BNSF Railway has installed Positive Train Control on the Canadian section of its New Westminster Subdivision between Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., making it the first route in Canada to permanently implement the crash prevention technology. 

The New Westminster Sub features both BNSF freight and Amtrak Cascades trains running between Eugene, Ore., and Vancouver. The first train to operate with PTC on this route was a BNSF freight on October 21. 

While BNSF claimed that the October 21 run was the first time PTC had been used in Canada, that isn’t entirely accurate. In 2023, CPKC briefly deployed PTC on its Aldersyde Subdivision between Calgary and Lethbridge, Alberta, to test the technology it had installed on Canadian Pacific 4-6-4 H1b 2816, ahead of its tri-nation tour in 2024. 

—Justin Franz