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Senate Commerce
Committee Chairman John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said
that talks between the two chambers have successfully bridged
differences on a three-year extension of the deadline for
railroads to implement positive train control, or PTC.
"Congress now needs to pass this plan in the coming weeks to
avoid service disruptions that will impact shippers across the
country and commuter railroad passengers," Thune said in a
statement issued by the committee. "This PTC extension will keep
the pressure on freight and passenger railroads to ensure safety
benefits are realized as soon as possible."
PTC is a complex communications system that can avoid
derailments and other accidents by automatically slowing or
stopping a train. U.S. safety officials say the technology would
have avoided the May 12 Amtrak derailment that killed eight
people and injured more than 200 in Philadelphia.
Most U.S. railroads are expected to miss the Dec. 31 deadline
for adopting the technology and have threatened to suspend
freight and passenger service on major lines after Jan. 1, 2016,
if lawmakers fail to grant an extension.
Railroads say PTC implementation has been hampered by high
costs, bureaucratic delays and technological hurdles.
House lawmakers introduced legislation last month to extend the
deadline for at least another three years.
Senators enacted their own bipartisan measure in July that would
allow the U.S. Transportation Department to approve extensions
on a case-by-case basis.
Rail operators have warned that they could begin notifying
customers of possible service suspensions as early as the end of
October.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Eric Walsh and Eric
Beech)
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