In the aftermath of last month’s fatal Metro-North derailment, MTA Chairman and CEO Tom Prendergast knew he had to act quickly and decisively to confront safety concerns. The commuter railroads were unlikely to be compliant a federal mandate to install positive train control by the end of 2015, and public perception was starting to weigh against Metro-North. To speed up the project, estimated to cost at least $670 million, the MTA has applied for a $1 billion loan from the feds, Ted Mann of the Wall Street Journal reports today.
Meanwhile, Mann also spoke with Prendergast about his previous experiences with safety concerns. As a young engineer in Chicago in the 1970s, the current MTA head had to face down similar problems after a pair of fatal CTA derailments. Prendergast is hoping to strike the right balance between a reliance on technology and the need for human decision-making. It’s not an easy balancing act, and time is not on the MTA’s side.
5 comments
Whats another billion dollar loan going to to to make the remodeling project safer? It all goes to the greasy hands. Hopefully the MTA will get it right this time.
1st Link broken
Should be:
http://online.wsj.com/news/art.....3511856396
“the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it expected to spend $670 million installing PTC on Metro-North and LIRR.”
” MTA Chairman Thomas Prendergast…applied for a $1 billion loan from the Federal Railroad Administration to cover the cost of the installation.”
So…what’s the other $330 million for?
Cost overruns.