Democratic leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee sought an update on Wednesday on Amtrak’s efforts to modernize its safety culture and implement Positive Train Control (PTC) on its routes.
U.S. Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-OR), ranking member of the committee, and Michael Capuano (D-MA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials, sought the update in a letter to Amtrak President and CEO Richard Anderson.
“We would like to know what ‘safety culture’ weaknesses Amtrak has identified throughout the organization and what specific steps Amtrak is taking to resolve them immediately,” the letter stated. “If there are problems holding the organization back from advancing the best safety practices, we would like Amtrak to identify them. Amtrak’s labor unions have been copied on this letter and we welcome their views on safety at Amtrak as well. Acknowledging that Amtrak has a weak safety culture is the first step toward fixing it, but the traveling public should not have to wait for another incident to know whether Amtrak has sufficiently addressed these issues. Amtrak should be the safest passenger rail service provider in the world, and we hope to help you on that trajectory.”
Following the derailment of Amtrak Cascades Train 501 in DuPont, Washington, in December, Amtrak leaders acknowledged a “relaxed” safety culture that needs to be improved. The train was traveling 80 mph as it went into a 30 mph curve, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report.
DeFazio and Capuano also pointed to a separate derailment that took place in Chester, Pennsylvania, in April 2016. The accident killed two road workers and injured 39 others.
“As a result of this investigation, the NTSB made numerous recommendations to Amtrak and labor organizations to improve safety,” the letter stated. “These recommendations included a recommendation for Amtrak and labor organizations to work collaboratively to develop a comprehensive safety management system that bolsters safety goals and programs with executive management accountability; incorporates risk management controls for all operations affecting employees, contractors, and the traveling public; improves continually through safety data monitoring and feedback; and is promoted at all levels of the company.”
Concluding that Amtrak’s efforts to “strengthen safety practices did not go far enough” after the Chester accident, the lawmakers requested a thorough accounting of changes and PTC implementation.
“We want and need the full picture, regardless of whether Amtrak owns it,” the letter stated. “If you operate it or operate on it, we want to know the status of PTC implementation in detail, including information on locomotives that are equipped by route, installation of track segments and other infrastructure by route, and information on whether your back office servers are connected to the back office servers of other railroads by route.”
The lawmakers requested the information no later than Feb. 16.