Full Text of HR0627 99th General Assembly
HR0627 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Positive Train Control is a safety system of | 3 | | highly advanced technologies designed to automatically stop a | 4 | | train before certain types of accidents occur; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, Positive Train Control was mandated by the United | 6 | | States Congress for all passenger and Class I freight railroads | 7 | | in the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Congress has mandated that Positive Train Control | 9 | | must be designed to prevent train-to-train collisions, | 10 | | derailments caused by excessive speed, unauthorized incursions | 11 | | by trains onto sections of track where maintenance activities | 12 | | are taking place, and the movement of a train through a track | 13 | | switch left in the wrong position; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, Positive Train Control is a sophisticated system | 15 | | that requires an Onboard component that would activate braking | 16 | | as necessary, a Wayside component that would monitor railroad | 17 | | track signals and circuits, a Back Office component to store | 18 | | all the information related to a rail network and trains | 19 | | operating across the network, and a Communications Network to | 20 | | connect components in the locomotive, cab car, back office, | 21 | | wayside, and base station radios; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, The Positive Train Control interoperability | 2 | | regulation requires that any train operating on another | 3 | | railroad's network must communicate with the host railroad's | 4 | | Positive Train Control System; and
| 5 | | WHEREAS, The development and implementation of Positive | 6 | | Train Control constitute an unprecedented technological | 7 | | challenge on a scale never attempted in the United States rail | 8 | | industry; and | 9 | | WHEREAS, Much of the technology needed for Positive Train | 10 | | Control did not even exist when the mandate became law in 2008; | 11 | | and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, The Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008 mandated | 13 | | that Positive Train Control be active on all passenger and | 14 | | Class I freight rail lines by December 31, 2015; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Metra is the agency that coordinates commuter rail | 16 | | travel throughout the greater Chicagoland area; Metra must meet | 17 | | the congressional requirement of Positive Train Control on its | 18 | | lines; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, Positive Train Control is an extremely expensive, | 20 | | time-consuming, and technologically-demanding system to | 21 | | implement; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, Metra has been diligent in its good faith efforts | 2 | | to implement Positive Train Control by the December 31st | 3 | | deadline; and | 4 | | WHEREAS, Metra operates 11 rail lines with 241 stations | 5 | | within the Chicago region, which is the nation's busiest rail | 6 | | hub; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, This complex Chicago rail network has made Metra's | 8 | | good faith efforts to implement Positive Train Control more | 9 | | difficult; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, Metra has also been hampered in its efforts to | 11 | | implement Positive Train Control due to other technical | 12 | | difficulties, such as radio frequency spectrum limitations | 13 | | imposed by the Federal Communications Commission, and also due | 14 | | to a lack of adequate funding support from both the federal and | 15 | | State levels; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, The Federal Railroad Administration has said that | 17 | | it might force railroads that have not met the December 31st | 18 | | deadline to cease operations or it might impose daily fines on | 19 | | those railroads that are not in compliance; and
| 20 | | WHEREAS, Either of these actions by the Federal Railroad |
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| 1 | | Administration would impose extreme hardship on Metra and the | 2 | | commuters who rely on Metra's services; and | 3 | | WHEREAS, No commuter rail line in the United States has yet | 4 | | fully implemented an interoperable Positive Train Control | 5 | | System; therefore, be it
| 6 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 7 | | NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we | 8 | | call on Congress to extend the deadline for passenger and Class | 9 | | I railroads to implement Positive Train Control; and be it | 10 | | further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That, should Congress not extend the deadline, | 12 | | then we call on Congress to authorize the Federal Railroad | 13 | | Administration to grant individual waivers to the deadline as | 14 | | long as a rail agency shows good faith efforts to implement | 15 | | Positive Train Control as determined by the Federal Railroad | 16 | | Administration; and be it further | 17 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 18 | | delivered to the members of the Illinois congressional | 19 | | delegation.
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