Railroads running away
When Congress decided seven years ago to impose new regulations to make the rail industry much safer, nobody was even talking about the dangers of oil trains that carry thousands of tankers loaded with highly combustible crude oil through populated areas.In that regard, Congress was prescient. The risks of these trains, as demonstrated by many recent derailments and accidents that have resulted in explosions – and, in one tragic incident, 47 deaths – were largely unknown. Some critics have come to calling the trains, which frequently roll through residential neighborhoods in the city of Albany, bomb trains.
Under that 2008 law, the railroad industry had until the end of this year to develop, test and implement an advanced system of technologies that uses GPS data and sophisticated signaling to automatically stop trains before certain types of accidents occur. Known as positive train controls, or PTC, some rail safety experts say that had they been in place already, it would have prevented the Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia earlier this year and the deadly Metro North crash at Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx in December 2013.
But the latest Senate version of the transportation funding bill would delay by at least three more years the implementation of this important safety system. As it now stands, the $55 billion legislation contains specious language that effectively gives the industry an open ended loophole allowing continued delays activating PTC until the railroads are “prepared to do so safely, reliably and successfully.”
If the past eight years is anything to go by, the industry – or at least the most profitable and most resistant sector – may never be “prepared.”
What makes this legislation even more outrageous is that it cuts funding for one of the only industry sectors that seems to be making an honest effort to comply with the PTC deadline, Amtrak. The partially government-funded passenger service has said it expects to meet this year’s deadline on nearly all of its Northeast corridor. While its counterparts on the freight side of the business seem to throw every excuse they can to derail the PTC deadline, Amtrak deserves credit for making progress.
The Association of American Railroads estimates it will cost $10 billion to fully implement PTC, and claims the companies have already spent half that working to develop the new technology. That sounds like a lot, but it’s roughly equal to the railroads’ usual annual capital spending. Spread over the past seven years, it would have made the safety goal attainable.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., joined by his Connecticut counterpart, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, are favoring an alternative bill that would hold the industry to the 2015 deadline, while providing some exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
The senators are right. Congress should stop the freight rail industry from evading the requirements. The profitable railroads don’t need more time to find more excuses. As Senator Schumer said: “Simply put, Positive Train Control is a lifesaver.”