Congress working on rail safety issue threatening grain, fertilizer movement

From Agri-Pulse

Key lawmakers involved in transportation issues are working to come up with a compromise that would push back the current end-of-year deadline for implementation of a rail safety system – avoiding a threatened disruption of grain and fertilizer deliveries.

In the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, Congress directed rail providers to install Positive Train Control (PTC) on rail lines that carry passengers or hazardous materials. Despite the seven-year warning and the allocation of what the Association of American Railroads calls “enormous human and financial resources.” Railroads say they won’t be able to have the technology fully implemented by Dec. 31.

With that in mind, House and Senate leaders are working on a possible compromise that would extend the PTC implementation deadline until the end of 2018. Read the rest of the story here.