NEW YORK – US Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) laid out a four point plan for rail safety this year. Their campaign, announced Friday at New York’s Penn Station, follows the deadly Amtrak derailment on Tuesday night that killed at least eight passengers and injured over 200. The train, bound from Philadelphia to Penn Station, was traveling over 100 miles per hour in a 50 mile per hour curve.
The lawmakers urged Congress to pass the Positive Train Control Safety Act, which would require the rail industry to move quickly to install positive train control technology used to slow down trains in order to help prevent crashes and collisions.
They also called on Congress to pass the Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Safety Act, which would allocate resources toward safety upgrades at rail crossings.
Schumer and Blumenthal said Congress should also completely overhaul rail safety laws and protocols to enhance and enforce safety on rail lines and they said Congress should increase infrastructure spending, specifically Amtrak spending and highway funding, through the Highway Trust Fund and Amtrak reauthorization and appropriation process.
Pedestrian struck and killed by Metro-North train
April 20, 2024
