NJ Transit 'most at risk' of missing safety deadline, which could end your commute to NYC

[BM5 via Woodhaven]

https://articles.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2018/03/amtrak_ceo_says_nj_transit_most_at_risk_of_missing

WASHINGTON -- New Jersey Transit is one of the two northeast commuter railroads "most at risk" of missing the Dec. 31 deadline to install automatic speed control on its locomotives and tracks, the head of Amtrak told a Senate committee Thursday.

Richard Anderson, president and chief executive, told the Senate Commerce Committee said Amtrak is working with NJ Transit and the other at-risk railroad, Metro-North.

He has said those railroads could be bannedfrom its tracks, including the tunnels under the Hudson River, if they haven't met the deadline for installing positive train control.

"We will assist our commuter partner, where we can, to reach the deadline or to find viable alternatives to bridge the gap," Anderson said in his testimony. "It would not be prudent to force more commuters onto our highways in already congested urban regions; rail remains the best and safer solution."

For example, Amtrak has some extra locomotives equipped with speed control technology that it could lend out, Anderson said.

NJ Transit has said in the past that it continues to do everything within its power to meet the deadline.

Congress extended the deadline for installing positive train control by three years to the end of this year from Dec. 31, 2015, but isn't likely to do it again, said U.S. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the committee chairman.

"Railroads should not count on any extensions," Thune said.

The Government Accountability Office, Congress' investigative agency, said as many as 19 of 29 commuter railroads were in danger of meeting either the deadline for installing positive train control or the criteria for obtaining a two-year extension to finish the work.

While GAO did not list the railroads, only five systems had made less progress than NJ Transit as of Sept. 30, according to the Federal Railroad Administration. NJ Transit had installed just 7 percent of its hardware by that date, while the FRA characterized any railroad with less than 65 percent installation as being at risk, the GAO said.

NJ Transit in May was awarded a $ 10 million federal grant to help pay for positive train control installation.

Positive train control is one of the National Transportation Safety Board 's most wanted safety improvements .

The board said the lack of a speed control system on the tracks at Hoboken Terminalcontributed to the September 2016 fatal train crash there, and the absence of PTC contributed to the May 2015 derailment of an Amtrak train in Philadelphia that killed eight people.