HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Because Amtrak made headlines for two train accidents officials say would have been avoided with the use of GPS technology, BNSF has applied for a special exclusion — known at Positive Train Control — in two areas served by Amtrak’s SW Chief, which runs through Kansas, including Hutchinson.

Positive Train Control, or PTC, uses GPS to advise train crews when there is a track problem or a switch that is out of line. It also alerts engineers to speed restrictions and will disable the train if those advisories or warnings are ignored. However, major railroads like BNSF are also allowed to file exemptions from this rule on their main lines.

Two sections of BNSF’s main line that are a part of this request include a segment running from Lawrence to Emporia, and then another from La Junta, Colorado, all the way to Albuquerque, New Mexico. The exclusion is allowed if a Class 1 railroad runs less than 15 million gross tons of freight on the line each year and fewer than four passenger trains per day.

BNSF says the lines are on the main routes, but have either few or no trains running the line — other than Amtrak. The PTC is in place through Hutchinson and BNSF says it hopes to have the federally mandated system fully operational in Kansas this year.

Five people were killed in December when an Amtrak train derailed on a curve and plunged onto an interstate highway in Washington State. Just this week, two Amtrak crewmen were killed when their train ran into a CSX freight train. In both cases, PTC would have — or in the latest case, should have — stopped the passenger train.