美国官方：铁路安全关键技术·信号PTC安装计划已经完成90%

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美国官方：铁路安全关键技术·信号PTC安装计划已经完成90%

据MATTHEW DALY：美国 联邦官员 近日 表示，铁路行业已在近90%的需要 运行 安全 防护 技术的轨道上安装了 该 技术，但还需要“大量工作”来确保技术在2020年12月的最后期限前完全安装。 美 联邦铁路局局长罗纳德·巴特罗(Ronald Batory)告诉参议院的一个委员会，被称为 主动列车控制 (PTC)的技术需要在近5.8万英里中的5万多英里上 装备 运行。 这项 基于GPS的技术旨在通过自动停止或减速列车来防止致命的碰撞。 美 国会在2008年要求铁路采用PTC，并给他们七年的时间来完成这项工作。当 时间 变得明显 “ 不够 ” 时，国会将最后期限延长到2018年， 并 再一次延长到2020年12月31日。 在参议院商业、科学和运输委员会(Senate Commerce，Science and Transportation Committee) 近日 举行的听证会上，Batory称赞铁路行业在 美国 全国范围内全面部署PTC系统方面取得了“重大进展”，尽管由于一系列拖延，目前的最后期限被推迟到了国会最初通过该 法案 后的12年。 Batory 表示： “尽管如此，铁路仍必须完成重大工作，在2020年12月31日之前全面实施PTC系统”，并补充道，铁路 部门将 “将继续 督促 铁路及时实施PTC系统的责任，并将 作为法定要求 ”。 预计将花费近150亿美元在全美铁路以及货运和通勤铁路上实施这项技术。根据行业组织美国公共交通协会(American Public Transportation Association)的数据，每年将额外花费8000万至1.3亿美元用于维护和运营。 42条 铁路 (网)纳入 PTC，包括30条通勤铁路、美铁Amtrak和11条货运铁路。根据美国国家运输安全委员会(National Transportation Safety Board)的数据，自2008年法案颁布以来，该委员会调查的22起铁路事故本可以通过PTC预防，包括2017年12月美国铁路公司(Amtrak)一客运列车在杜邦附近脱轨 的事故 ，导致3名乘客死亡，57人受伤。 委员会主席、密西西比州共和党参议员罗杰·威克(Roger Wicker)在听证会后表示，他“注意到在实施PTC方面存在一些挑战”，但他表示，他有信心大部分或所有要求的安装工作将在2020年最后期限之前完成。Wicker说，到今年年底，官员们可能会更好地 协调 进展情况，并补充说，“我不知道我们是否会 弃用 那些不遵 从 的人。” 在6月份的一份报告中，NTSB副主席猛烈抨击了那些负责确保从塔科马到俄勒冈州波特兰的美国铁路公司(Amtrak)新路线的 负责 列车运营安全的人，他称之为“像泰坦尼克号一样的自满”。官员们说，出轨发生时，PTC还没有在新的 支 线上实施，但现在 支线 和从加拿大边境到俄勒冈州尤金的美铁 客运 线 剩余 线路上 已经启用 。 NTSB副主席Bruce Landsberg表示，“事故”一词是不恰当的，“因为这意味着这(2017年的脱轨)是一个不可预见和不可预测的事件 ， 这绝不是不可预见的。“ 华盛顿州参议员玛丽亚·坎特维尔(Maria Cantwell)是该委员会的民主党头号人物，她敦促Batory和其他监管机构强制执行新的PTC实施期限。对于未能在截止日期前完成的铁路，每天最高可被处以28，474美元的罚款。坎特维尔说：“在2019年，我们 还 没有充分实施这项重要的安全措施，这是不可接受的。”

Officials: Key rail safety technology 90% installed Still, ‘significant work’ remains to finish by December 2020 deadline

WASHINGTON — The railroad industry has installed safety technology on nearly 90 percent of tracks where it is required, federal officials said Wednesday, but “significant work” is needed to ensure the technology is completely installed by a December 2020 deadline.

Federal Railroad Administration chief Ronald Batory told a Senate committee that technology known as positive train control, or PTC, is in operation on more than 50,000 route miles of the nearly 58,000 miles where it is required. The GPS-based technology is intended to prevent deadly crashes by automatically stopping or slowing a train before a collision or derailment.

Congress required in 2008 that railroads adopt PTC and gave them seven years to do the job. When it became clear that wasn’t enough, Congress extended the deadline through 2018 and again through Dec. 31, 2020. No more extensions are expected.

Praise for progress At a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, Batory praised the railroad industry for “its significant progress” toward fully putting PTC systems in place nationwide, despite a series of delays that pushed the current deadline to 12 years after Congress initially adopted the law.

“Nonetheless, railroads must still complete significant work to fully implement their PTC systems by December 31, 2020,” he said, adding that the railroad agency “will continue to hold railroads accountable for timely implementation of PTC systems and will enforce the statutory mandate.”

The industry expects to spend nearly \$15 billion implementing the technology on Amtrak and freight and commuter railroads throughout the country. An additional \$80 million to \$130 million a year will be spent on maintenance and operation, according to the American Public Transportation Association, an industry group.

Forty-two railroads are subject to the PTC mandate, including 30 commuter railroads, Amtrak and 11 freight railroads. According to the National Transportation Safety Board, 22 rail accidents it investigated since the 2008 law could have been prevented by PTC, including the December 2017 derailment of an Amtrak passenger train near DuPont that killed three passengers and injured 57 people.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the committee chairman, said after the hearing that he was “mindful there’s some challenges” in implementing PTC, but said he was confident most or all of the required installation would be completed ahead of the 2020 deadline.

Officials will likely have a better handle on progress by the end of this year, Wicker said, adding, “I don’t know if we’re going to vaporize people who do not comply.”

In a June report, the NTSB’s vice chairman blasted what he described as a “Titanic-like complacency” among those charged with ensuring that train operations on the new Amtrak route from Tacoma to Portland, Ore., were safe.

PTC had not been implemented on the new bypass route when the derailment occurred, but now is in effect on the bypass and on the rest of the Amtrak Cascades passenger route from the Canadian border to Eugene, Ore., officials said.

Bruce Landsberg, the NTSB’s vice chairman, said the term “accident” was inappropriate “because that implies that this (2017 derailment) was an unforeseen and unpredictable event. It was anything but unforeseeable.”

Sen. Maria Cantwell of Washington state, the committee’s top Democrat, pushed Batory and other regulators to enforce the new deadline for implementing PTC. Fines of up to \$28,474 a day can be imposed on railroads that fail to meet the deadline.

“It’s unacceptable that in the year 2019 we have not fully implemented this important safety measure,” Cantwell said.

素材来源：综合编译自MATTHEW DALY