Two days before the most recent deadline, America’s railroads finally have automatic train braking installed throughout the system. The system, called Positive Train Control, or PTC, had been mandated by the Federal government after a 2008 head-on collision between a commuter train and a freight near Los Angeles that killed 25 people.
The concept and the capability have been around for 50 years, but railroads long resisted installing it because of the cost. Only after the Los Angeles crash was it made mandatory. The National Transportation Safety Board has estimated that it could have prevented more than 150 crashes since 1969.
The 2008 law requiring it originally had a deadline of 2015; it had been extended twice, with the latest deadline today. The Federal Railroad Administration certified Monday that compliance was complete, three years too late for the Seattle-area wreck in 2017 seen in the picture above.
