Bill introduced in US Senate to extend positive train control deadline

Four US senators have introduced the bipartisan Railroad Safety and Positive Train Control Extension Act in an effort to extend the deadline for full implementation of positive train control (PTC) on US railroads to 2020. Missouri has 4,400 miles of main rail track that are operated by 19 different railway companies. PTC is a technology designed to automatically stop or slow a train before certain collisions. The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandates that PTC must be installed by31 December 2015. PT
March 6, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
RSSFour US senators have introduced the bipartisan Railroad Safety and Positive Train Control Extension Act in an effort to extend the deadline for full implementation of positive train control (PTC) on US railroads to 2020.

Missouri has 4,400 miles of main rail track that are operated by 19 different railway companies.

PTC is a technology designed to automatically stop or slow a train before certain collisions. The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandates that PTC must be installed by31  December 2015. PTC is mandated on tracks that carry passenger rail and certain hazardous materials, and will cover around 60,000 tracks in total nationwide.

The bill was introduced by Missouri Senator Roy Blunt and co-sponsored by Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, Ranking Member Bill Nelson, and US Senator Claire McCaskill, who claim the delay would help ease the regulatory burden and costs for passenger and freight railroads

“We must work to do everything we can to improve train safety and accident prevention without burdening our nation’s freight and passenger rail industry," said Blunt. "Unmanageable deadlines could result in higher costs and a disruption of service. This bipartisan bill will help ease the Positive Train Control deadline to give railroads in Missouri and nationwide enough time to fully and safely implement this new technology.”

Related Content

  • VMS can counter small screens’ big problems
    June 9, 2015
    Lacroix Trafic’s Steve Collins believes the improving trends in road safety could go into reverse unless authorities make full use of the latest LED technology to meet drivers’ information needs. Road authorities and vehicles manufacturers could and should be far more active in countering some of the transportation industry’s major problems, according to Steve Collins export sales director at Lacroix Trafic.
    Read More
  • The Canadian way
    July 16, 2012
    Delcan has developed an ITS project evaluation methodology for Transport Canada. Victor Bruzon explains how it will assist in selecting and managing programmes. ITS projects offer a cost-effective solution for many transportation problems. Individual projects are often not evaluated and such evaluations can be restricted by limited data, the ability of ITS to affect only a portion of the transport network, and by evaluation methodologies that were developed with more traditional transport investments in min
    Read More
  • Caltrans upgrades video wall
    February 26, 2013
    When Caltrans district 7 began the first phase of a multi-phase audio-visual (AV) system upgrade at its Los Angeles facility, it contracted with Electrosonic to create a brighter, more reliable video wall for traffic monitoring that takes advantage of the latest in projection technology. “Caltrans district 7 has more than 400 cameras on the highways of Los Angeles and Ventura counties,” says Electrosonic project manager Guy Fronte. “They can review camera feeds 24/7 in the facility and when there’s a traffi
    Read More
  • euroFOT study demonstrates benefits of driver assistance systems
    June 26, 2012
    Today, the euroFOT consortium published the findings of a four-year study focused on the impact of driver assistance systems in the Europe. The €22 million (US$27.5 million) European Field Operational Test (euroFOT) project which began in June 2008 and involved 28 companies and organisations, was led by Aria Etemad from Ford’s European Research Centre in Aachen, Germany. The study looked at existing technologies and their potential to both enhance safety and reduce environmental impact. euroFOT also reveale
    Read More

Highlighted Content