Key senator reconsiders delay on rail safety requirement

WASHINGTON – Signaling a potentially tougher stand on railroads that have not installed a highly-touted new safety system, a key senator said Wednesday that he is reconsidering a plan to give the rail lines a blanket five-year extension to complete their work.

"If we can figure out a way to get there sooner, we certainly want to be open to that," said Sen. John Thune (R., S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce committee – which oversees railroads. "We're certainly looking for the best solution, and if that entails something that doesn't require a blanket five-year extension, then we're open to that."

Thune has co-sponsored a bill to give railroads five more years – until the end of 2020 – to install an upgraded rail safety system called Positive Train Control, which can slow or stop speeding trains, and which is supposed to be in place by the end of 2015. The National Transportation Safety Board has said the system, if it had been in place sooner, could have prevented Amtrak #188 from crashing in Philadelphia last month.

In the aftermath of that incident, though, Thune is the second key senator who seems ready to reconsider the five-year extension that passed his committee earlier this year, though he and other lawmakers say the deadline will still have to be changed somehow. The top Democrat on the committee, Sen. Bill Nelson (D., Fla.), has also pulled back on his support for a blanket five-year extension.

The safety board has been calling for Positive Train Control for decades, and in 2008 Congress ordered the system installed on major freight lines and passenger lines by the end of 2015. But few railroads expect to meet the deadline – none of the freight lines will meet it and fewer than a third of commuter lines expect to, according to federal officials and industry representatives.

Democrats, particularly from the northeast and California, have urged Congress to apply more pressure, by requiring railroads to apply for a year-by-year extension, and to show what progress they have made each year.

"What we've seen here is a failure of will, and I think that the blame will be on Congress and on the agencies in the federal government that have responsibility for enforcing this law," said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.) said Wednesday at a committee hearing on the safety system's progress. "Enforcement is about expectations. Right now the expectation is that this law will not be enforced and my fear is that that expectation will be self fulfilling."

He pressed the Federal Railroad Administration to impose fines of up to $105,000 per day for railroads that have been "grossly negligent" in installing the system, but an FRA official would not commit to that step. Associate Administrator Robert Lauby said the agency is considering a range of actions, including fines, but also negotiations, emergency orders and "enforcement discretion."

He said the FRA does not have the authority to grant extensions – Congress would have to give it that power.

"If we want to prevent these tragic accidents, like we experienced in Philadelphia … we need to get PTC in place as quickly as possible on as much track as possible," Lauby said. "We need to have the ability to extend the deadline, we need to have the ability to negotiate the deadline … we need to have the railroads' full attention going forward in order to get this done as quickly as possible."

Even those pushing for tougher rules believe some extension is needed, since few rail lines will meet the deadline no matter how hard some lawmakers push.

Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.) urged more federal funding to help commuter lines, which rely on public dollars, to speed up their work to install the safety system.

Thune, however, said the plan to only allow year-by-year extension might not "be the best ultimate solution either." He said a report expected from the FRA this month would provide more information on how much progress rail lines have made and what steps Congress might take.

Lawmakers whose states are home to freight lines have stood behind the call to extend the deadline until 2020, giving rail lines more time to work. The bill also allows for the possibility of two more years of extensions.

"We need to understand what are the consequences of us not acting," Sen. Claire McCaskill (D., Mo.), said at the morning hearing. She has backed the plan to give railroads five more years. "Are we helping safety if we don't delay the deadline? Are we hampering safety if we don't delay the deadline? … I think the scenario of what will occur if we don't needs to be more fleshed out."

Freight lines have complained that technical problems, including installing new radios and communications towers alongside track, and regulatory hurdles have slowed their roll out of positive train control. Passenger lines have been hampered by limited budgets and trouble acquiring the radio spectrum they need to operate the new systems.

Most say they will need several more years to have the system in place on all the required track.

Amtrak expects to meet the 2015 deadline on the Northeast Corridor, and Southeast Pennsylvania's SEPTA is one of the few commuter railroads that also expects to meet the deadline.

You can follow Tamari on Twitter or email him at jtamari@phillynews.com.