and consequently the annual dividend payment by IR to finance ministry have been discontinued. Apart from that the separate railway budget have been scrapped and it has merged with general budget. There are ways to generate surplus without IR acting like a profit making body . But discussions on that will be beyond the scope of this essay .To sum it up ,IR should not act as a profit making body as providing safe and cheap public transportation is a sovereign function of every responsible Government.References-i-Report on Restructuring of Indian Railway ,Bibek Debroy committee.ii-National Railway Administration,Chinaiii-Deutsche Bahn integrated report 2016iv- JR Hokkaido annual report 2017v-British Railways:The Nation’s Railway,Jackson,Tanyavi-Transport planning and policy in India, Dalvi , M.Q.vii-Consolidated financial statements 2017,AMTRAK

NOTE: PARTLY DUE TO THE EXTRA HIGH UPVOTES OF MY ANSWER HERE, I HAVE CREATED A SPACE JUST FOR RAILROAD STUFF CALLED =WELL TRAINEDAt my main space it should be found under my main tab = SPACES or this answer has also been shared there.Currently I have 8 CAB RIDE VIDEOS in HD + several old railroad made movies from the 1940’s and 50’s.I will be covering all sorts of topics there and allowing others with similar comments and posts to contribute.The cab ride videos are amazing and 1 is from the Chicago ELEVATED RAIL and another is from the NYC SUBWAY + 2 others are from high speed rail in France. I even have 1 from N&W 611!You will have the time of your life I promise you. PLEASE VISIT THERE AND FOLLOW!I look forward to seeing you.THANKS, kevinThis may irritate a few however as a huge steam lover I am giving this report anyway.Here in the US we never did quite give up on steam and this is hugely apparent now in 2019 if you consider how much we love steam locomotives TODAY.NOTE: This is NOT an argument regarding what railroads use and why. We already know this. It is simply a listing of major projects underway or in many cases completed where steam still lives in a big way.The following is a list from 2019 of these projects for any who may want to get involved or go see them. ENJOY!1= UNION PACIFIC BIG BOY LIVESThe Union Pacific Railroad took 1 of the remaining 20 of this class of locomotives, swapped tenders with a railroad museum in Texas so that it could be restored as an oil burner, and then did a complete restore of that engine which is running now:UP 40142= a former C&O mallet 1309 was also fully restored and is running on its old home grounds around Cumberland Maryland of the Western Maryland Scenic RailwayC&O 13093= NC&StL 576This engine was a gift from God to all rail fans. The railroad had performed a complete class 1 overhaul of all its 4–8–4’s to protect passenger train schedules. This 1 locomotives was the emergency backup that never got used post overhaul. Donated to the City of Nashville it rested in a public park all these years looking very tired on the outside, HOWEVER underneath that weathered image was a 100% brand new engine and even the grease pen signatures of the shop foremen were intact.With only exterior restoration + the adding of an electronics package for communication and signaling…..this engine is 100% complete today & is in its home town of original use.4 = 2 BerkshiresFormer Nickel Plate Road 765 was tired and worn out being one of only a handful of steam locomotives that never did see retirement. This engine was doing excursions in the 1960s. So…it needed a lot of TLC and got that this last year which completely overhauled it for 2019 runs.THIS ENGINE HAS A SISTER which was on display at Michigan State University for years until it was rebuilt and is running:Pere Marquette 1225NOTE: THIS IS NOT JUST STEAM, IT IS BIG STEAM AND EVEN SUPER POWER CLASS. BY SUPER POWER CLASS IT INDICATES THESE 4–8–4’s WERE 5000 HP ENGINES AND THESE 2–8–4’s WERE 4500 HP ENGINES.Of course the UP Big Boy was 7000 HP.That is not even close to the end of this list as we in the US like our steam engines and are doing them on a mega scale.Consider:Union Pacific ALREADY HAD 2 BIG STEAM LOCOMOTIVES IN FULL TIME USE:a) 4–8–4 844 (5000 HP)AND….b) CHALLENGER CLASS 4–6–6–4 (7000 HP AND JUST SMALLER THAN BIG BOY)UP 3985NOT