Thursday, February 15, 2018

2018-02-15

Amtrak is saying that New Jersey Transit trains won't be allowed on its tracks after December 31st if NJT hasn't installed Positive Train Control on all its trains by then. And yes, all American railroads are required to have PTC up and running by that date, and for good reason; there have been numerous fatal crashes in recent years that could have been prevented or lessened with the technology.

NJT still claims to believe that it will meet the deadline, though things aren't looking good right now. What would look a whole lot worse, however, would be a complete cessation of trains between New Jersey and New York's Penn Station, already a looming prospect because of damage done to the Hudson River tunnels by Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Trump's so-called "infrastructure plan" doesn't appear to consider the over 100-year old tunnels a priority, not that the plan is offering much in the way of federal funding for infrastructure anyway.

The worst-case scenario here could be pretty damned bad. While I don't work in NYC, I'm hopin' it doesn't come to that.


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