According to Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), most rail companies will miss the Dec. 31, 2015 positive train control (PTC) implementation deadline that Congress established in 2008.
“Positive Train Control is the most significant advancement in rail safety technology in more than a century. Simply put: it prevents accidents and saves lives, which is exactly what we seek to do at The Department of Transportation every single day. We will continue to do everything in our power to help railroads install this technology,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.
In 2008, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act (RSIA), requiring all Class I railroads transporting poisonous-by-inhalation hazardous (PIH) or toxic-by-inhalation hazardous (TIH) materials and all railroads providing passenger service to implement Positive Train Control by Dec. 31, 2015.
FRA has provided significant assistance and support to railroads in order to help them become PTC compliant. Those efforts include the providing of more than USD 650 million to passenger railroads, including nearly UDS 400 million in Recovery Act funding; issuing a nearly USD 1 billion loan to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to implement PTC on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North; building a PTC testbed in Pueblo, Colorado.
“The Federal Railroad Administration will continue to use its resources and expertise to help railroads achieve the critical goal to have Positive Train Control implemented,” FRA Acting Administrator Sarah Feinberg said.
Share on:
