The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Accident emphasizes need for rail upgrades
The deadly Amtrak crash in Washington state struck a nerve in Connecticut, which has its own history of recent train wrecks, and raised anew questions about how much progress Metro-North Railroad is making on installation of life-saving Positive Train Control.
The Amtrak crash on Monday, which killed three and injured more than 100, was “like Spuyten Duyvil all over again,’’ said Jim Cameron, veteran commuter advocate and Hearst Connecticut Media transportation columnist.
He was referring to the 2013 Metro-North crash in the Bronx, N.Y., that took four lives when the operator dozed off as the train rounded a sharp 30 mph curve at 82.
Excessive speed played a major role in the Washington Amtrak crash, with safety experts Tuesday concluding the train was traveling at 80 mph on a curve with a 30 mph limit.
In both instances, experts say Positive Train Control — a GPS-like system of towers and transponders designed to halt trains traveling too fast — would have made a difference.
Mandated by Congress in 2008, PTC was supposed to be fully in operation along freight and passenger lines nationwide by 2015. Despite objections from Connecticut’s Democratic lawmakers, Congress extended the deadline to the end of 2018, with two-years of further extensions possible if certain conditions are met.
Metro-North’s New Haven line is a ground zero of sorts for PTC, with advocates and lawmakers accusing its parent Metropolitan Transportation Authority of slow-walking the installation process.
“I am deeply concerned about Metro-North meeting the 2018 deadline,’’ said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. “They are providing very extensive assurances, but I’m disturbed about the apparent gaps in progress on the ground.’’
The Federal Railroad Administration’s PTC progress report for the second quarter this year shows Metro-North with 20 percent of its locomotives equipped with PTC devices, 9 percent of its transmitting towers completed and zero route miles in PTC operation.
“We are moving heaven and earth to meet the PTC deadline by the end of 2018,’’ MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said at a news conference Tuesday with New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The Amtrak wreck on Monday “would not happen on either Metro-North or the Long Island Railroad,’’ Lhota said, explaining MTA has already installed what is known as “automatic civil speed enforcement.’’
It is built into the existing signal system and is in advance of PTC, operating on five critical curves on the New Haven line.