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Quigley, Newhouse Urge Congress to Extend PTC Deadline, Avoid Rail Shutdown

September 29, 2015

Lead over 150 Bipartisan Members of Congress in Letter to House Leadership

WASHINGTON — Today, U.S. Representatives Mike Quigley (IL-05), a member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD), and Dan Newhouse (WA-04), a member of the House Agriculture Committee, led a bipartisan letter to House leadership signed by over 150 Members of Congress urging Congress to extend the upcoming deadline for implementing Positive Train Control (PTC) safety technology and prevent a shutdown of the nation's passenger and freight rail system.

"The statutory deadline for the full implementation of PTC safety technology is rapidly approaching, and it is clear that our nation's passenger and freight railroads are unable to meet the deadline," the members wrote. "To avert a major disruption of passenger and freight rail service that will have far reaching consequences for American commuters, businesses, and our economy, Congress must act now to extend the upcoming PTC deadline with a clear timeline that keeps railroads accountable and allows for the responsible implementation of this critical safety technology."

In their letter, Reps. Quigley and Newhouse explained that despite the investment of billions of dollars by passenger and freight railroads towards PTC implementation, a recent report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirms what commuter railroads, the freight industry, and numerous government agencies have warned for years: implementing PTC nationwide by the statutory deadline at end of this year is simply impossible.

They warned that unless Congress acts soon to extend the deadline, passenger and freight railroads will have to shut down operations across the country. Without congressional action, the hundreds of thousands of passengers who rely on commuter rail to get to work every day will have to find alternate means of travel, crowding already congested roads, increasing costs to local communities, and disproportionately affecting low income Americans. Shutting down the country's freight network would also have devastating consequences to our nation's economy, affecting thousands of businesses across a wide spectrum of industries and producing shortages of essential goods. The shutdown could make it difficult for cities to purify drinking water without the availability of chlorine and for farmers to tend to their crops without access to fertilizer.

When Congress mandated PTC implementation by 2015 in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, there was no off-the-shelf technology available to achieve these safety objectives for all railroads. Our nation's railroads have had to develop it, and they've had to do that with little help from the federal government. 71 percent of commuter railroads will not achieve full PTC implementation before the statutory deadline of December 2015. Half of the country's commuter railroads are being forced to defer other safety and capital improvements in order to afford the costs of PTC.

As Illinois' only member on the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Quigley has pushed for a long-term surface transportation bill and prioritized Chicago-area infrastructure investments as a member of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD). Most recently, Rep. Quigley joined Senator Durbin and Rep. Lipinski to urge Congress to help fund implementation of PTC for commuter rails in light of the rapidly approaching deadline. He also joined Rep. Lipinski in introduced the Reassuring Adequate Investment in Lifesaving Systems or the RAILS Act, which reauthorizes the Railroad Safety Technology Grants Program to provide critical funding for train safety technologies. The bill would provide $200 million for each of the next five years for positive train control safety technologies, rail integrity inspection systems, a system for electronic communication regarding hazardous material rail shipments, and other new rail safety items. On the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Quigley has also offered amendments to increase PTC funding and helped make $80 million in the FY14 omnibus available to fund the Railroad Safety Technology Grants Program. He has helped secure $35 million in Core Capacity grants to benefit CTA and over $100 million for projects to ease flooding in Cook County. Most recently he fought for increased funding for the TIGER grant program to benefit both highways, transit, and pedestrian projects.