Amtrak to suspend national rail service without safety extension

Commuter trains could grind to a halt in New Jersey if federal lawmakers don’t extend a deadline for railroads to install a system to automatically slow and stop trains, transit officials say.

Railroads are facing a December 31 deadline to install Positive Train Controls (PTC) on their systems that would stop trains if they were operating too fast and would help prevent collisions and derailments.

“NJ Transit anticipates full PTC implementation in 2018”. On Thursday, Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and others wrote to Senate leaders, requesting a three-year extension. “It is new technology requiring extensive development and testing”, Snyder said.

The Senate provided an addition in a very very larger commuting expense that often hasn’t but still surpassed Congress. Meanwhile, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee just last week revealed a voice that want increase the point in time for 3 many years.

A 2008 law, passed after a deadly Los Angeles rail crash, mandated positive train control and gave railroads seven years to get it installed. Without a PTC extension, it is unclear whether NJ Transit will be able to operate passenger service as of January 1, 2016. Tracks had to be mapped to create a database and 5,000 transponders will be installed on rail lines starting this month, she said. In November, NJ Transit crews will begin equipping 440 locomotives and cab cars with PTC equipment, about four vehicles per week.

“We have not said we are going to absolutely fine, but we are going to enforce the deadline”, Federal Railroad Administration administrator Sarah Feinberg told a House subcommittee in June.

Amtrak President and Chief Executive Officer Joseph Boardman said in the letter that service would continue on track that Amtrak controls, including much of its Northeast Corridor between Washington and Boston.

Failure to extend the current deadline for installation and implementation of PTC technology could result in severe service disruptions and inefficiencies in moving a projected near-record harvest during the peak fall shipping season, reminiscent of what USA agriculture experienced in the fall and winter of 2013-14, the letter states.