Remarks on Rail Safety

Tomorrow morning, the platform behind me will not be filled with people. The trains to Hoboken will not come -- at least not on schedule. And that means fewer people in the coffee shops… at the newspaper stands. More traffic on the highways -- people will have to find a different way to work or to see their families on the Jewish holiday.

And these are all small inconveniences compared to the families that will have to drive to the hospital tomorrow to see their injured loved ones. Or the one family who's preparing to bury a wife, daughter, and mother.

The direct cause of Thursday's train crash in Hoboken is still unknown. The investigation is underway, and it will run its course.

But you do not have to be an engineer to know that our leaders in Washington, including the Congressman who represents us in the Fifth District, could have done something more to prevent this kind of crash. Because this wasn't a one-off tragedy.

We all remember the crash of the Amtrak train outside Philadelphia two years ago that claimed eight lives -- or the derailment of the Metro North train that killed six people last year.

For years now, we've had the technology available to stop these types of crashes -- technology that would automatically sense if a train was going too fast and slow it down. It's called Positive Train Control. And yet, in most places on our network of rail in New Jersey, this technology isn't being used.

The Bergen Record reported earlier this week that NJ Transit, once a national leader in train-control technology, is the only system in the region lagging behind. To quote the paper: "Unlike every other major railroad in the region, including Metro-North, the Long Island Rail Road, PATH, SEPTA, Amtrak and CSX, NJ Transit has made no progress toward putting the technology in place."

This is simply unacceptable. The Bergen Record editorial board on Friday agreed with the assessment here, "Congress has pushed the date back to 2018… Positive Train Control will make railroads safer and there is no excuse for delays."

The Federal Railroad Administration issued a scorecard in the past month that showed that in seven categories involving Positive Train Control, NJ Transit received zeroes: locomotives equipped, track segments completed, radio towers installed, training completed, route miles in operation, PTC safety plan and radio spectrum assigned. That's right, a zero. The Record continued, "Officials [in New Jersey] have paid too little attention to mass transit and rail infrastructure … Rail safety has to be a top priority." I couldn't agree more.

And, according to the New York Times, the Federal Railroad Administration recently investigated New Jersey Transit and found an increase in safety violations and issued several hefty fines for their failure.

In 2007, Congress voted to require all rail systems to install Positive Train Control by 2015. In 2015, it was delayed until 2018.The Chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board had this to say: "Every PTC-preventable accident, death and injury on tracks and trains affected by the law will be a direct result of the missed 2015 deadline and the delayed implementation of this life-saving technology."

Positive Train Control isn't there… because government hasn't devoted the resources to put it there.

And the government hasn't devoted the resources to put it there… because of Tea Party extremists like Scott Garrett who don't believe in any government role for infrastructure, regardless of concern for life or limb.

Scott Garrett has represented this District for fourteen years -- but more significantly, he's represented the narrow ideology of the Tea Party the whole time. He's put the Tea Party ahead of us.

And so Garrett's voted against Positive Train Control. In fact, he voted against PTC three times. In 2007, he was the only congressman from New York or New Jersey -- Democrat or Republican -- to vote against it. And, in December of last year, he was the only member of the New Jersey delegation -- Democrat or Republican -- to vote against the transportation bill that will put significant resources into making our tracks safer. The Bergen Record noted that it passed "passed both houses of Congress with overwhelming majorities, and in a bipartisan manner" without Scott Garrett and thankfully prevented a gutting of New Jersey Transit.

Time and again, Garrett has voted against bringing back federal resources to our communities, even to improve and increase rail safety transportation. He has refused to fight for federal grants that are available to implement Positive Train Control. And so that money has gone elsewhere to Mississippi or Arkansas or Florida. Yet another Garrett Tax on our community.

As a result, New Jersey has the 6th worst roads in the nation today, and we have one of the worst returns on federal investment. For every taxpayer dollar we send to Washington, we get about 33 cents back -- half of the rest of the state for every tax dollar we pay and far less than the $4.23 to West Virginia. North Carolina Department of Transportation, Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts, Twin Cities, Minnesota have all gotten grants to implement Positive Train Control. Scott Garrett has left us in the cold -- voting against these bills and then, again, in refusing to fight to bring dollars back for our community's safety.

It's easy to overlook this on most days. It's easy to say, "Well, those are just numbers. I'm not sure how that impacts me."

But you couldn't say that on Thursday. And you can't say that today.

Because the idea that we should never invest in transportation… never invest in safety… isn't just an idea anymore. It's as real as a gravestone. It has cost lives.

That backwards, radical ideology has cost lives.

And it must change.

That is why today I'm announcing my Rail Safety and Passenger Protection Plan because we can't afford another tragic accident like the one in Hoboken.

First, as soon as I'm sworn in as a member of Congress, I will fight to install Positive Train Control on our passenger trains in New Jersey. It must be a top priority, no more kicking the can down the road.

Since mandating the installation of Positive Train Control in 2008, the Federal Transit Administration has awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to install this critical safety measure on transit systems across the country. We need someone who understands the urgency of this issue and will fight to bring those dollars -- which are paid for with our tax dollars -- back to New Jersey. I want lower taxes but, in the meantime, as we are paying these dollars, at least give us a return on investment for our rail safety.

Second, we have some of the busiest roads, busiest railways, and public transit systems in the country. Every day there are thousands and thousands of people from New Jersey who commute into New York for work. We must push the Department of Transportation to grant resources to the municipalities with major transit hubs and rail stations, so that our communities can make our trains safer and more importantly, make their commutes safe -- and do so without raising our taxes.

Third, we must invest in our transportation and infrastructure system. A third of bridges in the state are considered unsafe. Earlier this year, I proposed my Tax Cut and Growth Plan, which would establish an infrastructure bank with recovered overseas corporate tax dollars to fund upgrades to our roads and our railways without impacting our bank accounts.

Finally, while our passenger and commuter trains need to be the top priority, the lack of PTC is not the only threat to our communities' safety. An estimated 15-30 trains carrying as much as 7 million gallons of crude Bakken oil pass through Bergen County.

Bakken oil has been involved in multiple, fiery derailments across North America, including one a couple of years ago that killed 47 people. And in towns like Oradell and Haworth, we have bridges and tunnels that aren't equipped to handle the heavy traffic on these rail lines, increasing the risk of derailment.

Here's the problem: Currently, information related to oil trains is only provided to state officials; the law does not allow information to get to the county and local first responders who would actually be first on the scene. So, our firefighters often have to go into harms way, without knowing, in an instant, what type of chemical they're fighting, how much of it, what type of fire is ahead of them, what level of risk a community is facing. This is information they could and should have -- they should know what's rolling through our towns, so they can be prepared -- just in case.

This is why I've called for first responders to have all of the information they need to respond to potential disaster -- whether it is about the hazardous and harmful materials traveling through our towns by train or God-forbid, there is an attack or accident in one of our towns.

Railroad safety is not a partisan issue. It's about safety. We need a problem solver in Washington. This is not about being a Democrat or Republican. It's about being an American. If you're a Congressman, you take an oath -- the same oath as the President -- an oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States of America."

The oath doesn't say "preserve, protect, and defend the United States… so long as it's convenient for you." It doesn't say "preserve protect and defend so long as your vote doesn't screw up your Tea Party rating." Nor does it say "preserve, protect, and defend only if its good politics."

It says, "I will preserve, protect, and defend the United States of America."

I will.

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