U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) recently sent a letter to Catherine Rinaldi, president of Metro-North Railroad, seeking a more specific timetable for the railroad’s implementation of the federally mandated positive train control (PTC).
In March, Rinaldi provided Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, with information on how the railroad’s milestones planned to meet the Dec. 31 deadline for implementation but did not provide a timeline.
The railroad was 65 percent ready for implementation, Rinaldi said.
Rinaldi’s statements were vague, lacking key details, Blumenthal said, and this made him question whether the railroad will complete implementation before the deadline.
“You state that you will have ‘successfully exited Revenue Service Demonstration (RSD) and be in the process of phasing PTC in across Metro-North territory by the end of 2018,” Blumenthal said. “Later, you state that ‘we have no way of knowing how long the RSD period will last.’ This could be interpreted to mean that full PTC implementation could drag on into 2019 or later. Are your statements in your letter and those made publicly today a concession that full implementation will not be done until 2019? If so, when will Metro-North complete full implementation of PTC?”
Blumenthal requested Rinaldi provide clarification.