Metro-North faces Dec. 31 deadline on braking system

Metro-North Railroad is scrambling to meet a yearend deadline to install lifesaving safety equipment that can halt speeding trains and prevent crashes — but there are concerns about whether the railroad is on schedule.

The nation’s largest commuter railroad operator says installation of positive train control — or PTC — on its hundreds of locomotives is 63 percent complete, and officials vow they will make the Dec. 31 federal deadline to finish.

“Our schedule is a doable schedule, but it is a schedule that has risk,” David Mayer, chief safety officer for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, recently told a congressional committee.

“The MTA is working diligently to implement PTC in a safe, incremental and controlled roll-out,” Mayer told the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. “We believe we can have all lines in operation by the deadline.”

Railroad regulators, lawmakers and others are closely watching MetroNorth’s performance and that of other commuter and freight railroads to see if they meet the deadline.

“I will hold MetroNorth’s feet to the fire,” said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

“There is no excuse for not meeting the deadline,” Blumenthal said. “They should be further along, and my worry is they only have a limited amount of time left.”

The stakes are high and Amtrak recently warned federal lawmakers that some rail routes — maybe even within the busy Northeast Corridor — could suffer canceled routes if railroads miss the deadline.

A March report by the federal Government Accountability Office said two-thirds of the nation’s 29 commuter railroads may not meet the deadline. The federal government has distributed $2.9 billion to help install PTC.

“For me, it means they will not meet those deadlines,” Blumenthal said of the GAO report.

PTC can halt trains traveling too fast for conditions or operating on a wrong section of track. Experts believe the system could have prevented six recent deadly train crashes, including the December 2017 Amtrak derailment in Washington State that killed three passengers and injured 60.

A 2013 Metro-North crash in the Bronx that killed four passengers also could have been prevented by PTC. The engineer, who was asleep as the train hurtled into a curve, was blamed for the accident.

Ronald Batory, Federal Railroad Administration administrator, said it’s the railroad’s “responsibility” to the meet the PTC requirements.

“The FRA is committed to doing its part to ensure railroads and suppliers are working together to implement PTC systems,” Batory said.

Penalties and deadlines

The Dec. 31 deadline to install PTC is an extension of a previous deadline. Railroads were ordered to install it in 2015, but enough said they could not meet the mandate that Congress extended the deadline to the end of this year.

Railroads which do not meet the new deadline, but show sufficient progress, can apply for an extension until 2020. Federal regulators, under pressure from Congress, are considering fines for failing to meet the deadline.

Blumenthal said he’s asking regulators what the fines will be and demanding that penalties be high enough to prod compliance.

“I was very disappointed in the response from [Elaine Chao, U.S Secretary of Transportation] regarding DOT’s enforcement plan,” Blumenthal said. “All she said is they are working on it.”

James Cameron, founder of the Commuter Action Group and Hearst Connectiut Media columnist, said PTC should have been installed years ago.

“Had PTC been installed, numerous derailments and crashes that have cost dozens of lives and scores of injuries would never have happened,” Cameron said.

Metro-North is confident it will make the deadline for installing PTC, which uses transponders and electronic signals to keep track of trains and control them when needed.

Mayer said MTA’s two railroads — Metro-North and the Long Island Railroad — have installed 80 percent of the needed transponders, 87 percent of interface units and 66 percent of the radio cases and antennas necessary to transmit PTC information and instructions to trains.

Both railroads have secured 100 percent of the necessary radio spectrum, equipped 423 locomotives, or 56 percent of the fleet, and have trained 68 percent of train and engine crews, rail traffic controllers, maintenance personnel and signal maintainers, Mayer said.

Susan Fleming, GAO director of physical infrastructure, said Metro-North is making progress but the completion schedule is tight.

Fleming noted that 13 of 29 commuter railroads have said they plan to seek a deadline extension, while 16 railroads do not need an extension. She did not say which railroads need an extension and which do not.

“We simply must get this done,” said U.S. Sen Bill Nelson, D-Florida and a ranking member on the commerce committee.

‘Time will tell’

Metro-North has said it does not plan to seek an extension of the federal deadline and insists it’s on track to meet the PTC requirement.

“We have not asked for any extensions,” said Judd Everhart, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, which owns the Metro-North system in Connecticut.

“Metro-North is on schedule to implement PTC on the New Haven Line and the New Canaan, Danbury and Waterbury branch lines by the December 31 deadline,” Everhart said.

“Amtrak has informed us that PTC will be fully implemented on the Shore Line East and the Hartford Line by the December deadline, “Everhart said.

Jim Gildea, president of the Connecticut Commuter Rail Council, said MetroNorth is making progress after a slow start.

“Metro North has recovered and has shown steady progress towards a December 2018 completion date,” Gildea said.

“Time will tell if they are able to complete the deadline as they are indicating that they will,” Gildea said.

Canceled routes

Richard Anderson, Amtrak’s chief executive officer, told the congressional committee his railroad is on schedule.

“We are set to complete the installation of PTC on the few remaining elements of the infrastructure we control and on all of our equipment by the federal deadline,” Anderson said.

But Anderson warned not every railroad is likely to meet that deadline, and said some destinations may have to be canceled.

“There will be carriers over which we operate who appear unlikely to achieve sufficient progress to apply for an alternative PTC implementation schedule by year’s end,” Anderson said.

“For any such route segments, Amtrak will suspend operations until the carrier becomes compliant with the law,” Anderson said.

Anderson added the Northeast Corridor — the busiest rail network in the country — could see some cancellations.

“Blumenthal said failure to meet the deadline can affect rail service across the nation.

“That’s why I am making these demands, not only on MTA, but the nation’s railroad systems,” he said.

MTA / Contributed photo The inside of a positive train control radio transmission case recently installed near Metro-North Railroad tracks. Metro-North is scrambling to meet a year-end deadline to install life-saving safety equipment that can halt speeding trains and prevent...