• Cars from an Amtrak train lay spilled onto Interstate 5 below as some train cars remain on the tracks above Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. The Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off the overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing some people, authorities said. Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train moving at more than 80 mph derailed about 40 miles south of Seattle before 8 a.m., Amtrak said. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) ORG XMIT: WAET105 Photo: Elaine Thompson / Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Photo: Elaine Thompson
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Cars from an Amtrak train lay spilled onto Interstate 5 below as some train cars remain on the tracks above Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. The Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new route hurtled off the overpass Monday near Tacoma and spilled some of its cars onto the highway below, killing some people, authorities said. Seventy-eight passengers and five crew members were aboard when the train moving at more than 80 mph derailed about 40 miles south of Seattle before 8 a.m., Amtrak said. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) ORG XMIT: WAET105 less
Cars from an Amtrak train lay spilled onto Interstate 5 below as some train cars remain on the tracks above Monday, Dec. 18, 2017, in DuPont, Wash. The Amtrak train making the first-ever run along a faster new ... more
Photo: Elaine Thompson

THE ISSUE:

Another tragic train derailment underscores the need for new safety technology.

THE STAKES:

Congress must not give in to industry demands to further delay implementation.

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A typical new automobile sold today — a Chevy, Honda, or just about any brand — includes options that can alert a driver who is veering out of a lane, help the car maintain safe distances from other highway vehicles, and even slow or stop the car when necessary. Why don't our nation's trains have similar technology?

Last week's tragic derailment of an Amtrak passenger train between Seattle and Portland, Ore., that killed three people and injured dozens, is just the latest in a string of train accidents that underscore the urgency for using better technology. As investigators search for all the causes of the derailment near Tacoma, they have already determined the train was going 80 mph into a curve with a 30-mph limit. As in many recent rail disasters, human error is suspected.

The technology that would have slowed the train, known as positive train control, or PTC, had already been installed on the train, which was on its inaugural run along a 14.5 mile stretch of newly constructed track. But the safety equipment, which uses GPS sensors and an automatic breaking system, was not scheduled to be put into use until sometime next year.

Under legislation passed by Congress in 2008, all trains would have had PTC installed, tested and up and running by the end of 2015. A deadly head-on crash in 2005 between a passenger train and a freight train in California that killed 25 and injured 135 spurred the administration of President George W. Bush and Congress to impose the new regulations. They gave the railroad industry seven years to complete the task.

Persistently complaining that PTC was complicated and expensive technology, the rail freight and passenger carriers argued they needed more time. Their lobbying efforts succeeded and Congress granted a deadline extension until 2018, then included an option for more delays reaching into 2020 — which would be 12 years after the horrible California crash that prompted the federal mandate.

As the industry continues to drag out the implementation of PTC, it becomes more evident that trains relying only on human operators carry too many risks. Human error was a factor in both a 2015 crash in Philadelphia that killed eight people and the Metro North crash at Spuyten Duyvil in the Bronx in 2013, which killed four and injured 65. The horrific 2013 crash of a 74-car freight train carrying Bakken crude oil in Lac-Mégantic, Canada, which killed 47 people, was due largely to human error.

The not-yet-implemented technology that can help protect against operator inattention, distraction, sleep or other human failings already exists. No question, installing the various sensors and other equipment and testing these systems is time consuming and expensive. But when you look at the human toll — not to mention the immense costs and disruption after derailments like last week's — this should be very clear: The rail industry should not be given any more extensions on implementing PTC.

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