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Reforms promise safer rails
09/29/2008
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In the wake of the recent train crash that killed 25 people in Los Angeles, the U.S. House of Representatives last week passed a comprehensive rail safety bill calling for technology that can stop a train headed for a collision and more rest for train crews.
Federal Railroad Administration authorities have said that the positive train control technology that can engage the brakes if a train misses a signal or goes off-track would have made a difference in the Sept. 12 head-on collision between a freight train and a Southern California Metrolink commuter train. The bill requires it to be installed by 2015 on all rail lines that carry passengers and on freight lines that carry hazardous materials.
Investigators have said that engineer fatigue may have contributed to the Metrolink crash. The legislation would cap the monthly hours train crews can work at 276. Current law allows train crews to work more than 400 hours per month, compared to 100 hours per month for commercial airline pilots.
The rail safety bill, which now goes to the Senate, would be the first major rail safety reforms since the 1994 Federal Railroad Safety Authorization Act, which expired in 1998, leaving the Federal Railroad Administration operating under an expired law for the past 10 years.
