US freight and passenger networks to shut down?

[FenMan]

There may be trouble ahead:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/28/o...region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0

UNTREATED drinking water, empty store shelves, manufacturing plants sitting idle, and a million more cars on the roads because America’s rail network effectively comes to a halt. Sound unbelievable? Unless Congress acts quickly, this will begin to be reality in the United States as soon as January because of a law that many people have never heard of: a mandate that the rail industry install positive train control (P.T.C.) by the end of 2015.

P.T.C. is a system of complex GPS and wireless technologies that make trains safer by automatically stopping them in dangerous situations, ultimately preventing accidents caused by human error. Following a commuter train accident that killed 25 people near Los Angeles in 2008, Congress passed a law requiring virtually all commuter lines and larger railroads that carry passengers and toxic materials to install P.T.C. by the 2015 deadline.

It has been clear that the railroads need additional time to meet the deadline, and the Government Accountability Office acknowledged as much recently. After Dec. 31, railroads will be faced with operating in willful violation of a law. As a result, railroads have concluded that it is not reasonable to operate on these lines after the deadline, which will effectively shut down the freight rail network. At the same time, most passenger rail services in the United States will not operate.

Article continues ...

 

[edwin_m]

Surely PTC just applies to passenger lines? In which case the (profitable) freight will continue and the railroads will have the perfect excuse to ban the passenger trains that get in the way.

 

[duncanp]

With a presidential election in 2016, I doubt that this will happen.

The last but one paragraph of the article is relevant

Congress has acted to include the P.T.C. extension in a multiyear highway bill, the Drive Act. But finalizing that bill could slip into next year and Congress faces a deadline to vote on an extension of the bill by Thursday. We could avoid a self-inflicted crisis if Congress took the opportunity to pass the P.T.C. extension, as well.

If the (Republican controlled) Congress fails to sort this out then they could get some flak in the presidential election next year.

I was in the US at the end of September (travelling on the Texas Eagle from St Louis to Dallas - 2 hours late) and there was a deadline of 30th September for Congress to agree a budget deal in order to fund the Government until December, without which there would have been one of the government "shutdowns" for which the US is known.

Somehow I think that this will be sorted out at the last minute, but can't help thinking that there is some party political brinkmanship going on.

 

[philabos]

A three year extension for PTC was passed by congress and signed into law by the President today. Crisis over.
We should have purchased TPWS years ago.