Western Railroad Discussion > More PTC issues

Now the lady who got it all started is on a crusade to hold the PTC extension hostage; Email her and your other elected representatives on why they should extend the deadline and  what will happen if they do not. As a railroader I know all the railroads have been working hard to get the system operational.

"Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that Senate Democrats will not go along with a Republican plan to extend a deadline for automating most of the nation's trains unless House GOP leaders pass a long-term highway bill.  
Railroads currently have until Dec. 31 to install an automated navigation system known as Positive Train Control (PTC), which regulates the speed and track movements of trains.
House Republicans have introduced legislation to extend the deadline until December 2018, but Boxer said Wednesday the Senate would only consider it if House Republicans pass a long-term highway bill this month. 

"If they think that they are going to pull out their favorite issue, such as getting an extension for Positive Train Control on a short-term extension or as a stand-alone bill, they are wrong," she said during a speech on the Senate floor on Wednesday. 
"I understand that many have argued that addressing the approaching PTC deadline is extremely critical, and failing to do so will have dramatic financial consequences," Boxer continued. "But, you know what? There are a lot of issues addressed in the DRIVE Act that are critically important and that have financial ramifications on this country."
Republicans have focused intently on the automated train deadline because several rail companies have warned they will shut down service in January 2016 to avoid fines if the deadline is not extended.
Boxer said it is "inexcusable" that the House has not shown the same urgency about passing a long-term highway bill, noting that an Oct. 29 deadline for the expiration of federal road funding is rapidly approaching. 
Boxer, who is the top ranking Democrat on the Senate committee that oversees transportation projects, noted the upper chamber has already passed a measure known as the DRIVE Act that contains three years' worth of guaranteed infrastructure funding. 
"More than two months ago, the Senate acted in a bipartisan fashion to pass a long-term transportation bill that increases funding for road, bridge, and transit projects," she said. "Now we are up against this deadline and what has the House done?"
Boxer and other Senate Democrats have pressured House Republicans to pass a six-year highway bill after they rejected the Senate's bill during the summer because it contained six years' worth of transportation commitments, but only three years' worth of funding. 
The House instead passed a three-month highway bill that is set to expire on Oct. 29, legislation the Senate was forced to accept to prevent an interruption in federal transportation spending. 
Boxer negotiated over the terms of the Senate's highway bill with the chamber's majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). She said she expected the House to have passed a transportation funding measure of its own by now since lawmakers have been back in Washington for a month following the August recess. 
"I had received assurances that the House would follow the lead of the Senate and introduce and pass a long-term transportation bill," Boxer said. "It has not done so. So I ask -- where is the House bill?" 
House Republicans have vowed to pass a long-term highway bill, but they have been sidetracked with a leadership election that became necessary when Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) announced his retirement last month.
"We’re going to make sure we get the highway bill done," Boehner's likely replacement, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" last week, when asked how he would differ from the departing Boehner. 
Boxer said Wednesday that the House has to act quickly to prevent an interruption in federal transportation funding. 
"Short-term extensions prevent states from moving forward with any significant transportation projects," she said.  
"It is like going to a bank to get a mortgage to buy a house, but the bank would only agree to a six-month mortgage," Boxer continued. "There is no way someone would go ahead with making such a large investment without that long-term certainty that funding will be available when they need it." 
The Department of Transportation (DOT) has warned that it will have to begin cutting back on payments to states and local governments for infrastructure projects in November if Congress does not reach an agreement on a highway bill extension this month. 
Boxer said Wednesday transportation funding interruption would have catastrophic consequences.
"The federal government provides over 50 percent of the capital expenditures for state highway projects nationwide, which means that states and local governments rely heavily on federal funding to maintain and improve their transportation systems," she said. 
"Everyone knows we need a long-term, bipartisan, robust transportation bill, and nobody wants our bridges falling down.  But we need to see the House step up to the plate." 


 



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/15 19:02 by cctgm.

This subject honestly makes me sick.  I would love to contribute something of value to the conversation tonight but I just tied up from a long trip and thinking about it is just frustrating and exhausting.  Lately I have been reading a book called "Rock Island Requium," which is all about the collapse of the Rock Island due to government regulation and the history of the ICC and regulations.  Just sickening......This regulatory BS feels like the 1960s all over again.  I hope the railroads completely shut down on January 1st.......completely......to teach these politicians a lesson.  I hope the entire industry in unison declares "who is John Galt?"  Anyone agree?

