House passes train control deadline extension

OREANDA-NEWS. October 28, 2015. The US House of Representatives today passed a short-term transportation funding bill that includes an extension to the end of 2018 of the 31 December deadline for railroads to implement positive train control (PTC).

The Surface Transportation Extension Act of 2015, HR 3819, funds and extends the authorization of federal highway and transit programs through 20 November. By extending the deadline for PTC, Congress aims to avoid a nation-wide shutdown of the rail transportation network that railroads said will happen without it. Railroads have said for years they will not meet the current deadline to install PTC, a computerized safety system estimated to cost \\$9bn across the network.

The bill was introduced by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pennsylvania), Ways and Means Committee chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin), and Transportation and Infrastructure ranking member Peter DeFazio (D-Oregon).

Shuster said that "failing to extend the positive train control deadline now will have devastating economic impacts. Not only will railroads stop shipping important chemicals critical to manufacturing, agriculture, clean drinking water and other industrial activities, but passenger and commuter rail transportation will virtually screech to a halt."

Last week, the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed a long-term transportation funding bill that included a similar PTC deadline extension to 2018. A PTC deadline extension was also included in the Senate's long-term transportation funding bill that it passed earlier this year.

There is bipartisan support in Congress for an PTC extension, but Democrats are pushing for shorter extensions compared with Republicans. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-California), ranking member on the Environment and Public Works committee, has expressed reluctance to allow a PTC extension to pass as part of any short-term transportation funding package, but rather wants a long-term funding bill passed.

The difference in opinion could complicate Senate passage of the short-term transportation funding bill that includes the PTC extension, that the House passed today. Congressional leaders have said they hope for full passage of the short-term transportation funding bill before federal funding expires on 29 October.

Shippers have asked a federal court and the Surface Transportation Board to force railroads to continue to ship hazardous chemicals even if the deadline to install PTC passes with no extension. But railroads said they cannot operate in violation of a federal safety law, and they will begin racking up fines and penalties if they do so.