Reps. Dan Lipinski (D-IL) and Mike Quigley (D-IL),Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Metra officials on Monday called for more federal funding for positive train control (PTC) and other improvements to rail safety.
“Representing a district with a vast number of passenger and freight rail lines, I have always made rail safety a top priority on the Railroad Subcommittee,” Lipinski said. "That is why, back in 2008, I included language in a bill to create the Rail Safety Technology Grant program to help railroads install lifesaving PTC more quickly."
Lipinski said because Congress never fully funded the program, and on railroads like Metra, PTC has not been implemented.
“Implementing positive train control is vitally important to ensuring that our national rail system provides the utmost level of safety for the millions of passengers that use our passenger railroads each year," Quigley said. "Congress has mandated this important rail safety technology, but has refused to fund it."
This year, Lipinski and Quigley introduced the Reassuring Adequate Investment in Lifesaving Systems (RAILS) Act, which reauthorizes the Rail Safety Technology Grant program to improve the safety of our nation’s railroads.
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