Senate committee rethinking options to extend positive-train-control (PTC) deadline in wake of Amtrak crash

Lauby said he would favor a measure that would let the FRA closely monitor the progress that railroads are making to implement PTC. This would be a contrast to current law, in which enforceable oversight really does not begin until after the Dec. 31 deadline, he said.

“We need to be fully engaged with the railroads,” Lauby said during the hearing. “We would need to have the ability to extend the deadline. We need to have the ability to negotiate the deadline. We need to have the ability to put interim safety measures in place. We need to have the railroads’ full attention going forward, in order to get this done as quickly as possible. To FRA, that is absolutely key.”

“We do not have that authority. The only authority we have is to enforce the Dec. 31, 2015, deadline.”

But Blumenthal bluntly stated his belief that “the FRA has been as much a part of the problem as the solution,” describing as “completely unacceptable” the FRA’s explanation for the PTC delays over the years.

There’s nothing new or novel about the crashes and derailments, and there’s nothing new or novel about the technology,” Blumenthal said. “What we’ve seen here is a failure of will.

“I think the blame will be on Congress and on the agencies in the federal government that have responsibility for enforcing this law. Enforcement is about expectations. Right now, the expectation is that this law will not be enforced. My fear is that expectation will be self-fulfilling.”

Given the PTC deadline at the end of the year under current law, Thune said “this is something we’re going to have to deal with in the very near future”