ACSES Monitor: Watching PTC Controlled trains

[N9JIG]

A guy out on Long Island put a ton of effort into building software to monitor the ACSES radio (218 MHz.) signals used there. While it may never be made available to the public like ATCS Monitor, it demonstrates what could be done with knowledge, time and effort.

 

[RugbyJunctionWI]

Quite the impressive feat for just two people to accomplish. It gives me hope that "ATCS v2" is potentially possible.

 

[Firebell2110]

A guy out on Long Island put a ton of effort into building software to monitor the ACSES radio (218 MHz.) signals used there. While it may never be made available to the public like ATCS Monitor, it demonstrates what could be done with knowledge, time and effort.

Video doesn't even show up at all couldn't watch it

 

[mikewazowski]

The video has been removed. Apparently the author was receiving too many requests asking him to share the software.

 

[RugbyJunctionWI]

Video doesn't even show up at all couldn't watch it

You didn't miss much. In a nutshell, someone spent a lot of time trackside and figured-out how to decode the ACSES (Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System) control signals for a Northeast railroad and created a very ATCS-like app that he shared with a museum to track train movements. ACSES is a version of train control built on-top of PTC and is used by Amtrak and various other railroads:

https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:fa460326-a331-4cc0-8511-75618fd879b1/version:1566229763/sie-bro-acses.pdf

The author of the video said he had no intention of sharing the source code of what he did. He also doesn't have a network of "stations" (servers) like ATCS Monitor had built-up over the years, so his system was only useful if you were trackside with the software and had an SDR to listen for control signals that are nearby.

Perhaps ex-ATCS users annoyed him so much in asking to share the code that he took the video down, or perhaps ~someone~ didn't want a video online showing that PTC control system signals are indeed not encrypted, but they do require decoding.

What this young man accomplished with one other person is impressive but isn't of much use to anyone else.

 

[Kitn1mcc]

You didn't miss much. In a nutshell, someone spent a lot of time trackside and figured-out how to decode the ACSES (Advanced Civil Speed Enforcement System) control signals for a Northeast railroad and created a very ATCS-like app that he shared with a museum to track train movements. ACSES is a version of train control built on-top of PTC and is used by Amtrak and various other railroads:

https://assets.new.siemens.com/siemens/assets/api/uuid:fa460326-a331-4cc0-8511-75618fd879b1/version:1566229763/sie-bro-acses.pdf

The author of the video said he had no intention of sharing the source code of what he did. He also doesn't have a network of "stations" (servers) like ATCS Monitor had built-up over the years, so his system was only useful if you were trackside with the software and had an SDR to listen for control signals that are nearby.

Perhaps ex-ATCS users annoyed him so much in asking to share the code that he took the video down, or perhaps ~someone~ didn't want a video online showing that PTC control system signals are indeed not encrypted, but they do require decoding.

What this young man accomplished with one other person is impressive but isn't of much use to anyone else.

LI is not that big and you never far from a active branch on LI

 

[Another-User]

I managed to archive the video before it was taken down. Here are some screenshots for those of you interested.

 

[LOA32Chaser]

Hey, pretty cool that you archived it. I have a friend who would like to see the video, but didnt get the chance. Do you think you could send it to me somehow so I could show him? Thanks.

 

[CSX5240]

do you think anyone would make a similair public version of the software?

 

[LOA32Chaser]

This has been discussed extensively on the ATCSMonitor forums, and basically, making the software would, as the man in the video said, probably take upwards of a year. So for someone to start right now, without any insider information, we could start seeing ITCnMonitors coming out in like 3 years from now. And then there is the security thing. No body wants a Cease-and-Desist from Meteorcomm, which Meteorcomm has done before.
So probably not widely circulated, but I could see it becoming like the railfan-mob, or something ("Go to the gas station down the road, ask for John, and he will hook you up with the software" or something similar), where if you talk to the devs directly maybe, then they would share it with you.

So, in short, its just a matter of staying in the green with the Government, and then also making the actual software, which would be a huge undertaking.