While there certainly are political undertones to this whole to-do, the bottom line is that is has been well documented that, through no fault of their own, the railroads were not going to be able to meet the deadline.
Until someone comes up with proof that all the parts and pieces for PTC are indeed available and/or in place and that the railroads really are dragging their feet, I’m sticking with the surmise that the mandate was unattainable, and that the extension was necessary.
It’s still a mandate - but some reality has been added to the mix.
The fact that the mandate had a deadline with fines thereafter indicates that there was no assumption that if the deadline was not met, the mandate would be invalidated because it could not be met.
The point of the mandate and the deadline with fines was to push the railroads and everyone involved to make progress. The deadline was merely an arbitrary reconciliation point along the way.
The deadline does not care if the railroads drag their feet or the suppliers fail to supply. &n
Why is it so difficult for you to grasp the concept of something taking longer than congress thought it would? When they set the deadline, they had no conception of the difficulty of bringing the technology up to speed, securing the necessary permits, land and frequency aquisition, yada, yada, yada.
You appear to think that when congress said jump the railroads should have had the work completed the next day. The reality is that it wasn’t going to happen the way congress wanted.
Why can’t the railroads just not carry inhalation hazardous materials and keep running? Yes, they are vital to the economy, but so are the rest of the goods that the railroads carry. Inhalation hazardous materials are only a very small part of the traffic carried by the railroads.
What the carriers were doing while they were doing nothing.
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Industry 2009 03-Mar 220 MHz Radio specifications were delivered.
Industry 2009 05-May BNSF attempts to remove itself from the MeteorComm 220 MHz agreement and utilize its 44 MHz legacy radio system, making their system non-interoperable.
Industry 2009 07-Jul Open dialogue about PTC requirements begin between Class 1’s and commuter agencies in Ft. Worth, Texas.
Industry 2009 08-Aug MeteorComm (MCC) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed by CSX, NS, BNSF, and still waiting on word from UP.
Industry 2009 12-Dec MeteorComm and PTC 220 LLC agreements are signed.
Industry 2009 12-Dec Wabtec Statements of Work (SOW) for the Onboard and Back Office software development were signed.
Industry 2010 02-Feb Submitted preliminary version of PTC Development Plan (DP) informally to FRA for comment. Comments were received and CSX/NS/UP prepared a joint response.
Industry 2010 04-Apr The four major Class I railroads closed on purchase of MeteorComm, the PTC radio design firm originally owned by BNSF.
Industry 2010 04-Apr The roads formed PTC 220 LLC which will hold 220 MHz Spectrum used to facilitate communication between locomo
Thanks, Balt, for that list. I do not doubt that further progress was made this year–and much more needs to be done yet before there can be a uniform system across the country. I am not astounded at the number of reworks that were necessary.
I was really astounded by the accusations that the railroads had done nothing in the time since Congress decreed that the system must be in place by the end of this year. I wonder: did anyone expect that after each item was produced the feat would be proclaimed in the public press?
Norm,
What make you so sure that congress thought it would be completed by the end of this year just because they set the deadline for then? Congress may have expected it to be done by 2020 for all we know. All the deadline meant was that fines would begin after that date. The part that really amazes me is that Congress failed to see that the deadline would force a shutdown which would effectively nullify the mandate, the deadline, and any future deadline.
A mandate needs a deadline in order to be a mandate. Now, there is no longer any deadline that can be enforced in practicality. So PTC mandate is moot. Now, there is all the time in the world to move forward with the consideration of safety i
I think there was every reason to worry. I’m actually surprised it happened. There are some members of congress who are so ideologically driven that they would be willing to go to extremes to get what they want. I’m surprised some of those didn’t offer amendments that they want that they know the President wouldn’t normally sign. So what if it would collapse the economy as long as we can blame the person holding the White House.
I think it wasn’t so much the railroads as their customers who held sway. Once they started telling congress what would happen, congress listened.
If there’s any interest, C-SPAN video shows Sen. Barbara Boxer objecting to extending the PTC deadline a full 3 years, asking for 1 year instead, Sen. John Thune objecting to her objection, which she withdrew, and then the voice vote. Slide the timer to about 5:28. http://www.c-span.org/video/?328979-1/us-senate-morning-business
Any time you have to depend on Congress to do something by a deadline date - all bets are off. Remember they ‘shut down’ the government itself on more than one occasion.
It seems to me that the railroads had their “undies in a knot” over the deadline. Or are you suggesting that their worry a phony display that was just staged for public consumption?
Well… consider what would have happened if they didn’t get their 'undies in a knot" and just let let the time expire and shut down because they would be breaking the law and subject to fines if they didn’t.
Jan 1, 2016: Note to out Manufacturer customer; You may have noticed that we didn’t deliver your chemicals today. Please send tanker trucks to our nearest rail yard to transload your product for over the road transport to your processing plant. Sincerely, Your RR Service.