U.S. urges railroads to quickly install anti-crash safety system
Source: Reuters
#U.S. JANUARY 2, 2018 / 3:11 PM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO
U.S. urges railroads to quickly install anti-crash safety system
David Shepardson
3 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao urged the nations railroads and transit agencies to take all possible measures to meet deadlines to install a safety system called positive train control (PTC) to prevent crashes.
Letters dated Dec. 27, which were made public on Tuesday, said Chao wanted railroads to greatly accelerate efforts to meet congressional deadlines. A deadly Amtrak crash last month near Seattle that killed three occurred on a section of track that did not have the PTC system operating.
The system is designed to prevent derailments caused by excessive speed. Investigators have said several deadly U.S. train crashes in recent years could have been prevented if the system was in place.
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The letters went to the chief executives of railroads, including Amtrak, BNSF Railway Co, Canadian National Railway (CNR.TO), CSX Corp (CSX.O), Norfolk Southern Corp (NSC.N), Union Pacific Corp (UNP.N) and transit systems in Chicago, Boston, New York, Boston, Newark, Seattle and Los Angeles.
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Read more:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-railroads-safety/u-s-urges-railroads-to-quickly-install-anti-crash-safety-system-idUSKBN1ER1O7