Failure to install technology has deadly impact

Nearly 300 people have died in train crashes that could have been prevented if railroads across the U.S. had implemented critical speedcontrol technology that federal safety investigators have been pushing for close to five decades, according to rail-crash data obtained by The Associated Press.

But Congress has extended the deadlines for railroads to implement so-called positive train control for years.

All the while, new highspeed train routes continue to spring into operation without the technology, including the new route involved in Monday’s Amtrak crash south of Seattle that killed three people and one in Florida that’s expected to start service in the coming weeks.

Data from the National Transportation Safety Board shows the crashes that the agency says could have been prevented by positive train control have led to 298 deaths, 6,763 injuries and nearly $385 million in property damage.

The records list crashes from 1969 through May 2015.

The GPS-based technology is designed to automatically slow or stop trains that are going too fast and can take over control of a train when an engineer is distracted or incapacitated.

A 2008 Metrolink crash in California that killed 25 people prompted federal lawmakers to mandate that railroad companies install the GPS-based PTC technology by 2015, but rail agencies said they didn’t have enough time to install the expensive, complicated system.

Congress then extended the deadline until the end of 2018 and now, in some circumstances, railroads can apply for an extension until 2020.

Positive train control was installed on 24 percent of the nation’s passenger route miles and 45 percent of freight route miles as of Sept. 30.