(The Associated Press circulated the following story by Erica Werner on October 16.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. President Bush signed a sweeping railroad safety bill Thursday mandating measures that could have prevented the Sept. 12 collision that killed 25 people in Los Angeles.
Bush had opposed portions of the bill giving additional funding to Amtrak, and he signed the legislation without fanfare. His spokeswoman announced the action in a press release.
The legislation had stalled as Congress prepared to recess last month. But after the head-on crash in Los Angeles between a freight train and a commuter train drew new attention to safety gaps, lawmakers quickly reached a compromise and hurried the bill through the House and Senate.
The law will require more rest for workers and technology that can stop a train in its tracks if it's headed for collision. This so-called "positive train control" technology would have prevented the Los Angeles crash, federal officials have said.
The law requires the installation of positive train control technology on all passenger lines by 2015. The railroad industry had resisted a congressionally imposed timeline and said it could be hard to meet. But last week Union Pacific Railroad and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railway company pledged to voluntarily beat the 2015 deadline by several years within the Los Angeles area.
The bill also calls for Amtrak to receive $13 billion over five years in subsidies, though Congress will have to separately approve the money year after year.
The Sept. 12 collision occurred when a Metrolink commuter train failed to stop at a red light and ended up on the same track as an oncoming Union Pacific freight.
(The National Transportation Safety Board issued the following on October 16.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. National Transportation Safety Board Acting Chairman Mark V. Rosenker today praised Congress and the President for passage of the Railroad Safety Improvement Act of 2008 (HR 2095), saying that it will help bring about safety improvements long sought by the Safety Board.
"For 30 years, the NTSB has been calling for development and installation of an automatic system that would protect passengers, crew members and communities from the dangers of collisions or over-speed derailments, " Rosenker said. "Such a system, called Positive Train Control (PTC), will now be mandated for Class 1 railroads and passenger railroads for installation by the end of 2015. An implementation plan is due in 18 months. We continue to see accidents every year - such as last month's commuter rail collision near Los Angeles - that could be prevented with such a system.
"The new law also addresses many train crew fatigue issues that the Safety Board has examined over many years, including hours of service, so-called 'limbo time' and work schedules." Railroads would have to limit shifts to 12 hours and give workers at least 10 consecutive hours off in a 24-hour period.
Another element of the law addresses the need for train crews to have emergency escape breathing apparatus in locomotives when freight trains are carrying hazardous materials that could pose a threat of inhalation damage, and strengthens track inspection requirements.
In addition, the new law has designated the NTSB as the primary agency for coordination of federal resources to assist families of passengers involved in rail passenger accidents. The provisions of this legislation mirror those responsibilities assumed by the Board in 1996 following the passage of the Aviation Disaster Family Assistance Act.
"I congratulate everyone in the legislative and executive branches of our federal government who had a hand in passage of this landmark legislation," Roseker said. "I urge everyone to begin implementing these improvements as soon as possible so that we can begin to remove some of these items from our Most Wanted list in the not-too-distant future."
WASHINGTON -- President Bush reversed his seven-year opposition to a nationally subsidized railroad Thursday and signed a bill authorizing more than $2.6 billion a year over five years to upgrade and expand Amtrak, The Bergen County (N.J.) Record reports.
The bill does not actually provide the funds, but merely authorizes their expenditure. Congress must still actually appropriate the funds, which cannot happen until next year, at the earliest.
The law requires that Amtrak upgrade the Washington-to-Boston Northeast Corrido, which means replacing or upgrading aging tracks, switches, signals and even bridges that frequently cause delays on the corridor.
Without comment, Bush bowed to broad bipartisan support.
The previous long-term federal commitment to Amtrak was signed by President Clinton and expired in 2002, requiring the railroad to wait for Congress' annual appropriations each year to know how much money it could spend.
"After a decade of starvation diets by the Bush administration and inaction of the Republican-controlled Congress, we stand together to rebuild Amtrak and provide the necessary resources to construct a network of high-speed rail corridors across America," said Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House transportation committee.
The Northeast Corridor covers its operating expenses and has gained riders, but critics have said the law does not do enough to force Amtrak to drop money-losing long-distance lines in the South and West.
(The preceding article by Herb Jackson was published Oct. 17, 2008, by The Bergen County, N.J., Record.)
