jis
Permanent Way Inspector
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Administator
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Looks like come first of January there may not be much running outside of the NEC and LA MetroLink, unless Congress gets off its duff and does something about it. Apparently the STB which is supposed to enforce the law regarding common carrier responsibilities is in the railroad's corner on this one. Since it appears that Congress is more or less agreeable to postpone the deadline to 2018, the resolution of this problem seems simple. But the question is whether Congress can actually get even that little bill passed anymore, what with Mr. Criz working on his next government shutdown dog and pony show.
From Fred Frailey in Trains http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/fred-frailey/archive/2015/09/09/bnsf-we-will-be-paralyzed.aspx
From Fred Frailey in Trains http://cs.trains.com/trn/b/fred-frailey/archive/2015/09/09/bnsf-we-will-be-paralyzed.aspx
In a candid letter to a U.S. senator, BNSF Railway’s chief executive, Carl Ice, said September 9 that BNSF would in effect shut down most of its network rather than violate a federal law mandating that positive train control be operational by December 31. CSX Transportation has said it, too, questions whether it should violate federal laws, and other Class I carriers are likely to follow suit. This set up the real possibility of a national transportation crisis at the beginning of 2016. The public may be unaware of how closely the U.S. economy is tied to railroads, but the reality is that without railroads, this country will quickly cease to function normally. Imagine, for instance, no electricity to heat homes.
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