WASHINGTON — Congress is bowing to warnings by the nation’s railroads, including Metro-North and Amtrak, that passenger service would be disrupted or suspended if a federal deadline for implementation of a safety measure is not pushed back. Congress is rushing to comply. There is broad agreement the deadline should be put off, but there are hurdles.
rail safety
Posted inPolitics
Metro-North slammed for fines, new schedule
Washington – Metro-North was slammed by Connecticut politicians Friday as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy criticized the passenger railroad’s new schedule, and Sen. Richard Blumenthal unveiled a study that showed the rail company paid more than $500,000 in safety-related fines in the last decade.
Posted inMoney, Politics
Blumenthal clashes with federal railroad chief over Metro-North crashes
“Four people might be alive today if those (railroad regulations) had been implemented,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal told the administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration. The hearing was Blumenthal’s first as a Senate subcommittee chairman.
Posted inPolitics
Metro-North, MTA sought delay of federal safety rules
Washington – Crisis-plagued Metro-North and its parent company sought to delay and weaken proposed federal safety measures that could have helped prevent some of the accidents the rail company suffered in the past year. Less than two weeks before a foreman was killed by a train, Metro-North pressed the Federal Railroad Administration to delay a safety rule requiring trains to slow to 25 miles per hour when passing a work site.