Home Asides A federally-mandated braking system with a lofty price tag

A federally-mandated braking system with a lofty price tag

by Benjamin Kabak

A new federal law will require the MTA to spend over $700 million on retrofitting its commuter rail fleet with a new braking system, according to the agency. WNYC’s Matthew Schuerman issued a brief report on how a required automatic braking system could prove to be very costly. In the wake of last fall’s deadly train crash in Los Angeles, Congress is now requiring freight and passenger rail cars to utilize positive train control, a system that would lock the wheels automatically if, for example, a conductor misses a signal. Congress has granted $50 million to outfit our nation’s rail fleet, but the MTA alleges it will cost $700 million just to address the problem in New York. As the Association of American Railroads calls this effort “an unfunded mandate with questionable safety benefits,” I wonder who will carry the burden of paying for it.

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4 comments

herenthere October 2, 2009 - 1:44 pm

So all this time there has never been any type of PTC/tripcock system on MNR and LIRR? Wow, good safety record.

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Benjamin Kabak October 2, 2009 - 1:46 pm

I don’t know enough about the braking systems on MNR/LIRR to say, but my guess is that there is one in place. It’s just not up to the standards of the new federal mandates. That happens all the time.

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Alon Levy October 3, 2009 - 4:31 am

Nope, never. And as a result, the trains have to obey ridiculous FRA crash-worthiness standards, forcing the trains to weigh twice as much as necessary.

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KPL October 2, 2009 - 8:02 pm

LIRR uses ASC, which is a cab signal system. An engineer can pass a stop signal, there’s nothing to prevent that, but he/she would only be doing so at no more than 15 mph due to the cab signaling.

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