Railroad group says shutdown would affect Kansas

The nation’s largest freight railroads say they will halt traffic Dec. 31 unless Congress extends a deadline for installing safety equipment.

In 2008, in response to a rail accident in California that killed 25 people, Congress mandated that the country’s Class 1 railroads – in Kansas that largely means the Union Pacific and BNSF Railway – and passenger rail carriers install automated stopping equipment called Positive Train Control by Dec. 31, 2015, or face stiff fines and increased liability.

Positive Train Control is a system designed to be based both on the trains and on the tracks to reliably prevent train-to-train collisions, high-speed derailments and running through switches in the wrong position.

But the ambitious system hasn’t been installed by most of the railroads, yet. It’s complex technology and they are asking for three more years to install it and two more years to test it.

Some observers and some members of Congress, particularly from the Northeast, are angry at the delay, saying seven years is enough time. Greenberg said the railroads want the system, it’s just taking a while to develop correctly. So far, they’ve spent $6 billion on developing and expect to spend another $4 billion.

“It’s unprecedented technology that is not off-the-shelf; that has to be developed from scratch; and uses a network of global positioning system satellites, state-of-the-art signaling systems and advanced databases to monitor and, if required, stop a train in the event of an operator error,” said Ed Greenberg, spokesman for the Association of American Railroads.

If the railroads’ threat is carried out, it could have a huge impact in terms of goods shipped to and from Kansas, according to association statistics.

In 2012, UP and BNSF brought into Kansas: 13.3 million tons of coal to fuel power plants, 2 million tons of intermodal freight and 1.6 million tons of chemicals, among many other products. They hauled out of Kansas: 8 million tons of farm products, 2.3 million tons of food products and 2.2 million tons of chemicals, among other products.

The railroads say they will start making provisions for shutting down at end of October, Greenberg said.

Members of Congress are already moving to pass a law to extend the deadline.

A provision attached to transportation bill passed the Senate months ago. A single-purpose bill with bipartisan sponsorship was introduced into the House this week.

Greenberg said Congress needs to understand it must act this month to avoid turmoil for thousands of customers – and the millions of people that they ultimately serve.

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Railroad group says shutdown would affect Kansas."