But despite overwhelming evidence it could save lives, Congress extended the deadlines for railroads to implement so-called positive train control for years. ADVERTISEMENTData that the National Transportation Safety Board provided to AP on Wednesday shows the crashes that the agency says could have been prevented by positive train control have led to 298 deaths, 6,763 injuries and nearly $385 million in property damage. Lawmakers mandated railroad companies install the GPS-based PTC technology by 2015, but rail agencies said they didn’t have enough time to install the expensive, complicated system. Positive train control is activated on the tracks Amtrak owns along the Northeast Corridor, from Boston to Washington, D.C., and on Amtrak’s Michigan line. Many of its locomotives are equipped for positive train control.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer December 22, 2017 00:56 UTC