Rail Industry Again Given More Time to Install Safety System

[mahatmakanejeeves]

I think my New Year's resolution should be to start a rail safety megathread. It would focus on positive train control. I already have a megathread for oil train safety.

For example: With Its Focus on Air Travel, U.S. Leaves Trains Vulnerable to Attack, Experts Say

Politics

Rail Industry Again Given More Time to Install Safety System

By Ron Nixon DEC. 30, 2015

WASHINGTON — When Congress in October gave railroads extra time to install a badly needed speed-control system, officials at the Federal Railroad Administration vowed to move aggressively to make sure the safety technology would be in place by the end of 2018, the new deadline.

This month, Congress struck again. Tucked into a 1,000-page transportation law signed Dec. 4 is new language that could effectively extend the deadline until the end of 2020. And positive train control, a technology that safety advocates say could have prevented the deadly Amtrak crash in Philadelphia in May, could stay on the shelf even longer.
....

The new delay is the latest pull in a tug of war between the railroad industry and federal regulators over the safety system. A firm deadline for installing it on all freight and commuter trains by 2015 was originally set under a law passed in the aftermath of a 2008 commuter rail crash in California that killed 25 and injured 135.

But as the Dec. 31 deadline approached, the industry appealed to Congress, saying it needed an extension because the technology, which tracks the speed and movements of trains and can prevent collisions, was difficult to install. Without a reprieve, the railroads said, the nation’s rail system would have to shut down.

[elleng]

1. Good luck with that. We should all live long enough to see it come to pass.

'The new delay is the latest pull in a tug of war between the railroad industry and federal regulators over the safety system.'

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Two major railroads further delay adding rail-safety technology

Two major railroads further delay adding rail-safety technology

By Rick Rouan The Columbus Dispatch • Sunday February 7, 2016 8:23 AM
[e-mail]

The two largest railroads in Ohio now say they need until 2020 to install technology that could prevent some derailments and crashes after Congress granted the industry a three-year extension last year.

Norfolk Southern and CSX were among the seven railroads that recently told federal regulators they won’t meet the 2018 deadline for nationwide coverage of “positive train control” systems that could stop speeding trains before they hit a curve or churn past a stop signal.

Congress extended the deadline from the end of 2015 to 2018 but built in a buffer to 2020 if railroads meet certain conditions.

>> Wrong Track: Dispatch series on trains carrying volatile crude oil

What that means for Ohio, though, is unclear. Railroads have started installing the technology, but they have not publicized where it is in place or will go next.Ohio has one of the densest rail networks in the country, and CSX and Norfolk Southern operate on most of the track in the state.