After decades of delay, life-saving rail technology deadline nears
Safety advocates warn dangers, loopholes to remain even after New Year’s Eve milestone
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Updated: 4:00 PM EST Dec 16, 2020
Safety advocates warn dangers, loopholes to remain even after New Year’s Eve milestone
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Updated: 4:00 PM EST Dec 16, 2020
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We were married for almost 30 years, and I could never have imagined that I would live my life without him. The teacher from Boise and the banker from Denver met on a blind date. It led to three Children and a marriage that ended two weeks shy of 29 years. When he was taken. I I was incredulous because, as I said, When my dear friends, this can't be true. We have three kids stories. Doyle, Salcer and 24 other passengers died on September 12th, 2000 and eight, when investigators say they're Metrolink commuter train near Chatsworth, California blew through a red signal, hit a freight train and derailed. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the crash could have been prevented had automatic braking technology been installed, meaning Claudia's house ER would not have been, Ah, widowed single parent never, ever brings the person back, but there's a chance that someone else would have to live without their husband father for the rest of their days. That chance is because of what happened just weeks later, when Congress finally adopted a nationwide requirement for the technology called positive train control. That crash changed. Everything did e did. Jennifer Hammadi is a board member at the NTSB Thean Dependent Safety investigative agency that has pushed for increased rail safety technology for a half century race. The'RE national investigative unit showed how it works in 2018, and that was the PTC overriding your decision exactly. With positive train control PTC. The locomotive communicates with the tracks nearby cell towers, rail operation centers and work crews using GPS, WiFi and secure radio transmissions to override an engineer and stop a speeding train. It will save lives. This technology will save lives. We'll save lives. How can you be so sure? The NTSB has investigated 154 accidents over the last 50 years where 305 people died. Over 6800 people were injured. Those lives, those injuries, those families will never be the same. They've lost loved ones, and PTC would have prevented their deaths. You could go right ahead, keep killing people. Folks in my district are angry and worried. The American public is tired of excuses. The national Investigative unit has tracked the slow progress of America's railroads to install the technology. Now, with the deadline December 31st on Lee. One of those railroads required. New Jersey Transit is a risk of, not media, government data show, but that doesn't mean the nation's rail system is as safe as it could be. As of December 3rd, 19% 1 out of every five passenger railroads using PTC still couldn't talk to each other on Inspector. General Report this month found. Amtrak can't easily measure PTC reliability or spot problems on its tracks, and it's manual workarounds are quote error prone, and the law and fr regulations on Lee require PTC on 41% of the rail miles in America. Should all rail miles have it where there is a safety risk where there could be fatalities or injuries? And I'm including I'm including workers in that absolutely, But it's arriving too late for Jim Level. The father of three sons and a daughter died in 2013 when a Metro North train, going more than twice the speed limit, derailed. Three others died, too. Just six months later, Levels widow unleashed her fury on the M T, a rail board that had not yet installed positive train control. Six years after Congress first decided to require it to the board members who still feel that safety first is just not gonna wash. I suggest you resign today. The railroad has PTC. Nancy Montgomery is a local legislator. They're boys or adults, and the hundreds of letters of support from strangers still give her comfort and a mission. We need to make sure that the oversight and the management of these companies serves the needs that will continue to keep the little guy in mind so that Jim Levels can get on the train and go toe work and make it home. The head of the Federal Railroad Administration, Rahm Batory, declined our request for an interview. Just A Z has every time we've asked for the past two years in Washington, I'm chief national investigative correspondent Mark Albert.