Agree.
Nothing is going to change until we clean out the politicians and blotted staff in DC.

Boxer may  be the one quoted here but I thought it was Feinstein  who started this PTC  push in the first place.  
C 

Carol Voss
Bakersfield, CA

Come December 31, it's time for the railroads to do what they have threatened,
shut down ALL trains nationwide and prove to these Self Important Politicians
that they do not control things in this country the way they think they do!!

PTC, was NOT an off the shelf product, it had to be designed, developed, tested and
than installed on many thousands of miles of mainline railroads and with the relatively
short timeframe set by Congress, to complete installation, has proven to be NOT
possible for ALL railroad companies and passenger agencies!

These systems, developed by and between the railroads and suppliers, are not perfect
and there is NO guaruntee that they will function as envisioned by their producers and the
politicians!

I don't believe that providing an extension to make sure these systems are installed and
functioning properly, is detrimental to the continued safety of the railroads as they exist today!!

This one Senator, who has been in office way to long for the good of the people(My Opinion),
has shown her true colors by playing politics with a mandated safety system, DEMANDED
by Congress and supported by both parties, by saying she is going to hold up any extension
legislation by demanding funding of a highway bill!

If she is truly interested in rail safety and the efficient operation of PTC, then she should step
out of the way and vote for an extension!!

Mike

mundo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Agree.
> Nothing is going to change until we clean out the
> politicians and blotted staff in DC.

mundo --
I am pretty sure you meant "bloated".

But you are wrong, wrong, wrong about the staffing
levels in DC.  There is simply no way that any human
being who represents people in a country as huge and
complex as ours can ever have the time to read every
single word of every single bill they vote on.  They would
all need to be superhuman speed-readers with photographic
memories, and we all would need to live in a reality where there
were 1,000 hours in every day. 

Politicians have always depended heavily on their staffs to
read and interpret the legislation they work on.  And those staff
people must be very intelligent and have great comprehension
skills, as well as being able to pick out key parts of each piece
of legislation to tell their employesr about.

Please remember -- any rule that is simple is ALWAYS unfair.
Making laws that are fair REQUIRES those laws to be complex.
One size NEVER fits all.

What Boxer is doing is using the PTC issue to get another VERY
important issue taken care of.  I wish she did not need to do that --
that Congress would do what is right without being threatened with
disaster, but....... Congress seems to be -- mostly -- more interested
in paying attention to small issues than they are in keeping the country
functioning well as a whole.

No one deserves to be in a position of responsibility in any organization
of they cannot put first things first, and if they don't care at all about the
welfarre of the organization azs a whole.

Margaret

EDIT to add:
stash wrote ----
"Politics is the news. PTC was mandated by politicians. Railroads need
more time to implement PTC. Politicians are key in allowing more time."

Thank you, stash!  That sums it up very well!

No one can talk intelligently or meaningfully about railroads without
talking about the political milieu they exist in.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/15 22:03 by Margaret_SP_fan.

Boxer isn't saying she is against the PTC extension; she is merely saying that Congress should also provide reasonable transportation funding, also.  Doesn't seem unreasonable since the Senate has already passed such a bill.  We should have both.

This isn't because of the politicians.  This is because of a Metrolink LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER who was more concerned about his cell phone messages than the safety of his passengers.  Once again, a RR employee causes a national problem, just like the AMTRAK incident a long time that ended up requiring random drug screening and what else due to that engineer's pot smoking.  As a truck driver, I still have to pay for that idiot's mistake.

I hated the shut downs in 91 and 92, but this happens our leaders are gonna learn the hard way on why railroads are wanting an extension since our leaders think the deadline was easy and not paying attention on what it takes to get PTC going and it'll really hurt the economy, but on this situation, I don't blame the railroads at all!

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Boxer is just using this issue as a way to get her favorite legislation passed. It could have been any kind of legislation.  So she is putting politics over responsibility. 

If the shutdown occurs, look for Boxer and about 200 other legislators to blame it on somebody else.