Most U.S. railroads will not be able to meet a December deadline for implementing safety technology to regulate the speed of trains, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office.
The report, released by the Senate and House Transportation and Infrastructure panels, called on Congress to extend the deadline in order to avoid significant disruption of rail service that would be needed to finish a new technology called Positive Train Control by the current deadline.
The PTC technology was not activated on a stretch of tracks outside of Philadelphia this year when a speeding Amtrak train careened around a corner and crashed, killing eight and injuring 200 people.
The accident generated calls for faster implementation of the PTC system, but railroad officials have argued they can’t move any faster.
The GAO report determined that the railroads would need as many as five years to complete the work, and Congress appears to agree.
The Senate extended the deadline by three years in a transportation authorization measure it passed earlier this summer, and the House will likely do the same.
“This GAO report confirms that the PTC mandate is not achievable, and extending the deadline is essential to preventing significant disruptions of both passenger and freight rail service across the country,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., said.
The GAO report cited numerous obstacles for implementing PTC, a technology that would prevent trains from speeding out of control. The problems include a limited pool of companies that can manufacture the components, approval delays from regulators, and difficulty obtaining the radio spectrum needed to operate the system.
