Derailment spurs push to get train control back on track

This week’s fatal derailment of a commuter train in New York is providing new momentum for the push for key rail safety regulations, The Wall Street Journal reports.

The push toward automated positive train control systems along the country’s rails reached new heights in 2008, following a deadly wreck in Southern California.

{mosads}But since then, freight railroads have asked for relief from a 2015 deadline to implement the crash-aversion systems, and both regulators and the Obama administration signaled a willingness allow it.

As reported by The Hill’s Transportation and Infrastructure blog, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) this week argued that the New York accident shows that the new requirements are urgently needed.

Writes the Journal’s Ted Mann:

“Sunday’s crash of the Metro-North Railroad train might have changed the political landscape, however, much as the 2008 Southern California commuter-rail crash that led to the mandate, Ms. Feinstein suggested.”

Check out the Wall Street Journal story here and The Hill’s take here.