BLET Urges Senators To Oppose PTC Extension

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TO Labour, NATIONAL, AND TRANSPORTATION EDITORS:

BLET Urges Senators To Oppose PTC Extension

CLEVELAND, March 25, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Brotherhood

of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (BLET) announced today that it

strongly opposes S. 650, the Railroad Safety and Positive Train

Control Extension Act, which is expected to be voted on in the Senate

Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation within hours.

Positive Train Control (PTC) is a technology that will prevent most

train-to-train collisions in the rail industry, and was mandated by

the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The Deadline for

implementation of PTC technology is December 31, 2015, and when it is

completed, the technology will cover nearly 60,000 miles of track. S.

650 proposes extending the deadline for the implementation of PTC from

the current deadline to December 31, 2020, with the possibility of an

additional two-year extension to 2022.

In addition to the blanket extension, the legislation prohibits the

Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) from ever requiring railroads

other than Class I and passenger/commuter railroads to have PTC if

“the railroad does not choose to implement positive train control.”

Additionally, it mandates that the FRA must respond to a railroad

application for extension within 10 days, which makes it nearly

impossible for FRA to perform the sort of analysis required to

determine whether the applicant truly cannot comply with the law, and

would effectively grant the railroads the requested extension with

little or no proof of legitimate need.

Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx said the Obama administration

is opposed to extending the PTC implementation deadline,

testifyingbefore the House Transportation and Infrastructure

Committee in early February that the U.S. Department of Transportation

(DOT) continues to holdthe “industry’s feet to the fire in getting

PTC done as quickly as possible,” as opposed to allowing a blanket

extension. In spite of that, certain railroads have convinced their

“friends” in Congress to propose just that.

“Not all railroads have treated PTC the same, but contrary to

statements made by certain railroads, Positive Train Control is not a

new technology,” BLET National President Dennis R. Pierce said. “It

has been around in some form for more than 40 years, and has been on

the National Transportation Safety Board’s most wanted technology list

since 1971.

“The bottom line is that the technology saves lives, both in the

railroad workplace and with the public in general. On the heels of

the horrific railroad accident at Chatsworth, California that claimed

27 lives, Congress mandated in 2008 that PTC technology be implemented

by the end of 2015. This latest push by Congress to now allow up to a

7-year delay raises the question of just who Congress works for –

their large corporate benefactors or the general public. Those

pushing this extension have obviously forgotten the multitude of

avoidable railroad tragedies and resulting loss of life much quicker

that I will ever be able to,” said President Pierce.

“Since 2005, the NTSB has completed 16 investigations of railroad

accidents that could have been prevented or mitigated with Positive

Train Control,” BLET Vice-President & National Legislative

Representative John Tolman said. “These 16 accidents claimed 52 lives

and injured 942 people; the damages totalled hundreds of millions of

dollars; and yet certain railroads have spent the last seven years

dragging their feet on the implementation of PTC.

“Each death caused by the delay of PTC’s implementation is one too

many, and Congress capitulating to the railroads for this broad

extension is most certainly not in the public interest,” Tolman said.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen represents more

than 55,000 professional locomotive engineers and trainmen throughout

the United States. The BLET is the founding member of the Rail

Conference, International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

CONTACT: John Bentley 216-241-2630

To view the original version on PR Newswire,

visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/blet-urges-senators-to-oppose-ptc-extension-300056020.html

SOURCE Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

-0- 03/25/2015

CO: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen

ST: Ohio

IN: TRN RIT

SU: LEG AVO LBR

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