Albert Einstein once said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Yet this is what both lawmakers and railroad companies are doing when it comes to installing Positive Train Control to stop railroad crashes, deaths and derailments. Lawmakers have already extended the dead line from 2008 to the present and possibly will extend it another five years. But after each deadline and following extension comes and goes, railroad companies still haven’t implemented the new safety technology. Meanwhile railroad companies continue to operate without Positive Train Control and more and more people are killed. Recently an Amtrak train slammed into a massive tractor-trailer in North Carolina, injuring 55 people. The federally mandated safety measure requires the installation of Positive Train Control (PTC) in all railroads in order to stop train crashes and derailments. The Federal Railroad Administration says the system could prevent 52 accidents a year, ranging from nonfatal rail-yard mishaps to deadly train crashes. 2015 was the much extended deadline for railroads to install PTC. How does PTC work? As experienced Virginia and North Carolina FELA and railroad accident injury attorneys we know that the rail anti-crash technology, known as Positive Train Control or PTC, is designed to automatically stop a train before it is able to run a red signal or get itself into other dangerous situations. This is an improvement over the signaling systems that are currently in place, which are able to warn train operators of danger, but still allow the possibility of accidents. The problem is the railroad industry has been resisting the installation of positive train control, PTC, which uses GPS tracking. Our Virginia and North Carolina railroad accident injury law firm has years of experience in representing both railroad workers and handling major railroad and train derailment accidents.
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