Letter to Bill Shuster, Chairman House Transportation and Infrastructure, and Peter Defazio, Ranking Member House Transportation and Infrastructure - Blanker Extension to Implementation of Positive Train Control

Letter

Dear Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio:

I am writing to express my strong concerns regarding Congress's consideration of a blanket delay in implementation of Positive Train Control (PTC). With the passage of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-432), Congress mandated a 2015 deadline for railroad carriers to develop a plan for implementing PTC. While I understand that an extension is necessary, I ask that the Committee work to ensure that PTC is implemented in a timely manner and that we make clear that no more extensions are given.

The Rail Safety Improvement Act put in place a deadline for the implementation of PTC of December 2015. Seven years after passage, a majority of the railroad services will not meet the December 31st deadline. During that time, the railroad industry has attempted to extend the PTC implementation deadline citing logistical and financial costs as a reason for the delay. I recognize that given the approaching deadline, Congressional action to extend the PTC requirement or providing waivers to railroads that are out of compliance will be necessary. However, I am deeply concerned that a three or five-year, blanket extension will be interpreted by the industry as a waiver of the requirement, and send the message that by failing to meet future deadlines, they can simply come to Congress for additional extensions.

This would be a harmful outcome, because the evidence is clear that PTC saves lives. The National Transportation Safety Board has said that since 1969, PTC could have prevented 288 deaths and 6,574 injuries. In 2008, a collision between a Metrolink commuter train and a Union Pacific freight train in Chatsworth, CA, close to my district, killed 25 people and injured 102 more. It was determined that a distracted Metrolink engineer continued past warning signals and onto a section of single track and into the path of the rushing freight train. PTC could have prevented this terrible accident.

I recognize that an extension is necessary as we approach the December 31st deadline. However, I ask that you make clear that a short term extension of the PTC deadline will not become a permanent feature of Congressional action, as it has in so many other cases. While we provide flexibility and support to railroad industry that continues to work on PTC implementation, we must make clear that ultimately the installation of PTC technology across our railroad system is the right thing to do. Thank you, and I look forward to working with you on this important issue.

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