Posted on 09/25/2015 9:07:24 AM PDT by tcrlaf
"Operations across our entire network will likely be compromised by congestion and effectively shut down," warned Carl Ice, the president of BNSF.
Widespread disruptions of freight and passenger rail traffic are likely if Congress doesn't extend a deadline to start using certain safety technology before the end of the year, railroads are warning.
Freight and passenger railroads have said in letters to the Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., that they won't have the technology — known as positive train control, or PTC — in operation by Dec. 31, the deadline set by a 2008 rail safety law.
The technology automatically stops trains to prevent collisions with other trains or derailments due to high speeds. By the deadline, the technology is required to be in operation on all tracks used by passenger trains and to transport chemicals that are toxic to inhale.
Amtrak relies on freight rail tracks for much of its operations outside the Northeast, as do many commuter railroads.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcchicago.com ...
BNSF is going to be forced to abandon 80% of it's network, they say, as it simply is not profitable to spend the massive amounts of money on marginal lines.
They will have to close several Chicago Metra routes, and commuter routes in Minneapolis and other cities, too.
Rule 10-289 comes to mind.
This will effect several major commuter lines, and likely close Amtrak's National Network, as well.
Whatever happened to that guy involved in that last massive wreck several months ago? That event just seemed to disappear into the shadows.
“Whatever happened to that guy involved in that last massive wreck several months ago? That event just seemed to disappear into the shadows.”
Of course it did.
The driver was GAY, thus a protected class Member.
Lots of oil is transported by rail. Just when you were getting used to low prices.
He’s a poofter with crotch pics on the net. That’s what happened.
This train’s got the disappearing railroad blues.
“City Of New Orleans”
(originally by Steve Goodman)
Ridin’ on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday mornin’ rail
15 cars and 15 restless riders
Three conductors, 25 sacks of mail
All along the southbound odyssey the train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields
Passin’ graves that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles
Good mornin’ America, how are you?
Don’t you know me? I’m your native son!
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done
Dealin’ cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain’t no one keepin’ score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels grumblin’ neath the floor
And the sons of Pullman porters and the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers’ magic carpet made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin’ to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
Good mornin’ America, how are you?
Don’t you know me? I’m your native son!
I’m the train they call the City of New Orleans
I’ll be gone 500 miles when the day is done
Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changin’ cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home, we’ll be there by mornin’
Thru the Mississippi darkness rollin’ down to the sea
But all the towns & people seem to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain’t heard the news
The conductor sings his song again
“The passengers will please refrain:
This train has got the disappearin railroad blues
Ah is well, Hillary says we have higher priorities than the Keystone pipeline.
Are we having a real life playing of Rearden Metal, Taggart Transcontinental, and the John Galt Line?
There have been far too may “derailments” in recent months. Clearly there is something lacking in safety unless these are orchestrated with cars/trucks left on crossings, etc.Too many “accidents.”
Kankakee...my mom’s hometown :)
So they’ve had seven years and they still can’t make the deadline? Do they need another seven years?
Whatever it takes to be safe and make sure it never happens again.
The headline makes it sound like the RR’s are threatening to shut down service as some kind of protest or something.
Unless I’m reading it wrong, this is the result of their inability to comply with gov’t safety technology in time.
Looks to me like NBC is trying to make it look like the railroads are the bad guys.
Okay, you clearly don't appreciate the magnitude of the task. For the record, I do. Positive Train Control (PTC) implementation is precisely what I do for a living, and I can tell you that this is the largest undertaking of its kind in the history of the world. The European railroad community has been working on its version of PTC for far longer than we have, and they are still struggling with it.
Between the frequency spectrum issues they had to come to grips vis-a-vis the FCC, delays in installing ANY of the roughly 25,000 antennas needed to make the system work (thanks to some ruling that required a survey of every antenna location to make sure Indian burial grounds weren't desecrated) to having to develop systems that didn't even exist when the law was passed, 7 years hasn't been nearly long enough.
Congress know this when they passed the law, and industry groups have been telling them the railroads were NOT going to be able to comply with the deadline for years now - all to no avail.
As a colleague used to say, "Nine ladies can't make a baby in a month."
Is this Positive Train Control a real thing, a congressional feel good post-accident law, or some Homeland Security control freak thing?
Anybody know?
I've been waiting for the railroads to take this back to the government for some time now. While they're all in favor of increasing safety (and the technology does work - there have been some accidents already avoided in areas where railroads have gotten the system turned on), the industry as a whole (recent spectacular accidents notwithstanding) has increased their safety record by leaps and bounds from what it historically was.
That being said, estimates of the cost:benefit ratio for PTC are 22:1 - $22 spent for $1 in savings, and the vast majority of this coming out of their own pockets. The only ones who have received any substantial federal funding have been the commuter rail operators, who don't have any funds available for capital or safety improvements.
Congressional knee-jerk reaction.
They’ve 7 years to get this in place and are only 20% compliant?! It’s ridiculous how much we seem to just assume the government will extend a deadline... and worse it’ll probably happen too.
Historically, there’s been an average of over one derailment a day. There hasn’t been a spike.
Why don’t you write the check to finish the job.
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