PTC mandate

Railroads presented compelling arguments to Congress Thursday warning the effect that a federal safety mandate costing $13.2 billion, with a 20-to-one cost benefit ratio, could be counter-productive.

At a House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing on the status of the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Norfolk Southern Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Mark Manion asserted: “The cause of safety will not be advanced if resources are directed to programs or requirements that siphon resources that would have a more pronounced impact on safety if spent elsewhere. It is short-sighted to put so much emphasis on one technology, when less costly, more effective alternatives exist for reducing the risk of accidents.”

Manion joined Association of American Railroads President Edward R. Hamberger in presenting railroad arguments for a new look at the PTC mandate.

The AAR has filed suit in the U.S. Court of Appeals seeking to ease the impact of the Federal Railroad Administration’s Final Rule for implementing PTC. The suit was put on hold after the FRA earlier this month agreed to review the rule.

“FRA’s review of the final PTC rule provides the Obama Administration a real opportunity to make good on its Executive Order to identify and change regulations that are preventing job growth and economic recovery," Hamberger told the committee. “Given the vast amounts of private capital and resources that are required to meet the PTC mandate, much will depend on how the revised rules are ultimately shaped.”

The Safety Act mandates that PTC be installed by the end of 2015 on U.S. Class I rail main lines used to transport toxic-by-inhalation commodities. AAR estimates that PTC technology will have to be deployed on approximately 73,000 miles of U.S. freight rail lines.