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RAILROAD NEWS AND COMMENTARY FROM WASHINGTON BY WES VERNON U.S. Rails Beef Up Security After Paris


AT THE TIME THIS COLUMN is written, the me- dia, of course, was providing coverage 24/7 on the terrorist attack in Paris. Although a video threatening to inflict a Paris-style bombing on Washington was not immediately verified, rail transportation in America, especially that which is based in or near the nation’s capital, took no chances. Amtrak, for example, was deploying extra patrols, K-9 sweeps and random bag sweeps, uniformed personnel, and long guns. Tighter security was added at WMATA, the city’s rail subway system. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo de-


ployed additional personnel at high-density places and large public gatherings. Police had increased security at bridges, tunnels, rail- road stations, the World Trade Center, and elsewhere.


Rail Safety: Europe


Coincidentally (as far as we know), a death-dealing rail accident in France hap- pened almost simultaneously with the ter- rorism, though there is no reported or known connection between the two events. According to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaff (quot- ing the French Le Monde) one of France’s famous TGV high-speed trains apparently derailed during all that chaos, with 11 dead and 32 wounded, 12 of whom were in seri- ous condition. It’s probably too early for a final verdict, but reports indicated “excessive speed.” That allegation was flatly denied by the train’s engineer. The run was one of France’s famous TGV high-speed trains. Later we were informed this was a “test train” carrying 49 railway technicians on a line not previously in heavy use between Paris and the eastern French city of Strasbourg, which is where the acci- dent occurred.


How PTC Got Through


Here in the U.S., in our own years-long domestic confrontations over the issue of rail safety, changes to Positive Train Control (PTC) got through Congress as part of the mislabeled “highway bill” (its prominently touted main provisions aim to upgrade high- ways). It really deals with most other trans- portation modes as well. And railroads are involved in no small way. Final details were scheduled to be ironed


out to allow Congress and the White House time to avoid a government shut-down. The all-inclusive document will authorize Amer- ica’s railroads to move the safety deadline from December 31 of this year to December 31, 2018, at the earliest: Even after that, the rail lines will be given the option of request- ing an extra two years to work on installation of the safety accident-avoiding equipment. DOT will grant such requests on a case-by- case basis. But is this too much time? Freight and passenger interests lobbied hard to gain the now-granted extension. Critics of the mea- sure complain that granting a de facto “blan- ket five-year” compromise is too much time to act in the face of the warnings that were set


by multiple deadly accidents such as the 2008 commuter-freight crash in California. One of the sharpest critics of the extension


is Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). “A short-term, patch of highway funding should not be the vehicle for such a profoundly important measure [as PTC’s attempt at increasing the safety of human beings on the railroads],” the senator said. The Con- necticut solon added we need a “reasonable measure that provides adequate time, but holds railroads accountable through a year- by-year review of progress toward a fully im- plemented PTC.” Back to the threat that prompted ac-


tion: The lawmakers were warned by freight and passenger interests that failure to extend the rail safety deadline would lead to multiple shutdowns of freight and passenger services. Several passenger railroads, including Am- trak, had threatened shutdowns.


Speaking of Amtrak…


Years ago, when the idea of such omnibus transportation legislation was started, Con- gress applied it to all rail issues except Am- trak. That included freight and mass transit, the latter as applied to passenger commuter trains (many of which run on Class I tracks), as well as trolleys, streetcars, light rail and the like. Intercity trains (a la Amtrak), on the other hand, were left out of that picture, remaining dependent on the regular autho- rized or appropriations bills for money from Congress. At the time, then-Amtrak President Tom


Downs raised a protest, as did Jack Gilstrap, his counterpart at the American Public Tran- sit Association, who said he hoped there would be no quarreling between “the poor sis- ters” of transportation funding. But now…: In 2015, the National Asso-


ciation of Railroad Passengers (NARP) has been building a “broad coalition of passen- ger groups” to rally around the following re- quests: (1) Include all passenger rail as part of a comprehensive transportation bill. (2) Allow for flexibility in investing the $77


billion in general fund revenue used to fund the surface transportation bill. (3) Include predictable, dedicated funding


for passenger rail, and restore funding to FY 2010 levels, when Congress invested $4 bil- lion in trains.


Hudson Tunnels Hanging By a Thread? Finally a newly created corporation may


arrive in the knick of time to rescue the New York/New Jersey tunnels from collapse be- neath the Hudson River, and will hopefully avoid the consequence of allowing the nation’s transportation system to slip into a kind of nightmare for which “chaos” would be too gentle a description. The Gateway Develop- ment Corporation, within the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, would include representatives from the states, Amtrak, and U.S. DOT. They would oversee the construc- tion of the badly needed new rail tunnels un- der the Hudson River to replace the creaky,


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