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WASHINGTON — New York City would have to find other options for hauling municipal waste to landfills if CSX follows through on a threat to stop operating on Metro-North tracks in January.
That’s among the consequences CSX and other freight lines say will result if Congress fails to extend a Dec. 31 deadline for installing new accident avoidance technology knows as “positive train controls.”
Congress is expected to address the deadline by Oct. 29, when the latest short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund expires.
A six-year transportation reauthorization bill passed by the Senate in July would extend the PTC deadline until the end of 2018. To qualify for an extension, each railroad would have to submit an installation plan by the end of the year to the U.S. Transportation Department, including interim milestones.
The Senate legislation would also provide $200 million from the Highway Trust Fund to help railroads pay for installation and would authorize another $570 million.
Several freight and commuter railroads have written congressional lawmakers over the last week, highlighting the consequences of a failure to extend the deadline.
“CSX is seriously considering suspending freight operations’’ on commuter rail lines that don’t have PTC operational by Jan. 1, CSX Chairman and CEO Michael Ward wrote.
Among them: Metro-North in New York and Connecticut, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in New England, METRA in metro Chicago, SunRail in central Florida and Tri-Rail in south Florida.
Without “a reasonable extension,’’ Ward said, “any accident involving Amtrak, commuter or TIH (toxic inhalation hazards) products would expose CSX to huge potential liability for operating in violation of federal law.’’
CSX could also suspend Amtrak's use of the freight line's tracks, affecting as many as 13 million passengers a year.
Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road are among a half-dozen commuter rail lines that expect to begin testing PTC by the end of 2016, according to a survey released in August by the Federal Railroad Administration. But testing falls short of full certification for their entire track systems, which wouldn’t come until 2018.
PTC could have prevented the deadly derailments of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia May 12 and a Metro-North commuter train in the Bronx in December 2013 by automatically slowing them as they approached a curve, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
“FRA’s use of its enforcement tools will be targeted to maximize safety, save lives in the event of an accident and bring railroads into compliance,’’ the August report said. “Certain enforcement actions, such as prohibiting service on specific routes, may potentially result in sustained and disruptive impacts on the movement of freight and passengers in those locations until full implementation is achieved.’’
Twitter: @NYinDC
WASHINGTON — New York City would have to find other options for hauling municipal waste to landfills if CSX follows through on a threat to stop operating on Metro-North tracks in January.
That’s among the consequences CSX and other freight lines say will result if Congress fails to extend a Dec. 31 deadline for installing new accident avoidance technology knows as “positive train controls.”
Congress is expected to address the deadline by Oct. 29, when the latest short-term extension of the Highway Trust Fund expires.
A six-year transportation reauthorization bill passed by the Senate in July would extend the PTC deadline until the end of 2018. To qualify for an extension, each railroad would have to submit an installation plan by the end of the year to the U.S. Transportation Department, including interim milestones.
The Senate legislation would also provide $200 million from the Highway Trust Fund to help railroads pay for installation and would authorize another $570 million.
Several freight and commuter railroads have written congressional lawmakers over the last week, highlighting the consequences of a failure to extend the deadline.
“CSX is seriously considering suspending freight operations’’ on commuter rail lines that don’t have PTC operational by Jan. 1, CSX Chairman and CEO Michael Ward wrote.
Among them: Metro-North in New York and Connecticut, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in New England, METRA in metro Chicago, SunRail in central Florida and Tri-Rail in south Florida.
Without “a reasonable extension,’’ Ward said, “any accident involving Amtrak, commuter or TIH (toxic inhalation hazards) products would expose CSX to huge potential liability for operating in violation of federal law.’’
CSX could also suspend Amtrak's use of the freight line's tracks, affecting as many as 13 million passengers a year.
Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road are among a half-dozen commuter rail lines that expect to begin testing PTC by the end of 2016, according to a survey released in August by the Federal Railroad Administration. But testing falls short of full certification for their entire track systems, which wouldn’t come until 2018.
PTC could have prevented the deadly derailments of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia May 12 and a Metro-North commuter train in the Bronx in December 2013 by automatically slowing them as they approached a curve, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
“FRA’s use of its enforcement tools will be targeted to maximize safety, save lives in the event of an accident and bring railroads into compliance,’’ the August report said. “Certain enforcement actions, such as prohibiting service on specific routes, may potentially result in sustained and disruptive impacts on the movement of freight and passengers in those locations until full implementation is achieved.’’
Twitter: @NYinDC
