Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I rise to speak about Positive Train
Control, a crash-avoidance rail safety system that can automatically
stop trains in order to prevent impending collisions.

The Senate Commerce Committee recently voted to advance a bill that
would give railroads a 5-to-7 year extension of the deadline to
implement this life-saving technology.

In my view, a blanket extension is disastrous policy.

Fortunately, the members of the Commerce Committee have signaled
their willingness to consider improvements to this bill, and today I
rise to offer such an improvement.

This legislation, the Positive Train Control Safety Act, would
provide a reasonable extension for the implementation of positive train
control until 2018, on a case-by-case, year-by-year basis, for any
railroad whose implementation plans were delayed by factors outside of
their control.

This provision mirrors language that already passed the Senate in
2012 as part of the transportation reauthorization bill with overwhelming
support. It is a measured, realistic response to the delayed
implementation we have witnessed. Overall, this bill strives to hold
the railroads to their safety commitments.

To understand the importance of PTC, we must revisit a terrible
tragedy in my State of California, near Chatsworth.

In 2008, a Los Angeles Metrolink commuter train collided head-on with
a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135 more.

Testimony from the victims who survived the crash paint a gruesome
picture of the aftermath. ``Severed limbs were strewn all about and
blood was pooled everywhere.'' Victims' bodies, many torn to pieces,
had to be extracted from heaps of steel and wreckage.

One passenger described coming across a man who had been crushed by
an air vent: ``His mangled legs were all I could see, but his cries for
help were very loud. Eventually he must have died, as he was calling
out for his mother and then no more sounds. [. . .] I was trying to
decide if I would die by fire or suffocation of smoke.''

Many victims suffered traumatic brain injuries and those sitting at
tables suffered ``horrible abdominal injuries that cannot be medically
resolved.'' As the National Transportation Safety Board found in its
investigation, this terrible tragedy could have been prevented if the
Positive Train Control technology had been in place.

Positive Train Control is a system for automatic train safety, which
was originally recommended by the National Transportation Safety Board
in 1970.

Using GPS and wireless technology, Positive Train Control can
automatically put the brakes on trains about to collide or derail.
Positive Train Control can monitor trains and stop them if they enter
the wrong track or are about to run red lights.

In the Metrolink crash, it was later determined that the engineer was
texting, causing him to miss a red signal and cause the deadly
collision.

PTC could have prevented this, as it could have forced the train to
stop before running onto the same track as the oncoming freight train.

This horrific accident became a rallying cry for Congress, which
responded by passing the Rail Safety Improvement Act in 2008.

This legislation mandated the widespread installation of PTC by the
end of 2015.

The railroad industry has fought PTC from start. Now, as the deadline
rapidly approaches, railroads are again lobbying hard to delay
installation. Many have not even begun installing PTC in any form--
something that is particularly disturbing to me.

After its terrible accident, Metrolink in California has shown great
leadership and plans to be the first railroad to be fully certified.
Metrolink is on track do so by the federally-mandated deadline of
December 31, 2015.

Several other railroad companies in California are also on track to
begin using PTC this year, in demonstration mode, on the path to final
certification. These include the North County Transit District in San
Diego and Caltrain in the Bay Area.

In addition, new passenger rail services in California plan to
operate with PTC from the first moment that they come on-line,
including the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit line in 2016 and the first
High Speed Rail segment in 2022.

California is committed to safe and efficient rail. I believe my
State demonstrates that railroads around the country can and should be
expected to implement Positive Train Control as soon as is feasible,
without unnecessary delay.

The bill that the Senate Commerce Committee recently voted to advance
is a no-strings-attached bill that would extend by 5 years the deadline
by which PTC must be implemented.

On top of that, it offers railroads an optional extension of an
additional 2 years on a case-by-case basis. Extending the deadline
through until the outset of 2023.

Effectively, this is just kicking the can down road once more.

I am deeply concerned about this blanket extension. First, it rewards
those that have chosen delay over action. More troubling, it could have
deadly consequences for Americans across the country.

It has been 7 years since the collision at Chatsworth claimed 25
lives, and 45 years since the National Transportation Safety Board
first recommended a system like Positive Train Control.

Unnecessary delay is simply not acceptable.

This is why I am introducing this bill today. I believe it will
incentivize railroads to install PTC as quickly as possible.

My bill allows case-by-case, single-year extensions through 2018 for
railroads that have demonstrated good faith efforts to implement PTC.
It also instructs the Department of Transportation to only grant
extensions if the Secretary determines that a railroad's efforts to
implement PTC were delayed due to circumstances beyond their control.

In addition, the bill offers a number of other common-sense
provisions relating to Positive Train Control requirements and railroad
safety. These provisions reflect the lessons we have learned since the
Rail Safety Improvement Act first required the implementation of PTC
6\1/2\ years ago.

These provisions include bolstering the transparency of railroads'
implementation efforts, by requiring regular status reports; and
ensuring trains carrying crude oil or ethanol run on tracks with PTC.

The provision requires better coordination between the Federal
Railroad Administration and the Federal Communications Commission to
ensure adequate wireless communications availability.

Requiring the Department of Transportation to evaluate the
effectiveness of PTC at grade crossings.

Improving opportunities for railroad employees to report safety
deficiencies.

Protecting employees in rail work zones.

Improving inspection practices on commuter railroads.

Riding our rails should not be a dangerous activity. It doesn't have
to be. If we have the technology to prevent collisions, we must use it.

I urge my colleagues to carefully consider this proposal.

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