Railroads struggle to meet federal safety deadlines

Union Pacific, the main freight rail carrier through Sacramento, is among several railroads nationally that appear to be lagging in implementing new computer safety systems designed to reduce train crashes, according to data published this week by the Federal Railroad Administration.

But the head of the region’s Capitol Corridor passenger rail line said Tuesday passenger trains could be operating with the safety system in place on UP-owned tracks by the middle of next year, far in advance of a federal deadline.

Major railroads that transport hazardous materials and passenger train systems are under order by the Federal Railroad Administration to install Positive Train Control systems by the end of 2018. The system uses track sensors, communications towers and in-train computer systems to help prevent train-totrain collisions and derailments caused by speeding, as well as to keep trains on the correct tracks.

Federal officials made the system mandatory after a Metrolink commuter train crashed in 2008 into a Union Pacific train in the Southern California community of Chatsworth, killing 25 passengers. The Metrolink train ran through a red light. Federal officials said they believe the conductor was distracted by his cell phone.

The latest federal update shows uneven progress nationally among railroads installing the new systems. The improvements have been made on only 23 percent of passenger rail lines and 12 percent of freight lines, according to federal data.

“In order to achieve full PTC implementation, everyone has to do their part — railroads must make implementation a priority, and Congress must make funding for commuter railroads a priority,” FRA Administrator Sarah Feinberg said in a written statement. This week, Feinberg told National Public Radio. She said railroads would have to make “incredibly dramatic progress” in order for all of them to make the 2018 deadline.