TO BE OUT DONE….UP COMPETITOR SANTA FE AKA BNSF ALREADY HAD 1 BIG STEAM RUNNING IN THE FORM OF 5000 HP 4–8–4 3751BUT THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH SO AS WE SPEAK THERE IS ANOTHER IN THE SAME 5000 HP 4–8–4 CLASS 2926THERE IS MORE!WAY BACK IN 1980 THE SOUTHERN RAILWAY GOT ACCESS TO A C&O KANAWAH 2–8–4 (BERKSHIRE CLASS) AND REBUILT IT INTO SR STYLE AND RAN IT FOR A YEAR UNTIL CSX GOT OFFENDED AND TOOK THEIR ENGINE BACK WHERE IT BASICALLY WAS NEVER RUN AGAIN…..UNTIL NOW. IT WAS MOVED TO A MUSEUM IN KENTUCKY WHERE IT WILL BE RE-OVERHAULED AND RUN IN BOTH C&0 + SOUTHERN VERSIONS AS BOTH RAILROADS WERE VITAL TO THAT STATE HISTORY.C&O /SR 2716AS C&O ORIGINALAS SRTHERE IS MORE!FORMER MILWAUKEE ROAD 4–8–4 261 is alive and wellSOUTHERN PACIFIC 4449 JUST UNDERWENT AN EXTENSIVE REBUILDTHERE IS PERENNIAL FAVORITE AND ONE OF THE BEST EVER STEAM LOCOMOTIVE DESIGNS IN NORFOLK & WESTERN 611ADD TO THE LIST OF ENGINES IN RESTORATION AT THIS DATE:BOSTON AND MAINE HEAVY PACIFIC 3713GRAND TRUNK AND WESTERN 2–8–2 HEAVY MIKADO 4070NOT 1, BUT 2 LONG ISLAND RAILROAD 2–6–0 CLASSa) 35b) 39MAINE CENTRAL 470 LIGHT PACIFIC 4–6–2NKP LIGHT MIKADO 2–8–2NOT 1, BUT 2 READING RAILROAD 4–8–4 T-1 CLASS SUPER POWER ENGINES ARE BEING REBUILT:a) 2100b) IT’S EXACT SISTER = 2102SOUTHERN PACIFIC HEAVY MIKADO 2–8–2 786FRISCO MIKADO 1352St Louis Southwestern Railway 4–8–4 819Western Maryland Scenic Railway 2–8–0 734MANY SMALLER CLASS ENGINES ARE BEING RESTORED BUT I WANTED TO EMPHASIZE THE “BIG STEAM” CLASSES THAT ARE SUDDENLY ALL THE RAGE.FOR THE GRAND FINALE IS A PROJECT I HAVE ACTUALLY WORKED WITH AND SUPPORTED.TOWARDS THE END OF THE OFFICIAL STEAM ERA, THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD DUE TO ITS BEING VERY CLOSE TO MAJOR COAL FIELDS AND ALSO HAVING MASSIVE LOCOMOTIVE ERECTION COMPLEX AT JUNIATA PENN, CHOSE TO TRY AND DEVELOP SEVERAL COMPLETELY NEW CLASSES OF ENGINE.MAYBE THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WAS THE MOST SUCCESSFUL OF THE BUNCH IN TERMS OF NUMBERS BUILT WHICH = 2 ORDERS AT 25 EACH.THESE WERE THE FAMOUS PENNSY T1 CLASS 4–4–4–4 DUPLEX DRIVE ENGINES.UNFORTUNATELY AFTER THE PROTOTYPE WAS BUILT, THE ADMIN WAS SO IMPRESSED BY ITS LOOKS THAT THEY NEVER DOD A PROPER SHAKE DOWN OF IT TO DETERMINE THE DEFECTS FOR CORRECTION. THAT WAS THE DEATH OF THESE BEFORE THEY COULD REALLY GET STARTED.HOWEVER, JUST A VERY FEW YEARS AGO A PROJECT WAS STARTED TO BUILD ONE OF THESE FROM THE GROUND UP AND APPLY ALL THE DATA FROM THE ORIGINAL ONES TO RE-DESIGN THIS INTO A PERFECTED VERSION!AS WE SPEAK THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN COMPLETED ON THIS PROJECT:1 = TENDER WAS LOCATED AND IS BEING REBUILT2 = FRAME WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT TO NEW SPECS AND USING BETTER MATERIAL3 = DRIVING RODS WERE DESIGNED AND BUILT4 = ALL WHEELS AND AXLES ARE DESIGNED AND MADE5 = BOILER WAS DESIGNED AND BUILT! TO NEW SPECS AND WITH BETTER DESIGN AND MATERIALS = SUPERIOR TO THE 1950s PRODUCT6 = CAB WAS DESIGNED AND BUILTFINAL ASSEMBLY OF THIS ENGINE IS IN PROGRESS AND IT SHOULD BE NOTED THIS IS NOT A RESTORED LOCOMOTIVE AS NONE WERE SAVED. THIS IS 100% A BRAND NEW LOCOMOTIVE AND WILL BE 100% MAINLINE COMPLIANT TO THE FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION (FRA) STANDARDS FOR FULL SPEED MAINLINE SERVICE.STEAM DATE FOR THIS ENGINE IS SET FOR EARLY 2020 AND RUNNING BEFORE 2021.SAID ENGINE WILL LOOK LIKE THESE SAMPLES:AT SOME POINT THE WHOLE UP BIG BOY THING WILL BE ECLIPSED WHEN THIS THING ROLLS OUT. IT IS OF NOTE THAT SINCE THE BIG BOY WILL NOT COME SOUTH OF EAST, THIS MONSTER WILL NOT GO WEST.HOWEVER, THERE IS A MAMMOTH GATHERING OF STEAM SCHEDULED FOR St Louis Missouri IN 2021 AND SEVERAL DOZEN STEAM ENGINES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE IN THE BIGGEST GATHERING OF LIVE STEAM IN THE MODERN AGE.IT’S OF NOTE ALSO THAT STEAM ENGINES WERE CAPABLE OF 4000+ HORSE POWER MANY YEARS BEFORE DIESELS WERE. IN FACT 3000 WAS BASICALLY STANDARD FOR A HEAVY MIKADO CLASS AND THAT WAS NOT DIESEL ACHIEVED UNTIL THE 1960s.THE LARGEST CLASS STEAM ENGINES WERE 6000+ HORSE POWER AND THAT WAS NOT REALIZED IN PRACTICAL TERMS FOR EVERYDAY RAILROADING UNTIL VERY RECENT TIMES (THE PAST DECADE).