Railroads slow to adopt technology that prevents accidents

Railroads have been slow to adopt a technology that can prevent deadly train accidents, even though the system will eventually be required by law, according to a new report.

Positive train control (PTC), a technology that automatically slows a train that is going over the speed limit, is currently operating along just 9 percent of freight route miles and 22 percent of passenger train route miles, according to the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA).

{mosads}Congress originally gave commuter and freight railroads until the end of 2015 to install the technology, which can prevent derailments, collisions and improper track switching.

But as railroads struggled to meet compliance deadlines, lawmakers pushed back the PTC implementation date to at least Dec. 31, 2018.

“The official deadline for positive train control may be years away, but the urgency for railroads to activate it is now,” FRA Administrator Sarah Feinberg said in a press release. “FRA will continue to push railroads to stay focused on implementation and urge Congress to fund this life-saving technology.”

Some railroads are making substantial progress in the effort, which requires training employees, submitting a safety plan, and installing PTC technology in locomotives, track segments and radio towers.

But others are lagging far behind. Some railroads haven’t installed the technology in a single locomotive, track or radio tower.

The FRA report found that 34 percent of freight rail locomotives and 29 percent of passenger rail locomotives are equipped with PTC.

Meanwhile, just 11 percent of track segments on freight railroads and 12 percent of track segments on passenger train railroads have been completed.

Safety advocates have criticized the pace of progress, pointing to a deadly Amtrak derailment in Philadelphia last year that could have been prevented if the train operator was backstopped by PTC.

But the technology is costly. Freight railroads have already kicked in more than $6.5 billion in private funding for PTC, with the industry expecting final costs to reach over $10.5 billion by the time the automated system is fully operational, according to the Association of American Railroads.

“The PTC technology being installed is revolutionary and is a full-time focus of the nation’s freight railroads, which continue to work all out on PTC testing and installation and to move this complex safety system from concept to nationwide reality across the country as quickly as possible, without sacrificing safety,” said Ed Greenberg, a spokesman for the Association of American Railroads.

Since 2008, Congress has awarded more than $650 million in federal grants to assist passenger railroads with installing the technology.

The FRA doled out $25 million in PTC grants earlier this week and is currently accepting applications for an additional $199 million in competitive grant funding.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has urged railroads to implement the technology ahead of the deadline, while also calling on Congress to provide additional funding.

President Obama sought $1.25 billion in his fiscal 2017 budget request to help railroads install PTC systems.

“Positive Train Control should be installed as quickly as possible,” Foxx said. “This is lifesaving technology available now, and railroads should continue to aggressively work to beat the deadlines Congress has put in place.”