A PTC way not taken

Dominic Mazoch posted:

Is there not a pool company within the aviation industry which does the same for commercial aircraft radios?

No, there is not.

I was thinking of something from the  Arinc, Aeronautical Radio, Inc, history Maybe an ARR "PTCINC" could have been the clearing house for all railroads, instead of the piecemeal stuff we have now.

Quote from Wikipedia:

ARINC was incorporated in 1929 as Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated. It was chartered by the Federal Radio Commission (which later became the Federal Communications Commission) in order to serve as the airline industry’s single licensee and coordinator of radio communication outside of the government. The corporation's stock was held by four major airlines of the day. Through most of its history, ARINC was owned by airlines and other aviation-related companies such as Boeing until the sale to The Carlyle Group in October 2007.

Not much later ARINC took on the responsibility for all ground-based, aeronautical radio stations and for ensuring station compliance with Federal Radio Commission (FRC) rules and regulations. Using this as a base technology, ARINC expanded its contributions to transport communications as well as continuing to support the commercial aviation industry and U.S. military.

ARINC also developed the standards for the trays and boxes used to hold standard line-replaceable units (like radios) in aircraft. These permit electronics to be rapidly replaced without complex fasteners or test equipment.

In 1978 ARINC introduced ACARS (Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System), a datalink system that enables ground stations (airports, aircraft maintenance bases, etc.) to upload data (such as flight plans) and download data (such as fuel quantity, weight on wheels, flight management system (FMS) data), via an onboard Communications Management Unit (CMU).

ARINC has expanded its business in aerospace and defense through its ARINC Engineering Services subsidiary.

It could be something to wish for, no doubt about that.  However, railroads are heavily invested in proprietary on-board equipment setups and computer software for operating the railroad.  Standardizing it at this late date would certainly result in a giant corporate dog fight.  In my opinion, that train left the station quite a while ago.

When railroads agreed to equip main line locomotives with multi-channel radios, eliminating the need to carry a hand held radio when using a foreign line locomotive, it was a major step forward, but, beyond that . . . ?$$$?