At the urging of a South Dakota senator, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Transportation will review how railroads in the United States are implementing positive train control.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, asked for the review out of concern that freight and passenger railroads are not moving fast enough toward meeting a 2018 deadline.
The review will consider how railroads are using federal funds to install PTC, which can stop or slow trains that are speeding.
At present, PTC is in operation on 27 percent of freight-rail route miles and 23 percent of passenger-rail route miles.
The technology was to have been installed by the end of 2015, but at the prodding of the railroad industry Congress reset the deadline to the end of 2018.
The industry said it was struggling to meet the original deadline due to the cost of implementing the technology.
Tags: DOT Inspector General, Positive train control, PTC deadline, U.S. Department of Transportation, US DOT
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