A mandate for PTC systems was included in House and Senate legislation- The Rail Safety and Improvement Act of 2008.
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The Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously approved the bipartisan, multi-year surface transportation bill and stated the new legislation would “promote innovation to make the system and programs work better”. As revealed by a Cato paper, for example, spending under the New Starts program has strongly favored the districts of Democrats who were on the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee, while a Reason Foundation paper reached similar conclusions regarding the TIGER grant program. The most recent short-term financing bill for the fund expires Thursday.
To cover this difference, the Senate bill, known as the “Developing a Reliable and Innovative Vision for the Economy Act” or DRIVE Act, provides three years of funding by supplementing gas taxes with new customs, air travel, and mortgage-backed securities guarantee fees.
Congress has not passed a transportation funding bill lasting longer than two years since 2005, to the chagrin of infrastructure advocates in Washington.
Delegate Carol Krimm, D-District 3A, said she did not doubt that Congress would pass a few sort of transportation funding bill by the Thursday deadline, but she hoped the representatives could come to a long-term agreement.
The White House has indicated it will sign the stopgap measure, the report said.
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, and Sen. “I’ve talked to the likely conferees and they are in accord with the idea that we can do this in a matter of hours and not days”.
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As far as PTC is concerned, “Without an extension of the Positive Train Control deadline, freight railroads have indicated they will suspend shipments of certain chemicals, such as chlorine used to purify drinking water and anhydrous ammonia used in fertilizer, well before the end of the year”, said Shuster. The extension had previously been attached to both the Senate and House’s multiyear highway bills after railroads threatened to partially shut down numerous nation’s railways. Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey calls any extension troubling. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) vehemently opposed. However, it does include a provision that would move the deadline for railroads to install automated train navigation systems from December 31 to the end of 2018.
