The Rail Safety Improvement Act was passed in late 2008 soon after a Chatsworth, California train disaster caused 25 deaths and 135 injuries. This Act mandated a $13 billion project which calls for installation of a technology known as Positive Train Control, which automatically brakes trains which are about to collide or derail. This legislation also left railroad companies with nearly all of the costs involved. Railroad companies are now pushing hard to relax the law’s main provision.

Railroads are required to install Positive Train Control (PTC) by the end of 2015. This covers an estimated 70,000 miles of track utilized by passenger trains or extremely hazardous materials. The National Transportation Safety Board has championed this technology, and have identified 21 train wrecks since 2001 which they claim could have been averted with PTC.

“PTC can prevent these human errors from causing collisions, hazmat releases, passengers killed and injured, and train crews being killed,” said Steven Ditmeyer, a former rail industry executive and federal official. Ditmeyer now teaches in Michigan State University’s railway management program.

Leading the resistance to PTC are the Association of American Railroads, which represents freight haulers and Amtrak. They are joined by the American Public Transportation Association, which represents commuter rail systems. These organizations have called PTC the biggest federal mandate the industry has faced in more than a century. They also anticipated that the government would step up its financial support.

Crash victims, such as Frank Kohler who suffered a brain injury in the Chatsworth, California collision is distressed by talk of accommodating the industry. Kohler has said that if PTC had been in place three years ago, he would have arrived home safely. He also added, “I would still have my professional life intact and I would be a productive member of society.”

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