WASHINGTON—Widespread disruptions of freight and passenger rail traffic are likely if Congress doesn’t extend a deadline to start using certain safety technology before the end of the year, railroads are warning.
Freight and passenger railroads have said in letters to Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune (R-S.D.) that they won’t have the technology—known as positive train control, or PTC—in operation by Dec. 31, the deadline set by a 2008 rail safety law.
The technology automatically stops trains to prevent collisions with other trains or derailments due to high speeds. By the deadline, the technology is required to be in operation on all tracks used by passenger trains and to transport chemicals that are toxic to inhale.
Amtrak relies on freight rail tracks for much of its operations outside the Northeast, as do many commuter railroads.
Sarah Feinberg, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, has said her agency intends to enforce the 2008 law, including imposing fines on railroads that don’t meet the deadline.
To avoid the fines, some freight railroads said they may halt the chemicals shipments and stop allowing passenger trains to use their tracks.
Lance Fritz, Union Pacific’s president, said the railroad plans to stop the chemical shipments several weeks prior to the deadline, and long-distance passenger operations several days ahead.
