US railroads warn of severe service disruptions

OREANDA-NEWS. September 11, 2015. Three of the largest railroads serving North America today warned Congress they might be forced to halt or substantially curtail freight and passenger traffic if the 31 December deadline to implement positive train control (PTC) is not extended.

Western carrier BNSF, eastern carrier Norfolk Southern and Canadian Pacific wrote US Senate Commerce Committee chairman John Thune (R-South Dakota) to warn of massive service disruptions if the deadline for installation of the \\$9bn hardware and software safety system is not extended.

US railroads have said for several years they might be unable to meet the deadline to install PTC, a technology designed to prevent train-to-train collisions.

Stopping freight movements would severely disrupt the flow of critical commodities such as coal, crude, petroleum products, fertilizers and agricultural products such as corn and soybeans. It would also halt passenger trains that move on lines owned by freight railroads.

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 required railroads to have the PTC system functional on their systems by the end of 2015, but carriers say they are years behind on meeting that deadline. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has promised to begin levying fines if railroads are not PTC-compliant by the deadline.

The railroads face contractual and legal liabilities if they allow trains to run on non-PTC compliant lines after 31 December, but their common carrier obligation requires them to provide service upon reasonable request from shippers.

Berkshire Hathaway-owned BNSF told Thune that it is "concerned that it is not reasonable to operate in violation of a legal safety requirement in order to fulfill its common carrier obligation." The carrier said that even if the government forced it to continue operating, there are other federal laws that protect employees who refuse to violate or assist in violating federal laws.

Passenger service would be affected in Chicago, Seattle and Minnesota, BNSF said, leading to "potential social and economic costs to communities."

"Operations across our entire network will likely be compromised by congestion and effectively shut down," BNSF said. The carrier said it would do whatever is reasonably possible to mitigate this impact, but warned "consequences for the economy and for our company would be substantial."

Norfolk Southern said it "is considering taking legal action to invalidate the deadline as a violation of due process given its arbitrary nature and the potential to deprive the railroad of cash through fines imposed by FRA. This deadline appears to have been selected with no analysis or feasibility inquiry."

A PTC deadline extension was included in HR 22, the Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy, or DRIVE Act. The bill, which extends federal transportation programs for six years, passed the Senate on 29 July. The House of Representatives has not acted.

Major shippers including the American Chemistry Council have asked Congress for assurances their products will still move once the PTC deadline has passed. They have urged Congress to pass an extension.

But Congress faces possible public criticism if it extends the deadline, as PTC is seen as an imperative safety measure in light of recent passenger and crude train derailments that the National Transportation Safety Board has said would not have happened if PTC were installed. The 12 May derailment in Philadelphia of Amtrak Train 188 running between Washington, DC, and New York that killed eight people and injured more than 200 is among the accidents that recently brought back PTC to the forefront of public attention.

Congress also faces a packed legislative schedule through the end of this year, with other major issues to consider such as addressing a multi-year surface transportation funding bill and Republican efforts to derail President Barack Obama's nuclear agreement with Iran.