House railroad subcommittee to hold PTC hearing

The House Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines and Hazardous Materials on Thursday will review the status of the railroad industry's implementation of positive train control (PTC).

The subcommittee hearing will examine the progress railroads have made and the "remaining challenges" to meeting the federal Dec. 31 deadline to implement PTC.

The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 initially required that certain freight, commuter and passenger railroads implement PTC by Dec. 31, 2015. However, the railroad industry sought an extension of the deadline due to the new — and in some cases nonexistent — components of PTC technologies.

Subsequently, Congress extended the deadline to Dec. 31, 2018, with an additional two years' extension for railroads that meet certain criteria.

Among those scheduled to testify at Thursday's hearing are Federal Railroad Administrator Ronald Batory; Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ed Hamberger; Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Scot Naperstek; Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority General Manager Jeffrey Knueppel; Altamont Corridor Express Executive Director Stacy Mortensen; and National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt.

The hearing will be broadcast live on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's website.